FAQ - Guide for Decotra The Art Truck Battle

Art Truck Battle (Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu) FAQ Version 0.5
by Gonad The Barbarian ([email protected])

Table Of Contents
I.   What Is Art Truck Battle?
II.  What about the "Art?"
III. Why make a FAQ?
IV.  Game Menus
   A. Main Menu
   B. Miscellaneous Options & Features
        B1. Drawing Mode
           B1a. Background Editor
           B1b. Drawing Mode Save
           B1c. Drawing Mode Load
           B1d. Exit Drawing Mode
        B2. Option Mode
        B3. Controller Setup
        B4. Background Music Player
        B5. Exit
   C. Country Battle Mode
        C1. Start Race
        C2. Modify Truck
        C3. Save Truck
        C4. Exit CBM
   D. Time Attack Mode
        D1. Start Race
        D2. Modify Truck
        D3. Save Truck
        D4. Exit TAM
   E. Men's Flower Arrangement Mode (Story Mode)
        E1. Dream Chasing Highway Of The Northern Provinces
        E2. Fire Dance
        E3. Tale Of Traveling Down Through Japan
   F. Brain Competition (Vs. Mode)
   G. Load Truck From Card
V.   Game Play & Strategy
VI.  Codes & Secrets
VII. Index Of Abbreviations
VIII.Credits
IX.  Version History
X.   Where can updates be found?



I. What Is Art Truck Battle?
   "Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu- The Art Truck Battle" (also known on the
web as
Decotra, Dekotra, and/or Bakusou Decotora) is a Top Ten selling Japanese

import game for the Playstation.  The object of game is to race two Semi

Trucks down the highways of Japan, and the first driver to deliver their
cargo
wins the prize money.  The "Battle" part comes into play because it is a
very
brutal race, with both trucks cutting each other off, rear ending one
another,
smashing into each other, and running into helpless passing motorists in
order
to slow down the other opponent.

II. What about the "Art?"
   What separates this game from other racing games is the high degree
of
customization available. As you win money in the races, you can use it
to add
dozens of fancy flashing lights, neon effects, and beautiful paintings
to your
truck.  There is even a simple painting program included that lets you
make
your own artwork for the sides of your truck.

III. Why make a FAQ?
   Like many English speaking Playstation gamers, I have a fascination
with
Japanese import games, but do to my inability to speak Japanese it can
be
difficult to navigate the many menus of Japanese text found within these

games. After searching all of the major gaming sites and search engines
I
found there was little to no information about this game on the web, so
I
decided to try putting together a FAQ.  Since I don't speak or read
Japanese,
most of the information herein is simply taken from my painstaking
guesswork,
trying one option to see what it does, then trying another, etc.  Of
course
this leaves a huge margin for error, so I welcome any additions or
corrections.  In fact, if there is someone who has a better knowledge of
the
game than I do and wants to take over this FAQ, then I would be glad to
pass
the torch on to you.

IV. Game Menus
   Nearly all of the menus in this game are in Japanese, and can at
times be
difficult to navigate. Here is what I have been able to figure out so
far.

   A. Main Menu.
   This screen has a vertical box on either side, and four horizontal
boxes
down the middle. They are:
        Left Box:   Miscellaneous Options & Features
        Top Box:    Country Battle Mode
        2nd Box:    Time Attack
        3rd Box:    Men's Flower Arrangement Mode (Story Mode)
        Bottom Box: Brain Competition (Vs. Mode)
        Right Box:      Load Truck From Card

   B. Miscellaneous Options & Features
   This screen has five lines of text options you can choose from:
        Drawing Mode
        Option Mode
        Controller Setup
        Background Music Player
        Exit

   B1. Drawing Mode
   This mode is a simple paint program that lets you create your own
drawings
to put on the side of your truck. The basic controls for this section
are:    (S) Switch Pencil Width (1-2-3 pixels)
        (T) Switch Drawing Tool
        (O) Color #1
        (X) Color #2
        (L2)Undo
   There are two two large rectangular windows, the "Texture Window" on
top
and the "Making Window" on bottom. Underneath the Making Window are 7
buttons:
Zoom (1x, 2x, 4x), Line Width (1-2-3 pixels), Pencil Tool, Line Tool,
Rectangle Tool, Paint Bucket, and Undo.  You do all of your drawing in
the
Making Window and can see your finished results in the Texture Window
above.
On the bottom right side is the "color select" window with RGB sliders
and
preset colors to choose from. You can select two colors and toggle
between
them using the (O) and (X) buttons.  Drawing is done with the
directional pad,
but unfortunately analog support isn't included, so you're limited to
the
standard 8 directions and one speed. I'm not sure if it supports the PSX
Mouse
or not... I really hope it does though.  You might be able to really
design
some nice paintings then, otherwise the drawing tools are almost useless

except for simple geometric patterns. (A side note... now that the Dex
Drive
has arrived, I wonder if there is a way to open the saved files in
Photoshop
or some other image editor, and save it back to the memory card? If
possible,
you could really make some great designs for your trucks.  At least, it
would
be a great marketing tool for Human to put up a web page somewhere with
some
new designs that could be saved with the Dex Drive)
    In the top right corner is the "Menu" window with four options:
                Background Editor (yellow text)
                Save (green text)
                Load (blue text)
                Exit (pink text)
   Any time you choose one of these, it brings up a warning window with
something to the effect of "do you really want to choose this option"
with a
button to confirm on the left or cancel on the right.

   B1a. Background Editor
   The background editor has a number of preset items you can assemble
to come
up with a picture you can bring back into the Drawing Mode to doodle on
top
of.  Again, there is a "texture window" on top that shows your finished
project and a "shitae window" below where you can go through the
patterns and
stamps. In the top right corner is the "menu" window. There are four
buttons:
                Background (yellow text)
                Object (yellow text)
                Stamp (yellow text)
                Exit (pink text)
   In the bottom right corner is the "texture select" window. There are
two
large arrows to scroll back and forth through the pages of backgrounds,
objects, and stamps. Below the arrows are a blue Select button to choose
the
item in the bottom window and put it in the Texture Window. It should be
noted
that regardless of the order you select them, the background always goes
to
the back, the objects in the middle, and the stamps in the foreground.
The
only problem with these preset items is that there aren't nearly enough
of
them.  There are only five backgrounds, ten objects, and 36 stamps.
With the
remaining space available on the disc, they could have included hundreds
more.
   B1b. Drawing Mode Save
   First you have to choose from one of two boxes with a number 1 or 2
on it,
for card slot 1 or 2.  It will check for previous saved drawings on the
card
and give you two options. The first will overwrite the previous drawing,
the
second will cancel the save.  Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, there
is no
way to save more than one drawing per memory card despite the fact that
the
drawing only takes up three blocks (another reason a Dex Drive would be
handy
with this game). So make sure you don't overwrite your favorite picture!

   B1c. Drawing Mode Load
   This screen looks just like the Save screen. First you choose from
card one
or two, then your first choice in the text will load the picture from
the
card, the second choice will cancel the loading.

   B1d. Exit Drawing Mode
   This will bring you back to the Miscellaneous Options & Features
screen.

   B2. Option Mode
There are seven lines of text here, but some I haven't figured out yet.
I
would assume some would be standard game options such as difficulty,
stereo/mono, bgm on/off, sound fx on/off, etc., but I haven't been able
to
figure out which are which for sure yet.
        ???             ?/?/?/?
        ???             ?/?/?
        ???             ?/?/?
        ???             on/off
        Map             on/off  (turns game map on/off)
        Reset Options

        Exit

   B3. Controller Setup
   This screen has two columns of text. On the left are three lines:
                Change Controls
                Reset Controls
                Exit
   When you select Change Controls, it lets you edit the button
configuration.
The standard setup is:
                (X)  Accellerator
                (S)  Brake
                (R2) Insult
                (R1) Horn
                (L2) Pan Camera
                (L1) Switch Camera Perspective
                (O)  Rear View Mirror
                (T)  Dual Shock on/off
        Most of these are self-explanatory. "Insult" will yell an
obscenity (in
Japanese) at the other driver or motorists. See below at the Truck
Customization section to find out how to change your insults (there are
at
least a couple dozen of them).  If you honk your Horn at a slow moving
motorist in front of you, they often will speed up and get the hell out
of
your way (if it only were that easy in real life!).  Pan Camera does a
cinematic rotation of the camera around your truck so you can see how
cool it
looks from all angles... the only problem is that you tend to run into
other
cars while you're admiring your handiwork.
   Also to be noted, in most menu screens, the button setup is as
follows:
                (X)  Cancel
                (S)  Freeze Rotation
                (R2) \
                (R1)  \ Trigger buttons change light colors
                (L2)  / and flashing speeds
                (L1) /
                (O)  Choose highlighted selections
                (T)  Toggle night/day


   B4. Background Music Player
   There are only two lines of text on this screen.
                Track           (displays track name)
                ???             ?/?
   You can select different tracks by using the d-pad and play them. The
four
trigger buttons each play different sound effects, but the effects
appear to
be the same with each track. The second line I'm not sure about yet. It
would
appear to toggle something audio-related but I don't think it's
stereo/mono
from what I can tell in my headphones.

   B5. Exit (Misc. Options & Features)
   This brings up the standard Exit screen. You will be given a choice
of two
text selections, when you hit (O) the top one will confirm that yes, you
do
indeed want to exit. The bottom one will cancel. Hit (X) to exit the
exit
screen and bring you back to the Main Menu Screen.


   C. Country Battle Mode (title translation from Magic Box)
   Country Battle Mode (CBM) is the meat & potatoes of the game-
comparable to
the championship modes in many racing games where you start out with a
baseline vehicle and have to win races to earn money to fix up your
vehicle.
Likewise, you start out with a basic truck and have to earn "BP" which
you can
then spend to cusomize your vehicle in any number of endless variations.

Unlike most racing games, though, you don't spend money to buy new
engines or
tires or suspensions or anything practical. You buy new bigger gaudier
sets of
flashing lights and Ground FX and custom paint jobs when you win races.
Your
vehicle's racing performance simply goes up by a few percentage points
each
time you win.
   If you want to load a previous game, you have to do it from the Right

Vertical Box on the Main Menu Screen. Otherwise, when you start Country
Battle
Mode you have to create a new truck. First you have to choose a three
letter
abbreviation for you name. Then you choose another three letter
abbreviation.
Then you choose a six letter name. I don't have any idea why you need
three
names (maybe one for you, one for your truck, and one for..?). The first
three
letter abbreviation sometimes comes up in the text when the characters
are
talking to each other, usually indicating that this is your player
speaking.
Both three letter abbreviations are seen when saving and loading games,
and
the six letter name is seen when selecting your character in Time Attack
Mode.
   After choosing your name(s), you have to select a vehicle. A black
screen
appears with the truck rotating in the middle and you use the d-pad to
scroll
left or right to see the other trucks. There are five trucks you can
choose
from, but they all pretty much look the same to start with, aside from
some
minor differences in the cabs.  At the top left corner of the screen is
a box
with the name of the truck in it. Below the trucks are three large
mysterious
hexagons with Japanese text in them. One is yellow, one green, and one
blue.
When you select the different trucks, some will light up and others will
grey
out. Could this possibly be showing the different strengths and
weaknesses of
each truck? Maybe the hexagons are for Speed, Handling, and
Accelleration or
something of that nature.
   After you select a truck it will bring up the Main Country Battle
Mode
Screen. On the top left corner are four boxes with Japanese text. These
are:
        Start Race
        Modify Truck
        Save Truck
        Exit
   On the right of the menu is a rotating picture of your truck. Below
it is a
box that shows what your cargo is (fish, tomatoes, furniture, seashells,
wood,
etc.). Next to that is a box that shows what your current amount of BP
(money)
is. Below that is a box that displays text messages.

   C1. Start Race (CBM)
   When you're ready to start, a large map of Japan will appear. There
are
several different stretches of highway across Japan that you will race
on. You
can select different tracks (for lack of a better term) and for each one
there
will be an illustration of the driver you'll have to race against. These

pictures are actually quite well done- each character is drawn
realisticly (no
super-deformations or anime style here), is very Japanese appearing, and
has a
different scowl or mean look on their face to show you how tough they
are. For
all the different tracks you can select, you can still only actually
choose
one or two to actually race on until you complete them.  As you beat
each
track, new drivers will appear on the stretch of road and you'll have to
face
them, too eventually. (Also, many of the drivers have uniqe trucks and
customizations that can't be found anywhere else. When you beat them,
they
become playable in Time Attack Mode.) When you find a driver that you're
ready
to race, press the (O) and the race will begin.

   C2. Modify Truck (CBM)
   This is where you finally get to make the truck uniquely your own. In
the
top right corner is a picture of your truck as it is currently decked
out.
Below that on the left is a small box with two numbers. The top is your
current total of BP. Below that is the price of the item you currently
have
selected.  In the box to the right of that are two percentages. The top
one is
your Decoration Percentage, which keeps going up as you buy cool gear
for your
rig. Below that is your truck's Performance Percentage, which goes up a
few
points each time you win a race.
   Also on this screen is a list of 22 different options you can modify
on
your truck. When you go to buy one of these items, the store owner gives
you
one last chance to change your mind. The top line of text will confirm
that
you want to buy the item, the lower line will cancel.
   On most of the item screens that display a rotating truck, press the
(S)
button to make it stop rotating. Press the (T) to toggle night/day modes
to
see what your truck looks like in the dark with all its fancy lights lit
up.
On some screens you can use the four trigger buttons to switch colors of

lights and the patterns that they flash in.
   The items you can select are:
        Cab Topper
        Roof Brim
        Front Bumper
        Rear Bumper
        Side Ground FX
        Passenger Side Panel Art
        Driver Side Panel Art
        Roof Art
        Rear Art
        Cab Deco
        Roof FX
        Wheel Covers
        Passenger Side Panel Lights
        Driver Side Panel Lights
        Roof Lights
        Mirrors
        Side Exhaust Pipes
        Muffler
        Air Horn
        Steering Wheel
        Insult
        Exit
   Most of the items are self explanatory. But I should note that any of
the
Art selections brings up a sub menu where you can select from any one of
a
number of beautifully airbrushed paintings of traditional Japanese
demons,
warriors, wildlife, dragons, and such. For the side panels, if you go up
one
selection from the one that you start with, you should be able to bring
up the
artwork you made in the Drawing Mode. You'll have to talk to the owner
by
hitting the (O) button several times before it will come up. For some
reason,
though, when I've tried this for the first few times with each new truck
it
only comes up as a blank white panel. I came back later after winning a
few
more races and tried again and this time the picture came up fine.  (It
wasn't
a money issue either, I had plenty of BP).
   The steering wheel is one item that will make a big difference in the
way
your rig handles. There are two different varieties: the Purple Wheel
and the
Chrome Wheel.
        The Purple Wheel (the default) will stay in your own lane at all
times,
even if you take your hands off the controller as it goes around a
curve. The
only trick is that like a good little trucker, you have to put on your
turn
signal before you can change lanes. In essence, you have to tap the
d-pad
twice every time you change lanes. This may not sound hard, but when
you're
trying to rapidly cut back and forth to cut off your opponent and keep
him
behind you, the short delay is sometimes all he needs to get past you.
        The Chrome Wheel handles like more traditionaly racers. You can
ride
down the middle of lanes, you have to steer into every curve, and you
can
sharply cut back and forth across the highway. The only problem with
this is
it's a little too easy to cut across lanes and wind up hitting the wall
or
another car you didn't intend to. Also, sharper curves are a real pain
in the
ass and you'll hit the wall often. You'll probably want to leave this
one
alone unless you're really good with the analog stick.
   The insults are another useless but enjoyable addition to the game.
You can
choose from dozens of Japanese insults and obscenities to yell at the
other
drivers.  When a phrase is selected, push any of the trigger buttons to
hear
how it sounds. There are several male phrases in blue, and so the ladies
don't
feel left out there are several female phrases in red. I'd love to get a

translation of what each of these actually means. According to PSM, one
is
"Get off the road, IDIOT!"

   C3. Save Truck (CBM)
   This option will save your game data. Like the Drawing mode save,
when you
select it, it will bring up two boxes with a large 1 & 2, for memory
card one
and two. Select the desired memory card, and it will bring up four boxes
this
time numbered 1-4, with a box on the right that shows the game stats
that are
currently saved in this space. Scroll up or down to select the spot you
want
to save your data to.  When you select the box you want, push (O) to
save it
and it will bring up an "overwrite/cancel" option in the text window at
the
bottom. Overwrite is the top (default) choice, and cancel is below. When
you
push (O) again and save, you will see your now see your new stats in the
box
on the right.  If you push the d-pad left or right, it will show a list
of
times for different tracks. I'm guessing that these are the best times
in time
attack mode, but I haven't confirmed this for sure yet.
   As far as I can tell, each game save takes up three memory blocks but
has
room for one Drawing Mode picture and four saved trucks. At the moment I
only
have one functioning memory card (due to one more fried multi-page
memory card
horror story) so I haven't tested it yet on a new card to see if simply
saving
one truck still takes up three blocks.
   To load a truck you have already saved, you have to do so from the
right
hand box on the main title screen (see section G below).

   C4. Exit (CBM)
   This brings up the standard Exit screen. You will be given a choice
of two
text selections, when you hit (O) the top one will confirm that yes, you
do
indeed want to exit. The bottom one will cancel. Hit (X) to exit the
exit
screen and bring you back to the Country Battle Mode main menu.

   D. Time Attack Mode (title translation from Magic Box)
   Time Attack Mode (TAM) mode gives you the chance to race in any one
of the
trucks you have beaten in Country Battle Mode, in your own saved truck
from
CBM, or any of the basic models of truck. Your goal is to beat your
opponent's
truck and the current best time. (From my admittedly brief time playing
TAM,
I've found that it is next to impossible to beat the other truck- at
least
with the vehicles that are available to me currenly. At the start of the
round
the other truck zooms by at rapid speed and I have managed to keep the
gas
pedal floored through the entire track -without hitting a single car-
and
still I haven't been able to come close to catching up to the other
truck.
Maybe as I unlock better trucks I'll be able to keep up.)
   When you select Time Attack Mode (the second of the four middle boxes
on
the Main Title Screen) it brings up a screen that will let you choose
the
truck you want to race as.  On the left hand side of the screen is a
column of
6 boxes for different sets of trucks.  The top box will let you play as
any
truck you have loaded into memory.  Again, in order to load the trucks,
you
have to do so from the right vertical box on the Main Title Screen
before you
select Time Attack Mode (see section G below). If you don't have a truck

loaded, the only box selectable will be the second one with the five
basic
unmodified trucks you can choose from when you start CBM.  The four
boxes
below contain the drivers you have beaten in CBM. After you beat the
first
driver in CBM, the first box will be selectable and his truck will
appear,
although the other spots will be empty until you beat those drivers in
CBM. As
you beat more and more drivers, the lower boxes will become selectable.
   If you simply highlight one of the six boxes and press (O), it will
bring
up the floating truck select screen, like at the beginning of of CBM,
where
there is a truck rotating in the center of the screen above the three
large
hexagons. If you press the d-pad left or right, it will scroll through
the
other trucks until you press (O) and select one. If you press (S), the
truck
will stop rotating and let you get a better look at it.
   While still on the screen with the six boxes on the left, if you
highlight
one of the boxes and press right on the d-pad, it will take you over
into the
box on the right and let you scroll up or down to choose one of the
trucks
directly. Either way, the first thing you do is to choose a truck to
race
with, then it will bring up a screen with four options, just like in
Country
Battle Mode (the main difference is that there is now a cute Japanese
girl in
the text box at the bottom of the screen).
        Start Race
        Modify Truck
        Save Truck
        Exit
   Except where noted, these screens are the same as in Country Battle
mode.

D1. Start Race (TAM)
   This is nearly identical to CBM, only it doesn't show the graphic of
the
other trucker you have to race against in the text box at the bottom, it
shows
the cute girl from the TAM Main Menu. In addition, it shows what I'm
presuming
to be the best time for each track, which you have to try to beat.

D2. Modify Truck (TAM)
   One thing you'll notice is that although all of the menu options are
still
there, the only item that you can actually modify is the steering wheel.
Other
than that, it won't let you customize any item. Also, your BP,
Performance
Percentage and Decoration Percentage are shown as dashed lines and can't
be
changed.

D3. Save Truck (TAM)
   This is identical to CBM. One note: if you already have a truck
loaded from
the memory card, even if you're not racing with it in TAM you'll want to
save
to the same slot on the memory card that you loaded it from. Your truck
will
be unaffected but any TAM times will be saved in that slot along with
it.

D4. Exit (TAM)
   Identical to CBM.

D5. Ranking Screen
   When you finish a race with a good time, instead of winning BP it
will show
your time and a ranking.

E. Men's Flower Arrangement Mode/Story Mode (translation from PSM)
   The third option on the Main Menu Screen is the curiously titled
Men's
Flower Arrangement Mode which is essentially a story mode. As I haven't
played
this mode very extensively yet, I don't have too much to add here. This
section will be expanded in further versions of the FAQ.

   The Main Menu consists of three horizontal boxes in the middle of the

screen with text in each of them. They are the three different stories
(translations again from the PSM article):
        Dream Chasing Highway Of The Northern Provinces
        Fire Dance
        Tale Of Traveling Down Through Japan
   Only the first two are initially playable, presumably the third one
has to
be unlocked by beating the other two. The first two play a lot like a
love
simulator to start with. You meet a cute girl, then go through several
screens
of text talking to her. Then you race.

E1. Dream Chasing Highway Of The Northern Provinces
   According to PSM, this story "traces the adventures of the hero
Bunjiro as
he travels down the Dream Chasing Highway Of The Northern Provinces."
You
start out in a cafe and meet a cute girl. After you talk to her, you go
into
the standard Start Race/Modify Truck/Save Truck/Exit screen just like in
CBM
or TAM. Like TAM, the only modification you can do is to change your
steering
wheel, and when you save you want to use the same slot that you've saved
your
CBM truck on. It won't erase your CBM truck, just add the information
from
your MFAM games.  When ready, start your engines and get ready for your
first
race, agains a large semi.

E2. Fire Dance
   Again according to PSM, Fire Dance follows the adventures of
Bunjiro's
rival Okura. As this one starts, you meet a pretty lady police officer
at
night and go through several screens of talking to her. Again you get
the
Start Race/Modify Truck/Save Truck/Exit screen but can't change anything
other
than the steering wheel. When you start, your first race is against a
tiny
black sports car and you get to drive a huge, FAST, semi.  It's no
problem
beating him (and I do mean beating... with your big rig you can bitch
slap him
all over the road) but for some reason winning against him simply isn't
enough
and you still get a "Game Over." Possibly the police lady told you to
drive
safe and not knock the other little cars off the road?  I haven't
figured this
one out yet.

E3. Tale Of Traveling Down Through Japan
   More on this section in a later revision after I unlock it.

F. Brain Competition Mode (Vs. Mode)
   This is the two player mode. According to PSM, you get to "set your
truck's
personality, mental faculties, and logic, then race against the computer
or
your friends." More on this section in the next revision of the FAQ.

G. Load Truck From Card
   This section is simple enough if you have already been through any of
the
Save menus. It will bring up a screen with two small boxes on the left
and a
larger box in the right. Select box 1 or 2 for memory card slot 1 or 2,
and it
will bring up four boxes of saved games and display the stats for each
one in
the large box on the right. Choose the one with your truck and it will
load up
into memory. Please note that you only need one of the four spots to
save one
game from each of the different modes. In one spot you will have your
CBM,
TAM, MFAM, and BCM stats together. Additionally, when you load your
saved
truck, it loads the stats from all four modes. You don't have to load
your
truck for CBM, then go back and load again to continue your MFAM game.
   When you have selected the truck you want to load, it will bring up
the
standard confirm/cancel text choices. Select the top one to continue,
the
bottom one to cancel.  If you have been playing a truck from a different

memory spot, make sure you save it before you load up a different truck,
or
any unsaved information will be lost.

V. Game Play & Strategy
   Well, it seems simple enough. You fly down the highway weaving in and
out
of traffic, trying to reach your destination before your opponent does.
The
roads are fairly straight, the traffic is usually pretty sparse, so
what's the
problem? Usually you are helplessly outclassed by your opponent's rig.
All you
have is your superior intellect and rapid reflexes to keep the bastard
behind
you.
   When you start out, for the first few seconds you aren't in control
of your
rig yet, and your opponent will fly right by you.  As soon as you gain
control, you have an opportunity to use your Speed Light.  Underneath
your
speedometer, on the right, is a small light with an "S" on it. Usually
this
light is dimmed unless you happen to be close behind the other truck in
the
same lane as him. When this happens, you will gain a burst of super
speed and
will start to catch up to him.  You want to fly up as fast and as close
as you
can, then cut around him at the last second and slingshot past him. If
you
give him the opportunity, he will cut you off so don't let him. If he
switches
lanes, follow him otherwise the light will go off and you will lose your
extra
speed.
  What you want to do is whip around him at the beginning of the race
(they
seem less likely to cut you off at the start) and keep the other guy
behind
you, because he will always be faster than you and will fly right by you
given
the opportunity. Watch the map closely (he is the red vehicle) and when
you
see him start to make a pass, cut him off. The other drivers are very
fast and
smart, and will use the other vehicles on the road sometimes to make
their
break, such as following close behind you in the right lane until a car
comes
up in the center lane, then rapidly flying across to the left lane with
the
other car in between so that if you try to cut him off you'll hit the
other
car instead.  It's usually easy to keep him behind you in the two lane
stretches of road, but the three lane sections can be difficult.
   One good method of slowing down your opponent is to use the passing
motorists as obstacles.  As you go flying past a helpless little Nissan
or
whatever, sharply cut across so that the middle of your rig hits the
smaller
car. This will injure the little vehicle and slow it down, if not
totalling it
outright and leaving it dead in the road. When you're in the lead, a few
well
placed junkers can help keep the other truck further behind you.
   Be careful that you don't do too much damage to your cargo, though.
The
five red lights in a row below the speedometer show the status of your
cargo.
As you collide with the other rig and cars, you will begin to damage the

cargo. For each red light that goes out, 200 BP will be deducted from
your
winnings so be carefuly not to lose your prize money before you've even
won
it.
  Don't forget to use your horn when there are cars in your way.
Sometimes
they will actually get out of your way.  And don't forget to hurl
insults
while your're at it, just to make you feel better.

VI. Codes & Secrets

   In order to play as the Ultra Truck that you see in the opening FMV
sequence, you must beat all eight tracks in Time Attack Mode in first
place.

   Here are a couple of Game Shark codes from [email protected] that
are
available at Indonesia Game Shark Codes
(http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Bunker/5088/) Please note that I
haven't
been able to get the second one to work yet.

Infinite Money                  D008AA7E 0000
                                8008AA7A 7FFF

No Damage & Max Speed           800C5334 0041
                                        D00EC51A EF7F
                                        800C5344 0041
                                        800C6176 003A
                                        800C8FAA 0E9E
                                        D00EC51A EFDF
                                        8010EEAA 7F7F
                                        800C6176 003A
                                        D00EC51A EFEF
                                        800C6176 003A
                                        D00EC51A EFFF
                                        800C6176 003A

VII. Index Of Abbreviations
   In case you couldn't figure it out yourself...
        (T)   = Triangle Button
        (S)   = Square Button
        (O)   = Circle Button
        (X)   = X Button
        d-pad = directional pad
        CBM   = Country Battle Mode
        TAM   = Time Attack Mode
        MFAM  = Men's Flower Arrangement Mode
        BCM   = Brain Competition Mode

VIII. Credits:
   The little information I did find on Art Truck Battle was in/at:
   PlayStation Magazine #11 July 98, p.26, by Bill Paris
   The Magic Box
(http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/5534/index.html)
   Indonesia Game Shark Codes
(http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Bunker/5088/)

IX. Version History:

Version 0.5 started on Jan 4, 1999.

X. Where Can Updates Be Found?

   Any updates will be posted to gamefaqs.com.


This document is ©1999 Christian Hunter McClain except where
specifically noted and quoted. This document may be freely distributed
as long as it is not altered in any way without the authors permission,
and as long as there is no monentary charge for said document.

Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu- The Art Truck Battle is ©1999 Human
Entertainment Japan.