By: Purechaos13
Version: 1.0
Date created: January 27, 2007
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Legal Stuff:
Copyright 2007 Purechaos13
This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private
use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly
without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or
as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of
copyright.
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Well, with that out of the way....
Introduction:
This walkthrough is focused mostly on the racing tracks themselves, how to
achieve first place and how to overcome some of the trickier parts in the game.
Strategies and tips, and walkthroughs of all the courses can be found here.
Another thing I have focused in this guide is beating the PC version of the
game, and I took into account some limitations computers may have. For example,
some computers do not allow podracers to boost or slide in the game due to the
computers being unable to read commands from too many keys at once. So, I have
constructed as to be helpful in all situations, sliding/boosting or no.
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Some general game tips:
- Many times in the FAQ I refer to the "tilt up" key. What this does is points
your podracer up so it can glide over jumps and allows you to get the best of
leaps off ramps. Check your control configuration to see what key it is, or
assign it to a new one.
- Always switch the money level to "Winner Takes All." This will allow you to
get as much money as possible when you get first in a course. If you are about
to lose, simply restart until you can get first place.
- Just because two characters have similar stats doesn't mean they handle the
same way. Try all the characters out, see which ones you prefer.
With all that said, now let's move on to the courses!
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Amateur Courses:
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The Boonta Training Course
Planet: Tatooine
Favorite to win: Sebulba
Difficulty: Easy
The first course is fairly straighforward. Race decently enough and you'll
find yourself on top. You'll start off on a sandy track with some relatively
light curves. You should be able to get ahead without much trouble at this
beginning part. Then, you'll enter a canyon. The turns get a little tougher
here, so take note of this to make sure you don't slide into a wall and lose
your speed. At the end of the canyon path, you'll see a very tiny opening
you have to race through. This is the most dangerous part of the race, as a
beginner may end up missing the crack and blowing up when they hit into the
canyon wall. Make sure to line up with the opening, and if you really don't
want to risk it, or you have a particularly wide podracer (like Aldar Beedo's
or Ark Roose's) hit the roll button to make your pod fit through the opening
more easily. Continue through the desert sands, and you'll see lots of rocks
on the road ahead. Most of them are small and breakable, posing no threat to
you, so keep going till the finish line.
Character: You won't unlock Sebulba by beating this race - you'll have to face
him two more times.
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Mon Gazza Speedway
Planet: Mon Gazza
Favorite to win: Teemto Pagalies
Difficulty: Very Easy
Whoo boy, is this an easy one. A very short and straight course, the only
thing you have to worry about here is hitting into the thin structures that
occasionally line the road. A character with good top speed should have no
trouble lapping the other characters.
Character: You unlock Teemto Pagalies by beating this one. Teemto, despite
being the first character you get, is a very good one. His overall stats are
balanced, good in all categories.
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Beedo's Wild Ride
Planet: Ando Prime
Favorite to win: Aldar Beedo
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
This course is somewhat more difficult than the first two. It starts out fairly
straight, allowing you gain some top speed, and then it starts throwing
obstacles at you. After a little time down the path from the beginning, some
rocks will start to pop up in your path. These are fairly easy to avoid, but
don't risk it with the one rock that has a tiny opening in it - it's dangerous
to try and go through, and is hardly worth the effort. Just go around it.
You'll then cross a bridge and go into an ice cave. The ice cave sports a
somewhat hard turn, but much more dangerous is the ice you jump out on after
you leave the cave. It is very difficult to steer on ice, unless you use the
roll button. Holding down the roll button allows you to steer much better on
the ice, so once you bounce down the first two icy plains and onto the third,
hold down the roll button and point yourself in the right direction. If you
don't, or if you steer too wildly (you need to be very straight!) you may very
well collide with a glacier. It doesn't matter too much if you die there,
though, as your lead will probably be enough to still keep you in first.
After some more snowy paths, you'll come into an ice cave. Dodge the icicles,
and make your way through the cave. When the cave first seperates, go to the
right. The right path is faster, and will shave some time off your total lap.
After that, it's a matter of a little more simple dodging and racing, and
you'll be done.
Shortcut: At the beginning, after your first lap, a tent to the left will open
up to a shorcut. The shorcut is very straight and allows you to go much faster,
but it can be difficult to slide into the tent without slowing down, or even
crashing. I reccomend practicing using the shortcut, or just forgetting it.
Character: Aldar Beedo's a fairly good character, with low acceleration but
high top speed. He may seem rather unwieldy at first, especially with his
wide engines, but he can really shine on certain courses. Try him to see if
he's the racer for you.
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Aqualaris Classic
Planet: Aqualaris
Favorite to win: Clegg Holdfast
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Aqualaris Classic is the longest course you've seen yet, but with some good
steering it's easily conquered. After you start, you'll go through some thin
corridors spanning right and left. Pick either direction, whichever you feel
most comfortable with, and try not to hit the walls, or the large structures
seperating the two paths. Once you come out of the corridors, be careful not to
hit the pillars in the middle of the road. You'll then take a very scenic tour
of Aqualaris's sea through some tubelike paths. The turns are very easy,
making this part simple. Once you come out of the tubes for the first time,
there'll be some dirt road and two ramps. Hit the first ramp and hold down the
"tilt up" key to make your podracer zoom through the air into the second
section of pipe. After coming out of that, quickly head to the left, because
there's an easily missable path there that saves time. A little more pipe
section, and then you'll arrive at an area that you can crash in if you're not
prepared. There'll be two paths, each with two iron doors right after one
another either opening or closing slowly. Steer carefully and pick the doors
to go through that have the most space. Don't get caught up in indecision,
though, or you might make neither.
Then, you'll advance onto a larger dirt road with a very big ramp in the
middle. Do what you did before: head up it and once airborne, hold the "tilt
up"key. Continue on through some more pipe and go through the open path. Keep
going through the pipes until you arrive to a place that looks very similar to
the beginning. Once again, the path is cut into two by a large triangular wall.
This time, however, it's more difficult because the turns are much sharper.
Keep it steady around the turns, and when you make the turns and head into
another section cut into two directions, quickly pick another path (preferably
the one diagonal from you, so you won't have to turn) and go down it. If you
fail to do so, you'll crash into the wall dividing the two ways. After that,
though, you just have to stride up to the finish line to complete a lap!
Character: Clegg Holdfast is a very fast racer with good acceleration and top
speed. His air brake is awful, but...who really cares about air brake?
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Malastare 100
Planet: Malastare
Favorite to win: Dud Bolt
Difficulty: Medium
This course can be somewhat annoying, especially for beginners. The path at the
beginning is fairly easy, but also dimly lit - take care not to collide into
one of the two big rocks at the side of the road, or into a wall. Zoom out
onto the eerie, poisonous lake (don't worry, your pilot will survive), and
continue on for a couple of turns until you see the path divide in the map.
Quickly look to the right for a path up the hillside, and go up it to save a
little bit of time. Note: because of the aforementioned poor lighting of the
course (couldn't those Malastarians invest in some more street lamps?), you
probably won't actually see the path. It may instead just look like a patch
of rough mountainside, but trust me on this and go up it anyways. After you
clear this, a little ways farther and the path will split into three parts -
left, right, and middle. The middle is the fastest, but beware - there is an
obstacle in the middle of the path. If you see the obstacle ahead of time and
know you can dodge it, though, then be sure to take the middle path. Directly
after that, you'll zoom up a huge ramp and attempt to clear a large jump. In
order to make it, be sure to hold down the "tilt up" button after you take off
the ramp. If you don't, you hit facefirst into the cliff.
Right after the jump, the hardest part of the course looms. An incredibly
tight turn is ahead, and it you may find yourself crashing and blowing up, or
at least hitting it and slowing down. Do your best to slide around the bend;
if necessary, hit the brakes and then make the turn. Its a much better
alternative to blowing up, believe me.
Character: You already have Dud Bolt. His top speed is good, his acceleration
is okay, and his other stats average out at a standard level.
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Vengeance
Planet: Oovo IV
Favorite to win: Fud Sang
Difficulty: Medium
Vengeance will catch you off guard if you're not prepared, so, uh, be prepared!
It starts off simply enough, though. Go around a bend and continue straight
until you see a thin, metallic path, with some large walls nearby it. Turn to
go on to the path, and because this part of the track is thin, make sure not to
hit into the side while you race down it. After you get off, go into the
corridor ahead. It's initially dark here, so note that the path turns right,
else you might hit into a wall. Continue forward and you'll go down another
thin, metallic path and through a small doorway. Once you've reached this far,
quickly turn left or right or else you'll hit into the pillar (which has yellow
and black stripes painted on it to warn you.) Continue down that path and -
what, ho! - another pillar stands in your way. Swerve to the path diagonal
from you. Why? Well, for example, if you first went down the left path, the
right path will probably be easiest for you to reach because you won't have to
turn as much. Trying to go down the left path again will require a much sharper
swerve.
Keep going around the curve and you'll boost into a room with some very large,
rotating, pieces of machinery. The machinery has large knobs sticking out of
it that you can crash into, so be sure to dodge accordingly. If you're
competent enough at steering, though, you shouldn't have any trouble.
Keep going along the course until you get sucked into a large, circular, blue
tunnel. And floating freely in this tunnel are...meteors! This is the most
annoying part of the course. Floating through the middle of the tunnel, you
can't really move up or down, but you can only swerve left and right. You can
also roll, too, to spin in midair. Do your best to dodge the meteors here -
swerve right and left accordingly. Unfortunately, however, sometimes you'll
meet a meteor that you won't be able to dodge, and you'll crash and die. If
you're running straight into the path of a meteor, try a mixture of rolling and
swerving to dodge it. Of course, dying at least once may still be pretty much
inevitable. Fortunately, if you've been racing well enough, you'll still have
a substantial lead. Practice seems to help somewhat, too. Continue through
the meteorite tunnel, until you reach a room with a giant purple beam pulsing
through the middle of it (you'll still be floating). Dodge this beam (or else
end up fried) and keep going until finally you get thrown back onto the course.
It's very easy from there - use this section to catch up if crashing into a
meteor allowed someone to pass you.
Character: Fud Sang, despite his strange, pink-blobby-weirdo appearance, is
actually a good, very substantial racer. Using him over other equally good
characters is merely a matter of preference.
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Spice Mine Run
Planet: Mon Gaza
Favorite to win: Mars Guo
Difficulty: Easy
The beginner's cup ends with a fairly long, but also fairly simple course. It
has quite a few different paths at parts, but no matter which you take, you
should find yourself winning without many problems. After passing the favorite
to win (which you should or you've got problems), go on down the speedway until
you see the path divided. Pick whichever path you want, and then you'll see
another split in the road. Unlike the first time, however, the path you
ultimately go on differs depending on whether you go left or right here. Once
you choose left or right, you'll see an entire network of paths, but like I
said, it hardly matters which paths you pick. There are a lot of combinations,
and you'll have to play a while to find which one you think is that fastest - I
hardly know myself. Just make sure that you don't hit into a mining robot,
which will probably hurt, and that you don't get caught up with indecision and
end up just hitting a wall between two paths.
After the road network, you should go on either one of two tracks (one of them
has the mining robot), and then the path should rejoin. A little ways down and
- boom! - the road splits again, this time into three paths. They all end up
in the same place, so which you pick is hardly consequential, but I think the
left is a tiny bit slower, though I'm not entirely sure. After that, you'll go
down some roads; this section is a piece of cake. The scenery differs a lot,
but the roads don't. (Along the way, when you're entering a tunnel, a hovering
vehicle passes through. I'm not sure if you can hit it, though - avoid it
anyways.) After some more racing along and admiring the mining scenery, the
path will - surprise, surprise! - split. Regardless of which you take, you'll
be on a path above some lava. Don't worry, you can't fall in. The track will
make a general curve, and then you'll be back on a basic road. A couple turns
later and the finish line is in sight.
Character: Mars Guo is one of my favorite characters, and in my opinion, one of
the best. He's very fast, has excellent top speed, and has few downsides. Use
him in any course you need a big lead in. I find him especially good in planets
that mandate fast characters or high top speeds - like Ord Ibanna.
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With the victory of Spice Mine Run, the trophy for beginner's cup is yours! Be
merry while you can, though, because things get harder from here on. Now, we
face....the Semi-Pro racing circuits!
Semi-Pro Courses:
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Sunken City
Planet: Aqualaris
Favorite to win: "Bullseye" Navior
Difficulty: Medium
"Wait, what's going on here? This is just like Aqualaris Classic!" Well,
initially, it is the same. That is, until you pass through the pathways with
the iron doors. After the part with the opening/closing iron doors, keep
going, and instead of there being a dirt road with a ramp, you'll see a dirt
road with a series of ramps to the right, and a tube to the left. This is
where the similarities end for a while. Once you reach this section, you may
not be sure which way to go, through the tube or over the ramps. The ways with
the ramps is slightly longer, but the ramps, if used to jump and glide, can
gain back that time. So, there is no real faster way - except by the shortcut!
Right in front of the other side of the tube, to the left, is a small passage
where you can turn directly onto the road you'd normally have to take the long
way to reach. (It has a steel guardrail that you can go under - just so you
know what it looks like.) There are different ways you can do this: go through
the tube, then quickly turn to the left under the rail, or you can turn through
it after going past the ramps (the safer of the two). I really do not
reccomend the tube way, because it requires you to do an extremely sharp left
turn once you exit the tube, and it is one that you may crash on if you don't
hit the brakes. The fastest way is to go to the left of the tube entirely, then
keep going until you see the opening. Once you turn left under the guardrail,
keep turning left so you get realigned with the road. This is a good shortcut
that, annoyingly, the computer uses. Of course, it doesn't make a huge
difference - I didn't even know about the shortcut when I first did the course,
and I still won fairly easily - but it is enough to warrant your use of it.
Just make sure to practice first, though, because using this shortcut without
crashing or slowing down can be tricky.
Once you've turned onto the new road, keep going and you'll traverse a dirt
road until you reach an underwater tube. Once inside, quickly head up a small
ramp to the right and you'll be on a higher level, which is faster. Once you
reach its end, jump off of it and glide for a bit with the "tilt up" button,
then keep going until you go onto a road that takes you right by the stands.
The path by the stands is a simple circle, so you can kick back and wave to
your fans. After going by all the audience, you're off again, through some
mountside and then into another tube. This is just like the one earlier, only
now the ramp is to the left and a lot easier to miss. Doesn't matter much if
you do, though, just keep going along the tube until you're at the last part of
the stage, identical to the one in Aqualaris classic. Pick a path, make some
fairly sharp turns, and you've made the lap!
Character: "Bullseye" Navior has seemingly all-around great stats, shown by the
character select stage. However, these stats are a little generous, I think,
because he isn't quite as good as the game would indicate. Nevertheless, he's
still a very good addition to your growing character roster.
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Howler Gorge
Planet: Ando Prime
Favorite to win: Ratts Tyrell
Difficulty: Medium
Howler Gorge may seem very similar to Beedo's Wild Ride at first, but in
reality it is very different. The beginning a straightforward collection of
roads, but then you'll go into caves much earlier. Ride through them (there
aren't any obstacles yet, really) until you reach a cave that splits in two.
Go to the right for the fastest time. You'll pop out onto a snowy road, and
from there continue on under the large rock and into another cave. There are
a bunch of icicles in this cave, so be careful. Hitting a large one will cause
you to blow up. Leave that cave, go through a snow road, and you'll enter yet
another cave. This cave is important, though, because it has a shortcut that
the computer doesn't take! When you see this cave split into two, go to the
right! You should now be on a bridge. The bridge cuts right throught the cave,
saving a deal of time. After this part, however, there are some rather
annoying turns in the caves and snowy path ahead. This is the time to get good
with your turning and sliding, because if you end up crashing too much on these
turns, your rivals will catch up. After one final turn, you'll find yourself
going up a snowy slope, and on the other side...is a gigantic drop! After your
pod jumps of the edge, glide for a while to get the maximum distance.
Once you near the edge of the road sloping downwards, there'll be a slight jump
- use the "tilt up" again to make the most of it. The jump will take you onto
an ice lake. As soon as you land, hold down either one of the "roll" keys, and
point yourself in the direction of the ramp at the other side of the ice lake.
As stated before, rolling to one side makes it much easier to steer on ice. Go
up the ramp and you'll find yourself on an icy ridge. Quickly look to your left
(or right) as you continue ahead; you'll see a small path going up. Instead of
going into the structure ahead, move onto the path to get on top of the
building and save yourself some time. Glide off the roof, land, and keep going
on. Soon you'll find yourself in a mixture of a structure and a cave. It has
some turns, but if you mastered the ones before, these ones will be cake. After
that it's only a matter of continuing on the snowy road and dodging the rocks.
You dodged meteors, before, so these rocks shouldn't be a problem. Make your
way past and you'll have completed the lap!
Character: Ratts Tyrell's a little guy with some big engines. His stats are
very much like Aldar Beedo's, with sub-par acceleration but good top speed.
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Dug Derby
Planet: Malastare
Favorite to win: Elan Mak
Difficulty: Easy
At the beginning of the race, there'll be a sharp curve - make sure to slide
around it. Directly after that, quickly look to your right to see a shortcut
sloping up a hill. Be sure to take this important shortcut, as it saves a fair
amount of time and most of the computer players take it, too. After riding
among this mountain road, you'll rejoin with the normal one and go fairly
straight for a while. The paths get a little narrow ahead, but the most damage
it'll do is scrape the pod's paint. After you emerge from a thin path, you'll
have to do a quick turn to the left. It's really very simple from there on, and
there aren't even any obstacles. You just have to alternate between some right
and left turns, and hardly challenging ones at that. As long as you're taking
the shortcut and keeping ahead, this race should be fairly easy.
Character: Elan Mak is a character you start with, and his stats are pretty
sub-standard. Unless you're some Mak-maniac, find some better racers.
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Scrapper's Run
Planet: Ord Ibanna
Favorite to win: Wan Sandage
Difficulty: Medium
Courses in Ord Ibanna like Scrapper's Run are very close races; unlike the
longer courses, you'll be seeing yellow dots trailing you much more closely.
The best characters for this course are ones with high top speeds, like Mars
Guo or Boles Roor. Make sure to pass Wan Sandage at the beginning of the race,
then go as fast as you can until you enter the tunnel. This tunnel is long and
straight, so you'll end up going faster than you have probably ever gone
before. Make one turn to the left in the tube, and you'll shoot right back out
onto the road...and to the trickiest part of the course. Ahead of you now is a
sharp curve by a wall striped yellow and black. You'll be going extremely fast
at this point, so if you do so much as hit that wall, your engine will come off
and you'll blow up, and the second or third place people will pass you. What
do you do to take away this risk, and avoid blowing up here? Well, as soon as
you land and approach the wall, hit the brake for a second. You'll be going so
fast that it won't subtract from your speed too much (you should still be going
in the 500's), but it'll do two things for you: it'll give you more time to
take the turn well, and it'll reduce your speed so that if you do hit the wall,
you'll probably still live. If you're still crashing because you're going too
fast, though, try holding down the brake longer or even cutting the engines.
These are all good alternatives to blowing up, and you should still be in the
lead.
After this, the course is very simple. There are some turns ahead, but the road
is so wide you need not worry about them. Just focus on going as fast as you
can (now's when the guys with high top speed shine). Finally, you'll end up
going down a road and making a jump. Tilt up and glide across the jump, then
land and zoom across the finish line.
Character: Looking like a palm tree with goggles, Wan Sandage boasts high
acceleration but low top speed. This makes you wonder how he was able to
become the favorite to win in a course that caters to racers with better top
speeds.
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Zugga Challenge
Planet: Mon Gazza
Favorite to win: Boles Roor
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
This is the longest course in the Mon Gazza Spice Mines yet, and is a little
harder than its counterparts. It begins with some simple turns you can use to
get ahead of the pack, and then you'll be thrust out onto rougher terrain. This
part is similar to the network of roads in the Spice Mine Run, only the roads
are less defined and there are fewer of them. It doesn't matter too much which
ones you take, but make sure to actually travel on a road and not on the ridges
of dirt in between them, which are slower. The fastest way to do this part, I
believe, is to stay to the left and go between the treads of the mining robots.
This path is more difficult, however, because it requires fast turning in order
to dodge the robots and stay on course. (Touching these inactive robots won't
blow you up, though, so don't worry.) After that, you'll pass another robot,
and then be forced to either go right or left. Neither way is really faster, so
keep going through some tunnels until you reach a brightly lit, more colorful
one that has a bunch of signs (alien advertisements?) on its walls. You can
manage a shortcut if you're attentative; see the grate right before you enter
this tunnel? There are little holes to the left and right of it. Drop down
these and you'll go on a straighter underground path, and the time going
through this tunnel will be shaved off. If not, just keep going and do your
best around the turns.
After that, you'll have to pick right or left again, and then you'll enter a
section of the level similar to that of the Spice Mine Run. Just like the
other level, you'll be traveling on one of two grated roads going over lava.
Neither boasts a significantly faster time, so just pick one and keep going.
These roads mostly do a slight curve, so turning won't be a problem. Then,
you'll travel on a dirt road again. Make a quick right turn, and then you'll
enter an area with some thin corridors. The first corridor turns left, the
next turns right. After traversing these, you'll proceed up a ramp and have to
make a jump over a lava pit! Hold down the "tilt up" button to glide across it,
else risk smashing your pod. You'll race through some more roads, nothing very
special about them, but then you'll jump off a slight ramp and go face to face
with a giant, active mining robot! Avoid even touching this robot, or else
you'll explode instantly. Also, make sure that you don't go too high when you
jump off the aforementioned ramp, or else you'll fly right into the robot's
body! Go between the giant machine's treads-for-legs and keep going. From there
it's a simple matter of going around the bend and you're at the end!
Character: Boles Roor has incredible top speed, but his other stats aren't
quite so stellar. That means he tears up the track in straighter, faster
courses like Scrapper's Run, but has trouble in the curvier courses. Use him in
Mon Gazza Speedway for ultimate effect.
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Baroo Coast
Planet: Baroonda
Favorite to win: Neva Kee
Difficulty: Medium
This is your first race on Baroonda. The courses on Baroonda are renowned for
being filled with vegetation, and possessing a lot of curves (as you will see
later on). Don't be daunted, though - a little practice and you should be able
to conquer this course just fine. It starts out very simply; round a few bends
and then go over a bridge. After that, continue on to find yourself on a
second, wider bridge. Look to your right here to see a ramp going off the
cliff. Instead of going down the actual road, steer to the right and jump off
the cliff, then glide. This should save you some time. Afterwards, you'll
find yourself going onto a beach. There's no need to follow the path on the
map directly here, as going off-road won't slow your pod. Just cut across the
sand as quickly and as straight as you can and dodge the palm trees.
After that, you'll wander into a forest. This part pretty much embodies the
two central themes of Baroonda: curvy roads and lots of vegetation. There are
four bends in all, and they can be pretty annoying if you don't take them
right. Slide around them as best you can, taking the turns lightly, but don't
worry if you hit into the wall. In fact, doing so sometimes propels you into
the air, allowing you to glide more quickly around the bend. Just make sure
not to take a turn too hard, or it's possible your pod may blow up upon impact.
After the fourth bend, you should be facing a small opening covered with some
vegetation. You can turn left to continue on the path, or you can take this
very obvious and very useful shortcut that saves you a lot of time. Head
through this vegetative opening (you'll shred the plants as you pass through),
and you'll join the road on the other side. You'll also find yourself staring
down yet another shortcut covered by plants. This is similar to the one
before. Unless you purposely want to make this course harder, pass through this
opening onto the next road.
You'll then proceed to another rather easy section, where you'll be traveling
on a stone road around a mountain. This is a good time to achieve your top
speed. After some easy curves around the mountainside, you'll rejoin the city
that you started at. Head across a bridge parallel to the first one you went
through, and then you'll see an opening into a building with an archway around
it. When you go through this opening, stay to the left. Why? Well, inside of
this building there are some pillars in the middle of the hallway, and if
you're not vigilant you'll hit one and blow up. (Another option is to stay to
the right, but because of how the archway is tilted, it's harder.) But if you
stay at the left once you go into the building, you should be fine. From there
you turn left, right, and then one more hard right, and then you're done!
Interesting side note: Be sure to look to the sky whenever you're on Baroonda,
because you may very well catch a glimpse of a C-9979 landing ship - the
landing ship that the droids used in the invasion of Naboo. Foreshadowing, no?
Character: Neva Kee has the strangest podracer there is. Instead of the
orthodox design - two engines tied together with an energy binder arc, a
driver's seat attached to the engines with cable - Neva Kee's engines and seat
are just connected together in one big podracer. He's sitting right in-between
the engines! As for his performance, he's got great acceleration and the best
traction of any pod - great for curvy courses.
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Bumpy's Breakers
Planet: Aqualaris
Favorite to win: Ark "Bumpy" Roose
Difficulty: Medium
The second of the courses named after a character, this one takes place in
scenic Aqualaris. However, this course is much different than the previous
ones. You start out next to the stands, similar to those in Sunken City. Pass
"Bumpy", and head down a very wide road. You'll do a series of jumps here -
make sure to use the "tilt up" button to make the most of them. After the
third jump, you'll head down a rather rough mountain path. The turns don't look
very hard here, but because the road is slanted and uneven, you may find
yourself hitting into them a few times. It's hardly consequential, though, so
keep going until you reach a jump. Glide off the jump and you'll head into a
tunnel. This tunnel has a very steep left turn, so keep that in mind. If you
don't think you'll be able to slide around the bend without hitting the wall,
which is difficult to do, then slow down. If you don't, you very well may blow
up upon impact. Directly after you exit to the tunnel, look to your left.
Instead of going all the way around the lake in the middle, jump off the cliff
here - there'll be a road. This is a good shortcut that saves a nice amount of
time. Just make sure you don't jump too early, though, or you'll plunge into
the water and blow up. Try out the shorcut once or twice, to make sure you can
do it easily.
After that, go on a ways until you go off a jump. As soon as you land, you
must very quickly look to your left. There will be a path that will cut
straight through the walls, saving you a little bit time. This shortcut
requires a quick eye, and can be hard to see if you haven't practiced. However,
this path's as far from vital as you can get. It's really only for those who
want to squeeze every last second off their times. Once you finish traversing
the dirt road you're on, you'll head into an underwater tube. You'll then pass
through that familiar "iron door" section, though they seem to open and close
faster now. Once outside of that, you'll see a very familiar site: the site of
the shortcut in Sunken City, with the tubes and the ramps. Remember that the
shortcut - some rails you can go under to an adjoining road - is to the walls
on the left, after the far end of the tube. Also make that when passing under
the rail, you don't hit one of the vertical iron bars sticking down. There are
a couple such bars, and hitting one will probably destroy your pod. See the
Sunken City guide for the rest.
Keep going on the road until you enter some more pipe section. However, pay
attention, because there is an extremely sharp left turn. Make sure to either
turn early and slide or hit the brakes, but whatever you do, be careful! More
than once I've smacked facefirst into the wall because I didn't take enough
preparations with turning. After you (hopefully) make this turn, go a little
farther and you'll see a small blue ramp to your left, leading upwards. Go up
the ramp to go onto an upper path, and then glide off once you reach the end of
it. From there you'll exit the pipe, and after passing some mountain road
you'll head back into the stadium. Score! You've beaten the final level in
Semi-Pro!
Character: Ark "Bumpy" Roose is an great character, possessing good stats with
some especially good acceleration. I don't find him quite as fast as Mars Guo
and the like, but he's still a very worthy character.
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Semi-Pro didn't stand a chance. With your growing skills and some great advice
*cough cough*, you've blown through the Semi-Pro racing circuit and moved on to
race with the pros! But be wary, because the Galactic Podracing Circuit will
have tracks far tougher than any you've seen before!
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Galactic Podracing Courses:
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Executioner
Planet: Oovo IV
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Favorite to win: Toy Dampner
As if it's name wasn't ominous enough, Executioner takes place on the asteroid
prison Oovo IV, the same place as Vengeance. And yes, there are more meteors.
However, instead of there being one big meteor section, there are two smaller,
easier ones. In fact, with a little practice on this course, the meteor showers
in Vengeance may actually seem harder. However, your rivals here follow your
tail much more closely than they did in Vengeance, so dying here is more
dangerous and more costly. Try to die as little as possible, and keep the
lead.
It starts off simply, like usual. Pass in-between two walls and onto a thin,
railed, metallic path, identical to that of Vengeance. Similarities end there,
though. After the railed path, you'll head arounda bend to the left, and then
you'll be forced to squeeze through a tiny crack in-between two walls. If
you're cautious or your pod has wide engines, make sure to roll so you'll fit
more easily. After that, you'll rocket down a path sloping downwards. You'll
be going very fast at this point, so when the path ends and you're forced to
turn right, make sure not to hit a wall or your engine may suffer some damage.
Go through a straight, very cool-looking path of rails, and then head straight
on into a metallic tunnel. You'll turn a little bit under some overhangs, and
then you have to - here it comes - go into a meteor-filled tube. I tell you,
meteors and travelling do not mix. However, this is easier and much shorter
than you might think, so with some luck or some practice you should be able to
dodge the meteors without too much incident. After you bypass the hurtling
rocks of death, you'll shoot back out onto the track. Ahead you'll see to very
large structure shooting upwards, with paths to the left, right and a very thin
path down the middle. Just go left or right, because the middle path saves no
time and only puts you at the risk of skidding your pod into a wall and
damaging it.
Keep going and you'll be forced into another meteor shower. You may end up
dying in this part, or you may find it easy - it seems to differ. Practice
helps, though. Once you get tossed back onto the road, you'll be in a big room
with a small doorway at the end. The doorway is rectangular, and rotates from
being tall to wide. Be careful not to even get close to hitting the sides of
the doorway, because I've seen the game glitch up and cause the pod to blow up
for doing so. Afterwards, you'll pass through a very cool room with a path
going through a swirling vortex of purple energy. Keep going through and you'll
be in a very, very big room filled with purple haze. At the end of the room
are four tunnels you can go through. The ones to the left are curvier and
slower - try taking the one to the far right. That's the one, at least, I've
seen the favorite to win take, and it's straighter than the others.
After passing through the tunnel, you'll be thrust into what looks like a
meteor room, but look - no meteors! Just hold down up until you get tossed back
onto the road. A little ways further and the first level (and perhaps the first
lap) of the International Circuit is complete.
Character: Toy Dampner has a good set of stats, but his overall top speed is
not very high. Nevertheless, he has great acceleration, and his bottom three
stats - even though they're the ones I consider the least important - are
excellent.
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Sebulba's Legacy
Planet: Malastare
Favorite to win: Sebulba
Difficulty: Medium
It's you vs. Sebulba, round two. This time Sebulba's challenged you to a race
in the mysterious, perhaps evil, and definately poorly lit world of Malastare.
Don't get intimidated - just be sure to take all the shortcuts and you'll be
fine. It starts off with a sharp turn to the right, but take the turn hard and
you'll make it easily. Zoom past a greenish lake, and you'll be forced to do
another sharp right turn, similar to the first. Again, just hit that right key
to take the turn hard and you shouldn't have trouble. After that, you'll see
ahead of you the path divide. There'll be a path going up into the mountains
to the left, and the regular road will go on to the right. It's imperative that
you take the faster mountain path, or else you may get passed by the computer
racers who do. Once you rejoin the main road, look to your right as you
continue. You'll see the opening to a cave, which is yet another shortcut.
Take it and blaze through the cave tunnel. Be careful, though, as one part of
the cave has poor lighting and you may become disoriented. Just keep plowing
through the path, quickly as you can, until you rejoin the main road.
Once you do, you'll come to a familiar place. Remember that part in Bumpy's
Breakers, where you had to go on an elevated path around a lake? This is the
same, complete with a path below as well. But do not, I repeat, do not drop
down to this path! While it makes a tighter, faster curve, the road it then
continues on is very curvy, while the upper path goes totally straight.
The road below is not a shortcut, it's a punishment for anyone who steers badly
and drops below. After not taking this path, you'll just have to go straight
to reach the finish line. Eat that, Sebulba!
Character: You don't unlock Sebulba quite yet - you need to beat him one more
time.
----------------------------------
Grabvine Gateway
Planet: Baroonda
Favorite to win: Anakin Skywalker
Difficulty: Hard
The second track in Baroonda is an extremely curvy course, and the pretty much
the hardest course yet - tight turns are frequent, and dying is pretty much
inevitable. Use someone with great traction to make the course substantially
easier - Neva Kee is a great choice.
Grabvine Gateway starts off like Baroo Coast, only backwards. Descend down the
first hill, and once you enter the building swerve left or right to dodge the
pillars. Turn right down the mountainside, and keep going until you see...
what's this, a desert? This place has a lot of turns, some of them quite
dangerous, so good traction will help out a lot. Take the first left turn in
advance, being careful not to crash into the ancient wall. You'll then turn
right a little, and you'll keep going until you reach another, very sharp right
turn. Be very careful on this turn - if you have bad traction or aren't
prepared for it, you will blow up. Be sure to take the turn early, and if
you're still on a collision course, hit the brake a little to slow yourself
down. From there you'll do a left turn, a right turn, and another left.
You won't blow up by hitting these walls, probably, but colliding into them
will slow you down so be prepared. Then, after that last left turn, you'll be
forced to do another very hard right. Again, take this turn early and slow
down a little if need be, because hitting the wall here at a high speed will
result in one of your engines coming off.
Then, you'll do a left and pass under a stone statue's legs. You'll proceed
onto a forest road. Stay on the actual path as best you can, because going on
the grass will slow you down. Be ready to pass to the left or right of a large
rock, and then through another statue's legs to go into a dense forest area.
There will be a lot of tight turns in this area, too, but they will almost
never result in your destruction. Also, there are some overhanging vines that
will block your sight of the road ahead. Be sure to look at the map to see
which way the path curves ahead. Once you pass the forest road and go either
to the left or right of a giant vine structure, be ready for the most annoying
part of the course. You'll enter a large lake/marsh with some giant tree roots
sticking down into it. There is a set path, but going off of it will not slow
you down. What is really dangerous about this part is that there are some
HUGE, very dangerous curves that you may be unprepared for because of abundant
fog in the area. You may end up running straight into the wall and getting
destroyed. Getting an early start on these turns is VITAL. Look at the map to
see when the curve begins, and turn early. Stay close to the wall farthest
away from the deadly turns, and it'll be much easier. However, you'll also
have to be wary of the tree roots, because hitting them is fatal too. You may
need to practice this area several times.
The first deadly turn is to the right - once you advance onto the lake, stay to
the wall on your right (and off the road) and be prepared to turn. Take note,
though, that there is also a tree root onto the right, so make sure to first
dodge that, then get ready for the turn. The next large curve is to the left.
After making the first curve to the right, quickly position yourself to turn to
the left. Watch out for some tree roots and take this one as early as you can,
too. After that, the path will start alternating from sharp left to right
turns. Take these early, hit the brake if you need to. Just do your best not
to blow up. After passing this nightmarish part, you'll pass under one more
statue and start on the mountainside again. Pass over a few bridges and you'll
be back into the city again. Go by the stands and to the finish line.
Character: Anakin Skywalker is a starting character. Despite the small size of
his pod, he combines good speed and acceleration with some nice turning for an
overall great racer.
----------------------------------
Andobi Mountain Run
Planet: Ando Prime
Favorite to win: Mawhonic
Difficulty: Medium
This is the third track in Ando Prime, and is very similar to Howler's Gorge.
It is exactly the same, in fact, until you glide onto an ice lake. (See
Howler's Gorge in the Semi-Pro Circuit for details.) Instead of there being a
ramp, you'll see a tunnel. Hit the "roll" button and steer yourself into it.
You'll go underground into a rather straight, very simple tunnel, which is a
great place to achieve your top speed. After you emerge, you'll find yourself
in a tundra, with huge icy cliffs everywhere. As you set out onto it, quickly
look to your left. On the map, you should see another road trailing off to the
left. Now, you can either go onto this path, or keep going forward. I
believe the path is a little faster, but only just. The outcome of the race
will hardly depend on which you take.
If you take the shorcut: You don't actually see a road trailing off, so look
to the map to see when you should leave the main road. Continue through the
frozen wasteland, and you'll enter an icy cliff. What's kind of annoying about
this part is that the turns among this ice cliff are very tight. You may
suffer substantial engine damage by hitting into the canyon wall. Do your best
to weave among the roads, and then you'll end up joining the main road.
If you don't: Keep going through the tundra, dodging any glaciers in the way.
Once the path curves left, turn through a small ring of ice and go straight
into the canyon. The turns aren't as tight here as they are in the shortcut, so
steering through it is easier. Eventually you'll see the path of the shortcut
join your road.
From there you just continue along the path until you reach a more refined
road, and straight on to the finish line.
Character: Mawhonic has stats very similar to those of Elan Mak, meaning he's
a sub-par character. There are better racers out there.
----------------------------------
Dethro's Revenge
Planet: Ord Ibanna
Favorite to win: Ody Mandrell
Difficulty: Medium
This course is similar to Scrapper's Run, without the deadly turn and with a
few new tricks and surprises. It isn't too difficult, though. A little ways
from the beginning, on a road with lots of metal bars around you, you'll see a
second path run under you. Be careful not to fall, which will slow down your
total time. The only time you're really likely to fall is during turns, though,
so be careful during them and stay in the middle. When you see come to a little
gap in the road, with warning stripes painted on it, hit the "tilt up" key as
you pass over it. It may look like you'll make it, but if you don't tilt your
pod upwards you'll be sure to crash. After jumping the first gap, keep going
down the tunnel until you see a circular exit. (You'll see some other exits
below you, but don't take them. They're not any faster and going through them
requires you to drop below.) Pass through it and you'll continue on another
path surrounded by rails. Like before, when taking the turns here, make sure to
stay in the middle of the road or you'll drop onto the path below. After a
couple curves you'll see another gap in the road ahead, this one marked by
flags. Be sure to tilt your pod upwards to make the gap (as small and
insignificant as it seems).
You'll then proceed onto a curvy road with some lightposts on both sides of the
road at regular intervals. Stay in the middle of the road, or you'll risk
hitting into one. If you haven't tried the course before, doing so will take
fast reflexes. If you do end up going off the road, then be sure to weave
around any lightposts in your way. Then, you'll enter a tunnel with some very
easy turns. Cake. Afterwards, you'll jump out and ahead of you, you'll see a
small path going into the ground. You can enter here to go through a very
straight road, but what I prefer to do is to miss the opening entirely, and
keep going. You'll then see where the tunnel comes back above ground. Ride up
it like a ramp and glide. After some more fairly easy turns, you'll go off two
big jumps. This part is easy, really. Glide off the jumps (by holding down
"tilt up") to make the most of them, and be sure to stay straight for the
second jump to make it through the opening. The second jump will take you
right in front of the finish line.
Character: Ody Mandrell is yet another character you start with. He's a
generally good character, with all-around stats, though he's got better
acceleration than top speed.
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Fire Mountain Rally
Planet: Baroonda
Favorite to win: Ebe Endecott
Difficulty: Hard
"What? Another course in Baroonda?" 'Fraid so. Fortunately, however, this one
doesn't have the annoying section on the marsh that the previous one had, but
is a challenge nonetheless. Staying ahead of the favorite to win at all times
is vital, because catching up can be very difficult. Self-preservation is key.
Start off in the usual city area that you do in Baroonda, and continue until
you reach a long bridge. Pass through it, then turn right down the
mountainside. You'll come to a jump - be sure to "tilt up" to glide across it
or else you may face grave penalties. Go down the mountain some more, and
you'll come to a dirt road. This place has a lot of tough turns, and getting
through them without hitting their sides is near impossible. Focus on taking
the turns well enough, at least, so you don't blow up. The first one is a hard
turn to the right, and immediately one to the left. After that, you'll see a
tree branch in your way - don't worry, you'll go over it. Then, you'll face a
quick left and a hard right in succession. This is the part where you're most
likely to blow up, so hit the brakes if you need to. Finally, there will be
more turns, alternating from left to right. Slide around these bends, and it's
okay if you hit the side, so long as it doesn't cause instant destruction for
your pod. Pass over one more tree branch, some more turns, and you'll head
onto a volcanic road. Jungles, mountains, deserts, volcanoes - is there
anything Baroonda doesn't have?
Head into the volcanic tunnel, admire some gushing lava to your left, then
continue down some more ash-ridden roads until you go into the volcano a
second time. As soon as you do, you'll be forced to choose a path. Stay on
the upper road and choose left or right, whichever is easiest. You'll enter a
second volcano room, where you should just stay on the road you're on. Then,
you'll enter the final lava room, where lava, rocks and paths are everywhere.
Pick whatever path is easiest, closest or whichever you feel most comfortable
with. Just make sure not to do two things: go on the lava, which slows you down
(but surprisingly doesn't immolate you), or hit a rock. Don't get confused
with the paths so much that you venture off and do one of those two things.
Just pick a road and stay in the center of it. You'll eventually emerge from
the volcano and head into forest. Stay on the center of the road, like in
Grabvine Gateway, and keep going until you're in a desert. This is just like
the desert part in Grabvine Gateway, only backwards. Fortunately enough, the
turns seem to be less dangerous this time around, but you should still be
alert. Prepare for all turns in advance, and don't despair if you slow down by
hitting into a wall. It's much better than dying, believe me. You probably
shouldn't have to hit the brakes, though: just keep going. Your engines may
take a beating, though.
After the desert, simply race up the mountainside and into the city (be wary of
the building with the pillars, though) to complete the lap.
Character: This is third course in a row you haven't gotten anyone new. Ouch.
Ebe Endecott has fairly balanced stats with nice cooling and repair, though his
speed is a little weaker than some of the other starters.
----------------------------------
The Boonta Classic
Planet: Tatooine
Favorite to win: Sebulba
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
This is it: The final course in the racing circuit, your final showdown with
Sebulba, and the course portrayed in the movie, Episode 1. Pick your favorite
character and get ready to win it all!
This course has a slew of different paths. I picked the paths that the
favorite, Sebulba follows, since I'm fairly sure they're the fastest. Go down
the dirt road at the beginning until it split into two paths: a road on a ridge
to the left, and a cave to the right. Go to the right and continue through the
cave until you jump out onto a canyon. Be sure to stay on the road to the right
of this canyon, because deviating from it will slow you down. After emerging
from the canyon and turning to the left, you'll enter another. You'll
encounter a couple of turns, one of them a wide and hard (but far from
dangerous) curve to the left and you'll see the path split. There'll be the
main road, and then you'll see a small path going up to your right. Go
whichever way you want. The path going up is more fun and allows you to get
some extra distance by gliding, but if you miss it, it's really nothing.
(Note: Sebulba does not take the path going up.) Anyways, soon you'll come to
a very large crevice that you'll be forced to jump over. Hit that "tilt up"
key (that should be quite familiar to you by now) to glide across it. Continue
on the desert track and you'll go into a rocky area. Initially, you'll see
three paths ahead of you. Quickly turn onto the rightmost path, which is also
the fastest. From there you'll go through a curvy path, but this isn't really
very difficult. After you emerge and rejoin the other paths, you'll head out
into a desert. There won't be a path at first, but soon you'll enter a less
barren section and you'll see the road. Keep going down the road, and make
sure to jump over the pit you'll see by tilting upwards.
Then, you'll go onto a road with lots of rocky arches, very similar to what you
saw a lot of in the movie (assuming you've seen it). This part isn't very
difficult, but be sure to save time by always going to the left whenver you see
the path split a little. The first time you'll see two arches, left and right,
and you should pick the left. Look at the map to see where the second is, or
just stay to the left for all of this part. After this section, you'll pass
into a canyon, then through a crevice. There'll be three paths - just go on the
one in the middle. Emerge from the cave and out into a wide gorge and - what's
this? You're getting shot at! Whenver a shot hits the ground, flame will emerge
from the spot. Hit the flame and your engines will catch fire, making it
harder to control and damaging them. Stay to the left at this part (the fire,
generally, concentrates in the middle) and dodge the flames. Keep going and
you'll see a path to the left and right, and one path dipping down in the
middle. You may feel the urge to take the middle, and fastest, path - but do
not! As I said, all of the fire concentrates in the middle of the track. While
there's virtually no danger of getting shot if you go on the left or right,
it's pretty much impossible to avoid fire if you take the middle, the path
being too thin for you to be able to dodge.
Keep going, staying on the left or right, until the shooting stops. You'll
enter a canyon, but be careful! A sandcrawler (or whatever that vehicle the
Jawas use is called) patrols this area, so until you pass it, stay on the
lookout and keep to the left or the right of the track(the sandcrawler only
stays on the middle). Soon afterwards you'll see something very familiar: a
small crevice you have to go through, identical to that of the first level.
That's right, the worry's over! The rest of the track is exactly the same as
the first course in Tatooine. Just fit through the crevice and pass through
the rocks and you're done! You are the champion!
Character: Sebulba is finally yours! Sebulba's stats are generally vary between
par and sub-par, except his top speed, which is through the roof. Also, by
hitting the taunt button, you can activate Sebulba's flamethrower. FOOM!
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You have conquered the Galactic Podracing Circuit, and now you have risen to
the throne as the Podracing champion! But wait, what's this? There's more?
That's right. The Invitational Podracing Circuit, consisting of four tracks,
still prevents you from becoming the ultimate podracer. You get the first two
tracks of this by completing the Amateur and Semi-Pro Podracing circuits, and
you unlock the last two by beating the Galactic circuit.
----------------------------------
Invitational Courses:
----------------------------------
Ando Prime Centrum
Planet: Ando Prime
Favorite to win: Slide Parimita
Difficulty: Medium
At the beginning of the course, look at the map and it'll show a path trailing
off to the left at the very beginning. This path is faster, so be sure to take
it by veering off the slope to the left, instead of going on the road. Keep
going, and as soon as the paths rejoin, head to the right, back on the road.
Ahead of you should be an ice cave, split into left and right. Take the faster,
right path. This section of the cave is a little annoying; the sharp turns and
rough path will hinder you, but as long as you don't crash and blow up, it'll
still save you time. Continue until you make a slight jump and enter the city.
Immediately, head to the left and go up the ramp you see there. This is a
useful shortcut that leads you through this icy city faster. Once you head up
this ramp, you'll go into a tunnel. The turns in this tunnel are somewhat hard
and may get on your nerves a bit, but again, this route is definitely faster.
Once you exit this tunnel, keep on going and you'll go up a ramp. Glide off of
it, and continue on. This section of the city has different pathways, but none
of them are really much faster than one another. Just pick your paths and keep
going. After picking to go either right or left around a very large structure,
you'll start descending down a road leaving the city. When it comes to an end,
glide off of it with the "tilt up" button and you'll touch down very near the
finish line.
Character: Slide Parimita has respectable acceleration and amazing cooling and
repair, but his top speed's a bit weak.
----------------------------------
Abyss
Planet: Ord Ibanna
Favorite to win: Bozzie Baranta
Difficulty: Hard
This course has a certain trick to it. At a couple of places around the
course, you'll be on a road surrounded by metal bars, with a lower road under
you. You'll start on the upper path, but veering off too far will cause you
to fall down on the lower one. If you manage to stay on the upper path without
ever falling down, then you can win. Fall down and you have lost, with
virtually no chance of recovering first place. Really. See, if you fall off at
this certain point, you have to take an extremely long route around that will
cause you to fall far, far behind. What's worse is the computer players almost
never fall off the track, so you need to stay up with them.
The course wastes no time. Just a little ways from the starting line is one of
the aforementioned roads, where falling down onto the road below means defeat.
As soon as you head onto this road and start to take the turn, you must slow
down. Hit the brake. Just make sure you alter your speed enough to make the
turn to the left, because it is almost impossible to make that turn and not
fall down if you're going fast. However, try not to go too slow or else you may
fall behind, or even worse, a pod will collide with yours. Try to strike a
balance: find the fastest speed you can go and still stay on the upper track.
Once you make this turn, the path will start to go straight again. You can hit
the gas here and catch up - just make sure to glide over the small gap in the
track (indicated by warning flags). A little ways further and you'll have to
turn yet again. Do the same thing: slow down, make sure you can take the turn
without falling off, then go to full speed again. There will be some more gaps
in the track ahead, so make sure to jump them. I've actually seen the favorite
to win fall down through these gaps once, both providing entertainment and
ensuring victory.
After making the jump, you'll continue on another track with metal bars,
similar to before, but you won't be able to fall of this one. Go through it and
you'll see ahead a road curving in-between some metallic pillars. Instead of
weaving through these, skip all the confusion and look to your left. You'll
see a wall of steel mesh, with a small little opening in it. Take this opening
to save a lot of time (I know the favorite to win does). Doing so will put you
straight in line with the next road you need to proceed on to. This road is
like the ones before, with an upper and lower level, but don't worry - it
doesn't matter much if you fall off onto the lower route. All that does is
take away the ability to ride on the top of the building you'll proceed through
(or on top of) next. If you managed to stay on the upper track, be similarly
careful up there. While it is faster this way, it is also possible to fall off
the top and die. After you jump down off the top of the structure (or just race
from out of it), turn right and continue on. You'll eventually have to make two
jumps (glide for best results), and you'll be at the end. Just make sure not to
fall down on any of the laps, or else you'll have to restart...
Character: Bozzie Baranta is a fairly unimpressive character. While a little
better than Mawhonic and Elan Mak, the only thing worth noting about him is
respectable acceleration and turning. Still, at least his pod is pretty cool.
----------------------------------
The Gauntlet
Planet: Oovo IV
Favorite to win: Gasgano
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
This is the final course of Oovo IV, the asteroid prison facility. Fortunately,
there are far fewer opportunities for you to die here. The bad news is Gasgano
follows you pretty closely here, so staying ahead of him is a necessity. It
starts off similarly to the two previous courses, but then in a surprising
twist you'll go outside. Stay on the road here, or else you'll be slowed down.
A little ways down and suddenly you'll hear gunfire. Just like in the Boonta
Classic, bullets - or whatever their weapons shoot - will hit the road, causing
small flames to shoot up. Do your best to dodge the flames, but don't leave
the road just to dodge them. If you do catch on fire, just stay on the road and
repair your pod. After a couple of turns, the last few shots will be fired and
you'll find yourself on a fairly straight road, with a pool of black goo a
little ways ahead. Quickly look to the map to see a path trailing off to the
right, and take it. There isn't actually a road there so your pod will slow
down as you take it, but be sure follow this shortcut anyways for the fastest
time. (If need be,look at the map to see where the trail begins.)
Continue on this trail until you reach a road again. You'll head into a large
road with lots of large rocks protruding upwards. Pick whichever path is
closest to you and maneuver around the rocks until you enter a tunnel. Make a
curve to the right, and continue on the road until you have to do a similar
curve to the left. You'll then descend down a tunnel, then continue on some
simple roads until you reach a meteorite tunnel. Don't worry too much, though.
It isn't very difficult to dodge the meteors this time, provided you make an
attempt to avoid them. If you do die, you'll probably still have the lead over
Gasgano. Afterwards, you'll get spit back out onto the track with the end in
sight.
Character: Gasgano is the last of your starting characters you'll race. He has
high top speed and repair, but not too much else.
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Inferno
Planet: Baroonda
Favorite to win: Ben Quadineros
Difficulty: Medium
The final course of the game takes place in the volcanoes of Baroonda.
However, it is far from difficult. Start on the fiery road, make the turn to
the left, then keep going until you start to slope upwards. The path will
divide - take either bridge, neither is really faster. From there you'll be
subjected to three large curves: a left one, a right one, then another left.
You have a lot of room to maneuver, so they should be fairly easy. After the
last curve to the left, the path will divide again. Go to the left to take the
passageway through the cave, which is noticeably faster than the other. You'll
temporarily leave the volcano, then enter it again. Now the road will have
rocks and stone "fences" lining the sides, so be sure to stay in the middle as
you continue. A little farther and you'll see the path divide for a very brief
time. If you're fast you can catch the slightly quicker path on the left, but
whether or not you take it is hardly consequential. Then, the path will divide
again. Stay on the upper path, because the lower one forces you to cross lava,
which slows you. If you jump off the upper road early, then tilt your pod
upwards so you can glide over the lava.
Some more paths will some up, intertwining among the lava. Pick whichever you
want to, but avoid lava and be careful of the rocks lining the road. I still
prefer the upper road here. Afterwards, you'll make one more jump across some
lava and you'll be out of the volcano. Ride a little farther, then fit through
the crevice back into the volcano and onto the finish line.
Character: Remember Ben Quadineros? In the movie, his rented podracer failed to
start and lost an engine without ever passing the finish line. Don't worry, Ben
Quadineros is a more formidable racer here. He's very much like Sebulba; all
his stats are unimpressive except for his awesome top speed.
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With the Invitational Podracing Circuit out of the way, you have become the
ultimate podracing champion! Congratulations!
Some people/things/companies I'd like to thank:
- You, for reading this guide. I hope it was of use to you.
- Lucas Arts, for making this game.
- George Lucas, for coming up with the whole concept of podracing.
- EA, for repackaging it at a bargain price (this is how I obtained the copy
I have)
- Anakin, for beating Sebulba.
- And finally, the guy in the credits that was listed under "Did not try to
actively sabotage the project." No idea why I'm thanking him, for reasons
other than it was quite funny. >_>
That's all there is in the world of "Star Wars" podracing for now. May the
force be with you!
