Note: I apologize for the highly unprofessional look of this document;
this is my first ever FAQ, and it was done mostly in one day
A Word of Caution...
Everything I know about Digidrive is from borrowing it from a friend
who imported it. I did not have the instruction manual, and even if
I did, I could never have read it, it being in Japanese. And he
couldn't read it either.
Everything in this FAQ is based on me playing the game, experimenting
with it, and figuring out why most of things that happen do. In a
sense, I "decoded" the game by playing it. However, because of my
lack of access to the manual, I do not know everything there is to
know, nor do I claim to. All I am trying to do is make this game
accessible to the masses.
My friend imported all of the bitGenerations games, and I have played
them all. I chose to write an FAQ about this one in particular
because it is the most complicated of the 7 by far. That, and we
couldn't figure out Coloris at all.
If you would like to submit information from your own findings to
me, my email address is curtmackevo[at]gmail.com. Replace the [at]
with the commercial at sign (@).
Changes:
v1.0 8/4/06 - First version.
v1.1 8/4/06 - After an afternoon of play, fixed some errors and
added some features I discovered afterwards.
Added the Unlockables section.
v1.2 8/8/06 - Added some information from a couple of emails.
Thanks, Brandon and Curry Allergy!
The Digidrive Cartridge:
When you first boot up your Gameboy Advance with the Digidrive
cartridge loaded inside the game, you will see a screen with
Japanese text on it. Press Start to bypass this screen. Then
the Digidrive title screen will load up. Press start here.
Please note that most of this game is in English. The only
Japanese portions of this game are that first screen and the
manual.
You will now see a menu with 3 options on it.
Play: You'll probably want to select this.
Demo: This will let you watch the AI play Digidrive.
Download: I have no idea what this does. Apparently you need a
wireless adaptor to use it, which I lack.
I'm assuming you'll want to play the game, so select Play by pressing
the A button (that option should already be highlighted).
Single: Starts a game in single-player mode.
VS Com: Starts a VS game versus the AI.
VS 2P: Starts a VS game versus a human opponent.
Credits: If you've unlocked them. Starts up the staff credit roll.
If you select Single, you will have some options to choose from:
Ranking: This shows up after you complete your first game. It shows
your top distance (explained later).
Skin: This lets you select the color scheme. Under Standard, there
are 6 options you can choose right away. Unlockable schemes
are listed also. Some other options are listed under Etc.
Music: There are 2 options for songs, as well as Silence and Random.
More songs are unlockable.
Voice: If you've unlocked voice select. Pretty self-explanatory.
You have standard, male, female, and robot to choose from.
Level: The higher the level, the faster the piston moves.
Start: Start the game.
Playing the Game:
The first thing you'll notice is a large plus sign on the left side.
This is the main play area. I'll explain it later.
On the right side of the screen is your distance meter. The disc in
the center moves forward as you create fuel pods. The distance you
can cover determines your score.
After the game starts, arrows, which I call fuel pellets, will start
coming in from all 4 sides of the play area. If left unchecked, they
will move to the opposite side and rest there. You can make them move
onto either of the two perpendicular sides instead by pressing the
arrow on the D-pad that corresponds to that side. For example, if a
pellet comes in from the right side, and you would like it to rest
on the top side, you would press the up arrow. Doing so will make it
turn towards that side as it encounters the center of the play area.
(Throughout the rest of this FAQ I will call the individual sides
of the play area "fuel stacks.") A pellet MAY NOT be directed to
turn back into the side from whence it came Also note that any
pellet coming in from the left side would be directed into the top
fuel stack as well, as long as you have that line up.
When a pellet encounters another pellet of the same shape, it will
stack up. You will start out with only one shape, but as you continue
play you will encounter a total of three different shapes. The first
one looks like a simple chevron arrow. The second shape is much more
curved. The third shape looks blocky. They also differ in color if
you have trouble distinguishing their shapes. If you try to put a
pellet of a different shape onto a stack, that pellet will form a new
stack, and the old stack will be sent back onto the play area from the
fuel stack it was just on, one pellet at a time.
When five pellets are stacked up, that fuel stack is activated. You
can tell if a fuel stack is activated because it will be a different
color, and it will have a fuel pod shown next to it. Fuel pods are
either triangular (a small pod), square (a medium pod), pentagonal
(a large pod), or hexagonal (a giant pod). After that is a circle.
Once that appears to be full, the pod can still grow bigger, and you
can see when you launch it how big it is (2x, 4x, etc).
Active fuel stacks are tied to their pod, as well as to the shape that
started the stack. This is called its "affinity." You can tell a
stack's affinity by it's color (it will be the same color as the
pellets) or by the shape that appears towards the center of the play
area on that stack.
A fuel stack can only remain active for a short time unless it is fed.
You must feed it pellets of the same shape. The instance a pellet of a
different shape enters that stack, it is deactivated and any fuel
attached to it is lost, which is bad. This also happens if it is not
fed at all for a short period of time.
This is not always the case. If you have other active fuel stacks,
instead of being lost, the fuel will be added to all other stacks!
If you have two others, this will double your fuel attached to that
stack! This ONLY happens if you've put a pellet of the wrong type
onto the stack, though; if it starves to death, it's gone.
Sometimes a flashing pellet will appear. If you send the flashing
pellet into an active fuel stack, the fuel stack will be deactivated,
but all of the fuel will be sent to power your disc! This is one
of only two ways to move your disc. You can make a flashing pellet
appear by pressing the A button as well, but you can only do this
once. You get another one every 5000 meters if you have less than
three, though. You can see how many you have just to the right of
the main play area.
What happens if you activate all four stacks? Hehehe. This is
an event that I call trance. After you activate all four stacks, the
background will change into a spiral and you'll notice arrows start
to move much faster. It's very hard to keep up, but do it! While in
trance, your arrows no longer stack up - they go straight into the
fuel pod! And the first pod that is deactivated (for any reason) will
be sent straight to power your disc!
There is a large piston chasing your disc around. When it gets close
the scene on the right will zoom in, and once it touches your disc you
will lose. Make sure you constantly keep moving the disc!
Differences in VS Mode:
-You start off dealing with all 3 shapes.
-You are pushing the disc up, but your opponent wants to push it down.
-You can attack with the B button. Get new items by pushing the disc.
-You lose when the disc is pushed all the way down.
Other Tips (or "Things I Forgot"):
When you put an incorrectly shaped pellet into an active fuel stack,
as that stack is deactivating (and transferring fuel if you have
another active fuel stack), some pellets will disappear. As of yet,
I have not figured out what criteria the game uses to decide this.
If a circle gets full, it can still continue to grow. For example, if
you move a fuel pod (by mismatching the stack), it can go into the
circle. You can see the actual amount of fuel in the circle when it
launches; it will visibly "drain." You can also see 2x, 4x, etc. when
you launch the circle. Eventually it will grow to ?x!
From Brandon:
After you exit from trance, before the fuel pod launches, one flashing
pellet will be added to your stock.
From Curry Allergy:
If you hold A+B+L+R as the game starts up, your game saved data will
be erased. That could be helpful if you bought the game used from
a Digidrive master who had his high scores in the millions, but this
is more the sort of thing you'd want to avoid.
If you press B while the attack animation (with the disc flying up)
is playing, it will skip the animation. Very handy for people doing
speedruns, I guess...
Official terminology:
(Thanks goes to Curry Allergy for translating the terms in the manual!)
What I call it: |What the manual calls it:
------------------------+-------------------------
Disc | Dual Core
Fuel Pellet | Shape
Fuel Stacks | Roads
Fuel Pod | Stock shape
Flashing pellet | Attack shape
Trance | Auto Bahn
Piston | Danger Bar
Unlockables:
Music -
Vedo: Get past 500 M in Single mode
17:42: Get past 7000 M in Single mode
Monomosquo: Win a VS Com game on Hard mode
Skin packages -
All skins are based primarily on 3 colors.
Modern: Get past 1000 M in Single mode
The Modern package has 8 skins in it -
Kimono: Blue, cyan, and white
Sakura: Pink, pale pink, and white
Urushi: Yellow, red, and black
Ukiyoe1: Red, pale yellow, and dark blue
Ukiyoe2: Red, white, and lavander
Ukiyoe3: Blue, orange, and yellow
Pastel: Cyan, pink, and white
Psychedelic: Black, green, and yellow. There's a kinda rainbow
between green and yellow in the background.
Soccer: Get past 2000 M in Single mode
The Soccer package has 10 skins in it. Each skin is based on the
colors of the country's soccer team (World Cup spirit lives on!) -
Japan: Pale red, blueish purple, and white.
Brazil: Blue, green, and yellow
Germany: Red, white, and black. There's an orange blotch between
white and black in the background.
Italy: Blue, white, and cyan
Argentina: Teal, white, and pale blue
England: Red, black, and white
France: Skin color, blue, and white
Spain: Red, yellow, and teal
USA: Red, white, and blue (Shocker)
Cameroon: Orange, yellow, and green
Seasons: Get past 3000 M in Single mode
The Seasons package has 4 skins in it -
Spring: Pale green, lavander, and white
Summer: Blue, chartreuse, and white.
Fall: Red, orange, and a slightly greenish orange.
Summer: Brown, white, and silver.
Special: Get past 5000 M in Single mode
The Special package has 6 skins in it -
Famicom color: Red, black, and pale yellow
Famicom 20th: Red, yellow, and black
Classic NES: White, grey, and red
Lime green: Pale green, white, and grey
Gold: Yellow, olive green, and white
Orange: Orange, black, and teal (it looks disgusting)
Retro: Score a 10x attack (see below for a helpful strategy)
The Retro package has 5 skins in it -
Type A: Black and cyan
Type B: Red, cyan, and black
Type Q: White, yellow, and green
Game boy: Dark green, light green, and yellow
Game and watch: Dark blue and pale cyan
I always play on Game boy. It's nostalgic for me. And, my Game boy
still works, which is great considering my Mom bought it at a
garage sale as a Christmas present when I was 7.
Food: Win a VS Com match on Normal mode
The Food package has 6 skins in it -
Choco Banana: Brown, yellow, and white
Strawberry milk: Red, pink, and white
Peanut butter: Brown, tan, and yellow
Caesar salad: Yellow and green
Choco mint: White, brown, and cyan
BLT: Brown, tan, and baby puke green
Other stuff -
Voice select: Clear 10000 M in Single mode (it can be done!)
Staff Credits: Win a VS Com game on Expert mode
Strategies:
This is cool. When the games starts out, you will only have one
type of arrow. If you can manage to get into trance with all of the
stacks being the same shape, the fun will begin. Whenever a stack
gets "hungry," press that arrow and it will get fed. You can get
everything up to circles in seconds this way. In the end, stop
caring and a circle will get launched. Now you should have all 3
shapes. Deactivate one of the remaining stacks to double up into
the others. Now deactivate another one to move it into the last one.
Now continue play as normal (see below for other strategies here).
Get a couple more active stacks, now deactivate the big one with
a bad pellet to double-up into the other two stacks. Make a flashing
pellet with the A button and send it into one of the two stacks to
get a HUGE distance. Now make two more stacks, break up the big one
again, etc. You can repeat this indefinitely!
Once you get two shapes out, it's best to keep two stacks of each,
opposite of each other. This is the easiest way to keep them happy,
and it will be much easier to get a trance going.
Once you get three shapes out, the best way is to have one active
stack of each going at a time, and use your fourth stack for "spare
parts," when a pellet comes out of its appropriate stack. And don't
forget - if you have a stack that's starving and won't get the help
it needs in time, scrap it for the double-up.
Don't forget your ultimate goal of powering your disc. Having good
stacks is worthless unless you can power your disc. If you hear a
warning, try and launch the disc with a flashing pellet. Or if you
think you can, get a trance - the piston stops moving while you're
in a trance, and it's a great way to get things moving again!
