-------------------------Shenmue Mini-Games---------------------
By: 'The Bouncer' a.k.a. 'Griever'
This guide is to help players with the assortment of mini-games in the game
Shenmue. Many of these tips you can probably find out for yourselves, or
have already found out. It's just to help those that haven't done or
thought of some of the things here. These tips are meant to help you
improve your game, and rank in the Network Rankings of the Passport Disc,
assuming you have connection to the Internet through your Dreamcast.
--------
Version
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December 21, 2000---->(v.2.0) Back once again for the Renegade Master!!! I
knew I would have to release another version sometime. Sorry for the late
delay people. I just didn't want to update until I had enough information
worthy of updating,...umm yeah that's it. Actually I bought Lunar 2 and
Skies of Arcadia the other day, and have been pretty preoccupied with that.
Plus my computer was T.K.O.'ed for a while, so I had to get it fixed. But
it's back now. Well enough excuses, here's what's new:
-Someone was kind enough to e-mail me and explain how the slot machines
work! I've reorganized the FAQ because the explanation is pretty long, and
so it makes sense to have it at the bottom.
-Made a table of contents for easier navigation.
-Cleaned up a few mistakes that I saw. That's about it. I don't think
I'll have to make another version...least I hope. :)Be back in Shenmue 2!!
December 17, 2000---->(v.1.0) First and probably last.
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SHENMUE MINI-GAMES
************************************************
_________________
Table of Contents
=================
1)Darts7
2)NeoDarts
3)Space Harrier
4)Hang On
5)Excite QTE 2
6)QTE Title
7)70 Person Battle
8)Forklift Racing
9)Slot Machines
10)Stuff
11)Other stuff
----------------
Darts 7
----------------
Congratulations for getting in Fighter Weapons School, better known to its
cadets as Top Gun....Okay maybe not. It is sorta like shooting missiles
though. In this darts game, all you have to do is tap the A button when the
dart goes over a number on the dart board, simple isn't it? Not as simple
as it sounds.
The key to getting a high score and winning is of course to shoot for the
high numbers on the board. The highest being the 20 pt. inner ring, which
is 60 points. I won't explain the point system, because if you don't
already understand the point system for Darts7, then you shouldn't be here.
The only tips that I can give for this game is to practice, practice,
practice. Practice helps you judge the aim and angle that the dart will
follow as it hits the dartboard. If the hand is moving in a downward
motion, you can bet that the dart will hit a little lower from the point
that you press A. The same goes if the hand is moving up. It may take a
while for the hand to move over the exactly area that you want, but have
patience. Getting close to the area is not good enough, as hoping it will
hit the area by chance is no good. Chances are that the dart won't even get
close to the chosen area. You must wait.....
But if you don't like waiting, you can press the B button which will cancel
the current dart motion, and bring up a menu that says 'Continue' and
'Quit'. Press continue and the dart will reposition to another spot on the
dartboard. This helps to save time when you know the dart is not going to
pass over the 60 spot. It also helps you when you want to save as much
bonus time as possible. And that brings me to another thing, the bonus time
is nothing more than bonus time. It is not a time limit. You have forever
to judge your shot. I hold the current record for my state. :)
----------
Neo Darts
----------
A sub-game of sorts derived from Darts7, I dunno why I added this one, I
just felt like I should. There are no Network Rankings for this game, but
it's fun anyway. Much easier to score than Darts7 for sure. Five attempts;
aim for the bulls-eye. It's very possible and fairly easy to get a perfect
500 on this, but you get nothing for it except an applaud from me.
--------------
Space Harrier
--------------
Space Harrier,...when I first played this game, I thought to myself "What a
crappy game" and dismissed it for a while. But then I started to play it to
attempt to beat the records in the Network Rankings, and then thought it was
pretty fun.
The basic premise of this game is...to shoot!! and shoot!! I have to say
that tapping the fire button on the Dreamcast controller is not very
ergonomic or something. It is not very easy to rapidly tap the fire button
as fast as you can. The good thing is that you can press start to pause the
game, and take a rest. My advice would be to press the A button in a
certain rhythm in which you know you can last a while without getting tired.
I have not beat the game myself, but I know there are at least 5 stages to
get through, which means a lot of firing. The good thing is, that with such
a simple game, are simple winning strategies. Shoot and move.
-Stage 1
A pretty easy stage. Nothing too difficult. Shoot anything and everything.
The boss is some sort of fireball dragon. Just shoot his head. Shooting
his body will have no effect. If you have the patience, you can keep moving
in a circle to avoid his fireballs and kill some time, as doing this will
add to your score. How so? Because your score is always growing. Of
course, it won't add millions of points, but worth it when you're going for
the top score and the scores themselves are separated by a few points.
-Stage 2
A little tougher. This stage introduces non-shootable objects. By which I
mean, things-in-the-way-that-can-kill-you. Stupid columns that you must
dodge to get through. Learn to dodge them, because the next stage will be
about 3 times as worse. The boss here is a green butterfly(looks like it)
surrounded by those flying stone heads. Try and shoot all the stone heads
first, because they add to your score. Killing the butterfly inside the
flying stones will defeat the boss, but will do little to add to your score,
because after you kill him, the stones fly away. :(
-Stage 3
A terrible stage. Very tough because you have to deal with more
non-shootable objects. And some are not visable until you're up close,
mainly because of the enemies that come onscreen. Shoot and move a lot,
because there are a lot more enemies, and chances are you won't get them
all. Also, with more enemies alive, it means they'll have the chance to
attack, which means more dodging on your part. The boss here is a
two-headed dragon. Easy like the first stage boss.
-Stage 4
Not bad if you know what you're doing. Of course more columns to block your
path, but this time there are these polygonal/metallic objects that will get
in your way too. The key is that in each wave that occurs, they're either
all at the bottom, or all at the top. Easiest way to avoid them is to go to
the extreme top, or running on the ground, whatever the situation arises. A
few enemies here, but nothing to terrible. Just avoid those stupid columns.
-Bonus Stage!
A good stage to bring up that score! No shooting in this round, just move
the white 'dragon'(?) that you're on, smashing into the trees. More trees
equal more points.
-Stage 5
Man, oh man, tough stage. Haven't beat it yet, but will try to. I must.
More stupid columns to avoid, plus tougher enemies. These guys will shoot
you with authority, and are nothing like the chumps in the previous stages.
There is a lot of moving around here, just keep a good eye, and make sure
not to run into anything. I can't beat the boss here. He shoots hella fast
and a lot! D=
*Note: If for some weird reason you want to change 'up' to 'down' and
vice-versa, you can do so by holding down the 'A' or 'B' button before
pressing 'Start' for a new game. Another note, I prefer using the D-pad in
this game, because it's much easier than the analog (IMO), because the
analog re-centers the guy and the D-pad doesn't. Use what you feel most
comfortable with.
------------
Hang On
------------
What a fun game!!! This is what I'm talking about. No random stuff like
the Darts7 game, or rapid shooting like Space Harrier. It's all based on
your skill in handling the Analog stick of the DC controller which is very
touchy by-the-way. Note: There are two ways to turn, with the Analog and
Digital pad. Of course, the analog is easier, because, well it's analog,
which means continuous. And you'll definitely need a continuous motion in
this game. The directional/digital pad is okay, but I highly advise against
using it because it doesn't give a fast enough response (IMO).
Alritey, in this game, all you have to do is ride, and fast. Press the
gas(R trigger) and don't let go! There's the brake too (L trigger), but
only use that when you know that you'll crash. It might save you (heh).
Some tips:
In this game, you aren't racing against the people, but the time limit.
You're given 75 seconds to get the first track completed, and are awarded
with bonus time if you finish it for the next track. Basically, all the
tracks can be complete around 60 seconds, giving you some leeway time.
Crashing is not good, as it will take off major seconds. Crash twice, and
kiss finishing the game goodbye.
And that brings me to the other racers,...curse them. They are your only
problem in this game. Barely touching them will send your moto- to the
opposite side of the track, and most likely into a sign or whatnot. So
avoid them at all costs. When entering corners, go on the inside, because
you can usually cut them off and pass 'em. This is mainly because they go
really slow compared to you, especially around corners. Or maybe you're
going too fast. :D
When entering corners after the other racers, go on the outside of the
corner. During the middle and last stages of the turn, the computer racers
drive like pros, entering from the outside of turns and exiting close to the
inside. You can usually get by them by staying on the outside. Easy as
cheese.
S-turns. Man, these are the worst. Navigating through here without
crashing is about the most difficult thing, because if there are a lot of
other racers, you'll have to let off the gas, and ride it through going as
slow as them. Don't be afraid to slow down(by letting off the gas, not
braking), because it's much better than losing 7 or 8 seconds doing a
backflip into a 'Dobu-way' sign and blowing up your moto-.
All the turns are pretty easy, a few of them require letting off the gas for
a moment. It doesn't get too bad until Stage 4, the night/highway stage.
But if you've gotten this far, you've probably got the skills to get through
it(but probably not the time ;]).
Also, when passing other racers, try to keep a smooth turn. Turning too
much or too little and you'll have to compensate, by more turning!! This is
not a good thing to do when in turns. I hold the record for my state in
this one too. ;)
--------------
Excite QTE 2
--------------
An easy game, if you know what to do. Play this game enough times and
you'll get the hint. It's a predetermined order. Get a friend to help you
out and record the inputs that show up. You'll beat this game easy. I have
the order for the inputs all the way up to the Expert level, but am not
giving it out, as it would eliminate the competition. Plus, I didn't have
anyone else to record the inputs for me, so it was pretty hard doing it
myself. Imagine trying to put in the command, while trying to write down
what it was. It gets kinda annoying when you get to the higher levels and
start messing up because it gets real quick and starting all over to get to
that point takes a while also. :( Note: Messing up once will destroy the
sequence. For example, some inputs require two button commands in
succession, (i.e. pressing the X button and the A button right after) and
if you mess up previous to that, the command might change to the X button by
itself, then proceeded by the A button. Just something I learned the hard
way. So...my point is, don't mess up!!
Here's the beginning input sequence if you don't get what I was talking
about in the previous paragraph. Look at it and read the paragraph again if
you need to.
B,A,X,(X->A),B,X,A,B,B,....
I'm guessing no one was smart enough to figure this out, as I again hold the
record for this game in my state. It's not even that high too 'cause I
haven't spent a lot of time on it....
-----------
QTE Title
-----------
Another one of those input command things. Thing is, I haven't tried
figuring it out yet. Pretty easy game, though. Just make sure you don't
get ahead of yourself and press the wrong button, which I've done too many
times. ':)
----------------
70 Person Battle
----------------
Obviously, the best way to win this 'game' is to have mostly all the moves
mastered, and 'experienced-out' or something like that. The quickest time
wins. I personally like to let the attacker attack me first, I parry, and
then counter-attack. It's so much fun that way. Kinda like Bruce Lee.
Even the way Ryo walks is similar to my master.(heh) But when trying to go
for the quickest time, you'll have to throw away that strategy. Quick moves
that K.O. the baddies quickly are the moves you need. I.E. ->,->, X. I
think the move's name is 'elbow assault', and is pretty good for knocking
guys out quickly. They'll grab their stomachs like they had a bad egg
before collapsing (hehe). Throws are good too, for taking out multiple guys.
When trying to get the quickest time, you have to run up to the enemies and
actually initiate combat, 'cause waiting for them to come to you takes too
long. It also helps because you get the 'jump' on them.
And then there are certain enemies that won't take the hit, and parry you
instead. I hate these guys; you'll get to know them once you've played Free
Battle for a while. Easiest way to K.O. them is to throw them, because
they'll purposely wait for you to attack them first, which wastes time. I
won't go into boss strategies, because you can probably find them somewhere
else at GameFAQs. Just so you know, I have beaten Chai at the Game You
center... ;)
---------------
Forklift Racing
---------------
Basic racing. Nothing special. Just don't try and pass a racer when you're
going mach 2 in the forklift, or around turns. They have a set path, and
there's nothing that can disrupt it. You'll actually get pushed away when
you try to run into them, and most likely run into some object, like a wall.
Honking your horn (pressing Up on the D-pad) won't help either. Believe
me I've tried. They just ignore it. Losers.
Anyway, when starting out, you can pass the first guy (No. 4 racer) on the
first turn, because there is enough room so that you can edge him out.
There are also areas where you can cut some time off, particularly the
section at the end, but other than that, it's a pretty set course. Learn
the course and race hard! You only have a few days to race, unless you use
the trick/bug which allows you to play a few more days, so race your best.
--------------
Slot Machines
--------------
Talk about luck, the only way that you can win in this game. You can get
help from Lapis, the fortune teller, which will give you the number of the
machine that will yield the best results in winning. Sometimes, if you
don't proceed onto your quest, she'll say something like, "I cannot yet see
a path for you" or something, which sucks. Stupid readings cost almost 3
bucks, too. But besides that stupid fortune teller, its all about luck.
There are too many things that involve luck in this game, such as the lucky
draw for example. It's terrible...
Of course, to get the highest winnings, you must go to the 20 bet machines,
that are numbers 15 and 16. You'll need a lot of money for this. I have no
freakin' idea how the winnings are calculated, so if anyone knows how,
please tell me. I'll credit ya of course. Reading the payout board above
the machine tells me nothing at all. It's all a bunch of numbers with an
'X' sign in front. I don't have a clue....*calls out for Lapis* =|
Again, my record.
*Aha! Here we go, the way the slot machine payout works. Or at least I
think so. Thanks and credit goes to Brian Nilsen for the explanation; I've
posted what exactly what he wrote because it's a pretty-darn detailed
explanation and I don't think I need to explain to ya what he's explaining.
If you don't understand it, something might be wrong with you, but try and
read it again. If you still don't understand it, here's his e-mail:
[email protected]. He'll probably be more than happy to give you more help
if you ask nicely. Again, much respect and props to Mr. Nilsen, presumably
an avid gambler. ;)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I don't have the payout board in front of me, so my examples won't be
exactly what's on there, but they should give you the gist of the idea.
Now, obviously, for each coin you bet, you get to play on another line.
I.E., if you only put in one quarter, then only what ends up on that center
line will be valid. If you get three red sevens along the top line but you
only bet one coin, then no dice. Therefore, betting five coins every time
greatly increases the odds of getting something.
One note about these machines that differ from your standard slot machine is
that they don't only pay for the highest line, they pay the combination of
all lines together. This is a Good Thing(tm).
Also, the x before the number for winning is kinda useless in this game, as
it's impossible to bet more than one coin on each line. On a Vegas style
slot machine, you can do things like bet 25 coins, 5 coins per each line.
So, say you got a payout that's x 50 on a line that you've bet 5 coins on,
you get 250 coins back instead of 50. Just a way of increasing your
winnings.
So, since:
Cherry -- -- = x2
If you end up with the first icon on any line being a cherry and random
things after, you win 2 coins back. The best part about betting 5 coins on
this one is, if the cherry ends up being on the upper or lower line, you get
credit for both that upper or lower line as well as the diagonal line that
goes through it. So, you end up with 4 coins coming out of it, credit for
that line twice.
Now, say you end up with something like this...
4
2 Cherry Blank Super Bar
1 Blank Cherry Blank
3 Red 7 Blank Bar
5
You get credit for the single cherry on line two, so that's 2 coins. On
line 4 (the diagonal going from upper left to lower right), you get 5 coins
for having the first *two* icons be cherries. So, a nice 7 gets netted from
that.
It all comes from this, so if you get three super bars in a row, even on the
diagonals, you get back 100 coins. If you get all red sevens on a row you
bet on, then you're a happy camper ;)
I hope that was a good enough explanation for you. I recently played my
first slot machine, so I just learned this, and I know how tough it was to
figure all of it out...I spent a lot of money before I figured out why I was
winning when I did and why I lost.
Also note that getting this on a row:
Bar Cherry Red 7
Does not give you the single cherry bonus, as that single cherry *has* to be
the first icon on the line.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
------------
Stuff
------------
The 80 block save of Shenmue can hold 'three' separate games, because there
are 3 save files. I wish it was 27 blocks per game; it would save a lot of
space than that big clunker 80. Also, a resume file that can aid you in a
trick mentioned below.
When logging on the internet and snooping around the menus, you'll see a
place called 'Everyone's Space' that has a sub-menu titled 'Shenmue
Goodies'. This is the place where you can download Shenmue character
animations into the VMU. I suggest that you use a separate VMU solely for
this (if you can spare it), because they files can take up some space.
You'll need to download the character animator or whatever, and you can view
the animations in the 'game mode' of your VMU but it takes up a whopping 50
slots. Each character animation takes up 2, for a total of 75 characters on
a regular VMU. The trick is to use the resume file to trade in your cans
for the characters. For example, you have 10 winning cans in your current
game. Before you go to bed, save to the memory card, and then right after
save to the resume file. That way, you'll have two separate saves with the
same data. Then, pop in the Shenmue Passport and get on 'Shenmue Goodies'.
Choose the resume file, and trade in all those winning cans for those
characters. In the resume file, you won't have anymore winning cans left,
but in the original save that you created before, still has the same amount
of winning cans available (in this case: 10). You can do this as many times
as you need to, so that you won't have to keep buying Jetcolas and hoping to
get a winning can. Although I still try my luck sometimes just to hear Ryo
say: "Great, I won!" (heh).
------------
Other Stuff
------------
Why did I write a FAQ for this game? Because contributing a FAQ for one of
the most revolutionary games as of right now makes me feel special, that's
why. Usually I don't have time to write FAQs, mainly because people get
their FAQs up and cover most of the things already, and sometimes I just
don't have the time. (I've found that I have a lot of time now, since I'm
off from college on winter break ;])I consider myself a 'hardcore' gamer, as
spending a lot of time with this specific area of Shenmue I feel compelled
to help out those people that seem to be wandering around aimlessly like
they haven't played games before. You know them, asking questions like,
"I'm stuck in Shenmue, help me?" And you give a blank stare and say, "How
can you be stuck in Shenmue?" I mean, I can understand being stuck in a
game like Zelda, but not Shenmue. These of course are the newbies, which we
try to help.
And of course, the copyright stuff. Everything here is mine, and mine only.
You dare take it, you're asking to be sued for all the yen, gil, and gold
that you've got(and US currency too). Everything here I've compiled from
playing Shenmue for hours and hours, so please show/give respect, and don't
steal it.
*Note: I've been getting a lot of e-mail from other websites asking for my
permission to post my FAQ on their site (even though I said I would only
check it once a month they still do it anyway; I guess some of 'em have
actually seen lightning strike in the same place twice). Please stop. Some
of that stuff requires registration for this or/and that, and I simply don't
have the time to do such things. More time for games I say. Although it is
a good way to get my work out there, I would just rather have it at good 'ol
GameFAQs. I admit that I would rather give you permission than find out
that you've stolen it and having to go through all the legal hoopla, but if
you really want my FAQ on your website then make it easy.
Contact Info. I dunno why on earth you would contact me, but just so it's
there, my e-mail addy is:
[email protected]. I don't particularly like
the idea of people I don't know e-mailing me asking for help or whatever, so
I've given the e-mail address that I rarely use. So if it's a
life-threatening, urgent message, don't even bother because I only check it
about once a month, and probably won't even e-mail you back. You'll have
better luck seeing lightning strike the same place twice, or winning the
stereo in the lucky draw(which I have!!! the number one is in red). If you
have some tip that you think desperately needs to be added, I'll consider it
and credit you. I welcome compliments, too. 8)
