****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ \ \ / / | __| __ |_ || _|| _ || | \ \/ / | __||__| / /,| _|| _|| | | \ / |_| |___||___||_\_\|___| / \ / /\ \ /__/ \__\ Created and Written by Karl Jobst Tips, Strategies and Fast Times Walkthrough created by David Van Moer ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** Version 0.8 Date: 8/21/00 Contact: Karl Jobst..........faq_god@htomail.com David Van Moer......wavezone23@hotmail.com F-Zero X E-group Address: http://www.egroups.com/group/FzeroX Come to the F-Zero X e-group to ask questions, submit times, and talk to the pros :) WRITTEN FROM PAL EXPERIENCE! And just in case you don't know about PAL and NTSC, it's a very technical area involving the type of TV you use. If you live in America or Japan, you are watching an NTSC TV, which can refresh your screen 60 times every second A.K.A - 60 different pictures in one second. PAL however, which is used in Australia and most parts of Europe, can only refresh the TV screen 50 times a second. Because of this, the speed of the game on an NTSC TV is much faster than that of a PAL TV. Thus, the cars on the PAL version will ultimately drive at a slower speed. Hmmm.......I hope I made sense there. I want you to know this because things may be different to NTSC users. The walkthroughs are set for PAL users, but are still a great help to NTSC users. But please don't blame me if something in this FAQ doesn't work because you use the NTSC F-Zero X. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** CONTENTS ----------- 1. Intro 2. Revision History (updated of course!) 3. Controls/Moves (Updated) 4. Basic Explanations (Updated) 5. Basic Tactics 6. Main Screen Options 7. Drivers and Machines 8. Grand Prix - Course Walkthroughs (Updated) 9. Time Attack 10. Death Race 11. VS Battle 12. Practice 13. Options 14. Fast Times - PAL and NTSC (updated) 15. David Van Moer's Speed Tactics 16. David Van Moer's Speed Walkthroughs 17. Death Race Tips 18. Death Race Grand Prix 19. Codes/Secrets 20. F.A.Q 21. F-Zero X E-group 22. E-mailing me. 23. E-mail Addresses 24. Copyright 25. Final Words, credits, thanks. 26. FIN ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** *~*~* INTRO *~*~* Another F-Zero X FAQ? Why? Well, this FAQ is going to be the best there is. Plus, being the person I am, I have started a Fast Times area, which is not totally complete. Well, I hope you enjoy reading this FAQ. Just remember that if you are unsure of anything, and the answer you're looking for isn't anywhere to be seen, just e-mail me and I'll see what I can do for you. -Karl ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** REVISION HISTORY ------------------- 0.8 - Times and walkthroughs update (8/21/00) I completed the Queen cup for the track Walkthroughs. I also updated times from Nathan, David, and I. I've e-mailed several people about times but I haven't gotten a reply from anyone yet... 0.71 - A times update... (8/19/00) This is just a times update today. However, there are some killer times and speeds by David, Nathan, and myself. Hmm...still waiting for more people to join the F-Zero X group, and I need times!!! Oh yeah, I added the times of Steven Zwartjes too. He's pretty good, but he might have faster times. I'm not too sure though because he hasn't replied to me!!! 0.7 - New sections.....making the FAQ a better place to live... (8/5/00) Hmmm...First I credit "underscore" for making me a mod on GameFAQs chat :) Don't know why, I guess I was just trying to bribe him :) I updated David's walkthrough. He has now completed all of the King Cup! So check that out. I have also updated a few times by David and Nathan, plus a few from me. Talking about me.....I JUST BEAT EVERY SINGLE STAFF GHOST!!! Such a big accomplishment. At the moment I'm trying to finish White Land 2 in under a minute. I'm so close! Yesterday I got 1:01 and I can go heaps faster! Hey, David's lap is still a second and a half fast than mine! I added 2 new sections, plus I also added the "(new)" and "(updated)" signs next to their appropriate sections. 0.65 - Update from David (7/31/00) David has sent me the Fast Time walkthroughs up to the Fire Field!!! So, I've posted them. I've also updated times from Nathan Stinson. I now only have 2 more staff ghosts to beat.... 0.612- Very small update (7/29/00) Just added the machines for Dan Taber's times. I finally beat the Mute City, Sand Ocean, and Devil's Forest staff ghosts all in one night! So, a few better times from me. 0.61 - A times update. (7/26/00) Well, a 99% times update today, plus I added another Death Match tip from Croco64. I added Wes McKinney's times as well which is a big thing because he's the guy who used to run the F-Zero X World Records site at www.turokcave.com/fzero/. Also updated a couple of my times and a couple of other times. Oh, and a word of news. Patrick Wessels said that I could have his times so they will be in soon. There's an F-Zero X egroup started now and you can find it at - http://www.egroups.com/group/FzeroX Here you can talk about F-Zero X and post your times or just chat about stuff. You can also post your proof because it allows you to put pictures on the site for everyone to view. I'll see you there. Just one more thing, I just got word that David is halfway through the Queen Cup with the Fast Times walkthroughs. I should post at least the Jack Cup walkthroughs in the next update. 0.6 - The incomplete FAQ. (7/22/00) The main walkthroughs are only for the Jack cup so far, but there are more walkthroughs to follow. I'm going to add tons more times to the fast times section and I have heaps of updating to do. David Van Moer is writing fast time walkthroughs so I'll be posting them in the near future as well. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************ CONTROLS ************ The first part of this section tells you what the buttons do on their own. So, don't get upset if you see a move for a button that I haven't listed. In the second part of this section, I will list all of the moves you can perform in your craft. Control Stick: The control stick steers the car. By tilting the control stick left, your car will turn left. The more you tilt the control stick, the harder the car will turn. But be careful, if you turn too fast, you will skid out o control! While you are driving on the track, press forward or back with the control stick, will either lower or rise the front of your car. If you are going at an incredibly high speed, while press back with the control stick (raising the front of your car), your car has a very good chance of blowing off the track into the city below. However, if you have the nose pointed down, there is little to no chance of your car blowing away. While you are driving on the track, tilting the nose will not be visible, but it still works. While you are in the air, you can use the control stick to determine your path, your distance, and your speed. While in flight, tilting the control stick left or right will steer you in that direction. But while you are in the air, it is difficult to steer properly. By pressing back with the control stick, you can tilt the nose of your craft up, which enables your craft to cover a greater distance. However, this will also cause your craft to slow down. If you press forward with the control stick, you can tilt the nose of your craft down. This will make your craft accelerate to an incredible speed, while at the same time covering a less distance. A Button: This causes your craft to accelerate. If you don't press this button, your craft will never move. If you release this button while moving, your craft will slow down, and eventually reach a crawling speed. B Button: You can only use this button on the second and third lap. It gives you craft a temporary boost of speed, which is shown by a green flame that erupts from the back of your craft. This speed boost will accelerate your speed dramatically, and can determine the outcome of a race. However, the amount of boosts you can perform in a race is limited, and has a downside. Every time you boost, you decrease the amount of energy that surrounds your craft. If you use up all of that energy, you will be unable to boost. Also, if you use up all of your energy, there is a very high possibility that you will be destroyed by either a rival car, or a hard wall. R Button: This button will cause your craft to drift to the right. However, you will lose speed. Z Button: This button will cause your craft to drift to the left. However, you will lose speed. L Button: This button allows you to see how much time separates you and the leading rival machine. If you are coming first, it shows how much time separates you and the rival machine coming second. C-Down: I'm kicking myself as I write this because up until today I thought that there wasn't a break in F-Zero X. Well, this is it. It acts as a hand brake, and slows the car down, eventually to a compete stop. At high speeds, this button is necessary when going around corners, to stop you from going out of control. The same applies while your craft is in the air. This button will slow your craft down very quickly while you fly. C-Up/Right: This button allows you to view the area behind your craft. While holding this button, you will see everything behind you, and will have no vision of the things in front of you. So, I wouldn't use this when there are corners nearby. C-Left: This button is only useful while playing with 2 or three other persons. In the quarter-split screens, there isn't enough room to put both the course radar and the lap display on each player's screen at the same time. So, this button will switch between the two. Start: This button pauses, and unpauses the race while it is in progress. Control Pad: At first I thought that the control pad served no use but David told me otherwise. First of all you can use it in the main screen and options menus. But most important you can use it on the machine settings screen. You can use the control stick to nudge the arrows left and right. This gives you more accuracy and helps out a lot. ********* MOVES ********* DRIFT TURN --- Right + R / Left + Z This turn is much sharper than the normal turn using the control stick. It lets you tackle the tougher turns, without you craft sliding out of control. However, using this turn WILL slow you down. SLIDE TURN --- Right + Z / Left + R I never use this turn, it isn't affective, and slows down your craft too much. It causes your craft to slide while it turns, but lets you regain control whenever you want. This turn allows you to turn very sharp corners. And as I have already said, this move slows you down a hell of a lot. However, if you choose a slider and put the machine settings at high acceleration, this turn will make your machine actually go faster! Just make sure that while you're turning you don't hold down R or Z - a simple tap to start you sliding is all that it takes. For more information on sliding check out David Van Moer's tactics. He describes it pretty well there. SIDE ATTACK --- Z - Z (tap Z twice) / R - R (tap R twice) This move is very affective when you want to bash a rival craft out of the competition. This move covers you in a red shield, and shoots your craft to the left or the right depending on which button you use. If you smash into any opposing vehicle(s), there is a very high chance that they will be destroy or severally injured. This attack is very accurate, and very fast. However, it will slow you down. This move can also be performed in the air. SPIN ATTACK --- R + Z - Z (hold R and tap Z twice) / Z + R - R (hold Z and tap R twice) This move will cause your craft to spin around in an attempt to knock out opponents around it. In crowded areas, this move can be very affective, and can destroy several crafts at a time. As with the other attack, this move will slow you down, but not much. This move can be very affective when performed in the air. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ********************** BASIC EXPLANATIONS ********************** The Energy Bar: The energy bar serves two purposes --- 1. The energy bar measures the strength of the shield that is surrounding you craft. Every time you bump into the side railings, or get hit by another car, part of your shield will deteriorate. Once your entire shield has been depleted, another blow will totally destroy you. 2. When you gain the power to boost, the energy bar acts as a fuel tank. Every time you boost, a portion of your energy gets sucked away. Once you have used up all of your energy, you can no longer boost! Plus, you still have to worry about being totally destroyed. To regain your energy, you can do two things. You can drive through pit stops, those long strips of pink, and you can destroy other vehicles to gain a slight amount of energy. When your energy bar is totally full up, you can't get any more energy. Pit Stops or Refill Zones: I just mentioned them while talking about the energy bar. The pit stops are the long stretches of pink area that you find on each course. When you drive through these areas of pink, your energy bar will gradually refill. While you are in a pit area, nothing can harm you, and nothing can deteriorate your energy bar. So, boosting in the pit lane won't decrease your energy! Stars: Every time you destroy a rival craft, you will be awarded with a star that will be sown on the right side of the screen. If you get five stars, you will be awarded with an extra ship! However, getting 10 stars in a race will earn you no extra rewards. :) Crafts: When you start a Grand Prix, you will own a certain amount of crafts depending on what difficulty level you are racing on. When you fall off the edge of a course, or are destroyed, you will lose a craft. Once all of you crafts have been destroyed, you will be forced to exit the Grand Prix and try again from the very beginning. Lap Display: This will tell you what lap, out of three, you are currently doing. Speedometer(km/h): The little square on the bottom right-hand side of the screen tells you the speed your craft is travelling. Position Display: This tells you what place your craft is currently at. 30 being last place, and 1 meaning you are leading the pack. Course Radar: This gives you a birdseye view of the course. You are represented by the flashing light-blue circle. The dark-blue circle represents the current leader of the computer-controlled craft. If you are in the lead, the dark-blue circle will represent second place. Top 6 Display: In the Grand Prix mode, you will see 6 pictures of drivers on the left side of the screen. These tell you who are currently in the top six positions, with the top of the 6 pictures in first place. Time Display: This tells you how long you have been racing for. Yellow Arrow Boosts: These are scattered about every course. If you run over them, they give you a speed boost similar to the boost caused when you push B. There need no energy, and can range in size. Traps: These things are little pyramids that are placed around only a couple of the course in F-Zero X. They throw any machine up in the air, slow them down, and take away a tiny little piece of the machine's energy. Ice and Dirt Sections: These slow your machine down, and course your vehicle to slide more often than not. A word of advice, don't drive through these! Jump Plates: These look like long Traps, but they don't harm you in any way. These cause your machine to jump up into the air. These can cause your machine's speed to increase dramatically if used correctly. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ***************** BASIC TACTICS ***************** DON'T TURN TOO FAST! The biggest mistake you can make in F-Zero X is turning too fast into a corner, and sliding out of control. Not only can sliding destroy you if you ram into a wall with low energy, but it slows you down dramatically, and can sometimes determine the outcome of a race. However, even on sharp turns, there are ways to stop sliding: 1. Drift Turn: This turn is very affective, and is 100% slide free. If there are any tight corners, with little or no enemies around, this is the turn for you. 2. Side Attack Turn(or jumping): This is the best turning technique, and maybe not for beginners. While turning, this move will cause you craft to 'jump' over to the right or left, and turn very quickly. It stops sliding, and is very useful in tight S-bends. 3. Tap The Accelerator (I'll abbreviate it as "TA"): If you are going around a fairly sharp corner, and feel no need to use the drift turn or jump turn, but there is still some risk of sliding, letting go of the accelerator can grip you to course. This almost totally demolishes the risk of sliding, and there is an unnoticeable amount of speed loss. 4. I have never used this next technique while racing, as I don't find it useful and there are better ways to go around corners. This technique is to brake as you turn a corner. Using the brake will keep you from losing control, but it slows you down too much to be of use. I suggest using any of the three techniques mentioned above. So, there should never be a time where you slide out of control! DESTROY YOUR RIVALS! I'm sure you all have times where there is someone who always gets in first place, and you're sure you have no way to possibly win. Well, there is a simple strategy that can put the fastest of your enemies out of the picture. The idea is to destroy your rivals, so that they have no chance of getting any points. It can put you into the lead by a long way, and can set them back to the bottom of the list. This is a very, very good technique, and is very effective. If you are having trouble getting rid of your rivals, check out the 'Killing Tips' part of this FAQ. GET INTO FIRST PLACE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE! It is best if you get into first place as soon as possible. It gives you a clear area in front of you where there is no chance of running into crafts that are in front of you. It lets you turn corners smoothly, and gives you plenty of room to go at your max speed without any slow downs. NO RAILS = EASY KILLS! On some levels you encounter parts of the course that have no side rails, these are the ultimate areas to destroy other crafts. Simply drive along side them, and give them a little tap off the edge of the track. You'll soon hear a little "DING", and will be awarded with a star. However, be careful. If you miss your target, there is a pretty good chance that you will fall down instead of your rival craft. Obviously, this is a very bad thing. DON'T USE UP ALL OF YOUR ENERGY! Don't boost until you cannot boost any more. It will leave you destroy-prone, and a nice target for rival crafts. One nick off a wall when your energy is gone, and you're toast. Also, try to preserve your energy so that it runs for the entire lap until the pit zone where you can refuel. If you run out of juice early in a lap, it will give other crafts ample opportunity to gain a higher speed than you, and get a long way in front of you. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** *********************** MAIN SCREEN OPTIONS *********************** GP --- Grand Prix: This will lead you to the Grand Prix mode where you will race with 30 other cars, in an attempt to score the most points. TIME ATTACK: This mode will let you race by yourself in an attempt to get the fastest time you possibly can on any level. It also lets you view the fastest times held for each level. DEATH MATCH: This mode is designed simply for the purpose of destroy 29 crafts as fast as you can. Great fun! VS MODE: This mode lets you battle it out with up to three friends, and maybe a computer-controlled craft. PRACTICE: A mode that lets you race with 29 other cars on any course you want. The idea isn't to win, but to practice your skills. OPTIONS: This lets you fiddle around with the options of the game. Dealing with sound, gameplay, and multiplayer. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ******************** DRIVERS AND CARS ******************** In F-Zero X it is essential that you choose the right driver to race with. Some are excellent, some just plain suck. Here's the list of all the drivers. Because some of you might have lost your manuals (as I did for a LONG time), I'll add everything the manual did. But first of all, here are the definitions --- The scale ranges from A to E, A being the best, and E being the worst. Weight: The weight of the machine tells us (obviously) how heavy the machine is. The heavier the machine, the larger the top speed it is able to go. But don't be fooled, if a heavy machine has a bad boost, it will never reach the speed of a light machine with a good boost. Body: This tells us how well the machine can withstand damage, either from other vehicles, or driving into rails. The better the body, the more damage the machine can withstand. It also helps with the demolition of other rival machines. Boost: This tells us how well the machine can boost. This depends on the power, and the length of the boost. Having a good boost in most cases is essential the winning. Grip. This tells us how well the machine can turn around corners. A bad grip is a sign that the machine will slide often. Good grip tells us that the machine can round corners with little chance of sliding. Grip is also very important. IMPORTANT! The pilot in the machine has absolutely nothing to do with the way the machine drives. You are the only person controlling the machine, and the pilot of the machine does not effect the craft IN-ANY-WAY. Oh, and one more thing. The pilot is on the left, and the machine is on the right. ------------ FIRST ROW ------------ CAPTION FALCON ---------------------- BLUE FALCON ----------------- ----------------- Age: 36 Weight: 1260 kg Story: He's a well known bounty hunter Body: B as well as a great F-zero pilot. Many Boost: B mysteries surround Capt. Falcon --- Grip: C the only thing we know is that he's Number: 7 from Port Town. Opinion: This is a good machine, but it has nothing that makes it stand out from the pack. There are far better alternatives. However, this is a good go for beginners because it is an all rounded machine. Third best racer in the first row. DR. STEWART ------------------------- GOLDEN FOX -------------- ---------------- Age: 41 Weight: 1420 kg Story: He's been living in the fast Body: D lane as a doctor. Dr. Stewart became Boost: A interested in the F-Zero X GP after Grip: D the death of his father/ The Golden Number: 3 Fox belonged to his father. Opinion: This machine is a bad choice for any driver. It may have good boost, but lacks in both other areas. A bad machine indeed. PICO -------------------------------- WILD GOOSE ------- ---------------- Age: 123 (or so he says) Weight: 1620 kg Story: Pico used to work for a special Body: B unit of the Poripoto army. He's Boost: B aggressive, but calm. Rumour has it Grip: C that he is also an infamous hit man. Number: 6 Opinion: This is the second best machine in the first row. Has a decent boost and a pretty good body. Excellent for intermediate drivers, but more difficult for beginners. SAMURAI GOROH ----------------------- FIRE STINGRAY ---------------- ------------------- Age: 44 Weight: 1960 kg Story: He's one of the best bounty Body: A hunters around and the leader of a Boost: D group of space thieves. Goroh's reason Grip: B for joining F-Zero is because of his Number: 5 hatred for Capt. Falcon, his rival. Opinion: An OK machine, but it is by far the machine you should choose to race with. Generally, body is the least important feature, and doesn't really serve much use if you want to win a face. Not a speed vehicle. JODY SUMMER ------------------------- WHITE CAT -------------- --------------- Age: 24 Weight: 1150 kg Story: Jody is one the top rookie Body: C pilots in the circuit. While Jody Boost: C doesn't have much experience, many see Grip: A her as a dark horse. Number: 2 Opinion: The best machine in the first row. It has excellent grip, which is very important in a machine. A very good choice for beginners, and a good choice for intermediates. MIGHTY GAZELLE ---------------------- RED GAZELLE ----------------- ----------------- Age: 36 Weight: 1330 kg Story: Three years ago, he was injured Body: E in a freak racing accident and Boost: A miraculously survived. Due to the Grip: C damage his body sustained, he became a Number: 1 cyborg. Others have tried to stop him from competing, but he is determined to win. Opinion: An underestimated machine, because it takes a very good pilot to be able to master it. It is the fastest racer in the first row. However, there are better alternatives to this machine, such as the Twin Noritta. But if you only have the first row accessed, a choice not for the faint hearted. ------------- SECOND ROW ------------- BABA -------------------------------- IRON TIGER ------- ---------------- Age:18 Weight: 1780 kg Story: This young rookie has Body: B incredible intuition and is very Boost: D flexible. After enduring a great deal Grip: A of training, Baba will make his racing Number: 4 debut this season. Opinion: This machine has very good grip, and a pretty good body, but lacks any speed. Boost is crucial if you're going to win the Grand Prix, and this is not the best choice. OCTOMAN ----------------------------- DEEP CLAW ---------- --------------- Age: Unknown Weight: 990 kg Story: He represents the planet takora,Body: B an enemy of the Milky Way Federation. Boost: B Takorans are intent on showing their Grip: C advanced intelligence to the universe. Number: 8 Opinion: Once again we have an average machine. There are better machines to choose from. DR. CLASH --------------------------- CRAZY BEAR ------------ ---------------- Age: 54 Weight: 2220 kg Story: A former F-Zero engineer, it Body: A has been Dr. Clash's dream to become a Boost: B pilot. He is participating in the race Grip: E with a machine he designed and built Number: 29 himself. Opinion: This machine just plain sucks. Sure, it has a good body, but the grip is one of the worst in the game. Some machines can use their bad grip to an advantage, but this machine cannot. A bad choice for anyone. MR. EAD ----------------------------- GREAT STAR ---------- ---------------- Age: Unknown Weight: 1870 kg Story: This cyborg was developed by Body: E the mysterious development group EAD. Boost: A His purpose is to test his I.Q. and Grip: D debug his man-made programming. Number: 9 Opinion: One of the worst machines in the game. Not a good pick indeed. Bad grip, and a bad body. The good boost does not balance out the disadvantages. BIO REX ----------------------------- BIG FANG ---------- -------------- Age: 8 Weight: 1520 kg Story: This dinosaur is a product of Body: B bio-technology. Through this Boost: D technology, his brain has become very Grip: A similar to a human's. If he winds the Number: 15 Grand Prix, he will prove that he's superior to humans. Opinion: I used this machine a lot when I was an intermediate driver, and I won the Queen Grand Prix with it on expert, so it must be pretty good. However, lack of boost will pose a problem in the harder difficulties and courses. BILLY ------------------------------- MAD WOLF -------- -------------- Age: 6 Weight: 1490 kg Story: Billy is the first monkey to Body: B participate in F-Zero. He's out to Boost: B prove that monkeys are the superior Grip: C species. Number: 11 Opinion: Just like all of the other machines with the same attributes. I give the same advice. ------------ THIRD ROW ------------ SILVER NEELSEN ---------------------- NIGHT THUNDER ----------------- ------------------- Age: 97 Weight: 1530 kg Story: Neelsen has participated in Body: B more Grand Prix races than anyone, but Boost: A has yet to win. His age has drawn Grip: E criticism. Because he is resentful of Number: 23 the newer machines, the other racers are avoiding him. Opinion: This car is an excellent slider. If you don't know what a slider is, check out the fast times section later in this FAQ. The grip is on E for a reason, and you can take advantage of this. This car is very good for very windy courses; the type you will find in the Joker Cup. However, this car is definitely not for beginners. But a must for experts......like me! :) GOMAR & SHIOH ----------------------- TWIN NORITTA ---------------- ------------------ Age: Unknown Weight: 780 kg Story: These Furikake people always Body: E act as one person. They are a very Boost: A strange race. While the rules don't Grip: C allow pilots to use their machines for Number: 22 two rides, they were approved by the committee. Their machine is the lightest in the circuit. Opinion: The best machine in the game!!!! This machine rocks! It has the best boost in the game, and is the fastest machine in the game. A craft not for beginners, but a craft for intermediates. However, this craft is best in time attack, and doesn't fair that well in the Grand Prix. So, look through the Grand Prix walkthroughs to see which Grand Prix course this is the best for. But overall in Time Attack, this is the vehicle of choice. JOHN TANAKA ------------------------- WONDER WASP -------------- ----------------- Age: 30 Weight: 900 kg Story: Tanaka, an engineer, and member Body: D of the Milky Way Federation, is Boost: A supposed to be assisting Jody Summer. Grip: D His concern for his colleague Number: 26 compelled him to join the Grand Prix. He seems to be more interested in protecting Jody Summer than winning the Grand Prix. Opinion: Ummm......a really crap machine. Just don't choose it. I SAID DON'T CHOOSE IT!!! MRS. ARROW -------------------------- QUEEN METEOR ------------- ------------------ Age: 26 Weight: 1140 kg Story: Mrs. Arrow races with her Body: E husband Super Arrow. She's a good wife Boost: B and team member. Actually, her racing Grip: B experience makes her a better pilot Number: 21 than her husband. Opinion: An excellent choice for a machine, if you haven't got all of the rows accessed. I used this racer when I was an intermediate racer, for the slightly harder courses. Don't be fooled by the bad body, it doesn't make much of a different. Good grip and boost are a good combination. BLOOD FALCON ------------------------ BLOOD HAWK --------------- ---------------- Age: 36 Weight: 1170 kg Story: Created by Black Shadow, Blood Body: B Falcon is an exact duplicate of Boost: A Captain Falcon. Well, almost. Blood Grip: E Falcon is evil --- very evil. Number: 25 Opinion: Another slider. The machine absolutely rocks on levels like Rainbow road and big hand. For more info on how to control this beast, read the fast times section. JACK LEVIN -------------------------- ASTRO ROBIN ------------- ----------------- Age: 18 Weight: 1050 kg Story: Jack's a favourite of the Body: B female fans. Any merchandise with his Boost: D face on it sells out immediately. Grip: A While most people talk about his good Number: 14 looks and popularity, not too many people mention his racing skill. Opinion: An OK choice for a car, but I never use it. This machines standard is below average. ------------- FOURTH ROW ------------- JAMES McCLOUD ----------------------- LITTLE WYVERN ---------------- ------------------ Age: 31 Weight: 1390 kg Story: James McCloud is a hired Body: E ranger, and the leader of Galaxy Dog. Boost: B He remodelled his space fighter into Grip: B an F-Zero machine. McCloud is in this Number: 10 Grand Prix for one reason --- money. Opinion: Another good choice for a car, on the intermediate circuit. But, you don't want to hit too many rails with this baby. ZODA -------------------------------- DEATH ANCHOR ------- ------------------ Age: Unknown Weight: 1620 kg Story: Zoda is the incarnation of evil Body: E and intent on conquering the earth. Boost: A Why he's racing in the Grand Prix is Grip: C still a mystery. His past disputes Number: 13 against the Arrows and Captain Falcon are well known. Opinion: One of the fastest cars in the game. A really good choice for expert riders who know how to get around the track at very high speeds without banging into side railings. MICHAEL CHAIN ----------------------- WILD BOAR ---------------- --------------- Age: 38 Weight: 2110 Story: He's the leader of the bloody Body: A chain gang. Michael participates in Boost: C the Grand Prix to show off his driving Grip: C skills to member of his gang. Since he Number: 24 rarely wins, members are slowly leaving the gang. Opinion: Umm......I have to say that I don't really like this car. It has a less than average boost and grip, which are most important. SUPER ARROW ------------------------- KING METEOR -------------- ----------------- Age: 34 Weight: 860 kg Story: Super Arrow's job is to protect Body: E the Earth. When Super Arrow discovered Boost: B that Zoda, his sworn enemy, had Grip: B entered the Grand Prix, he entered as Number: 20 well. Opinion: The attributes are identical to that of his wife's machine. So, I give the same advice. KATE ALEN --------------------------- SUPER PIRANHA ------------ ------------------- Age: 29 Weight: 1010 kg Story: This popular singer and dancer Body: B has decided to try her hand at racing. Boost: C She will debut this season. Grip: B Number: 12 Opinion: A good machine for beginners, but not a choice for intermediates or experts who live their life in the fast lane. ROGER BUSTER ------------------------ MIGHTY HURRICANE --------------- ---------------------- Age: 40 Weight: 1780 kg Story: Roger, and transportation guru, Body: E was supposed to transport a machine to Boost: B an unknown participant. His partner Grip: B persuaded him to abandon that idea and Number: 28 race for himself. Opinion: Another good choice of a machine. ------------ FIFTH ROW ------------ LEON -------------------------------- SPACE ANGLER ------- ------------------ Age: 15 Weight: 910 kg Story: Compared to humans, Leon is not Body: C very bright. He makes up for it with Boost: C his sharp reflexes and cornering Grip: A ability. Number: 19 Opinion: An excellent choice for a machine, but there are better machines you can choose with the same attributes. DRAQ -------------------------------- MIGHTY TYPHOON ------- -------------------- Age: 136 Weight: 950 kg Story: Draq works with Roger Buster, Body: C and is a big fan of F-Zero. Driving in Boost: A the Grand Prix has been his life-long Grip: D dream. Number: 27 Opinion: I have only used this machine once and I will never use it again. I give you the same advice. BEASTMAN ---------------------------- HYPER SPEEDER ----------- ------------------- Age: 29 Weight: 1460 kg Story: When just a child, Beastman was Body: C nearly eaten by a giant alligator. Boost: C Ever since then, he's been a slayer of Grip: A beasts. now he hopes to advertise his Number: 18 services in the Grand Prix. Opinion: This machine takes the role of the second best machine in the game! The best machine for courses with tight corners, and still, has a decent boost. ANTONIO GUSTER ---------------------- GREEN PANTHER ----------------- ------------------- Age: 35 Weight: 2060 kg Story: Antonio was once Goroh's body: A right-hand man, but Goroh betrayed Boost: B him. Now Antonio has joined the Grand Grip: D Prix in hopes of exacting revenge on Number: 17 his former mentor. Opinion: Don't use this machine. It just plain sucks. BLACK SHADOW ------------------------ BLACK BULL --------------- ---------------- Age: Unknown Weight: 2340 kg Story: The King of evil. Black Shadow Body: A strikes fear in the hearts of Boost: E everyone. His goal is to destroy Grip: A Captain Falcon in front of millions of Number: 30 viewers. Opinion: An awesome racer for people who like to go around and smash other machines to a million pieces. It has awesome grip, and the heaviest body, but has the worst boost in the game. Seriously, this machine will not win you the trophy on the master difficulty. But still, this is one hell of a machine. THE SKULL --------------------------- SONIC PHANTOM ------------ ------------------- Age: 240 Weight: 1010 kg Story: Skull was once a great legend Body: C among drivers. Using science and black Boost: A magic, Skull returned from the grave Grip: D to compete one more time. Number: 16 Opinion: A very fast machine, but has very bad grip. When you're going very fast, losing grip (unless you're a slider, but this machine isn't) is the last thing you would want to happen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OK, now that you know about all of the machines, here are the 5 best machines in the game. However, if you want to know what machines are best for what courses, read the walkthroughs. Well, anyway..... TOP 5 MACHINES IN F-ZERO X (in my opinion :) ----------------------------------------------- 1. Twin Noritta: Without a doubt the best machine in the game. It is the fastest machine you will ever encounter, and speed is the key to winning a race. 2. Hyper Speeder: The second best machine in the game. This baby kicks some serious arse when it comes to the harder courses. 3. Blood Hawk: Underestimated because of it's weak grip. Many people don't know about sliding, and that is the cause of that - people hate this beautiful piece of machinery. 4. Night Thunder: Almost identical to the Blood Hawk, and another underestimated machine. This baby rocks on Rainbow Road! 5. Black Bull: This machine isn't in here because it can win races, this baby is here because it kicks some serious butt! It has the best grip, and the best body in the game, and can destroy any adversary. A must for anyone who wants to race simply to smash up rival cars. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************** GRAND PRIX ************** The Grand Prix is the main feature of F-Zero X. Here, you battle it out against 30 rival machines in order to win the most amount of points in a total of six races. When you first enter the Grand Prix mode, you will have to select one of 3 difficulties, Novice, Standard, and Expert. Ranging from very easy, to very difficult. The difficulties don't change the courses, but they improve the way the computer-controlled cars perform, making it harder for you to win. After completing certain tasks, you get to choose a fourth difficulty, Master. Next you will have to choose between three cups --- JACK, QUEEN, and KING. Jack being the easiest, and King being the hardest of the three. However, after completing certain tasks, you will be able to choose from two other cups --- The JOKER cup, and the X cup. But to find out how to unlock these cups you'll have to read on. After you've selected the desired cup, you'll then have to select the first track on which you will be racing. You don't have a choice here, so just press A and keep going. The next thing you must do is select which machine you will be racing with through the WHOLE cup. You won't be able to select a different machine for each course, so have a think about which machine will fair best through every track. OK, now comes a tricky part. You have to choose whether or not your craft will excel in either acceleration, or speed. A lot of people don't exactly know why you need this, but it is very important. The graph looks something like this-- ACCELERATION <----> MAX SPEED | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------- /\ This is very hard to explain, but it gets easier to do with practice. By moving the arrow to the left or right, you can decide if your machine will have high acceleration, or a high maximum speed. If your machine has a high acceleration, it won't go its fastest. If your machine has a high max speed, it will go faster, but it will take longer to reach that higher speed. Here's a brief layout --- Acceleration: This will make your machine reach high speeds quickly. At the beginning of a race, it will reach its maximum quickly. However, it won't reach its highest possible speed. If the machine hits a wall, or turns sharply, slowing down, it will recover more hastily. And also, the machine will not lose as much speed when going through ice or dirt traps. Max Speed: This will make your machine reach a higher speed. It will be able to go faster over a long distance. However, to reach its higher speed will take longer. A machine with a higher speed will be affected more by its boost, making it go faster. It will take longer to recover if it slows down. In the long run, max speed is more important than acceleration. The more you move the arrow to the left or right, the more your machine will be affected. On the same screen that you adjust the acceleration and max speed, you can also change the colour of your machine. Just by pressing R and L you can choose between 4 different colours for your machine's paint. OK, once you've finished with the Max speed and acceleration it will be time for you to start the first race. Now that you know all of the basic information, here's the walkthrough part. ************************** DIFFICULTY INFORMATION ************************** NOVICE: Very, very easy. This is the first difficulty you should have a go at. Even on your first try, you should be able to rank highly, and possibly win. The speed of the race is rather slow, and the computer doesn't really try to overtake you while you are in first place. Also, the machines are very easy to destroy, and they rarely attack you. STANDARD: Things start to get more difficult. The speed of the machines increase, and there is a bigger fight between 1st and 2nd place. Now the machines start to hug the back of your machine when you are in first place. The machines are slightly harder to destroy to, but there really isn't any different in the computer's AI. DIFFICULT: A really big jump in the difficulty level. The speed of rival machines really picks over yours. The machines will overtake you much more often, and they will dramatically speed up in an attempt to get into first place. In this difficulty it is important to destroy rival machines that are ranked above you to give you a better shot at the gold medal. MASTER: Unbeatable to the average player. This is insanely hard. The way that the creators of F-Zero X have made this really does get on your nerves. In the first lap it is usually impossible to move up from 30th place, because the other machines will ALWAYS be faster than you. If you are coming first to an extraordinary degree, the computer will speed up just to get in front of you. This difficulty will have you throwing the controller out the window. You will go insane trying to win, and most people give up trying before they reach the goal of winning all 4 cups on the master difficulty. However, there is always a way to win, and hopefully my walkthroughs will help you through the tough times. *********** SCORING *********** When you finish the race you get points depending on where you were ranked. Here's a list of how many points you get for each position - 1st - 100 Points 2nd - 93 Points 3rd - 87 Points 4th - 81 Points 5th - 76 Points 6th - 71 Points 7th - 66 Points 8th - 62 Points 9th - 58 Points 10th - 54 Points 11th - 50 Points 12th - 47 Points 13th - 44 Points 14th - 41 Points 15th - 38 Points 16th - 35 Points 17th - 33 Points 18th - 31 Points 19th - 29 Points 20th - 27 Points 21st - 25 Points 22nd - 23 Points 23rd - 22 Points 24th - 21 Points 25th - 20 Points 26th - 19 Points 27th - 18 Points 28th - 17 Points 29th - 16 Points 30th - 15 Points Ideally, if you destroy a rival machine, this gives you a 0% chance of coming 30th. ************************** THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ************************** The faster YOU go, the faster THEY go --- Yes, it's true. The rival machines will ALWAYS go faster just to give you a bit of competition. For instance, I played Mute City on novice. First, I sat at starting line and waited until the computer finished its three laps, then I finished myself. The fastest computer time was 2:07. Then, I went fairly fast, and I came first. The fastest computer time then was 1:47. The computer improved by over twenty seconds! Just because I went fast, the computer went faster too. The way the creators have set up the Grand Prix really does suck, and is more annoying then anything. What's the use of going extremely fast if you know the computer will always catch up? The computer has a very small amount of energy --- The computer-controlled machines have a very small amount of shield energy, and are very easily destroyed. However, as the difficulty rises, the computer gets more and more energy. On novice, a small bump to a rival car will most likely burst it into flames. But on master, it will take several average side attacks. Don't waster time destroying slow machines --- In other words, don't focus all of your attention on machines you know won't get a high place. Attack rival machines will slow you down, so it's a good idea to get into the lead before you do any major destruction. Once you're in the front, you can afford to take a bash at anyone who tries to overtake you. This is the best way to take out rival machines. And also, use the basic tactics I have shown you earlier in the FAQ. All of them will be very useful to you. Anyway, now on to the course walkthroughs... *********************** COURSE WALKTHROUGHS *********************** You don't always have to follow these walkthroughs step-by-step. Try different things, and if anything works better for you, do it. I'm just trying to make it easier for you to win, but do the course whichever way you want. ------------------ --- JACK CUP --- ------------------ The Jack cup is the easiest cup in the game. It is here to let you get used to driving an F-Zero machine, without providing too much of a challenge. Vehicles for Novice and Standard Difficulty --- Vehicle of Choice: First row activated ---- White cat Second row activated --- White cat Third row activated ---- Queen Meteor Fourth row activated --- King Meteor Fifth row activated ---- King Meteor Vehicles for Expert Difficulty --- Vehicle of Choice: First row activated ---- White cat Second row activated --- White cat Third row activated ---- Queen Meteor Fourth row activated --- King Meteor Fifth row activated ---- King Meteor Vehicle for Master Difficulty --- Vehicle of choice --- King Meteor 1. MUTE CITY --------------- MACHINE SETTING: For every track I'll tell you what I think the best engine setting is (Max speed or acceleration). If I say 3 from right, it means that the arrow should be on the line that is three lines from the right hand side. I will also tell you how many nudges you should put the arrow to the left or the right. A nudge to the left or right is very small. Just tap the control stick to the left or right and the arrow should "nudge" over a tiny bit. Each nudge effects the performance of the machine in a big way. If I said the best setting is 3 from the right, 4 nudges left, you have to line the arrow up with the 3rd line from the right, and nudge the arrow 4 times to the right. If you have trouble understanding this, e-mail me for a more in-depth explanation. Anyway, the best machine setting for Mute City is 2 lines from the right. --- A fairly easy track with no sharp turns. It takes the basic shape of an 8, with a loop situated near the end. The track also has 4 zippers. Basic Walkthrough: At the beginning of the race, stick to the right. Breeze around the first corner without coming into contact with rival machines. Hit the first zipper, and hit the second. In the next corner, use the side attack to jump around the inside of the other machines. Once around the corner, make a very straight line on the right of the track, and you should be able to pass a lot of machines. While going through the pit area, move over to the left side of the track. In the next long turn, try to stick close to the edge of the track. If you need to, tap the accelerator to keep your grip. Hit the next boost, and ease your way though the second half of the turn. Hit the boost just before the loop, and keep to the right side of the track as you go around. At the small jump after the loop, dip your nose down slightly to pick up a bit of speed. Once past the finish line, boost once to gain speed. At the first corner, jump to the right to prevent you from sliding. Hit both zippers, and jump around the next corner into the pit area. Hit the boost as you go through the pit area and boost again just as you exit. You don't need to, but if you cannot get around the next corner without sliding, tap the accelerator a couple of times. Hit the zipper, and boost again before the next zipper. Hit the next zipper and keep to the right of the loop. Boost a few seconds after the zipper, and dip your nose at the small jump. Boost before the finish line and keep your speed. Jump around the next corner and hit both zippers. Jump around the next corner and boost while going through the pit area. Boost once again before the next zipper and tap A if you need to. Hit the zipper and boost again before the zipper in the loop. After the final zipper, boost continuously up to the finish line. Master Tips: You need to boost more if you want to win. It is very important that you get the most out of your boost power. Stick close to the railing when you turn corners, and never slide. By boosting as fast as you can at the end you can gain a lot of ground. 2. Silence ------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 stripes from right, 2 nudges left. One of the fastest tracks in the game. In this track you will maintain a constant high speed, and sometimes you go so fast you fly off the track! Basic Walkthrough: This level can be very crowded, and rival machines can get in the way. However, all you have to do is go around the main flow of the machines, and you'll easily win. It all depends on how many machines you pass in the first lap. At the start of the race, hit the first zipper and move to the left. Keeping as much to the left as possible hit the next zipper. Move over to the right and hit the next zipper, then move back to the left and hit the fourth zipper. At this time you should be going pretty fast, and it is important that you don't bump into rival machines. Hit the next zipper in the centre of the track, and move over to the left again. The mainstream of machines will be on the right, and you should breeze straight past most of them. Hit the zipper on the left, and try and go for the next zipper. If there are too many machines there, ignore it. Slowly make your way over to the right side of the track, dodging rival machines. Drive through the right pit stop, and keep a pretty good speed up to the finish line. As soon as you pass the finish line boost up to the first zipper. Move to the left and boost again up to the next 3 zippers. Hit all three zippers and move into the centre of the course. Boost if you can into the next zipper, and then hit the zipper on the right. Ignore the next zipper on the left, and hit the zipper in the centre. Tap B until the finish of the race, you need to constantly travel at a very high speed. As you pass the last zipper you will need to hold UP on the control stick. If you don't you'll totally fly of the track and into the city below. Keep boosting, and boosting, and boosting up to the pit area. Go through the right pit area and DON'T MISS AN INCH! You need all the boost power you can handle. As you go through the pit stop you will also need to hold up on the control stick to save you from flying off. But still, you will always fly off for half a second. Complete the third lap exactly the same as you did the second and you should have an easy win. Master Tips: It is VERY important that you don't get slowed down in the early stages of the race. Try to get around 20th position at the second lap, and boost continuously until the end of the race. The leading machine is very hard to beat, so you need to get into the lead as soon as you can. 3. Sand Ocean ---------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 stripes from right, 4 nudges left This track contains two tunnels where you can race along the sides and even upside down! Basic Walkthrough: This track is pretty easy, but keeping your grip in the tunnels can be difficult. Just remember that if you come out of the tunnel upside down you will fly off the track! At the start of the race move to the right side of the track. When you get into the tunnel, move over to the left side so that you're on the side of the tunnel. When you are driving through the tunnel try not to slide down onto the bottom or other machines will most likely slow you down. Once you reach the grey portion of the tunnel try to avoid other machines, but try not to spin around too much. Make sure your machine is the right way up as you leave the tunnel and stick close to the yellow line. Once out of the tunnel ease your way around the next corner. Hit the zipper and ease around the corner after that. In the next tunnel make sure you hit the zipper. Try not to loose your grip. Once past the finish line hit your boost. When you get into the tunnel keep to the left side so you don't slide around too much. If you start to slide tap the accelerator a bit. Boost a couple of times through the first tunnel and keep the high speed all the way through. When you exit the tunnel you should be going at a high speed. At high speeds you will need to jump around the next corner into the zipper. You may also need to jump around the corner after the zipper. Boost in the next tunnel and make sure to hit the zipper. Don't boost again until you reach the finish line. Make sure you go through as much of the pit area as possible. Complete the third lap similar to how you did the second. Make sure you don't slide in any of the tunnel because you'll slow down immensely. After the second last zipper, you should have about a quarter of your energy left; you need to boost continuously until the end. Again, make sure you don't slide. Master Tips: Very, very tough race to win on master. Just remember to keep very close to the inside railing when going around the corners, and don't slide. Make sure you keep up a high speed, and if need be, take out a few rival machines. 4. Devil's Forest -------------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 stripes from right, 3 nudges left. A pretty simple course with a couple of tight turns and some dirt areas. Basic Walkthrough: At the start of the track there is a fairly laid back left turn, and then a harsh right turn. Keep to the left on the first turn, and then jump a few times when going around the second turn. Hit the next zipper and keep as much to the left as possible while going down the long straight. At the end off the straight you'll come to another sharp turn. Again, you need to jump a few times to stop your machine from going through the dirt. Hit the next zipper and keep to the right. Next go through the pit stop on the right. Boost straight after the finish line and ease around the first bend. Jump around the hard bend and then boost 2 or 3 times up to the next zipper. Once again, keep to the left on that long straight. About halfway along the straight boost again. Jump around the next hard corner and boost towards the next zipper. Hit the zipper and boost again while going through the right pit area. Complete the third lap similar to how you did the second. Near the end, if you have extra energy, boost more than once on the long straight to get a higher speed. Master Tips: Make sure you go VERY tight around the two sharpest corners. Don't go into the dart zone. Don't miss a zipper, and boost whenever your speed is low. This course is pretty easy to win. 5. Big Blue -------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 stripes from right, 5 nudges left. This is the hardest course in the first cup. Throughout the entire course you race on the outside of a tube! You can go upside down and all around in every direction. You can even just sit there and go round and round and round and round forever! Well, at least until you get sick and throw up. But believe me, if you throw up, F-Zero X definitely isn't the game for you. Anyway, on with the walkthrough. Basic Walkthrough: This track is quite difficult on your first tries. However, with practice this level can become very easy. There are 8 zippers in total on the tube. You should try and hit at least 5 zippers every lap. On you first, you should try to hit 7 zippers to keep up your speed. This track will require a lot of TA to keep your grip on the outside of the tube. There's a very good chance you will slide, or get totally blown away! When you are going fast, don't turn too fast. If you need to turn reasonably fast, use some TA. You shouldn't need to jump at any time. From the start try and get right into the centre of the track. Jump onto the tube and sit right on the top, just to the right. Hit the first boost and immediately get to the bottom by turning left. Use some TA if necessary. On the bottom of the tube you will encounter zipper number 2. Hit the zipper and straight ahead is zipper number 3. Straight after zipper number 3 you will need to go to the left, you will probably need to use TA. You will now see zipper number 4. Once you hit zipper number 4, you will need to give constant boosts of TA. The track will start to curve, and you need to keep on the inside area. Move to the right and you should be able to catch zipper number 5. After zipper number 5 you should be going very fast. Straight after you go over zipper number 5 you need to turn left and get to the top of the tube. You will need to use a lot of TA or you will slide. At the top of the tube you will be able to catch zipper number 6. After zipper number 6 you will see a long curve in the distance. Using plenty of TA, keep JUST to the inside, but still stay on top of the tube as it begins to curve. Zipper number 7 is sitting just to the right of the very top of the tube. If you go to the left the slightest amount too far, you will probably fly off into the city below. Hit zipper number 7 and then get straight onto the red line. The red line is on the right side of the tube. If you stay on the red line you will be on the inside of the curve, and that is what you want. Just as the curve is beginning to end, there is another zipper on top. This is the last zipper, and number 8. Hit the last zipper and keep just to the left of the top of the tube. When the tube ends you will fly smoothly into the pit area. Just past the pit area there is a zigzagging section of track. In the first lap you can just breeze through with the control stick, no need for the Z or R buttons. Just past the finish line boost two times up to the tube. I won't tell you any more, but you will be needing lots of TA. Don't forget to use it or you WILL slide. Get onto the tube and hit the first zipper. Get onto the bottom of the tube and hit the next THREE zippers. You can ignore the fourth zipper on the bottom of the tube. After the third zipper on the bottom make your way up to the top to hit zipper number 6. Straight after zipper 5 get onto the red line on the right side of the tube. While on the red line boost twice to get plenty of speed. You should be going VERY fast. Ignore zipper number 7 but hit the eighth zipper. You need to keep low to the left as you jump off the tube so you can land only a short distance into the left pit zone. After the pit zone you will need to jump from left to right as you go through the chicane. Once past the curvy area you need to boost twice up to the tube again. Go along the tube as you did on lap 2 until you get past zipper 6. Move onto the right red line, and boost continuously. Boost about 2 times and move up to hit the last zipper. Keep low and get lots out of the pit area; boost as you go through. Now, you will need to jump as you go through the chicane. If you hit a wall, boost again to get up your speed. Just boost, boost, boost until the finish line and you have a 90% chance of winning on any difficulty. Just remember, PRACTICE MAKE PERFECT!!! Master Tips: A very easy level to win on master. Just follow the basic walkthrough and you should have gold. Don't jump while on the tube or you will have a good chance of flying off. 6. Port Town --------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 stripes from right, 3 nudges left. A fairly laid back course with a HUGE jump at the end that'll send you flying at speeds of over 1200km!!! Basic Walkthrough: At the beginning of the race things will get VERY crowded. Try not to get stuck in a machine sandwich. Keep to the sides of the tracks and you should be out of harm's way. At the start you will make a very easy curve left. Stick to the inside of the flow of machines. One thing about this track - All of the machines move in almost a singular line. Just stay out of their path and nothing can touch you. Once past the first bend slowly make you way to the centre of the track; there will be machines blocking your path, so you have to barge your way through. Hit the zipper up ahead and keep to the left. Up ahead is a very tight chicane. Some people say you should brake, but that is the worst thing you could possibly do. You will be travelling at a fairly high speed because of the zipper, so you need to get through pretty quickly. The chicane turns quickly left and then right. Just as you enter the bend JUMP to the left, and then quickly JUMP to the right. You should have cleared the chicane with no loss of speed. You should have left your opponents for dead. It should put you into first place in the lower difficulty levels. After the bend gently turn around the next curve. Up ahead you have two sharp turns. The first turn is pretty easy and only requires one jump. The second turn is outlined by hazardous ice. Going through ice is bad, so the corner gets a lot tighter with the ice included. Just jump around and there's nothing to worry about. After those two turns we get to the highlight of the race. Up ahead is a series of 4 zippers going up a steep hill. Catch all zippers and try not to bang into the rails of the slim course. At the top of the hit you will be shot into the air at max speed. Let your machine fly for a second, and then dip the nose down just below the horizontal axis. Your machine will start picking up A LOT of speed. Just before your machine hits the ground raise the nose up to the horizontal axis to keep the speed when it hits the ground. Now you'll have to go around a corner at max speed. Jump, jump, JUMP! Jump around the corner as fast as you can to prevent you from sliding into the rail and losing all of your hard earned speed. Once you have taken your speed around the corner let your machine sail straight. If you have a tiny bit of energy gone you need to go into the pit area for a second and then head into the middle of the two areas. Hit the zipper and you should be way ahead of the competition (except on Master). Boost as soon as you pass the finish line. Use some TA around the corner to prevent you from sliding at high speeds. Hit the zipper and go through the chicane by jumping to the left and then to the right. Once around the next corner hit the boost. Jump around the next corner and boost again into the corner with ice. Jump around the ice corner and boost towards the first of the four zippers. Obviously you should hit all 4 zippers as you go up the hill. When you reach the top let your machine rise for a second and then lower the nose a little bit to gain speed. Just before you hit the ground raise the nose up to decrease the amount of speed loss. Jump around the corner and boost into the pit area. Boost again while going through the pit stop without hitting the booster. Complete the 3rd lap like you did on the second lap. After the big jump you should have at least a quarter of your energy left. Boost while jumping around the large corner and boost continuously until you finish. Master Tips: A VERY easy race to win on the master difficulty. The one thing that insures your win is keeping your speed at max after the large jump. You will go flying past the other machines leaving them no chance of catching up. ****************************************************************************** ------------------- --- QUEEN CUP --- ------------------- This is another simple cup, but it's gradually getting harder and harder. This might be the easiest cup to win - it was my first master trophy. Vehicles for Novice and Standard Difficulty --- Vehicle of Choice: First row activated ---- White cat Second row activated --- White cat Third row activated ---- Queen Meteor Fourth row activated --- King Meteor Fifth row activated ---- King Meteor Vehicles for Expert Difficulty --- Vehicle of Choice: First row activated ---- White cat Second row activated --- White cat Third row activated ---- Queen Meteor Fourth row activated --- King Meteor Fifth row activated ---- King Meteor Vehicle for Master Difficulty --- Vehicle of choice --- Hyper Speeder 1. SECTOR ALPHA: ------------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 from right, 1 nudge right A very simple track that is similar to silence but I tiny bit more complex with several turns and bends. Walkthrough: A VERY easy level to win, even on Master. At the start just keep a straight line and stay on the right side. When you get to the S-bend turn right over the zipper and then turn hard to the left, but not so hard that you slide. You have to keep to the left side of the track or you will hit machines. Keep going straight and after the slim part of the track keep on the left side. You should pass a few vehicles here. Hit the booster and go through the left refill zone. You don't have to used and DT but maybe a bit of TA. After the finish line boost twice. At the S-bend you should be going pretty slow so you don't need any DT's to get through the bend. Also make sure that you hit the zipper. After the zipper boost twice, with about 2 seconds rest between. Hit the zipper in the tunnel and go around through the left refill zone using a bit of TA. Boost through the refill as well. Boost twice after the finish line once again. Go through the S-bend and hit the zipper, then boost 3 times consecutively. Hit the zipper in the tunnel and use a mix of DT's and TA's to get around the last left corner. After the last zipper boost constantly until the finish. Just after the pit stop your craft may fly in the air for a second, this is a bad thing so hold up hard on the control stick to minimise the airtime. 2. RED CANYON: ----------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 from right, 4 nudges left This is one of the most fun levels in the game. Plenty of airtime and constant boosting makes this level very fast. Walkthrough: Now we get to the easiest level to win in F-zero X. Hit the zipper at the start and go around the first corner using only the control stick. After every jump try to make your craft land level with the ground. Don't land while your nose is down or you will lose a lot of speed. After the first turn DT once to get around the next bend. In the next 2 jumps, push the nose down slightly and then bring the nose up just before impact. Make sure you hit both zippers. At the 3rd turn you really only need 1 DT into the zipper. Same applies for the 4th but you might need 2 DT's using the Z button. Hit both zippers in the refill zones and glide to the finish line. Hit the zipper and DT around the first corner. Boost after the turn and then boost again as you go around the second corner using plenty of DT's. Hit both zippers on the hills and boost up to the zipper on the 3rd corner. Constantly boost up to the 4th corner and hit the zipper. Boost as you go through the refill zones and skip the zippers. Boost up to the finish line and hit the first zipper. Complete the third lap like the second and constantly boost all the way. DT every corner and you should win with a lot of ease. You can easily beat the master cars by 10 seconds! 3. DEVIL'S FOREST 2: ----------------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 from right, 4 nudges left You might have a lot of trouble with this level because you will get hit quite a lot by rival machines. Your machine will take quite a beating so try and get out of the way of the main traffic flow. Walkthrough: At the start keep on the left side of the track. Keep to the left as you go around the corner and IGNORE the zipper. If you go for the zipper you will get smashed. Still, even though you ignore the zipper you will go past a few machines. Hit the zipper in the tunnel and tip your nose down after each jump. After hitting the tunnel zipper make a line for the next zipper so you can hit it without turning. Hit the zipper and then hit the next zipper. As you fly off the last bump try to glide with your nose slightly nose. Take the speed around the corner with a gentle turn. Through the next few turns you won't need anything but your control stick, but you might want to use a bit of TA. At the end of the slim section DT Z to get through the small S-bend. After the finish line boost twice up to the next zipper. If you really want to go fast you can boost again after the zipper but it isn't necessary. Hit the zipper in the tunnel and take the next few hills like you did in the first lap. After the hills take the next corners slowly and use a bit of TA. Just after the small S-bend boost again into the refill zone. Complete the third lap just like you did the 2nd, but after the slim section boost constantly up to the finish line. 4. MUTE CITY 2: ------------------ MACHINE SETTING: 3 from right This is the hardest Queen Cup level to win. You will be smashed in all directions by rival machines. You don't stand a chance unless you fight back with all you've got. Walkthrough: This is a very tough stage to win. It is a rather slim stage and there will be machines everywhere that will hit you and ram you all over the place. In the large corners, it is often wise to go wide and then turn using plenty of DT's to get through the large amount of machines. This level has plenty of turns so I will just summarise the whole level. Every turn on the first lap can be handled without help from A, R or Z. However, if you touch any vehicle at all during a turn you will begin to slide. You need to quickly get out of the slide using TA. At the jump plate, let your machine rise and then dip the nose down slightly for the best effect. Try not to hit any machines as you land. Also, as you go through the tight areas it's very hard not to hit other machines. If hitting machines is imminent do a spinning attack. On the second and third lap boost just past the finish line. From then on, boost after every large corner...you know the kinds. It's a BIG no-no if you hit a machine after boosting. You might need some TA through the corners because you're going at higher speeds than the first. Boost also through the refill zone and on the third lap you will want to constantly boost after the as soon as you reach the refill zone. 5. BIG BLUE 2: ----------------- MACHINE SETTING: 3 from right A tiny level with lots of quick turns. Great level for sliding but sliding in the grand prix isn't the greatest idea. So, looks like you're gonna have to do a lot of jumping! :) Walkthrough: For the first turn to the left you only need one DT to get around. Then just turn normally on the following right turn. Keep to the right and hit the zipper, then keep to the left along the straight. Turn normally into the refill zone and using DT's to get around the following left turn. Hit the zipper and gently turn into the tunnel. After the tunnel use one DT using R to get through the S bend. After the finish line boost as you go around the first corner. Then boost twice after the right turn up to the zipper. Boost once more after the zipper. DT once into the refill zone and try not to miss an inch. Boost through the refill zone and DT furiously to get around the next corner. Boost into the zipper and DT once to get through the next refill zone without hitting the wall. Coming out of the tunnel you might need to double tap Z then R, but only one is needed. Boost up to the finish line. Complete the third lap the same way but boost constantly after the last zipper. Make sure that you don't hit any walls in the last tunnel. 6. WHITE LAND: ----------------- MACHINE SETTING: 2 from right, 3 nudges left A pretty lame cause, but there are some hell jumps at the end that will send you flying... Walkthrough: Go around the first corner and through the tunnel normally until you get to the long straight. You might want to use a bit of TA going through the tunnel though because you will get hit by other machines. While going along the straight you might want to knock off a few machines...You know...Just for fun :) Hit the zipper and straight turning into the next turn. You should only need one double tap to get around the corner but you can use 2. After each jump let your machine rise and then dip the nose down a bit. Just before you land bring the nose back to horizontal. If you did it right you should just bump the top of the last hill and start flying. Don't push the nose down too hard on the big jump and pull nose back up just before impact. DT the last corner to the finish line. Boost as soon as you start the second lap and DT the next corner. DT every corner in the tunnel until you get to the straight. As you're going in between the dirt parts boost once. Then boost twice more as you reach the part of the track with rails. Hit the zipper and use DT's to get around the next corner. Once you're past the corner boost once up to the jumps. After the second jump you may have to keep your machine nose right down because if you go too fast you will fly straight over the fourth jump plate! Dip the nose down after the last jump hard to land just before the refill zone. Boost as you go through and DT the last corner. Then boost once up to the finish line. Repeat the second lap up to the part with the jumps. If you can, destroy machines on the track with no rails to gain more energy. Boost before the jumps and then boost again after the third jump plate. If you're going fast enough you should fly straight over the last hill and go REALLY fast down to the refill zone. Once in the refill start boosting and constantly boost to the end; DT the last corner. ****************************************************************************** The rest of the walkthroughs will be coming soon. I wanted to finish them when I released this FAQ, but I wanted to get this out as soon as I can. I'll try and write the other levels as quickly as I can but I'm not promising they will be done in the next few weeks. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************** TIME ATTACK ************** After selecting Time Attack you get to choose which track you want to race on. You can only select tracks that are available in the Grand Prix mode. Once cups are accessed in the Grand Prix mode you get to play them in Time Attack. After you've selected your course you must choose your desired machine. If you want to know the best machine for each track, just read the Fast Times section. Once you've selected your machine you then have to choose your machine settings. Now you race against the clock to get the fastest time you can. There are no other machines on the course - just you and the open road. The same rules apply in the time attack as they do in the Grand Prix. You can't boost on the first lap either. If you choose to race the same course more than once, a ghost of your previous attempt will show up on the track. A ghost is an apparition of your previous attempts of the course. You can see the your previous attempts at the course as you race. You can't touch this ghost, or it could slow you down, you just go straight through it. However, a ghost will disappear when you reset the game. But, there is a way to keep a ghost forever - After finishing a track, you have the option to save the ghost onto your memory pack if you own one. The ghost will be on the memory card and will always be in that track when you play it. If you race for more than 3 minutes on a course however, you cannot save your ghost. You best times, fastest speeds, and best laps are placed on the record screen. Here it tells you your best attempts for each level individually. Here's a brief FAQ on the records page. Best Times: Here you will see your 5 fastest times for a track. If you have not completed the track more than 4 times there will be blank spaces left over. If you get a faster time than any of the times currently in the records your time will get posted. If there were already 5 times on the page, the slowest time will be pushed out of the way to make way for the faster one. MAX Speed: This tells you your fastest speed for the race. Even if you only reach your highest speed for a tenth of a second, the game still reads it as the highest speed. There is only one slot for the highest speed. To get a highest speed you MUST finish the race. Best Lap: This tells you what your best lap time for the course is. It doesn't matter what lap number you get your best time on. The best lap doesn't need to be from a race that also qualifies into the best time records. There is only one slot for the best lap. And also, you have to finish the race for your best lap to qualify. When you select time attack you can either race on a track or view your current records. There is also another challenge to fulfil in the time attack arena. If you achieve a certain time for each track you will have the option of racing against the developer's ghost. This ghost is just like the other ghosts but it is extremely hard to beat. The idea here is to beat the ghost. If you beat the F-Zero X ghost you get a cross next to the option of racing with the staff ghost. I haven't beaten every staff ghost so I don't know if you get a reward. Well, there's nothing else to say about this. For tips and strategies telling you how to get the fastest times read the fast times section. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************** DEATH RACE ************** Perhaps the most enjoyable arena of F-Zero X. The Death Race is where people come solely for the purpose of smashing up other rival machines. For the Death Race you would want to choose a very heavy machine with a good body. The best machine for this is the Black Bull. However, if you don't have all of the rows accessed you could use either the Fire Stingray, Crazy Boar, or Green Panther. If you want extra challenge, choose a vehicle like the Twin Noritta or the Red Gazelle. Set your Max speed and acceleration to whatever setting you want, it doesn't make that much of a different. In Death Race there is only one course you can race and there is an infinite amount of laps you can do. You just go round and round and round and round forever. Now here's the fun part, while going around this endless track, you must destroy every machine in your path. You begin the race with 29 other machines. You must make your way through the pack of rival machines and smash them into oblivion. The idea of Death Race is to totally destroy every rival machine in the shortest possible time. There are a couple ways to destroy rival machines: 1. You can use the side attack or spin attack to destroy other machines with a single blow. When using the side attack, drive parallel to the machine you want to destroy and ram them into oblivion. When using the side attack it is important to use the control stick as well. If the rival machine is to the right of your machine, double-tap R and press right on the control stick. This will give the rival machine much more damage. When using the spin attack make sure that there are several machines in striking distance. As you spin move from left to right knocking out all machines that are to the side of you. You could also use the spin attack at the jump plate to knock a few machines off the course. 2. At the pit area you can knock opponents of the edge of the track. The track has no sides around this area so destroying rival machines is easy. Drive parallel to a machine that is travelling near the edge of the track. Use a very easy double-tap to give them a slight push off the edge. But be careful - If you miss the rival machine and you double-tap too hard, you will go flying off the edge of the track yourself! OK, now that you know what to do, go and destroy some machines! ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************* VS BATTLE ************* The place you go to play with friends. In the VS mode you get to play with up to three other friends up to a total of 4 racers. But first, you must go into the options screen. The options screen is covered later in the FAQ. OK, once you've selected VS battle and chosen how many players you want you can select any track that you have achieved through the Grand Prix mode. Once you've selected the track you want to race on, you can now select your vehicle. Same thing applies - You can only race with machines you have opened up already. All players can choose the same machine. Once you've chosen your machine choose your machine settings. Now it's time to race. Depending on how you adjusted the options, the screen will either be split into two, or split into four rectangles. Just for a little unnecessary information - With only two players, you will only hear sound for the second player and the not the first. With three players you will be able to see the course radar in the black square where no one is racing. You'll also be able to switch between lap display and course radar by pressing C-left. If a player is destroyed in anyway in the race, they will not be able to race again. Depending on watch you chose on the options screen, they might play a little slot machine. I don't know for sure what happens if you match three pictures together, but I got one from the manual. Hopefully more will come in soon --- Three X's = The leading machine will loose all of its energy More to come soon though. Once the race is over and everyone has either finished or died you are shown the results screen. In the manual (which you all should have) there is a little table saying how many points you get for coming certain positions with a certain amount of racers. So, being the nice person I am, I'll list the table right here in my FAQ: __________________________________________________ | | 2 MACHINES | 3 MACHINES | 4 MACHINES | |--------------------------------------------------| |1st Place | 5 Points | 5 Points | 5 Points | |2nd Place | 0 Points | 3 Points | 3 Points | |3rd Place | ---- | 0 Points | 1 Points | |4th Place | ---- | ---- | 0 Points | -------------------------------------------------- you'll also see a "V" which tells you how won that race. In the next screen the number next to the "V" will tell you how many times that person has won. Oh, and one last thing, the computer controlled machines can win points as well. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************ PRACTICE ************ This is the most boring thing you can do on F-Zero X. Here, there is no point in racing besides to "practice" certain levels. Once again, you cannot practice levels you haven't opened up yet. In the practice mode you select your machine and everything just like you did for everything else. There is no real "point" to practice mode - all you do is race a track forever and ever until you either die or press quit. You'll be racing with 29 other cars creating an atmosphere of the real thing. If you destroy all of the other machine machines you will be left to go around the track by yourself. There is no limit to the amount of laps you do, and the timer will only show your fastest lap. Hmm......Any more to say?............No. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** *********** OPTIONS *********** The options are very important if you are going to play the VS battle mode. VS COM (2p,3p): Here you can choose whether or not you want to play with computer-controlled machines. This will effect the total amount of players if there are only 2 or three people playing. VS Slot: Using this option you can decide whether or not you want to be able to play the slot game if you are destroyed while racing in the VS battle mode. VS Handicap: This controls the handicap in the VS battle mode. With the setting on +1 or +2, boosting will drain less energy from your machine. +2 has a greater effect over +1. However, you can't set each machine's handicap individually. Sound Mode: This lets you choose between Monotone and Stereo. All Data Clear: Just a few words when talking about this option......NEVER, EVER, EVER TOUCH THIS BUTTON!!! Only use this if you're a complete moron and you want to play a trick on your friend who's been trying to get fast times for 6 months. :) Bad idea to use this, it totally deleted every piece of saved data on your cart. This includes fast times, Max speeds, and best laps. Oh, and I won't use this as an excuse if I ask for proof. :) ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************** FAST TIMES ************** OK, here's a pretty good part of the FAQ. Think you're fast? Well, check out some of these times. Of course, I want you to send in your times as well. They don't have to qualify or anything, just as long as you give me sufficient information. If you're going to send me times can you please tell me these things: Do you use a NTSC or PAL version of F-Zero X? Your name? Your times? Your max speeds? Your best laps? What machine you use to achieved these times? And if you want - Do you like this FAQ? OK, now we'll get onto the Fast Times. More times will be coming very soon. I'm going to e-mail a lot of world-class players and ask for their times. Still, I have the pleasure of posting the times of David Van Moer - The best PAL player IN THE WORLD! Also, he is very kindly writing strategies for me so check out that section as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ **************** PAL VERSION! **************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************ JACK CUP ************ 1. MUTE CITY: ---------------- BEST TIME: 1:24:376 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:26:459 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:27:005 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:24:416 David Van Moer Twin Noritta 0:24:988 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:25:028 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1250km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1228km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1168km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 2. SILENCE: -------------- BEST TIME: 1:16:540 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:17:303 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:17:512 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:21:603 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:21:898 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:21:911 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1500km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1362km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1234km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 3. SAND OCEAN: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:16:101 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:17:639 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:18:643 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:22:530 David Van Moer Twin Noritta 0:22:843 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:23:261 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1229km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1222km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1164km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 4. DEVIL'S FOREST: --------------------- BEST TIME: 1:19:678 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:24:026 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1:24:963 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:22:530 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:24:737 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:25:262 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1224km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1219km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1135km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 5. BIG BLUE: --------------- BEST TIME: 1:31:593 David Van Moer MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:36:498 Karl Jobst Hyper Speeder 1:38:316 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:28:460 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:30:225 Karl Jobst Hyper Speeder 0:30:502 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1230km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1181km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1090km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 6. PORT TOWN: ---------------- BEST TIME: 1:23:449 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:30:865 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1:33:076 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:25:326 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:27:314 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:28:710 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 2170km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1478km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1449km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************* QUEEN CUP ************* 1. SECTOR ALPHA: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:23:579 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:25:587 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:26:101 Karl Jobst Queen Meteor BEST LAP: 0:24:221 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:25:541 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:25:727 Karl Jobst Queen Meteor MAX SPEED: 1191km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1145km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1068km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 2. RED CANYON: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:13:536 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:14:285 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1:18:432 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:22:819 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:23:016 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:24:016 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1495km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1332km Karl Jobst Night Thunder 1269km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 3. DEVIL'S FOREST 2: ----------------------- BEST TIME: 1:23:335 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:25:547 Karl Jobst King Meteor 1:27:517 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:25:311 David Van Moer Twin Noritta 0:26:300 Karl Jobst King Meteor 0:27:195 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1335km David Van Moer Twin Noritta 1319km Karl Jobst King Meteor 1290km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 4. MUTE CITY 2: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:14:790 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:19:526 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:22:484 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:21:090 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:23:152 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:23:856 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1446km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1156km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1115km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 5. BIG BLUE 2: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:02:899 David Van Moer MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:04:854 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1:09:462 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:18:870 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:19:997 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:21:442 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1197km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1083km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 996km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 6. WHITE LAND: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:36:360 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:38:898 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:42:851 Karl Jobst Hyper Speeder BEST LAP: 0:28:466 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:30:222 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:31:904 Karl Jobst King Meteor MAX SPEED: 1566km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1317km Karl Jobst Twin Noritta 1216km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************ KING CUP ************ 1. FIRE FIELD: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:12:771 David Van Moer MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:24:171 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1:24:534 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:22:237 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:25:025 Karl Jobst White Cat 0:25:152 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1924km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1674km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1500km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 2. SILENCE 2: ---------------- BEST TIME: 1:26:324 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:33:588 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1:39:037 Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder BEST LAP: 0:26:284 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:28:579 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:30:570 Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder MAX SPEED: 1225km David van Moer Blood Hawk 1181km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1037km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 3. SECTOR BETA: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:40:725 David Van Moer MACHINE: Red Gazelle 1:41:274 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:47:135 Karl Jobst Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:29:880 David Van Moer Red Gazelle 0:31:476 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:33:299 Karl Jobst King Meteor MAX SPEED: 2500+km David Van Moer Blood Hawk 1928km Karl Jobst Hyper Speeder 1871km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 4. RED CANYON 2: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:20:467 David Van Moer MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:28:541 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 1:44:048 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:23:273 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:26:768 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:31:250 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1933km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1856km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1254km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 5. WHITE LAND 2: ------------------- BEST TIME: 0:58:091 David Van Moer MACHINE: King Meteor 1:00:494 Karl Jobst King Meteor 1:15:157 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:17:776 David Van Moer King Meteor 0:18:210 Karl Jobst King Meteor 0:23:368 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1779km David Van Moer Mighty Hurricane 1522km Karl Jobst King Meteor 1087km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 6. MUTE CITY 3: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:31:581 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:41:602 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1:42:694 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:27:832 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:31:648 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:32:350 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1414km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1256km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 1236km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************* JOKER CUP ************* 1. RAINBOW ROAD: ------------------- BEST TIME: 2:01:979 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 2:11:582 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 2:11:920 Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder BEST LAP: 0:36:603 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:39:709 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 0:40:645 Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder MAX SPEED: 2062km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1639km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1534km Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder 2. DEVIL'S FOREST 3: ----------------------- BEST TIME: 1:14:376 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:15:158 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 1:16:644 Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder BEST LAP: 0:21:993 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:22:251 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 0:22:752 Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder MAX SPEED: 1201km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1186km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1169km Steven Zwartjes Night Thunder 3. SPACE PLANT: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:58:002 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 2:07:617 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 2:10:338 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:36:038 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:39:506 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 0:40:185 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1823km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1388km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1355km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 4. SAND OCEAN 2: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:29:890 David Van Moer MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:34:118 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 1:39:168 Steven Zwartjes Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:27:549 David Van Moer Night Thunder 0:28:875 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 0:30:599 Steven Zwartjes Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1225km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1170km Karl Jobst Night Thunder 1144km Steven Zwartjes Blood Hawk 5. PORT TOWN 2: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:44:671 David Van Moer MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:52:599 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 1:57:288 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:31:425 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:35:162 Karl Jobst Night Thunder 0:36:573 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1244km David Van Moer Night Thunder 1188km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 1081km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta 6. BIG HAND: --------------- BEST TIME: 2:14:454 David Van Moer MACHINE: Blood Hawk 2:22:908 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 2:29:250 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:39:782 David Van Moer Blood Hawk 0:43:666 Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 0:46:646 Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1238km David Van Moer Blood Hawk 1120km Karl Jobst Blood Hawk 957km Steven Zwartjes Twin Noritta ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************** DEATH RACE ************** BEST TIME: 0:39:475 David Van Moer MACHINE: Green Panther 0:55:080 Steven Zwartjes Fire Stingray 0:56:450 Karl Jobst Black Bull ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WELL! This PAL section alone took me over 3 hours (with frequent F-Zero X breaks of course!) to create. Most if not ALL of David Van Moer's times are WORLD RECORDS. I repeat, they are WORLD RECORDS. They may seem impossible, but they are highly possible to someone who's been playing for over 1000 hours. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ **************** NTSC VERSION **************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************ JACK CUP ************ 1. MUTE CITY: ---------------- BEST TIME: 1:12:077 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:12:436 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 1:17:256 Eli Young Mighty Hurricane 1:18:084 Dan Taber Black Bull BEST LAP: 0:20:806 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 0:20:966 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:22:488 Dan Taber Black Bull 0:23:544 Eli Young Mighty Hurricane MAX SPEED: 1411km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 1402km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 1334km Dan Taber Black Bull 1318km Eli Young Mighty Hurricane 2. SILENCE: -------------- BEST TIME: 1:04:533 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Mighty Typhoon 1:04:668 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 1:05:165 Dan Taber Twin Noritta 1:07:256 Eli Young Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:18:284 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:18:368 Nathan Stinson Mighty Typhoon 0:19:667 Eli Young Twin Noritta 0:19:781 Dan Taber Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1481km Wes McKinney Wonder Wasp 1471km Nathan Stinson Sonic Phantom 1431km Eli Young Twin Noritta 1425km Dan Taber Twin Noritta 3. SAND OCEAN: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:04:466 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Queen Meteor 1:05:126 Wes McKinney King Meteor 1:11:229 Dan Taber Black Bull BEST LAP: 0:18:836 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 0:19:241 Wes McKinney King Meteor 0:20:750 Dan Taber Black Bull MAX SPEED: 1364km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 1348km Wes McKinney White Cat 1314km Dan Taber Black Bull 4. DEVIL'S FOREST: --------------------- BEST TIME: 1:10:597 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:11:545 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 1:23:743 Dan Taber Black Bull BEST LAP: 0:20:368 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 0:20:787 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:24:380 Dan Taber Black Bull MAX SPEED: 1376km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1371km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 1274km Dan Taber Black Bull 5. BIG BLUE: --------------- BEST TIME: 1:16:450 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:18:954 Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder BEST LAP: 0:23:686 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 0:24:400 Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder MAX SPEED: 1325km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 1318km Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder 6. PORT TOWN: ---------------- BEST TIME: 1:12:885 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:13:949 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:21:791 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 0:21:919 Wes McKinney Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1815km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1772km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************* QUEEN CUP ************* 1. SECTOR ALPHA: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:11:292 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:11:472 Wes McKinney King Meteor BEST LAP: 0:21:516 Wes McKinney King Meteor 0:21:555 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1260km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 1249km Wes McKinney Little Wyvern 2. RED CANYON: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:05:964 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:06:314 Nathan Stinson Hyper Speeder BEST LAP: 0:20:376 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:20:657 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1537km Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 1354km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 3. DEVIL'S FOREST 2: ----------------------- BEST TIME: 1:11:858 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: King Meteor 1:12:408 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:22:244 Nathan Stinson King Meteor 0:22:422 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1575km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 1555km Nathan Stinson King Meteor 4. MUTE CITY 2: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:07:800 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:07:907 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:19:779 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:20:058 Nathan Stinson Night Thunder MAX SPEED: 1373km Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 1360km Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 5. BIG BLUE 2: ----------------- BEST TIME: 0:55:305 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Blood Hawk 0:56:201 Wes McKinney Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:15:452 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 0:16:876 Wes McKinney Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1336km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1293km Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 6. WHITE LAND: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:24:900 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:25:925 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:25:853 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 0:26:596 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 1595km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 1485km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************ KING CUP ************ 1. FIRE FIELD: ----------------- BEST TIME: 1:07:321 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:09:611 Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder 1:18:886 Dan Taber Red Gazelle BEST LAP: 0:19:717 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 0:20:104 Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder 0:26:048 Dan Taber Red Gazelle MAX SPEED: 1990km Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder 1912km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1788km Dan Taber Red Gazelle 2. SILENCE 2: ---------------- BEST TIME: 1:18:142 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:19:134 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:24:367 Wes McKinney Night Thunder 0:24:449 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1398km Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 1335km Wes McKinney Night Thunder 3. SECTOR BETA: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:27:304 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:29:281 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta BEST LAP: 0:26:822 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:27:219 Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta MAX SPEED: 2421km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 2111km Nathan Stinson Twin Noritta 4. RED CANYON 2: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:18:171 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:19:539 Nathan Stinson King Meteor BEST LAP: 0:22:304 Nathan Stinson 0:22:361 Wes McKinney Night Thunder MAX SPEED: 1866km Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder 1362km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 5. WHITE LAND 2: ------------------- BEST TIME: 0:58:564 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Twin Noritta 1:02:694 Nathan Stinson Queen Meteor BEST LAP: 0:17:824 Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 0:18:855 Nathan Stinson King Meteor MAX SPEED: 1751km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 1326km Nathan Stinson Queen Meteor 6. MUTE CITY 3: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:23:568 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:27:982 Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder BEST LAP: 0:24:864 Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 0:27:294 Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder MAX SPEED: 1492km Wes McKinney Hyper Speeder 1465km Nathan Stinson Night Thunder ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************* JOKER CUP ************* 1. RAINBOW ROAD: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:52:944 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:54:608 Wes McKinney Night Thunder 2:05:606 Dan Taber Black Bull BEST LAP: 0:34:952 Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 0:36:046 Wes McKinney Night Thunder 0:39:273 Dan Taber Black Bull MAX SPEED: 2076km Wes McKinney Twin Noritta 2031km Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 2016km Dan Taber Black Bull 2. DEVIL'S FOREST 3: ----------------------- BEST TIME: 1:04:571 Wes McKinney MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:05:452 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk BEST LAP: 0:19:122 Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 0:19:322 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1447km Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 1423km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 3. SPACE PLANT: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:49:348 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Night Thunder 1:50:081 Wes McKinney King Meteor 2:05:759 Dan Taber Black Bull BEST LAP: 0:32:931 Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 0:33:806 Wes McKinney King Meteor 0:38:369 Dan Taber Black Bull MAX SPEED: 1607km Wes McKinney King Meteor 1581km Nathan Stinson Night Thunder 1430km Dan Taber Black Bull 4. SAND OCEAN 2: ------------------- BEST TIME: 1:21:888 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:22:302 Wes McKinney Night Thunder BEST LAP: 0:24:409 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 0:25:649 Wes McKinney Night Thunder MAX SPEED: 1382km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1284km Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 5. PORT TOWN 2: ------------------ BEST TIME: 1:36:094 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Blood Hawk 1:37:382 Wes McKinney Night Thunder BEST LAP: 0:29:992 Wes McKinney Blood Hawk 0:30:236 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk MAX SPEED: 1353km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1342km Wes McKinney Death Anchor 6. BIG HAND: --------------- BEST TIME: 2:03:685 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Blood Hawk 2:05:905 Wes McKinney Night Thunder 2:41:024 Dan Taber Black Bull BEST LAP: 0:37:482 Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 0:39:530 Wes McKinney Night Thunder 0:50:967 Dan Taber Black Bull MAX SPEED: 1359km Nathan Stinson Blood Hawk 1214km Wes McKinney Night Thunder 983km Dan Taber Black Bull ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************** DEATH RACE ************** BEST TIME: 0:43:007 Nathan Stinson MACHINE: Super Piranha 1:04:638 Wes McKinney Crazy Bear 1:17:548 Croco64 Black Bull 1:26:994 David Taber ??? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! There goes another 4 hours of hard updating, and then updating, and then updating again. This is very hard work so........APPRECIATE IT!!!! :) As I said earlier there will be HEAPS more times coming in the near future. I just have to e-mail about 8 people and tell them about this FAQ. And of course, you can send in your times too. If they are too fast, I will request proof.......but that information will be covered in a near future update. Hmmm.....now on to the best area of the FAQ........ ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ********************************** DAVID VAN MOER'S SPEED TACTICS ********************************** OK, the tactics that follow are from David Van Moer himself. Unless he says otherwise, all of these tactics came from his head. Of course, other people in the world may know these tactics, but I had no part in the invention of these. Oh, and I just want to say that I got all of my information from David, so if anyone's sitting backstage it's him..... Another thing worth pointing out.....David originally wrote strategies for the F-Zero X World Records site at www.turokcave.com/fzero/. This version of the strategies is part 2; an updated version. However, in some cases I will take information from the first walkthrough and put it in these symbols - >> and <<. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F-Zero X Speed Guide Part II - How to be really fast in he world's fastest racing game - General Stuff - ---------------- 1.Staff ghosts: ------------------ The times of the staff ghost, driven by the games' programmers, act as a barrier really. Once you're under it you can start considering that time as being pretty good cos not a lot of people can beat staff ghosts. Beating them all is actually a lot harder then finishing the game on Master. But just remember : it's hard to beat them, but easy to trash them. I think I beat them now by an average of almost 10 seconds per track, but that took me many months of intensive gaming. Too bad you don't get a reward for beating them all … still it's quite a challenge and something to be proud of once you got all the 24 X beside their name. 2.the right car: ------------------- >> So, you're ready to get in on ? Good... but as you can see you're confronted with a wealth of vehicles to choose from. So before you jump into some piece of junk like the Blue Falcon read these two words: TWIN NORITTA; This beauty's your machine of choice, oh yes! Sure, in the hands of a beginner it'll slide into the rail at each corner but once you can keep it on the track you'll discover there's nothing like it for pure speed and handling. Some tracks however are just too twisty and demand something with a bit more grip. In that case use the HYPER SPEEDER. It has the best grip of the lot and the boost isn't that bad. A good strategy is to master a track first with the Speeder and then switch to the Noritta : the faster boost should win you that extra second.. O yeah , if you want a slider (see later) the NIGHT THUNDER is your craft. << Pretty much the same: The Twin Noritta is by far the best vehicule for the tracks that don't require sliding although the Red Gazelle offers comparible performance. The Noritta is a tough car to control however so use a vehicule with Boost C and Grip A rating ( White Cat, Hyper Speeder …) if you're just starting out or a vehicule with Boost B and Grip B rating ( King Meteor, … ) if you're intermediate. Unfortunatelly for slide-haters, there are only 8 tracks where you get the best result with a non-slider. If you suck at sliding just stick to the Noritta anyway as you'll still be able to set good times and beat almost all staff ghosts , except the Devil's Forest 3 one. You won't get anywhere near the records though… For tracks where sliding gives you the fastest times ( 16 out of the 24 !! ) there are only two options: the Night Thunder or Blood Hawk. The combination of an A-class boost with E-class grip allows them to generate the most speed out of a boost-slide corner. (I'll explain later ) There's very little difference between the performance of these two. The Thunder is the heavier one and tends to be a little looser then the Hawk. 3.The right Setting: ----------------------- >> Before every race you must choose the acceleration-speed ratio for your vehicle. Simple, always put the gauge at two stripes from max. speed, then nudge a few times to the left or right depending on the track. For a slider however, a different rule applies: if you wanna slide , put the gauge at two stripes from max acceleration. A good strategy here is to race against the Staff Ghost and adjust your speed-acceleration ratio till you match it. << For the Noritta nothing changes: most of the time you're around two stripes from max. speed with a few nudges to the left or right depending on the track. Just race against the staff ghost and keep adjusting till you have the same setting as they use the ideal ratio for each track. For the sliders however you'll have to put the gauge all the way to the right at max. acceleration to get the most out of them. The downside will be the low top speed in the straights , certainly on the first lap… but as always there are ways around this ( see rail-sliding ). Only in this configuration you may ever hope to get near the records 4. Boost power: ------------------ >> Always use your boost to the limit. Ideally , you should finish each race with an empty energy bar. Try to chain your boost together one after the other on the straights to get a high max speed or boost immediately after a slow corner to get up to speed again. Never hit the sides : this will eat away your energy and leave you with less boost-juice .. and ALWAYS get the most out of every refill-zone. Miss even an inch of it and you'll fail at the end." << No change from 1st guide. 5.SLIDING ! -------------- * basic info I'll put this before jumping cos it's the most important technique. If you master this, you'll soon be trashing all of your previous records and finally beating those Staff Ghosts with ease. Not too many players know about sliding, even I played for months untill Steven Zwartjes let me in on the technique, so he's the one that ows the credit . By then I had already beaten most of the ghosts apart from the Devil's Forest 3 which is basically the only track you really need to slide to beat the staff. DF3 is also the best track to develop and practise sliding as most of the corners are ideally: long, sharp and wide. Basically a sliding turn is done by steering left + R or steering right + Z although with low-grip vehicules just turning hard left or hard right will cause you to start sliding , certainly at high speed. If you use a car with a setting to the right, focusing on a high max speed you'll lose almost all your speed so avoid sliding at all costs if you're racing with the Noritta. However, if you have a setting to the left , focusing on acceleration your craft will start going faster during a sliding turn. This effect will maximise if you put the setting-gauge further to the left and with cars with a low-grip rating. So theoretically , a car with an E- griprating which is put at max accleration will be the best sliding machine. Add to that the importance of a good A-class boost in time trialling and it becomes obvious that only the Blood Hawk and the Night Thunder meet with these requirements. * Boost sliding The power and thrill of sliding really comes to life once you press the boost button when you're sliding through a corner. With the Hawk or Thunder at max acceleration you can launch yourself to speeds over 1000kph with just one turbo ! It's pretty hard in the beginning to keep the car under control when going through the corner. The most important thing is to get out of a boostslide with as much speed as possible so start straigtening up as you're getting out of the corner. Short bursts of TA can help you a lot here. Also don't boost too early in the corner, especially on longer corners like in Rainbow Road. The effect of the boost should be wearing off just as you exit the corner at max speed. If you're still sliding after the boost has worn off you'll drop speed fast. * Rail-sliding. (first lap - experts only !) To counter the effect of the low top speed you have with max.accel sliders in the first lap ( I think you can't even get over 600kph right ?) you can create yourself an artificial angle on the straights by sliding to the left or right and slamming into the rail. You can keep sliding against the rail like this and you'll notice your speed increasing. You can't do this too much of course; make sure that the refill-zone is long enough to get back at full energy before the second lap. With this technique you can shave of valuable time from the first lap . And on Fire Field even 7 seconds !! ( see later ) Overall there are 16 tracks where sliders give you the best results ! Use sliders even on tracks were the staff ghosts don't: Devil's Forest, Port Town , Mute city 3 , ... I'll go over them one by one. 6. Jumping (or Double Tapping - DT ) --------------------------------------- >> An absolutely vital technique for Record Hunting and Staff Ghost Trashing , as important as mini-turbos are for MK64. When going through a sharp corner at high speed, never make a gliding turn by holding Z or R , but 'jump' through the corner by double tapping Z or R ( just like a side-attack) . This way , you'll be able to get trough corners far quicker and with minimal loss of speed. The best way to practise the DT is at Big Hand ; steer to the right or left , and just before hitting the side , 'jump' away from it ..notice the speed difference with a classical gliding turn ! On Big Hand alone , you'll win more than ten seconds ! DT can be used on more than half of the tracks.. In a nutshell : DT = steer left + Double Tap Z or steer right + Double Tap R when speeding through corners. << Nothing more to add here then in my first guide. Note however that for setting a high speed record or a fast lap it can still be wise to switch to a slider like on Big Blue or Secor Alfa Also worth mentionning is that on most of the 16 slidingtracks you don't have to slide every corner ! Mostly it's a combination of boostsliding through the sharp ones and jumping through the gentle. Just experiment to see if it pays of to slide or jump a corner. You should NEVER use a drift turn , always use a jump instead. 7. Open throttle ( OT ) --------------------------- << Sounds complicated but really isn't. Whenever you take even the lightest corner at high speed, your vehicle will slide very easily, certainly the ones with a lower grip rating. To prevent this from happening, simply let go of the gas for a split second a few times when you make a turn and you'll stick to the track like glue. Very handy technique that can be used pretty much everywhere, the speed loss is minimal and you can move around the track faster. Vital for fast vehicles with low grip (like the Twin Noritta). >> I see you got the idea but you call it Tap the Accelerator (TA). A simple technique but so important ! It's the key to keeping the Twin Noritta under control and to get out of a boostslide witht minimal speedloss. A Note To David: The reason I changed the name is because Open throttle sought of contradicts the act of taking your finger OFF the accelerator. :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I think that pretty much covers the basic new stuff that wasn't in the old guide or not very well explained. Here's some more tips that come to mind right now: * For winning on Master, just remember that the first cars will always boost away at the beginning of a lap but slow down when nearing the finish line so don't suicide yourself trying to keep up. You'll get them in the end. * I hate racing ghosts. They distract my attention from the track. Personally I always race without them to keep a clear vision of the track. -Karl's Note: You can actually beat staff ghosts even though you're racing without them. You don't have to select Staff Ghost if you want to beat the ghost. Just as long as you beat the Staff Ghost's time you can race without the ghost and still win. I only found this out a couple of days ago and now I never race against a Staff Ghost I'm trying to beat. However, if you're new to the track, it's wise to take a look at the staff ghost and maybe pick up some useful strategies. - * Mess around on a track , experiment with boosting at different places. Try to find out if you're better of sliding a cormer or jumping through it. * For a fast time on Death Race, completely zoom out so you have a clear view of all the cars up ahead. * Try to stay calm when you mess up a superfast record in the very last corner because of the nerves getting to you. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** *************************************** DAVID VAN MOER'S SPEED WALKTHROUGHS *************************************** WOO HOO! David is already up to the King Cup! So, be expecting a full walkthrough within the two weeks. So for now I will post David's walkthroughs for all of the tracks in the Jack and Queen Cups. Enjoy! Oh, when David says "See first guide", that means that there's no change from the first guide. The walkthroughs from the first guard appear in the >> << symbols. ************ JACK CUP ************ 1. Mute City --------------- See first guide >> The first track is a simple straightforward course with mostly easy bends, a long refill zone, plenty of zippers and a wide loop at the end. Getting a good time on this track demands accurate, tight steering and plenty of boosting... * Vehicle of choice: Twin Noritta * Ideal gauge setting: two stripes from right, two nudges right * Because it's such a straightforward track , there isn't much room for improvement so stick as close to the sides as possible at all times.. * There are four zippers , all situated in the middle of the track , be sure not to miss a single one , all are vital for a fast time , use your boost between them to keep your speed high . * The two bends just past the start is where you have to make the difference. It's quite easy to loose your grip here at high speed . Ease into them with a gentle curve , and try to stick to the right side as much as possible: going wide here will lose you precious tenths...The same goes for the bend after the third zipper: Stick to left here and don't go wide. * In the loop , stick to the right and your speed will be slightly higher when you come out of it .. << Notes * you might want to use a DT R on lap 3 in the first right corner to stay close to the sides. * Just drive very smoothly on this track. Steer gently but firmly into each corner staying as close to the sides as possible and keep pressing the boost right from the start of lap 2 till the last zipper in the loop. Sliding or going too wide is deadly .. just hit retry and start again. ****************************************************************************** 2. Silence ------------- See first guide >> Oval-shaped track where speed and boost is all that matters. A long series of zippers will push you around the track at mach 1.. but go too fast and you'll fly off ! Want a fast time ? Just keep pressing that boost-button ! * Vehicle of choice: Anything with an A-class boost (The Mighty Typhoon has a real good one! ) * Ideal gauge setting: two stripes from right, one nudge left * Don't miss a single zipper except the before-last one. The sequence of the zippers is: centre, left, centre, left, centre, right, centre. Neglect the before-last one on the left. Use your own boost in between the first and the second zipper. * Once past the zippers, stay as close to the right side of the track as possible and keep using your boost. * There are two places on the track where you will fly off at high speed: just past the last zipper and in the refill-zone. Simply hold 'up' to keep your vehicle on the track. << Notes: * Vehicule of choice is of course the Twin Noritta * Better setting: Two stipes from right, four or three nudges left * Every hundredth of a second counts on this track. It's not too hard to get 1'17"5 but you'll have to race a lot from there to get the other 0.5 second off. Try hitting the zipper sequence with as little steering corrections as possible and stay as close as you can to the right after the zippers. Keep pressing the boost very quickly all the time so your speed never drops in between boosts. Personally, I don't think it's possible to get below 1'17 .. I've tried enough to know. :) * In lap 2 and 3 I usually neglect the fourth zipper to keep a straighter racing line. Just remember that every thousand of a second you can gain by going a little bit straighter makes a diference at the end. ****************************************************************************** 3. Sand Ocean ---------------- A max accel slider works marginally better here, although you'll only win about a second compared to the Noritta and it's quite hard to gain that advantage. The first lap especially is where you can make the difference. (29" instead of 31" ). On the next two you'll have to try and limit the damage. * Best vehicule and setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max accel. * Lap 1: Immediately start railsliding right going into the tunnel, continue your slide in the gentle right bend insde the tunnel. Stop sliding once you reach the yellow line and stay in the middle. Once outside the tunnel, railslide hard right up to the S bend. * The tight S-corner is where the action happens. On laps 2 and 3, don't use a turbo sliding into the corner; it's almost impossible to boostslide through without crashing all over the place. Just slide over the zipper and then immediately slide left, hitting the leftrail a little to catch some extra speed and straighten up as you go in the second tunnel. TA will come in handy here to keep your grip as you aim for the last zipper in the tunnel. * The boost pattern stays the same as the first guide. >> Boost four times through the first tunnel on the second and third lap then boost again just past the bend up to the first zipper. Stay in the centre of the second tunnel on the yellow lines and boost towards the final zipper. << * For a high max speed, leave the first tunnel upside down. ****************************************************************************** 4. Devil's Forest -------------------- Although there are only two serious corners on this track, a slider still goes about 5 seconds faster here ! * Best vehicule and setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max accel. * Lap 1: Immediately railslide a little bit left to get over 700kph. Slide the first right hairpin hard to stay away from the dirt which slows you down bad. Make your way over to the zipper on the straight with a few short slides in the gentle bends leading up to it to keep up your speed. As soon as you hit the zipper, railslide hard left ( a rail-boostslide... cool!). If you do this correctly you can get out of the slide going around 900 kph. Stay high left on the straight and slide into the second hairpin. Straighten up just before the zipper and repeat the same rail-boostslide trick through the refill-zone which should be just long enough to get back at full energy. A good opening lap is around 32"0. * on laps 2 and 3 it's all important to boostslide the hairpins and gain as much speed possible for the straights. Hit the boost as soon as you slide into the corners. It'can be quite tricky to catch the zipper after the second hairpin. A well-timed Z jump might come to the rescue. * The boost pattern also remains largely the same as the first guide: Once past the start, one boost each for the two boostslides in the hairpins. Two boost up to the first zipper coming out of the hairpin and one more boost after you've hit it for ahigh speed on the straight. ****************************************************************************** 5. Big Blue -------------- See first guide >> Cewl! Racing along the outside of a giant tube that's littered with zippers for the brave and daring... Boost in the wrong place or slide on the outside and you're airborne! A couple of tight bends at the end make your life even more miserable. If you REALLY want a fast time here, you must hit A LOT of zippers though... * Vehicle of choice: Hyper Speeder * Ideal gauge setting: Two from right, four nudges left * There are a total of nine zippers on the entire tube: first one on top, then four to the left of that, then one on top again, then one on top in the bend, then one on the bottom past the bend and finally one on top just before the end of the tube. In the opening lap, try to hit eight of them: all except the one on top in the bend. Use short burst of TA as you move from zipper to zipper to avoid sliding. * On the second and third lap, hit seven zippers: neglect the one on the bottom as well. Boost three times past the start line up to the first zipper and boost as well on the inside of the bend on the tube (stick on the red line here and you wont have to jump or anything). * Don't boost when you're going through the refill-zone at high speed (1050+ kph). Ease through the chicane without double tapping (use a few burst of OT if necessary). << Notes: * Don't forget to go for the zipper at the bottom of the tube near the end instead of the top one in the right bend in the first lap ! * To get a higher max. speed, choose a slider and boostslide hard on top of the right bend near the end of the tube. *. You can get sub 1'32 times with the much easier to drive Hyper Speeder. Just use the Noritta when you really got the tube under control for that extra half a second. You can also use a slider on this track but for now I'm stuck at around 1'34 ****************************************************************************** 6. Port Town --------------- This track is surprisingly easy to slide with most corners offering plenty of space. You'll go about 8 seconds faster if you slide this one good... The Noritta will get stuck at around 1'33. * Best vehicule and setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max accel. * Slide the first gentle left corner and straighten up just before the zipper. On lap 2 and 3 start your boostslide right after the finishline but be sure you hit the zipper or you'll get in energy-trouble near the end of the race * You'll speed towards the S at very high speeds, use all your skills to get through with a quick DT Z immediately followed by a DT R * After the S-bend you have three successive corners wich are ideal for (boost)sliding. Be sure to start sliding fast enough into the first corner as it comes right after the S. Also start sliding well in advance for the third so you don't hit the ice. * on laps 1 and 2, use a Z jump to get around the last left corner after the big jump. On lap 3, use your very last inches of energy for a boostslide. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************* QUEEN CUP ************* 1. Sector Alfa ----------------- See first guide >> The Queen Cup's first track is a bit like Mute City : not too demanding in terms of cornering or carefully timed jumps. It all depends on little details like keeping a good racing line , staying close to the sides and taking the corners tight and fast. * Vehicle of choice: Twin Noritta * Ideal gauge setting: two stripes from right, three nudges right * Right from the start , stick to the right. Ease into the corner to the right and hit the zipper. As soon as you've hit it, hug the corner tight to the left and stick to the left... Even at high speeds you can take this corner tight if you steer very smoothly (some TA can come to the rescue). No need to jump. The zipper is a tricky fella; your vision of the corner is limited so you'll often fly just past it... try to remain calm when this happens and hit retry *once past the corner, boost two times towards the tunnel on the second lap; on the third lap boost till you run out of juice... * As you approach and enter the tunnel, move over to the right side of the track and then come back to the middle for the zipper to catch some extra speed from the hill. (it's not much but it will get you that extra tenth per lap) * Exit the tunnel tight , use a jump if necessary to stay close to the left. * On the second and third lap, you may fly off the track when you go too fast over the hill just past the start. Not even holding 'up' will save you so be careful not to mistime your boosts. << Note:Well, nothing to add to this strat, however, use a slider to get a high max speed and possibly even a fast lap record. ****************************************************************************** 2. Red Canyon ---------------- The staff ghost's a slider so it's pretty obvious to do the same. Still, you can get some pretty good times here with the Noritta (1'16"5 is about as fast as I could get) if you jump every corner tight, hit the zippers and keep boosting all the way. * Best vehicule and setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max accel. * No special tricks; just boostslide the four corners as good as you can and try to catch all the zippers along the way. (apart from the ones in the refill zone in lap 2 and 3. Just neglect these and boost through the pink stuff). * push the nose down after every small jump but pull it back up little just before landing on the track. (pull it back up till you're just about level with the steepness of the track at that point) * In lap 1, you're better of jumping corner 2, 3 and 4 and it's very important not to miss a single zipper. You also might wanna try a left railboostslide after hitting the first zipper just past the start to take the corner that little bit faster then with a regular boostslide. Not easy though... ****************************************************************************** 3. Devil's Forest 2 ---------------------- No change from first guide. (Not one of my favourite tracks. Maybe my worst time). >> A fast track with a mixture of long straights, fast and slow corners and a rippled section in the middle allowing you to show off you're flying skills one again. Not much jumping here … just look out for the chicane at the end. * Vehicle of choice: Twin Noritta * Ideal gauge setting: two stripes from right, one nudge left * Once you've hit the first zipper, stick low to the left. Hit the second zipper in the tunnel and as you fly off the first ripple, aim low and towards the third zipper. Do the same towards the fourth zipper. It's important to gain as much speed as you can from the ripples. Ideally you should land after the second jump at 1200+kph (NTSC 1450+). * Once passed the rippled section, stick tight to the sides in the corners, use lots of TA to get smoothly through the chicane: it's too tight to jump. * Once past the chicane, keep boosting through the refill-zone, up to the first zipper. << Note: hmmm... I seem to suck on this track compared to the times in the N64 magazine where some guys go sub 1'20 with ease. The record is even suposed to be 1'15! (their records for Sand Ocean, Big Blue and Sector Alfa also beat mine by some margin so their might still be some elusive strats escaping me... unless they cheat of course) I've tried sliding, jumping, flying but nothing seems to work here. I think there might be some Red Canyon 2- style shortcut where you fly off the track at the rippled section, steer to the right with some DTs and cut of a big portion of the track. However, I always fall through the surface when I make it to the other side. I'd be most gratefull if you could help me out here! ****************************************************************************** 6. Mute City 2 ----------------- Again a slider works a few seconds better, but use the Noritta first to get to know the track and still get respectable times from around 1'18. * Best vehicule and setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max.accel. * In lap 1 slide through every corner on the track. There are two places for railsliding: right after the start to the left (just a tiny bit to get that extra bit of speed at the start) and against the right rail after you land from the jump plate going into the tunnel. Railslide all the way till the right corner in the tunnel. * Boost once past the start, then boostslide the first right bend. Use a DT R to get to the S-chicane that follows. * The next sharp right corner leading up to the jump plate is the best corner for boostsliding. Make sure to generate as much speed here as you can. Also boost before hitting the plate and you should be able the land just after the right cut-out section on the straight at around +1100kph. * Now make your way over through the tunnel towards the last sharp right before the refill-zone. You only have enough for one boost on this straight. It's up to you to use it in lap 2 or 3. * Boostslide the sharp right before the refills, be sure to catch the entire strip of energy! Try getting through the last S-bend with a light R jump and then boost again... ****************************************************************************** 5. Big Blue 2 ---------------- Short, tight and lots of hairpins... sliding is the obvious choice. Best Noritta time was a 1'06. * Best vehicule and setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max.accel. * Lap 1: DT Z the first left than slide the following right. Keep sliding right into the rail up to the first zipper but be sure to straighten up in time: the track looses it's sides before the zipper. Slide every other coner. Some TA or a light R jump might come in handy for the very last right corner coming out of the tunnel. * Lap 2 /3: Boostlside the first left corner but start straightening fast and quickly turn right and DT R furiously to get through the following right corner with all the speed from the slide. Stay away from the sides here or you might get launched off the track. * Boost up to the zipper and boost twice again after hitting it. (if you've touched the rails in the first corners you'll only have enough energy to boost once). * Use a DT Z in the tunnel just before the first refills and start sliding well in advance for the tight hairpin. Boostslide this one by turning very hard left. * No big deal if you miss the zipper after the hairpin; just boost yourself but be sure then to get some energy from the second strip. Watch out for the last right corner after the refil... use a combination of TA and a DT R to get through at high speeds. ****************************************************************************** 6. White Land ---------------- The most easy track for beginners in my opinion to beat their first staff ghost... If you use a jumper that is. It's quite hard to slide this one but you can gain about 3 secs if done correctly. The Noritta brought me to 1'39. * Best Vehicule - Best Setting: Night Thunder / Blood Hawk at max accel. * Lap1: Well, I'm starting to repeat myself but here goes: slide all corners for extra speed. As soon as you're out of the tunnel and get into the loop, start railsliding long and hard right. Blow more than half your energy bar and only start straightening up once you're through the loop just before the zipper. * Lap2/3. Slide the first left normally going into the tunnel. Now boostslide the right corner inside the tunnel. Very hard to come out without hitting the sides: be sure to steer left hard to straigthen up fast and use a DT Z as well. This will take practice. Boost twice after this coming out of the tunnel and again just before the zipper past the loop. * Okay, now it's up to the next though S-turn. Boostslide the first long left but again, it's very hard to get through the following right corner without hit the sides and loose your speed. Again you'll have to straighten up fast, steer hard right and use lots of DT R this time to get through. If done correctly you can get through going over 1000 kph. And you'll have to push the nose down hard after each jump plate or you'll fly too far and miss the next plate. * Boost again just before the last jumplate to fly over the bump and get back on the track into the refillzone faster. * Jump the very last left corner past the energy on lap 2, boostslide of course on lap 3. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************ KING CUP ************ 1. Fire Field ---------------- One of the tracks where railsliding really pays of !! The Hyper Speeder still brought me to a respectable 1'19 though. (even have a scanned pic of that time as I sent it to the N64 magazine... I know, I should send in my new ones as most of them are first places but I'm just too lazy :) ) * Best Vehicule - Best Setting: Night Thunder / Blood Hawk at max accel. * Lap 1: ok, this is really cool: Right after the start, railslide against the left rail. Keep sliding to the left, slamming into the rail and going into the left corner. If you've picked up enough speed ( you'll need to be going over 800kph) you can already fly off the bump in the first lap! As soon as you're airborne dip the nose down hard to catch a lot of speed and land in front of the zippers on the slope and than speed towards the big jump. You should land back on the track just past the chicanes at +1200 kph. Move over to the lone zipper on the left with some TA if necesary to keep your grip and start boost- railsliding right after hitting the zip. * Slide the long left corner before the hill (don't worry about going over the dirt) and dip the nose down hard when flying of the hill to get back on the track a.s.a.p. Now railslide left all the way to the starting line. This way you can get opening laps of 27, even 26 seconds and get times of sub 1'15. * lap2/3: A boostslide in the first left corner will send you into the air just like the first lap and then do the same nose-down-dipping tactic. Watch out that you don't miss the track when dipping down; the slope is pretty tight. * Boost twice after landing up to the zipper. You don't want to slide now so use lots of TA to keep your grip. * After hitting the zipper use a DT R to get to the right side of the track and get a good angle to boostslide the long left corner before the small hill * Again, push hard down to limit your time in the air and do a last small right boostslide as soon as you're back on the track. ****************************************************************************** 2. SILENCE II ---------------- You're really torturing yourself if you stick to a jumper here. It's VERY hard to beat the ghost with the Noritta ( which I did anyway - 1'38"0 ). Do yourself a favour and START SLIDING NOW! * Best vehicle - best setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max acceleration * Lap1: Start railsliding straight away against left rail up to the very long left corner. Take this corner in one long sliding turn and hit the two zippers along the way. Hug the corner on the inside after hitting the first, touching the rail a little for more speed. After hitting the second, start straightening up with lots of TA and a DT Z to get out of the slide with as much speed as possible. You should hit third zipper after coming out of the corner at +850kph. * In lap2/3 Use our own boosts in between the three zippers to keep speed high and also straighten out of your boostslide right after second zip. You should hit third zip at +1000 kph. * Aproach the tight S from the left. With your boost still active you won't lose speed going over the left patch of dirt and you have a good angle to jump through the S with one Z-jump. * After the S you have a sharp right hairpin: jumo this one with DT R instead of sliding. At high speeds, DT R furiously to avoid hitting the sides. The sharp right is immediately followed by a sharp left: also use jumps here(DT Z) instead of sliding. * Slide the next right corner leading up to the straight with the wavey surface. Boostslide this one on laps 2/3 to launch yourself on the straight at high speed. Stick to the right on this straight and catch some extra speed from the waves pushing the nose down. * Finally slide the last right corner tight and aim for the right patch of energy. Boostslide on laps 2/3 but be sure not to miss the tight refill-zone! ****************************************************************************** 3. Sector Beta ----------------- See first guide: >> * Vehicle of choice: Twin Noritta ( Red Gazelle also works quite well here ) * Ideal gauge setting: two stripes from right, 2 nudges left * This is probably the only track in the game where it's wise to use the airbrake (down-C in case you didn't know J). When you come speeding out of the tunnel, you'll fly off at the dip on the end of the straight in lap 2 and 3. So just before you would fly off, hit the airbrake for a split second to get your speed under 800 kph... may take some practice to get the timing right... * When you've past the dip, the track loses its sides. (just after the EAD- sign). Fly off the track here and use DT's to increase your speed in mid-air and guide your craft safely back on the track. Try to land in front of the refill-zone on the right or you'll run out of juice in the third lap. Leave the track on the left side: it's harder to land in the refill but it's almost a second per lap faster then the right... Phew... * You should land on the track having reached phenomenal speeds! Now try carrying all that speed through the sharp left corner past the start with some sublime jumping (DT Z )... << Notes: This is THE track to get the highest top speed in the game: you can even break the 2000kph barrier!!! Boost up to the point where you fly off at the end and then dip the nose down hard and use lots of DT's for a supersonic dive back to the track. Think you can beat my 2273 kph with the Blood Hawk :) ? ( That's 2728 kph for NTSC-players ) ****************************************************************************** 4. Red Canyon II ------------------- Now we're talking! A track where you can absolutely trash the staff ghost by over 20 seconds! Just spend more time in the air than on the track... AND master railsliding along the way. Allow me to explain... * Best vehicle - best setting: Night Thunder - Blood Hawk - max acceloration * The Flying High Trick ( Thanx Wes !) You probably know the shortcut where you fly off the bump, fly in a straight line and land back on the track to cut of a few seconds right? ( see my first guide if you don't ) Actually, There is a much better version of this shortcut where you stay longer in the air and cut of lots more of the track: It's possible to land back as far as the hairpin just before the first refill-zone. How? Well, as soon as you're in the air, angle your craft to the right and steer slightly to the right and then use lots of double taps with R. This way you can cut off a large portion of the track and land inside the hairpin. It's pretty hard to do actually and you'll often crash: if you approach the track from too high the game will make your car crash and if you approach the track too fast you'll fall through the surface. Just remember to keep the car level and let the double taps with R do the work. I also always boost just before flying off to have enough speed to reach the hairpin. Do this trick on laps 2 and 3 and you'll get sub 1'40 times with the greatest of ease. And now for the rest of the strat: * lap1: After hitting the zipper, boost-railslide hard into left rail to get your speed over 1000 kph. Slide into the first left corner leading up to the bump. Keep your slide going once past the corner against the left rail: As you railslide up the slope, you can maintain your speed at around 800 kph and already fly off the bump in the first lap ! *** Karl's Note: Well, when I first started playing Red Canyon 2 I could never railslide along the left rail and fly off. I tried and tried but I never did, then I found a much easier way. I don't know if railsliding to the left is faster though because I've never gotten it to work. Anyawy, about halfway through the long turn to the left start railsliding in the RIGHT. Yes, start railsliding against the turn. You'll come around the turn and continue railsliding until the tracks loses those big walls. As the car goes over the large bump, you'll fly over the track and start heading straight for the hairpin! I mean STRAIGHT for the hairpin! I mean I landed on the hairpin the first time I tried this on the first lap! I think I went from a first lap of 0:38 to 0:33... I don't know how David can get 0:31... Maybe railsliding after the first booster will help me... *** Just use the short version of the shortcut and fly in a straight line back on the track for a good 35" opener. However it is possible to do the long shortcut and go for the hairpin. This is VERY difficult as you don't have much speed when flying off and about 99% of the time you'll fall short of the track or just fall through the surface if you do reach the hairpin. If it does work you can get an opening lap of 31 seconds!! ( my WR is with this 31" opener.. so good luck :) ) Slide the rest of the corners; especially the hairpin itself and the tight long right corner leading up to the finish. * Lap 2/3: Boostslide the left corner leading up to the bump and boost again just before flying off. Do the long shortcut and already put your craft in a sliding position just before landing in the hairpin. Hit the boost as soon as you touch down and straighten up as you come speeding out of the hairpin. It's very important ( and dificult ) to straighten up just before the tight strip of energy ( either left or right ) or you'll be in energy trouble near the end. Also boostslide the next long right corner and through the refillzone before the finish line. ****************************************************************************** 5. White Land II ------------------- Well, if you thought RC 2 was impressive stuff wait till you get a load of this one... this track absolutely rocks! Allow me again to explain just how you can beat the half-pipe in under a minute WITHOUT using any kind of cheating device... just your own skill should suffice * Best vehicle - best setting: King Meteor at three stripes from max speed * Boost Jump Trick ( thanx JKT! ) You're probably wondering how on earth you can get below a minute on this track right? just one word really: Double-tapping ( or is that two words? :) ) All you have to do is go high in the corners and when you're going down to the middle start double tapping R or Z furiously to get an incredible speed boost! Double tap R when you're high right and double tap Z when you're high left. Even on the first lap, just after the first few corners you can get your speed up to 1300kph + without a single turbo boost! All you have to do is squeeze as much DTs as you can out of every corner. The big challenge of course is keeping your vehicle inside the half-pipe as you'll constantly be travelling at such high speeds the track just seems to fly by you... this is very cool stuff!! I just love doing this for hours on end... You'll gradually work your time down from 1'15 to 1'10 to 1'05 and eventually might even get sub 60 secs as you discover the best racing lines and the best places for the taps. For some reason, the King Meteor seems to work best here... although you can do this with pretty much every vehicule. Put the gauge at around 3 stripes from max speed. Here's a good lap strat: ( which might sound a little complicated first - It would be so much easier if you'd see it in action ) * As soon as you're in the pipe, go high right and do one DT R as you go back to the middle up to the first zipper for a first ( small ) boost. Do this in Lap 1 only. * After hitting the zipper go high left and now DT Z twice fast going back down to the middle. This should boost you straight up to 1200 kph. * This is immediately followed by a low turn left: DT R twice fast here. Now steer hard right to stay low in the next right turn with the second zipper ( in the green section ). Hit the zipper, go high and then DT Z. * Now comes the tricky part; after the DT Z, steer hard left and aim to go high in the next left corner. Do a DT R here and try to catch the third zipper as you're coming down from the corner. (This is where you'll fly out of the pipe most of the time so just drive through this section without DTs to get the hang of it first ) * After the third zipper you have a long left turn. Go high in the turn and furiously DT R here to get your speed up to +1300kph. * After the left turn, the pipe sways to the right. Stay low in this one: just go up a little to catch the last zipper and then stay in the centre. * Use the same strat in laps 2 and 3. Boost at the start up to the first zipper and at the end continuously once past last zipper. ****************************************************************************** 6. Mute City III ------------------- FZX's finest track in my opinion. You'll need a good strat if you want to slide MC3 but if you do you can gain 10 seconds! Jumping alone with the Hyper Speeder will get you to around 1'41. ( I saved my ghost here when I got my 1'31"5 world record - now THAT would be a challenge to beat :) ) * Best vehicle - best setting: Night Thunder/Blood Hawk at max acceleration * Lap1: Immediately rail-slide left and keep sliding into the left corner. Hit the jump plate, cut off the corner and fly low towards the zipper. Land on the zipper, do a DT R and then boost-slide the following left corner. DT R again to come out of the boost-slide and hit the second jump plate close to the sides. Aim low again and cut off the following corner. Slide towards the second zipper. Boost-slide to the left after hitting it and aim for the third zipper in front of the jump plate on the straight. Keep low and aim for the second jump plate so you can cut off the S and land just past it on the short straight. Don't slide the first right corner after the straight but jump with DT R. Now you have a long left hairpin which is ideally for sliding. Now slide left into the tunnel and slide right coming out ( start this slide well in advance or you'll hit the sides) * Laps 2/3: mostly use the same strat but now the boost comes into play for a bit of fun. Boost-slide the first left corner, then DT R as you try to hit the jump plate close to the sides. Boost and DT R again when you're in the air and neglect the first zipper. Just keep flying right of the track and cut of this entire section. Land back just before the S leading up to the second jump plate. Jump through with a quick DT Z followed by a DT R and hit the plate to cut of the next corner again. Boost-slide as soon as you land up to second zipper and then slide right again into the straight. You will now hit the next jump plate at high speed ( don't miss the zipper in front of it! ) so don't climb too high or you'll fly past the second. Also boost just before hitting the second plate for maximum distance and speed when landing past the S and onto the straight. DT R the first right corner again and then boost-slide the long left hairpin hard to launch yourself at high speeds towards the tunnel. Use a DT Z to race into the tunnel and go for the right strip of energy. Now comes boost-sliding out of the tunnel right for a high max speed on the straight towards the finish line. ****************************************************************************** ************* JOKER CUP ************* 1. Rainbow Road: ------------------- Straight from MK64 but at ten times the speed! And no chain-chomps either to mess up your time. A slider definately works best here in the many long winding corners. Fly off the hill at the start on each lap, slide those coners with class and sub 2'10 times will be yours for the taking. * Best vehicule: Blood Hawk / Night Thunder * Setting: max acceleration. * Right after the start, move over to the left and as soon as the track loses its sides at the top of the hill, drive off the track but stay close to the side. Push the nose down hard to make a steep fall and use DTs with R to increase your speed in midair and guide your craft back on the track. You should land back on the track at the bottom of the hill going around 1300 kph. Do the same on the second lap. On the third lap, you will have enough speed to fly off at the top automatically. * Slide into the next long right corner. Don't boost too early in lap 2 or 3. Hit the boost around halfway through to clear the corner at max speed (at around +1050kph). If you're still sliding when the boost has worn off you'll drop speed and lose time on the straight after the corner. * Make your way over to the next long left corner with TA if necessary to keep your grip. Same story here: slide close the inside of the corner and boost around halfway. The boost should just wear off as you clear the corner at max speed. Coming out of the corner you might have the use a DT with R to get a good line on the short straight that follows. * Now it's up to the very tight left hairpin. Start sliding well in advance and steer VERY hard left to stay away from the sides. It's a short corner so hit the boost right at the beginning. * After the hairpin you have a small dip again. You can do the same trick as at the start but you'll have to DT R very quickly to get back on the track. Still, you can win almost a second per lap if you do it right cos you'll catch about 100 to 200 extra kphs of speed. * After the dip you have a long gentle right corner leading up to the refill- zones. Use railsliding here on the first lap to increase your sliding angle and get more speed. On lap 2and 3 boost around halfway through. * The 4 short refill-zones have a tricky layout being covered with mines. On lap 1 and 3, railslide your way past them right on the inside of the left corner. On lap 2 it's important to get your energybar full again for the last lap so you may want to sacrifice some speed to be sure you catch enough energy. Driving over three out of the four zones should be suficient to do the job. * Staff Ghost does 2'18"5. A jumper will only get you to about 2'14 at best. Anything under 2'10 becomes pretty good in my opinion. For getting under 2'05 you'll have to make sure to get out of the hairpin with plenty of speed and fly off at the small hill that follows for even more extra speed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ More walkthroughs to come in the near future. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ******************* DEATH RACE TIPS ******************* Thanks to Croco64 for this section because I didn't know if I'd do it. Croco64 sent me some tips and I said what the hell and here it is. The following tips were sent in by Croco64: >> TIPS *Choose a large car (the larger it is the easier it is to hit the other racers) that has a good Body Rating and a fairly good Boost Rating. Grip doesn't matter much at all. A good Body is essential for maintaining a good amount of energy (energy is the last thing you want to worry about), and boost is good for catching up to other racers. *On the settings screen, don't adjust too much either way. You'll need acceleration more than speed in this level, so if anything, move it left. *Don't use the spin attack to kill opponents. It slows you down and takes too long to execute. Instead, use the side-smash move by Double Tapping R or Z. This will quickly and efficiently kill them. *There are some times that spinning can be used effectively. If there is a large group of cars (3 or more), a spin attack might take them all out at once. However, they must all be close to one another for this to work. *You'll slow down after you kill someone, so use a boost to catch back up to the next racer. *Kill the others in the order they're in; don't skip anyone. If you skip someone, you'll have to go all the way around again to reach them (or slow down substantially), and that will take some time. *Watch out for debris. If you're upside down and you hit a piece of wreckage, there's a chance that you might fly off the track and plummet to your doom. << Speaking of the right vehicles, I suggest any of these: 1. Black Bull 2. Crazy Bear 3. Wild Boar 4. Green Panther 5. Fire Stingray All machines are in their respective orders. Here's some other tips - Most of the time when you are racing you'll encounter several machines that are side-by-side. This is a great opportunity to take out several machines in one go. Drive along the side of the machine and then side attack very hard into the machine and you can knock out several at a time. When you racing, it is crucially important that you destroy a machine the very first time you try to destroy it. Don't go for the same machine twice because it will waste time. Also, if you don't properly destroy a machine, it will race out in front and might get in the way at a later time. If you accidentally miss a machine and it's right behind you, don't slow down. Instead, side attack very hard to the right and left and it will slow your machine down, but not much. You should be able to take out the machine and keep going at a pretty good speed. At the area of the track with no sides, you don't have to destroy a machine to knock it off. In other words, don't try so hard. A slight nudge is usually all it takes if you are driving a heavy car. If you side attack too hard you might fall off. When you're driving there should be no need to waste time in the pit area. Every time you destroy a machine you will gain energy so there should be no time where you are low on energy. If you get low on energy, don't boost and take out more machines. The faster your machine is going, the more chance it has of smashing machines. Therefore it is always good to be going at a high speed. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************************* DEATH RACE GRAND PRIX ************************* The name may or may not say it all. I had the idea in mind but didn't think of posting it in this FAQ. But then that thought was re-enforced by an e-mail from "Alex The Great" (DAMN! I wish he gave me his name!). Here's the e-mail he sent me.... >> Why! I can't believe you all tried everything and not this one. Me and one of my friends, we're having a lot of fun this way, since over a year, it seems to us that this is clearly one of the funniest possibilities of playing FZX. The Death Grand Prix. (The name should account for it.) It's just that: choose your level (even MASTER). Then crash as many vehicles as you can AND WIN THE GP! You don't need winning any single races sometimes, providing you can cut off a lot of cars. Normally I arrive between 8th and 10th and still win the race. AND IT'S a FUN thing in single player! What's the record? Well, the number of stars you gathered at the end of the death grand prix. It's VALID ONLY if you WIN!!! Here are my current ones: want proof?? Some took more than two hours to complete. (see here: it may take that long to complete a GP because this way you can ALWAYS retry. you'll quite obviously be getting 5 vehicles or more in a try... unless something goes VERY wrong) Novice: 171 stars. Using White Cat. On the Joker Cup. The theoretical limit (max no. of vehicles you can crash) is 174. (being 29 x 6, you can't crash yourself...) This means I've been able to crash ALL OF cars except in three races, when I got 28 of them. The novice level on the Joker cup is the best GP for playing death GP. Unfortunately there are nearly always a few cars which get off the track without your "help", especially on Big Hand and Rainbow Road (because of the lack of rails...) Master: 138 stars. Using White Cat. On the Joker Cup. This one took a lot of time to be achieved. At master, it's hard!!! there are a lot of times when you take off a lot of cars (even 20) but NOT your rivals! (heck) Master: 121 stars. Using White Cat. On the X cup. The X cup as a death GP is obviously something where you need to be somewhat lucky. If you find tubes or cylinders... you can trash your death GP. Half pipes still give some possibilities, but not when you're going to make a high record. A Dirty And Desperate Trick: When you see a cylinder on the X cup, you can take off as many cars as you can (about 10 usually), then start racing in reverse, continuously spinning the car. Some cars will smash and you'll still get a star (you can't get a star in other ways when other cars have arrived: they just become indestructible, so you have to put 'em out of the track). You can go back and forth on the track this way. You can take out everyone, if you have a ton of patience, but you'll drop very low in the rankings. That's because .... ok, you've killed them, but you won't earn any places because the race was already finished and you placed around 20th... You can do that also on the Joker cup. Rainbow road and Big Hand has plenty of sections without the rails. Another hint: When you find a very tight curve, say 90 degrees, where all cars accumulate on one side, do a jump turn and place above the cars, then start attacking like a mad! Not spinning, but side-attacking continuously. I took of 16 vehicles at a time this way... just a lot of stars accumulating in few seconds (it's great!!). ... Another one is the Advantage GP. The record here is trying to get as many points as you can over the second place car at the end of the GP. Theoretically here you should always try to get the 1st place, AND KILL THE MORE RIVALS YOU CAN. My current record is 362 pts, where Jody had 600 pts and the second place was for only 238 pts. A good way to do an Advantage GP is choosing the X cup and waiting for a first track where all cars fly out of the circuit (the X cup gives such tracks sometimes, you still have to avoid getting out yourself, but it's usually not difficult... just control the car in flight with side attacks). You'll obviously start with 100 pts above everyone. PS ok I always use White Cat for two reasons: I'm fascinated with Jody and with cats in general... I'm using the PAL version (even 'cuz I live in Italy). Have fun! I did. Alex da Great, aka Fottifoh www.geocities.com/fottifoh (that's my big freebie site: I also have made a 3D space simulator called Noctis, for the DOS, you could try...) hsp@mbox.infomark.it (that's my return address, in case it doesn't show. you can write me in both English or Italian, but not other languages 'cuz I wouldn't stand a single word) PPS The Death GP's good for practicing with kills. My record in the death race is about 48 seconds (don't remember exactly... I could send the precise time if you want it) but I'm not doing that very often. I like death GP the most. And in any cases, never try playing with me! I'd crash you everywhere, no one arrives but me. ;o) PPPS I found a cheat on a FAQ like yours, where you press Z+L+R+all Cs to ENLARGE the cars. That is, EVEN Z. I tried but it won't work. Maybe it's only for the NTSC version... PPPPS please forgive the long receipts list: I found your addresses in a FAQ and since they were all there, why not write everyone?? PPPPPS there will be no more postscripts. >> Wow, that's a long e-mail. So, now here's this section. This is where I will hold the Death Race Grand Prix (DRGP) records... Similar to the Fast Times section. If you're having trouble understanding it I don't really know how to explain it better than Alex did. You can e-mail me and ask if you want. ****************************************************************************** ************ JACK CUP ************ 1. Novice ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 2. Standard -------------- MACHINES DESTROYED: 3. Expert ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 4. Master ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: ****************************************************************************** ************* QUEEN CUP ************* 1. Novice ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 2. Standard -------------- MACHINES DESTROYED: 3. Expert ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 4. Master ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: ****************************************************************************** ************ KING CUP ************ 1. Novice ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 2. Standard -------------- MACHINES DESTROYED: 3. Expert ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 4. Master ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: ****************************************************************************** ************* JOKER CUP ************* 1. Novice ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 171 Alex Da Great MACHINE: White Cat 2. Standard -------------- MACHINES DESTROYED: 3. Expert ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 4. Master ------------ MACHINES DESTROYED: 138 Alex Da Great White Cat ****************************************************************************** Just like fast times I want you to send me your results. I might ask for proof as well but I'll just have to see your results first... ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ***************** CODES/SECRETS ***************** You're probably wondering, "what's the use of having codes and secrets in your FAQ if we can just go to GameSages?". Well, why should you have to go to two places when you could find it all here? Well, I'm not going to list all of the cheats from GameSages because quite frankly some of them aren't cheats; they're just part of the game. I really don't get how the spin attack could ever be a cheat. Oh well... ALL CARS, TRACKS AND DIFFICULTIES ------------------------------------ At the Mode Select screen, press L, Z, R, C-UP, C-DOWN, C-LEFT, C-RIGHT, START. You should hear a chime if you did it correctly. Submitted to GameSages by Eddie Virgilio SMALLER CARS --------------- At the car select screen press and hold the L and R buttons. While holding those buttons, press C-LEFT and C-DOWN to shrink the cars. Submitted to GameSages by Eddie Virgilio DIFFERENT TITLE SCREENS -------------------------- Yes it's true, if you beat the JACK, QUEEN and KING cups on the Expert difficulty you get a new title screen. Beat the JACK, QUEEN, KING and JOKER cups on the master difficulty and you get a really cool picture of a machine that seems to have it's outer shell removed as the title screen. This secret was found by me when I beat the game :) ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ********* F.A.Q ********* Q. Why are your walkthroughs so long even though it's racing game. Shouldn't "go around the track" be enough? A. Well, I think that only experienced players or fellow FAQ writers would ask a question such as this. A LOT of people prefer everything to be spelled out to them, even if it's a racing game. People love reading things that make it as clear as day for them. I myself would rather read a 1000 word in-depth walkthrough than a 100 word briefing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q. So, you say that David Van Moer's times are World Records, how do you know that? There could be someone who has heaps faster times. A. Well, I'm basing the World Records with the old World Record page at www.turokcave.com/fzero/. Until I have everyone from that site in this FAQ, I can only go by the site. However, that site has been inactive for nearly a year, and the times are very dated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q. What do I do if I want to send times? A. Just send the times through e-mail and I'll post them. I'm not stupid, so I'll understand it even if it's messy. Just do something like this - MC1: 1:27:456 0:25:918 1098km Twin Noritta That should suffice. Of course, if you use different vehicles for one course, you'll need to mention that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q. Will I require proof of my times? A. You will only need proof by my request. If I do not ask for proof then I don't want it. If you cannot give me proof when I ask for it, I won't be able to post your time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q. How do I send proof? A. If I want you to send proof I'll explain how to do it through e-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q. I heard that if you beat every cup on Master with every machine you get a reward. Is this true? A. This is false. David Van Moer found this out the hard way when he beat every cup with every machine and got zip for it. Realistically, this gives you no reason to try and do it other than complete boredom or you still think there's a whisker of hope even though it's been proven nothing happens. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ******************** F-ZERO X E-GROUP ******************** Well, an F-Zero X E-group has been started at... http://www.egroups.com/group/FzeroX ...And we really want people to join. In this E-group you can talk about F0X, ask questions, submit times, basically do whatever you want. There are already a few members including David, Nathan Stinson, Dan Taber, and me. It would be great if you all could join, but a few of you may not know exactly HOW to join. All you have to do is become a member or "subscribe" to E-groups. Don't worry, it doesn't cost anything. Head to the group address and then send an e-mail through the site asking to become a member. Then Nathan will accept your e-mail and you will be part of the group! So, we are waiting for you... ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** **************** E-MAILING ME **************** I'm getting stricter about e-mails because I've been getting more and more lately. I always enjoy e-mails, but I hate being disappointed by an e-mail that asks me a stupid question that's answered in the FAQ or is completely obvious. So, here's the do's and don'ts of e-mailing Karl. I will accept --- - Questions that aren't in the FAQ. - Suggestions for the FAQ. - Your best times. - Criticism, but not "your FAQ sucks". - Praise. I won't accept --- - Junk mail. - Questions that are answered in the FAQ. - Unreadable mumbo jumbo. - Flame mail. - People asking me to do work other than writing FAQs. I write FAQ for GameFAQs, and I ONLY submit FAQs to GameFAQs! If you want to use my FAQ you're gonna have to do it yourself. OK, there's the main part of the e-mail system.....Now onto the times part. If you send in times, you can only send updates ONCE A WEEK! I'd prefer it if you sent all of your new times on the weekend because then I could have the whole week to update and everyone sends in their times around the same time. Also, DON'T SEND ME TIMES IF THEY AREN'T UPDATED!!! If you're sending me updated times, don't add ANY times that aren't faster. I don't want to have to look through the FAQ to find out whether or not I need to update that time. And just one more thing, please, for the love of the Devil, can you tell me if you either use NTSC or PAL. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ******************** E-MAIL ADDRESSES ******************** Here's a list of all the people who appear in this FAQ:- Karl Jobst(me, the author)...faq_god@hotmail.com David Van Moer...............dave.thewave@planetinternet.be Steven Zwartjes..............szwartjes@hotmail.com Nathan Stinson...............nathanstinson@hotmail.com Dan Taber....................dtabers@juno.com Croco64......................croco64@yahoo.com Wes McKinney.................wessm@neo.rr.com Alex Then Great.............. hsp@mbox.infomark.it ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ************* COPYRIGHT ************* This FAQ is Copyright (c) Karl Jobst 2000 If you want to use this FAQ on your site, or otherwise do anything to it, you must first ask me permission. If anything is done to this FAQ without permission I can take legal action against you. You wouldn't want that, would you? If you think you wouldn't be able to update this FAQ, but want this FAQ, the only thing you could do is link directly to this FAQ from GameFAQs. But of course, you would still have to ask me first. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ******************************** FINAL WORDS, CREDITS, THANKS ******************************** First I want to say a big massive thanks to David Van Moer for agreeing to re- write walkthroughs and tactics and being so good towards this FAQ. David has also increased my playing skill immensely. If you're going to e-mail anyone about F-Zero X help let it be him. I thank Wes McKinney cause he made the World Record site which became my inspiration for getting fast times for F-Zero X. I thank everybody who has sent in times to this FAQ: Nathan Stinson Dan Taber I thank Steven Zwartjes because he found the sliding technique. I thank Ian Rogers again for the inspiration and friendship. I cannot think of anything else to say at this present time. :) ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** ******* FIN ******* Fin. :) Thanks for reading the FAQ! ****************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************