INTERSECT is not entirely a new game, drawing its roots from a GBA game called
Digidrive. The concept of the game sounds simple, but is anything but; direct
cars driving into a four-way crossroads into lanes to build up fuel, and then
use that fuel to move the Core.
INTERSECT is a DSiWare title, so I expect very few people will have it at this
time (20/11/09). Nonetheless, I've gotten a little sick of repeatedly beating
the computer, so I decided to write this guide. I seriously recommend anyone who
can be bothered to spend $7.50 and learn a few rules to take the time and effort
to get it, if you have a DSi.
I'm going to explain some simple rules (which you should know already), and then
go into some strategies to improve general gameplay, both in Endless Mode and
Versus Mode.
Control Pad - Direct cars
A Button - Summon reserved trigger car
B Button - Use item (Versus Mode)
X Button - Nothing
Y Button - Nothing
L Button - Use item (Versus Mode)
R Button - Use item (Versus Mode)
Touch Screen - Direct cars, use item (Versus Mode), pause, burn fuel
Start Button - Pause
Select Button - Nothing
[Basic Rules, Part 1]-----------------------------------------------------------
The game revolves around two simple concepts: store fuel and burn fuel. The
balance between storing and burning is one of the most important factors in
succeeding and failing; store too little and you'll end up wasting your time
with tiny amounts of insignificant fuel, or store too much, and you won't go
far enough to avoid dying.
In both modes, you want to keep the Core away from the bottom of the screen.
There's a thing called the Spike in Endless Mode, which is constantly moving
upwards. If it touches the Core, you lose. It makes a rather distinct noise when
it moves, so make sure you have your sound on. Always. Believe me, the music is
FANTASTIC, but more importantly, you can tell what's happening on the Core
screen without having to look at it. Which is vital.
In Versus Mode, you're competing against another player. Both players burn fuel
to move the Core upwards on their screens, and downwards on their opponent's.
Simplicity being the aim here, I'll leave it at that for now.
You'll be presented with something like this in both modes:
| |
| |
| |
------+ +------
------+ +------
| |
| |
| |
That's the crossroads screen. Cars come out of any of the four lanes, go through
the intersection in the middle, and come out on any of the other three lanes.
This is important: cars cannot u-turn.
So, you might see something like this:
| |
| |
| |
------+ +------
------+ +------
| |
| |
|^ |
A car is coming from the bottom lane. You can either let it go straight into top
or hold left or right to divert it accordingly. Let's make it go left:
Then, we'd have the following above. I'm using the following symbols to
represent the following shapes: 3, 4, 5, 6 and 0 to represent triangles,
squares, pentagons, hexagons and circles respectively (as I can't do the ASCII
versions...). They will fill up with fuel, and then become the next type of
shape.
So basically, direct like-coloured cars to the same lane to make fuel. Colour
association is pretty basic in puzzle games, and it applies here. There are
three types of cars; depending on your scheme, they'll have different colours:
+---------+--------------------+
|Theme |Car 1 Car 2 Car 3 |
+---------+--------------------+
|Shape |Sharp Curve Flat |
+---------+--------------------+
|Standard |Black Red White |
|Deep Sea |White Blue Black |
|Candy |Pink Yellow White |
|Blossom |Green Pink White |
|Caramel |Maroon Brown Cream |
|Lime |Black White Green |
|Red Coal |Red Black White |
+---------+--------------------+
Universally, cars can be referred to as their shape, but this takes too much
thinking. I'm going by the Red Coal theme, but realistically, the cars don't
really need colours and shapes in this guids, so long as you know what kind of
car I'm talking about.
Another thing I should mention is the colour that fills the lane. Stop directing
cars down the lane, and the colour will fade. Let it fade completely, and you
will lose all the fuel on that lane. Generally, don't let it happen. It's the
main facepalm-inducing act of INTERSECT; cutting it too close to get more fuel
in other lanes and mistiming it by half a second.
So, at the moment you know the following things:
> Cars of the same colour make fuel.
> More cars equals more fuel.
> The bigger and fuller the shape, the more fuel it represents.
[Basic Rules, Part 2]-----------------------------------------------------------
Okay, so now you're making fuel. But what's this? The Spike catches up really
easily? The Core's about to die? Okay, time to burn some fuel. And this is the
bit which gets heaps of people.
You'll see some cars which are multicoloured (specifically, a car with the shape
of Car 1 with the colours of Cars 1 and 2). They flash and make an ambulance
noise. And that's exactly what they do; rescue from losing. They're called
trigger cars, and you use them to burn fuel.
Trigger cars appear randomly, and when you direct them down a lane with fuel,
the fuel shape will move towards the centre of the crossroads and be burnt,
emptying through all the shapes and moving the Core on the other screen. Try it
with a triangle. Not much movement, eh? Here's why I told you that balancing
storage and combustion is vital: too little fuel will get you nowhere.
You STORE your fuel, and then BURN it when you're in danger of dying. In most
cases, this is the only time you'll need to burn fuel; the Core can't be hurt
unless your opponent slams it against the bottom of the screen, or it gets
touched by the Spike.
There are NO health bars. NO hit points. It's a very absolute system.
Which is good.
So now you're probably thinking: "Okay, so I can cheat death. But trigger cars
appear randomly. How am I going to save myself within seconds of losing?" Look
at the left of the crossroads screen. See a trigger car? That's what you'll
need. Be aware this isn't the case in Touch Mode, but random trigger cars are in
both modes, hence why I explained them first. Presuming you're using Button
Mode, press A to summon a trigger car. You can have up to three in storage, but
you can't choose which lane it comes from. Normally, it's smart with its
direction; if there's three lanes without fuel, it'll probably come from one of
them, and not the one with fuel.
Remembering the fact that like all cars, trigger cars cannot u-turn, if it comes
from the lane you wanted to burn, tough luck. But what if you don't want to burn
any fuel right now? This will be the case with most random trigger cars. Here's
another important thing to know:
When you put a wrong car in a lane with less than five of another colour, those
cars will do a u-turn and come back into the crossroads from that lane. Say you
have three blacks in the left lane, and you send a red into it. You now have a
red in the left lane, and three blacks will shortly re-enter the crossroads from
the left. Get it?
Alright, a quick summary. This is added onto your previous knowledge:
> Trigger cars are used to burn fuel.
> Burning fuel moves the Core, and helps you survive.
> Up to three trigger cars can be stored at once, to be summoned.
> Putting a wrong car in a lane makes all the previous cars u-turn.
[Basic Rules, Part 3]-----------------------------------------------------------
Okay, so you know how to make and burn fuel. But you're doing it pretty slowly.
You'll get to a square (20 cars), and then think "This is taking a while... How
long will it take to get a circle?". A very long time is the answer, and I don't
recommend it if you want to survive. Here's where two very important tactics
come into relevance: Overdrives and Combos.
The guide explains the two in the opposite order, but I'm not the guide and I'm
doing it my way. Have you noticed how difficult it is to get all four lanes with
fuel on them? This is how you enter Overdrive Mode (known simply as Overdrives),
by getting fuel on all four lanes.
Overdrive is pretty much a hyper-accelerated way of getting fuel. The screen
will go all trippy, the Core changes its style (pulsating lines resembling the
four lanes of the crossroads) and different music will play. You'll also notice
that the colour fades much faster now.
The general idea is this: cars will always appear in positions that allow them
to be directed to a lane of their colour. A better way of saying this is that
cars will never appear from their own lane unless there is another lane of that
colour that the car can go to.
Each car that goes to its lane is worth five normal cars; essentially each car
makes the fuel shape fill up a little more, like when you get five cars in a
lane normally. The cars get faster as you spend more time in Overdrive, making
it harder and harder to manage them.
Overdrive ends when one of the following conditions is met: a car is sent into
a differently-coloured lane, or the colour fades completely from a lane. The
result is that the fuel in that lane is moved to the centre, gives you an
additional trigger car in your reserves (Button Mode only), and burns the fuel.
Okay, to summarize that:
> Overdrive starts when you get fuel in all four lanes.
> Cars are worth 5 times as much in Overdrive, and will not appear incorrectly.
> Overdrive ends when you screw up the cars, or a lane fades.
> After an Overdrive, the fuel is burnt and you get a trigger car.
> Overdrives are very good at gaining fuel rapidly, particularly early-game.
------============------
Combos are a completely different concept, rivalling Overdrives in their fuel
production. You'll notice that when you screw up a car in a lane with fuel, and
it's your only lane, you'll lose the fuel like if it ran out of colour. But when
you try this with more than one lane, the effect is vastly different...
When you do this with two lanes, it's called a Combo. The fuel from the screwed-
up lane is moved to the other lane. So if you have a triangle in one lane and
a square in the screwed up lane, the first lane will have fuel equal to the
triangle plus the circle, and the screw-up lane will have one car of the colour
you sent into it to screw it up. Simple? It's adding the fuel from one lane to
the next. That's pretty much it.
Now, when you do a Combo and there's three lanes, it's called a Double Combo (I
call it a Double). As you can guess, the fuel is added to BOTH of the other
lanes, effectively doubling that lane's amount of fuel. So, the square would be
added to both of the other two triangle lanes. This is an incredibly effective
way of getting fuel late-game, as you can just keep on doubling.
It's a shame there isn't some form of Triple, because having three lanes for
fuel to go to means you have four lanes, putting you in Overdrive. I sometimes
feel the urge to stick a wrong-coloured car in the lane with the most fuel (to
double it), then I realize that's not a good idea in Overdrive. Don't do that.
Summary:
> Perform a Combo by putting a wrong car in a lane while there's one other lane
with fuel. This adds the two fuel stocks together and puts them in the second
lane.
> Perform a Double by doing a Combo with two other lanes with fuel. This
duplicates the fuel in the screwed-up lane and adds them to the other two
lanes.
> Doubles are incredibly efficient at gaining fuel rapidly, particularly
late-game.
[Difference Between Touch Mode and Button Mode]---------------------------------
There are two control schemes; Touch Mode and Button Mode. The game's tutorial
is shown in Button and it's higher than Touch on the list, so I'm assuming the
developers wanted it to be the first choice. I'll explain the differences:
> The screen showing the crossroads is on the Top for Button Mode and Bottom
for Touch Mode. Likewise, the screen showing the Core is vice-versa.
> There is a pause icon in the bottom-left corner of the touch screen in Touch
Mode, which flashes while paused. (This isn't really significant, just
thought I should mention it.)
> You use the Control Pad (+) to move the cars in Button Mode and Touch Mode,
but you can also use the Touch Screen in Touch Mode. I wouldn't advise it
though, as it's rather difficult and nowhere near as convenient.
> There's one important difference that I should mention, but I'll mention it
in the next section.
I go with Touch Mode, because that one difference is incredibly important when
it comes to precise burning of fuel. I know I'm being all ambiguous here, but
you're probably confused as it is, so I'm going to summarise everything so far
and then you can take a break if you wish. It is very confusing.
> Direct cars down the crossroads. Put like cars together to get fuel.
> Cars cannot u-turn, so if it came from a road you wanted it in, deal with it.
> The bigger the shape, the bigger the bang it'll make.
> Putting a car down an incomplete row will make the previous cars u-turn.
> Use trigger cars to burn fuel, moving the Core on the other screen.
> Get trigger cars by summoning them with A, or waiting for random ones.
> Add more trigger cars to your reserves by ending an Overdrive, or by reaching
milestones in Endless.
> Use Overdrives early-game to get more fuel, but don't rely on them.
> Use Double Combos early- and late-game to get more fuel.
> Don't use Combos unless you need to. Double Combos are more efficient.
Okay, just spend a bit of time taking that all in. Then, we'll move onwards to
some more advanced strategies.
[Advanced Strategies, Part 1]---------------------------------------------------
So you know how to play, and how to do reasonably well. You've unlocked most of
the stuff in Versus, if not all. But you look at Endless, and freak out at the
100k high score needed for a gold medal on Expert.
Now, I don't really advise holding fuel past 1 circle for beginners, because it
really bites to lose that much fuel. And it WILL happen to you eventually. The
cars go faster, the colour fades quicker. Believe me, I spent a lot of time just
burning half-circles. Until I realized that it was taking ages to get anywhere.
But the real fun of INTERSECT lies in getting astronomical amounts of fuel.
You'll notice that if you complete a circle, it'll change to a full circle with
a number on it. x1 means that there is one full circle on that lane, x3 means
there are three. You are NOT going to be getting full circles with normal cars
or overdrives; there's only one way of doing it: Doubles.
As you can imagine, doubling a x1 makes two x1 lanes. Make a third lane with a
triangle, double one of the x1s, and you'll have a x2 and a x1. Make another,
then double. x4 and x2. And so on and so forth. Eventually, you'll persist, and
get x20, which is displayed as MAX. Obviously it's the largest amount of fuel
you can get on one lane. Burn it, and it'll move you somewhere between 20k and
25k metres in Endless. It'll move the Core 20 times the distance between the top
and bottom screens in Versus, effectively crushing nearly any defences your
opponent has. So MAXes are incredibly awesome. Once you burn your first one,
you will freak out at their greatness. It's like a circle. But twenty times as
intense.
Now, if you do the maths, 4-5 MAXes should get you past the 100k mark. It's that
simple once you can get them. And here's how you play Endless properly: get as
much fuel as you can the first time the Spike gets near you (I can easily get
pentagons by then), then push it as close as you can, until you're just about to
die. Then burn the lane with the second-biggest fuel stack. You're now far away
from the Spike. Keep doubling, and you should have your MAX.
Important survival rule: DO NOT BURN YOUR ONLY MAX UNLESS IT'S AN EMERGENCY.
This is vital. If you lose all your MAXes, you'll need to build it up again.
Which is not fun. In any situation.
Pretty much, the way you get high scores in Endless is get a MAX, double it, and
burn one of them. Rinse and repeat. Now, you'll notice that the milestones
eventually get past the reach of a single MAX. So you're no longer converting
one MAX to one trigger car, and you'll eventually run out. What do you do? This
is the really tricky bit: manage to get an Overdrive while you've got MAX-speed
cars running around. It's possible, but difficult. A test of endurance, you
could say. Keep on doing this for, well, as long as you can. It IS Endless.
[Advanced Strategies, Part 2]---------------------------------------------------
Time to move onto Versus. But before I do, I'd better explain some stuff.
In Touch Mode, you burn fuel by touching the shape. No trigger cars are required
for it, but they still appear randomly and can still be used. But there are
still limitations on many times you can burn fuel. In Endless, look along the
bar where your trigger cars used to be. There's an arc icon. Get used to it,
because it is the future of your winning.
The arcs represent things called "lives", which doesn't really make sense. But
then again, does any of this game?
Lives allow you to burn fuel in an instant. Touch one fuel stock, and the game
instantly pauses. You can get within a millisecond of dying in Endless and then
miraculously save your hide. Likewise, you can crush your opponent with no hint
of the distinct ambulance noise that is associated with an imminent rush of
death. It's now "one touch, a few seconds, then BAM! death".
They work in the same way as trigger cars for reserves; you use one every time
you burn fuel, and you can't burn fuel if you don't have any. You get them
from milestones and ending Overdrive.
