There are two very different strategies for the different modes of play.
The first is showoff. Take your time, look for the multipliers and use
rails whenever you can. This will benefit you greatly.
For racing, your goal is speed. You want to do enough tricks to keep your
speed boost up, but nothing too extraneous. Cut off any switchbacks you can
and keep your eyes peeled for shortcuts. You can find almost every shortcut
by looking for the red and blue signs or by following your opponents and NOT
resetting to get back on the course. Thats how I found the sixth shortcut
on Mesablanca.
Also, you go faster while crounching to jump than standing. I keep my
character crouched as often as possible, even though it does detract from my
turning ability.
Learn the courses. With experience comes wisdom. By taking different
routes through the course each time you learn the best routes and can
successfully do them when the time arises.
Pipes are difficult and require practice. In general they are far easier to
hit if you board is sideways, so orient it that way if you're mid-air and
think you may be near a pipe. Also, they're easier to follow with the board
sideways. Use the control pad to rotate your board while not crouched on a
pipe. It's usually easier to hop onto a pipe than to ride onto it. Usually
a pipe twists requiring you to stay on. Use the control stick and tap it
left or right to keep yourself as centered on the pipe as possible.
Finally, alpine boards are difficult to use on pipes because you fall off
before your board is actually off the pipe. The Freestyle boards are far
better for gauging how close to the edge of a pipe you are. Aside from that
you just need to practice.
Finally, when you're playing with your friends, don't tip your hand if you
don't need to. If you're ahead of them, don't take shortcuts you know they
don't know about. If you do, they will learn how to do them themselves and
use them to beat you in the future.
Your first priority with any player should be to complete their trick book.
Once completed, that character will have access to their Uberboard. Trust
me, the added stats of the Uberboard make it more than worthwhile to get.
Your second priority is building up your stats. The first stat I work on is
Tricks. This makes it a lot easier to accomplish your first goal (see
above)
Obtaining a gold medal on a race nets you 6 points to add to your stats.
Because I am interested in getting characters as high as possible I start
with the Showoff levels
2.1 Garibaldi
2.1.0 Showoff
Bronze: 25000
Silver: 40000
Gold: 55000
This really should not be difficult. Just do spins and flips with all your
tricks and you should do fine. You should be able to get a nice set of
points to start off with off the first jump. Fifteen thousand is a good
score to start with. Follow the track (ignoring the shortcut to the left)
and go along the ice tunnel. On the far side do an uber trick (if you can)
through one of the snowflakes. The orange if you can manage it, but the
yellow is fairly easy. This could net you the bronze.
Your tricky meter should definitely be full by now so do a spinning flipping
uber trick through a snowflake. If you don't have the gold now, you're not
trying hard enough. However, there are a lot of ridge jumps down the rest
of the track for you to fill up on.
2.1.1 Race
Beating the race on this level should be no harder than the showoff above.
My suggestion is to do your six uber tricks as early as possible because you
can boost for the rest of the level. Here are the shortcuts I've found that
are worth taking:
2.- Just after the first big drop. The track curves right, but straight
ahead is a blue sign. Head through it and down a couple ridges to shave a
few seconds off. You rejoin the track after the next large jump, just
before the split ice hill.
2 - Just after the split ice hill is another large jump. Stay on the right
side as you go over. You go through a red sign and board along a ledge. At
the end of it jump off (it helps to be using a speed boost). You should
jump over the track into some powder. Stay in this small gulley and jump
when you come to the next ridge. You should go over the track again and
rejoin the track just after the odd split caused by a rock. This only saves
you a couple seconds, but gives you two more uber trick opportunities.
3 - When the track really splits (yellow signs pointing, gates in the way)
take the right hand fork. A long ways down is a blue sign for you to crash
through. Make your way through this powdery area. Try hugging the left, it
seemed to work best for me. Eventually you get to a series of jumps over a
river. Make all of them to rejoin the track way ahead of the rest of the
pack.
4 - Halfway down the first part of Shortcut 3 above there's a blue sign in
front of a cave. Go through it to rejoin the main track sooner.
5 - At one point there's a huge right turn where the ground drops off just
on the far side. If you jump off you'll cut a corner off the track, worth a
few seconds. This one is made really obvious by a yellow ramp in the
Showoff, less than a minute from the end.
2.2 Snowdream
2.2.0 Showoff
Bronze: 35000
Silver: 65000
Gold: ???
Since we're still early in the game, this is another level that shouldn't be
too hard. Slide on the first rail you see to the right. Do a spinning flip
off the end for about 20000 points and to fill your tricky meter. Then do
an ubertrick off one of the ramps and try to catch a multiplier. At this
point it's not difficult to have 60000 points.
Follow the course and you'll eventually see a ramp pointing to an orange
multiplier. This one is just a gimmie. With a simple ubertrick (no spins
or flips) you can net 50000 points off this sucker, and that gives you the
gold. If you missed any points so far, you've got plenty of time to find
them.
2.2.1 Race
Once again this race is pretty easy. There's only two shortcuts I recommend
going for and that's the first two listed.
2.- The track splits in half after a series of small ridges. In the middle
is a blue sign. Go throught the exact middle of the sign to do a railslide
on a pipe. Jump off the end. It's not a great shortcut, but it avoids the
people around you for a while.
2 - After the above shortcut there's a ridge. As you jump the ridge, ahead
you should see a patch of ice on the other side of a fence. Get up some
speed and jump off a snowbank onto the ice. Follow it to cross over the
main path a couple of times. This saves a lot of time for you.
3 - Directly after shortcut 1 listed above there's a ridge with a blue sign
very prominently placed on the left. Go through it to head through a
japanese garden, complete with miniature pagodas. However, I suggest you
skip this and use shortcut 2 above.
2.3 Elysium Alps
2.3.0 Showoff
Bronze: 75000
Silver: 150000
Gold: 225000
This is the first showoff venue that's remotely challenging. However, there
are a number of big air ooportunities to help. From the beginning ride the
rail directly in front of you. If you're careful you can do a trick off the
end and land on the rail below. This is one case where you may not want to
spin or flip. By the time you reach the end of that rail your tricky meter
should be full. Do a spinning flipping Ubertrick and you should be in the
vicinity of 70000 points.
Do another big Ubertrick off the next ridge. If you catch the multiplier
this can be worth another 60000 points pretty easily. Take the next couple
turns and ride the rail on the left of the course. Do an uber trick off it
and net another 20000 points. By this point the Silver can easily be under
your belt.
Follow the course a ways and you come on a series of switchbacks. These are
good for some tricks of you go straight through instead of following the
course. There are also some guidewires after this section that can be worth
a lot of points. Eventually you come to a large funbox. Use a boost when
you hit it and aim well to get the red multiplier. If you do an ubertrick
the gold should be yours at this point. If you miss it though, take
shortcut 3 below and you'll get plenty of ubertrick opportunities.
2.3.1 Race
This race absolutely sucks.... if you stay on the course. I strongly
recommend taking shortcuts 3 and 4 below. If you do, there's no chance the
pack will be even close to you. The icy halfpipe can be a little tricky,
but take your time. Go all the way around the fences if you have to. If
you are going to hit one, hit the reset button just before you do. That way
you start on the other side of it and anyone behind you still has to break
through that glass.
2.- Less than a minute into the course is a set of switchbacks that are
pretty tight. At the beginning of the set is a red sign. Going through it
cuts off the first switchback.
2 - Just after the shortcut above is a blue sign. Go through this one for a
similar shortcut. In general this section can be ridden straight through
more quickly than taking the turns.
3 - Just after the large funbox with deep powder on both sides (It's got a
purple mark on the ground just before you hit the ramp). The course veers
right through a tunnel. To the left is a sign. Break through it. Follow
this track until you see a red sign. Head straight for it and jump over.
Keep going straight and you'll get a long drop onto a thin trail. Follow
the trail to the left. You'll need to speed burst to make it over the
jumps. If you fall, you end up on the main track. There are actually
several entry points to this area. The second is just after the tunnel on
the left, but it's a difficult jump to make. The third is after the first
drop on the main track. Just before the second drop is a tree trunk you can
slide up into this area.
4 - Once you rejoin the main course from three above, take the jump and look
straight ahead. There are a number of blue bilboards with a red sign
nestled between them. Go through the red sign and follow this track. When
you get to the jump veer to the left. You go over the main course and
through a giant log. You rejoin the course at the icy halfpipe.
2.4 Mesablanca
2.4.0 Showoff
Bronze: 75000
Silver:
Gold: 225000
This is a fairly difficult showoff challenge. I start off by ignoring the
first rail. It's too difficult to get any worthwhile points off of. The
side rails are a good bet if you can get to them and do a good trick off the
end. When you get to the rail after a couple turns ride it. It takes you
through the trees and is worth 20000 if you do a little trick off it. This
leaves you right before a long ridge jump. Do a good ubertrick off it and
hit the multiplier for around 40000 points. At this point I'm usually
around 80000 points.
Avoid the rails here and go around them. The next jump can net you another
40000 if you hit the multiplier on your way up. Stay on the left side of
the level and hit the next jump. You should be able to aim well enough to
get the orange multiplier. With a good trick this can net you another 60000
Follow the course for a ways doing tricks where you can. Eventually you get
to a blue sign. Ride the rail behind it and do trick off the end for a
little 10000 point blip. Go back to the track and folow the right path. Go
slow and drop down when you hit the jump to go through the mineshaft. Ride
on the left rail here and jump the gap. Hit the rail on the otherside and
do an ubertrick out the exit to get a red multiplier and a nice wad of
points. This should bring you up to the gold. If not, there's still plenty
of opportunities.
2.4.1 Race
I actually had difficulty with this race. However, there is an incredible
number of shortcuts worth taking. With the shortcuts you should have no
excuse for losing. When you reach the sectio where there are two paths
fenced in by bars twisting around each other (you'll know what I mean), try
to jump on one of the rails. You can speed boost your way through the
entire thing.
2.- Skip the first ridge you want to jump off. Jump off the next little lip
up to an area to get away from the pack. This doesn't earn you a lot of
time, but offers a change of scenery.
2 - If you veer slightly to the right when you do shortcut one above, you
can ride a small ledge and jump up to a new area. This gives you a bigger
jump when you get to the first ridge.
3 - After the first ridge jump and after you go under the stands, veer left.
Go underneath the big sign and jump off this ridge to cut off a huge
corner. Sliding on the trunk lying there helps you avoid the billboards at
the bottom.
4 - Instead of the shortcut above, go straight. Go left behind the rock
next to the hill with two pipes. There's a blue sign ucked away. Follow
this path and it puts you in the mineshaft well ahead of the other people,
but it's hard to do without falling.
5 - When the course splits, take either path (I prefer the right).
Eventually there is a jump, but if you slow down and drop down you enter a
mineshaft. Ride the left rail and jump the gap if you can to keep going.
6 - After the mineshaft shortcut above is another ridge jump. Instead of
going over it like normal go to the left and jump into the ravine. Follow
it along to the left. You rejoin the course way ahead of your foes.
7 - At the end of the shortcut above, there's a small hump of snow. Way
above it is a red sign. If you aim well you can use a boost off this hump
to get through that sign. The course curves to the left and then you have
to make a difficult jump across the main course. Unfortunately you can't
see your landing so this one takes some practice. When you do make it, the
tunnel just makes another turn and deposits you back on the course. It
doesn't net you much time, but it impresses your friends.
2.4 Merqury City
2.4.0 Showoff
Bronze: 125000
Silver: 175000
Gold: 275000
This would be a challenge if there weren't quite so many gimmies. Start off
with a slide along the rail to your left. There's a gap with a multipier
that you can do a trick in. Hit the next rail and then do trick off it.
You should be sitting pretty with around 40000 points. There'a ridge
quickly which you can use to do a short ubertrick. Hitting the multiplier
there will net you another 30000.
At this point, the two paths differ greatly. I won't explain how to take
either one, but try to hit as many rails as possible. Most of them are
broken so you have to struggle to stay on, but you get a lot of trick
mulitpliers. When you get to the halfpipe, try to do a lot of ubertricks
off the sides. That should pull your point total up a lot.
There are a lot of good pipes to take in the park. These can net you a lot
of points. Finally when you get through it, try to take the upper path
along the broken freeway. That gives you a couple more ubertrick
opportunities. Finally, if you're still shy of points, take the left route,
with the quarterpipe switchbacks. At the end of it there are three ridges
for you to get trick air off of.
2.4.1 Race
This race is only difficult because of a general lack of shortcuts. There
are a few but most are difficult to describe. Pretty much any time the
track splits you can go in the middle to find a shortcut, but not all of
them are faster than the main track. You can go through some of the
buildings too, but it's too difficult to describe. Instead, focus on going
fast and not pissing off your opponents.
2.- In the park, after the statue, go left off the course. Eventually you
should find a frozen stream. Follow it into the sewers. If you avoid all
the fans, you come out under the broken freeway.
2 - After the park is the suspension bridge. After that is a long jump to
get on top of the broken freeway. Hanging above it is a pipe. If you get a
good boost and enough air, you can make it into the pipe to skip most of the
freeway and get a couple speed boosts.
3 - Near the end of the level, the track splits. The left goes to a series
of quarterpipes which aren't very fun. The right goes through a frozen
building. The building tends to be better, but it's not as obvious as you'd
think when you get there.
2.5 Tokyo Megaplex
2.5.0 Showoff
Bronze: 100000
Silver: 225000
Gold: 350000
With a little practice, this is the easiest showoff venue in the game. Try
to get your tricky meter full of the first jump, after the ice. Head to the
left after the jump and hit the three switches to raise the ramp. Do a
little hop into the window and ride up to the top of the level.
Do a couple ubertricks on your way up. Get on the left rail and ride it.
It breaks at a couple points but it's relatively easy to stay on, especially
if you spin (not flip) off each one.
Repeat. Rinse. Wipe hands on pants.
If you're having trouble making the jump into the window, try doing a little
hop. Instead of crouching in anticipation of the jump, tap the jump button
at the top and you won't hit the top of the window. Also, don't follow the
rails into the window on the last lap. Instead, drop down and complete like
normal.
2.5.1 Race
I usually do the race exactly the same as the showoff. Just plant your
board on those rails and let it ride the whole way down. As for other
routes or shortcuts, there's no way I'm going to list them all. Find them
for yourself. If you fall, try doing some ubertricks off the fans along the
course.
2.6 Aloha Ice Jam
2.6.0 Showoff
Bronze: 75000
Silver:
Gold: 175000
This is another course with high trick potential. I try to start off by
hitting the first rail on the left. If you're good at leaning you can pick
up both multipliers and then do a spinning nosegrab off the end (this takes
some practice). You can net about 30000 points. Stay to the right and hop
on the rail there. A couple hops and tricks later you should be up another
25000 points.
Take the next rail you see through the blue sign. Once again, you can score
about 20000 points. These are difficult to do though, so don't worry too
much about them. Next you come to some switchbacks. Go straight through
and do an ubertrick for a few points, but make sure you don't fall. You
need your tricky meter full when you go through the glass pipe. When you
enter it a ramp pops up. Do a good trick off here and grab the multiplier
for at least 60000 points.
Just stick to the course for a while and stay left whenever you can.
Eventually you'll see a red sign. Ride through it and along the pipes. You
ride on a few different surfaces and eventually get set down on a long hose.
Follow that the whole length and do a spinning flipping trick off the end
(no time for an ubertrick though). It's difficult to do, but can net you
well upwards of 80000 points. If you miss the red sign, jump to the left
just before the big head and you can get on the pipe.
If you're not over the mark by now, stay on the main course and there are
some good pipes you can take for points.
2.6.1 Race
This race can be easily beaten by using a combination of the shortcuts
listed below.
2.- After the first jump there are two blue signs. Go to the right of them
and through the red sign. You ride on some cables and through a tunnel.
2 - Go through the first glass pipe (you can't make it if you use the
shortcut above). A ramp will rise. Do a jump off this ramp (don't jump too
far) and you land in a watery tunnel. This will last for a while.
3 - At some point, I can't remember exactly where, there's a second red sign
to the left. Go through it to board through a penguin infested area (wait a
minute... There are no penguins in Hawaii!!!) and skip one of the twistier
parts of the course.
4 - After the twistiest part of the course, stay to the left. There's a red
sign with a pipe behind it. Stay on these pipes, walls, cables and whatever
else. They should deposit you on a long grey pipe that bypasses the hellish
icy part.
5 - Jump into the big head you see. It's not a hard jump. Stay in this
series of pipes by doing little hops. This skips you past the entire icy
section and leaves you perfectly lined up for the next shortcut.
6 - After the icy section, jump the gap and head left through a red sign.
Follow this section and leaves you near the end of the caves
2.7 Alaska
2.7.0 Showoff
Bronze: 150000
Silver: 300000
Gold: 500000
This is of course the most difficult race. Start off by riding the rail
ahead of you. You can do some good tricks at the breaks and earn yourself
40000 points to kick off with. Just keep on going like this taking the
rails that you see. By the time you get past the river you should have
gotten the bronze and done two or three ubertricks. Ride either rail here
if you can. They can be worth another 60000 points due to the red
multipliers at the end. Keep on going, through the ice cave (not too many
points here). When you come out, it's very worth it to be on one of the
rails. You net a lot of points this way. However, keep going until you
jump down to the double halfpipe.
Spend some time here racking up points. It's a great place to do ubertricks
and spins and flips. You should beef yourself up to about 250000 points in
this area. It really shouldn't be difficult, so go further if you can.
After this is a huge quarterpipe you can get some more big points off of if
you hit the multipliers with an ubertrick. However, make sure your tricky
meter is full after this.
As you come down from the quarterpipes, you'll see a red multiplier in the
distance. Use a speed burst and do an ubertrick mid air to catch this
multiplier and land on the small spit of land. If you miss it, take either
path slowly. When they come out of the tunnel, try to get back on the
center piece of ice. You should do a jump to get some points with a
multiplier. Then you need to do a really long, boost assisted, high scoring
jump. Make sure you hit the multipliers and you can net 100000 from this
one jump alone.
Now just follow the track a good long ways. There are two ubertrick
opportunities, both with multipliers if you need it. After a while you pass
under the fans and head up the long ice tunnel. Do a huge trick out of
there to clean up for the rest of the points. If you're just a few points
shy, try using one of the rails and doing a trick off it before you hit the
finish line.
2.7.1 Race
This is the hardest race in the game. There are a couple shortcuts that
really help, and a lot that are sort of ho hum.
2.- After the first spiky ice corridor and over the hump, swing to the
right, then swing back in to the left. With some practice yu can make it up
this embankment. There's a small ramp pointing at three caves. Any of them
makes a decent shortcut, but the winner is actually a little to the left of
the cliff face. Make the lead and go through a red sign. At the end of
that gully catch the rail for a good shortcut.
2 - Just before the jump to get to the river track, there's a ramp on the
left side. Hit that with a jump to take you above this treacherous area.
If you don't jump high enough, you'll slam into the cliff and lose some
time, but if you jump too high you'll skip right over this and land back
with the rest of the pack.
3 - After the river is an area with VW moguls (huge rolling bumps
essentially). After that there's a frozen river with land sticking up.
Jump from piece of land to piece of land and use the rail to stay above the
frozen tunnel where everryone else falls
4 - After the frozen tunnel, stay to the right of the icy track. You can
bypass a couple loops of the track by staying in the snow.
5 - After the huge quarterpipe, make a long jump onto a small piece of land.
If you miss it, take either side and go slowly to rejoin this path. At
the end of it, do a speed burst and make another huge jump, across the
track, onto another area of land.
6 - This is the absolute kicker. It's at the very end of the level as
you're going up the ice tunnel being blown by the fans. If you can see the
people in front of you, you will beat them if you do this successfully.
Jump in this tunnel when you have another fifty meters or so to go. Pitch
the front of your board way down. You should catch it on the lip of the
tunnel and fall. You fall onto a wide icy area. Speed down it as quickly
as possible. Meanwhile, your opponents will be doing all sorts of tricks in
mid air, wasting time.
- A medal on each race unlocks the next race for that character.
- Medals give you extra points for your stats (Bronze: 2, Silver: 4, Gold:
6)
- A certain number of medals (total) are required to unlock certain
characters.
- Each trick book chapter givew you a new outfit
- Filling your trick book gives you the uberboard
- Each new ranking earns your caharacter a new board
- Getting all gold medals unlocks the Untracked and Pipdream levels
Unfortunately you do not get a bonus for completing the entire game with
every character.
