**********************************************************************
* WIPEOUT 64 FAQ *
**********************************************************************
Author: Scorch
E-mail:
[email protected]
Version: 1.0
Date: 4-3-2000
======================================================================
| Table of Contents |
======================================================================
1> Version Changes
2> Wipeout for Dummies
3> The Gameplay Modes
4> The Controls
5> The Vehicles
6> The Weapons
7> The Courses
8> Secrets and Codes
9> Strategy and Tips
10> Credits
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1. Version Changes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 Well, here it is, my first FAQ ever. I was inspired to write it
for three reasons: one, I love this game; two, I've finally
completed it; and three, I'm a fan of GameFAQs and I noticed a
disturbing (actually, a complete) lack of FAQs for this game.
I hope it proves informative, helpful, and nutritious. Enjoy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2. Wipeout for Dummies |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So you're reading this FAQ and you don't even know what Wipeout is?
You may be in need of more help than I and my humble writing skills
can provide. Nonetheless, I shall attempt to acquaint you with the
world of Wipeout. Read this section at your own risk.
Wipeout is an excellent futuristic hover-racer made by Psygnosis. The
first Wipeout game was made for the Playstation. Wipeout XL, the
sequel to Wipeout, came out on the PC. Wipeout 64 is the third game
in the series, and despite the N64's hardware limitations, this game
still looks, sounds, and plays great. If you own an N64 and are into
hover-racers, you should own this game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3. The Gameplay Modes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three different single player modes as well as a multiplayer
mode. The single player modes are Challenge, Single Race, and Time
Trial.
+ Challenge Mode
This is the main game mode. You compete in a series of challenges
that require you to meet various objectives, and you earn awards
based on how well you do. There are three types of challenges; race,
time trial, and weapon. Race challenges require you to race against
computer controlled vehicles and finish in a certain place, time
trial challenges are simply time trials with time goals, and weapon
challenges require you to destroy a certain number of opponents
before completing the race.
+ Single Race Mode
This is the mode to play if you just want a quick race. You can
select any track, any vehicle, and any difficulty.
+ Time Trial Mode
Time trial mode goes on forever until you decide to stop. You can
select any track, any vehicle, and any difficulty. You get one Turbo
per lap and your best lap time is saved if you have a controller
pak. The game will also generate a ghost of your best lap that will
race along with you. If you are trying for the absolute best lap
time, save your Turbo for the very end of a lap so that you're
moving at Turbo speed at the start of the next lap. Then use your
turbo for the current lap just before entering the checkered area.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 4. The Controls |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The joystick is always used to steer your craft. The rest of the
buttons can do different things based on your control config (which
can be changed in the Options menu). Here's a brief description of the
default config which is probably the best one to use.
+ A - throttle, gas pedal, whatever you want to call it
+ B - uses whatever weapon or item you're currently carrying
+ Z - left air brake; use for sharp left turns
+ R - right air brake; use for sharp right turns
+ C-down - drops whatever weapon or item you're currently carrying
+ C-up - changes the viewpoint; the two available viewpoints are
the default chase view and a first person view
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 5. The Vehicles |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are four regular vehicles in Wipeout 64 and one secret vehicle,
the Piranha II. For info on how to unlock it, see the secrets section.
+ Feisar (European Team)
The Feisar is definitely the car of choice for beginners. It has
the best handling of all the regular vehicles, very good shielding,
and decent thrust. Its super weapon is also quite devastating. Its
weakness is its top speed - it has the lowest of all the vehicles.
The Feisar is a good all around vehicle but you probably won't want
to use it on the higher difficulties.
+ AG Systems (Japanese Team)
Ahh.. this one's my favorite. Even in the future the Japanese make
the best cars! D'OH!
The AG Systems vehicle has the highest thrust of all the normal
vehicles and the second best handling. Its top speed is decent;
better than the Feisar and about the same as the Auricom. This
vehicle's weakness is its shield. Take more than a few hits from
weapons fire and you're toast. Running through the pit area on every
lap with this vehicle is essential. Poor shielding aside, this
vehicle has possibly the best super weapon in the game and is the
main reason I like it so much. :-)
+ Auricom (American Team)
The Auricom is to this game what Mario is to Mario Kart; it's very
well-rounded. All of its specs are decent and they're almost exactly
balanced. Its thrust isn't as good as the AG Systems but its top
speed is higher. It has a cool super weapon but to use it
effectively you have to have good aim.
+ Qirex (Russian Team)
Last but not least we have the powermonger of the group. If you're
driving the Qirex you're enjoying the highest top speed and the best
shielding of all the normal vehicles, but you're also being hampered
by the absolute worst handling and poor thrust. I recommend using
this vehicle only if you're really good. The high top speed won't
do you any good if you're constantly bumping walls because of the
handling, and since you lose a lot of speed when you do hit a wall,
it'll take more time to get your speed back up because of the low
thrust.
+ Piranha II (Secret Vehicle)
The Piranha II is a secret vehicle that you must earn. If you manage
to do so, the game rewards you well for your efforts. This vehicle
has better thrust, handling, top speed, and shielding than any other
vehicle. If you look at the little bar charts on the vehicle select
screen you'll see it's maxed out in everything. And driving it.. hoo
boy. Imagine a near-indestructible vehicle with perfect handling
that feels like you're moving at turbo speed the entire time. Buckle
up and get set for a wild ride.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 6. The Weapons |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons are activated by running over the multicolored "X"s on the
tracks. The color of these "X"s changes constantly, so you never know
what you're going to get from any given "X" on a track. (Exception:
in some of the Challenges you always get the same weapon. See the
Strategy section for more info.)
+ Missile (icon: purple upward-pointing arrow)
This is an excellent multi-purpose weapon. If an enemy vehicle comes
into view in front of you, a yellow box will appear and "lock on" to
the vehicle. Let fly with your missile and laugh as the blue
projectile hits their vehicle and brings them to a stop.
You can also fire your missiles backwards! If you see the words
"rear lock" appear below the Missile icon at the top of your screen,
it means that your missile is locked onto a vehicle behind you. To
fire your missile backwards, hold down on the joystick and press B.
The missile will fly behind your vehicle and hit whoever it was
locked onto. How entertaining!
+ Rocket (icon: red upsie-down "Y")
Though not as versatile as the Missile, the Rocket can be more
devastating if used properly. When fired, the Rocket lets loose
three red projectiles that don't lock on but rather fire in a spread
in front of your vehicle. While this increases your chances of
scoring a hit on someone in front of you, the rocket is best used
at very close range. If you wait until you are very close to your
enemy and then fire, they will be hit with two or even all three of
the projectiles, causing very heavy damage and sometimes even
destroying them.
+ Electrobolt (icon: blue lightning bolt)
This weapon functions identically to the Missile. It locks on and
can be fired either forward or backward. Unlike the missile, the
electrobolt only inflicts a tiny amount of damage. If you're hit
with one, however, it sticks to your vehicle for several seconds
and screws up your handling, making steering more difficult. Though
it sounds cool, the electrobolt isn't all that useful. It doesn't
seem to have much effect at all on the computer controlled vehicles.
+ Mines (icon: white "+" sign)
Pretty simple stuff here, just drops five mines in rapid succession
from the rear of your vehicle. Note that these don't quite work like
the bananas in Mario Kart 64; once you press B, all five mines are
dropped at once. These come in handy if someone is tailing you.
Hearing five thunks followed by five explosions always makes me
laugh.
+ Thunder Bomb (icon: blue "X")
Oooh.. now we're talking. Just let it go and it explodes in a flash
of white, inflicting heavy damage on any vehicles unfortunate enough
to be close to you.
+ Quake Disruptor (icon: green "Q")
This is a truly unique (and awesome) weapon; I haven't seen anything
like it in any other racers. Fire it and watch as a large shockwave
warps the track in front of you, heavily damaging any vehicles that
it hits. This shockwave will continue moving down the track out of
your sight range for quite a ways before dissipating.
+ Autopilot (icon: small green triangle)
Not so much a weapon as a handy way to cheat. The Autopilot will
steer your craft and take turns at speeds that would be impossible
under normal circumstances. It lasts for three seconds, and when
the screen says "autopilot disengaging", get ready to take control
because it will disengage as soon as your vehicle is moving
straight. One small disadvantage to this item is that it won't try
to steer you around mines. It plows right through them. Ouchie.
+ Energy (icon: yellow "e")
Replenishes some of your shield energy. You usually only get this
when your shield energy is low.
+ Shield (icon: white circle with a line through the middle)
It's a shield. Protects you from all damage for a short time. Duh.
+ Turbo (icon: two orange arrows)
Gives you a quick burst of speed. Did I really need to tell you
that?
Vehicle-specific weapons (Super Weapons)
+ Feisar Super Weapon:
Machine Gun (icon: small orange "+" sign)
Ouch. Activate this sucker and a steady stream of machine gun fire
will erupt from the front of your vehicle for about 10 seconds. Most
of the time it only takes about 1 second of continuous fire from
this thing to destroy an opponent.
+ AG Systems Super Weapon:
Shield Raider (icon: looks like a red and white targeting reticle)
Unquestionably the best weapon in the game. It locks on just like a
missile, but you can only fire it forward. If a vehicle is hit with
this deadly green projectile, it completely drains the vehicle's
shields and gives you a small shield boost. No shields means that
anything - a hit from a weapon or just a simple bump from another
vehicle - causes death. This weapon makes the AG Systems the best
vehicle to use for racking up mucho eliminations.
+ Auricom Super Weapon:
Energy Sphere (icon: blue circle with a dark blue "x" on one corner)
Though it's not the most destructive super weapon, it's damn fun to
use. Don't just tap the B button to fire this weapon; it won't do
squat in the way of damage. Charge it up by holding the B button.
You'll be able to tell when it's maxed out by the sound. Now just
get someone in your sights and release the B button to launch a
flurry of big red rings their way. A direct hit usually guarantees
a kill, but this is hard to do since the weapon doesn't home.
+ Qirex Super Weapon:
Power Snare (icon: purple crossed swords)
I'm telling it like it is; this super weapon SUCKS. It creates a
yellow wall of energy several meters in front of you when fired.
If an enemy vehicle drives through it, it loses some of its shields.
Destroying vehicles with this weapon is damn near impossible. You're
better off just using the regular weapons.
+ Piranha II Super Weapon:
Stealth Mode (icon: four blue slashes)
This weapon is much more defensive than offensive, but still very
useful. When activated your vehicle goes under cloak and becomes
partially immaterial; weapons and other vehicles go right through
you with no damage. But wait, there's more! If you happen to collide
with an enemy while in stealth mode, the enemy vehicle constantly
takes damage as long as it remains in contact with you. Cool, huh?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 7. The Courses |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wipeout 64 has six regular courses and one secret course. For info on
how to unlock it, see the secrets section. Scattered about on each
course you'll find two kinds of icons; blue arrows and "X"s that
constantly change color. The blue arrows give you an extra bit of
speed, and the "X"s give you weapons.
+ Klies Bridge
The easiest and possibly best looking course in the game. Gotta love
those snowy mountain textures! This course has no really hard turns,
though navigating the snow tunnel about halfway through the course
can be tricky if you don't have the track memorized.
+ Qoron IV
This track is sweet and really shows Psygnosis' effort to create
something new. How many other racers have underwater tracks? None
that I know of. You'll only encounter one set of tricky turns
while speeding through the glass tubing and rock walls, and it's
right after the course's only jump. Nothing too difficult; you
shouldn't even need your air brakes.
+ Sokana
This volcanic level requires a good amount of cornering. It's about
the second trickiest course to navigate. Use air brakes sparingly,
though, especially on the lower difficulties. You won't need them
that much.
+ Dyroness
It's nighttime, it's dark, and there's a cityscape in the
background. Nothing too difficult here. The big curves near the end
of the course don't require air brakes except on the highest
difficulty.
+ Machaon II
This one's tough. Sharp turns abound and visibility is often limited
by trees, plants, crap hanging from the ceilings in tunnels and
other obstructions. The best strategy to follow here is to memorize
the course (obviously) and use the stuff along the track as
landmarks to plan your turns. Use a vehicle with good handling.
+ Terafumos
Welcome to the construction zone. Pretty much standard fare; no
extremely sharp turns except for one a short distance after the
start of each lap. It's well marked and easy to see, though, so
you shouldn't have much trouble with it.
+ Velocitar (Secret Course)
Wheee.. speed, speed, and more speed! This course has blue arrows
galore and they're usually laid out in strips of three, four, or
five in a row. There's only one nasty turn to watch out for and
it's just after you come down from a colossal jump. Be prepared.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 8. Secrets and Codes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I like the way games are shifting from having "cheats" that are
entered via codes to having secrets that must be earned. It's always
nicer to earn something than to get it without working for it, right?
Umm.. don't answer that. This game does have some cheat codes, but
you'll get bad karma for using them. You've been warned.
----- Secrets -----
+ Piranha II (Secret Vehicle)
This pimped out vehicle is your reward for earning at least a bronze
award in all six Time Trial challenges. For more info on it, see the
Vehicles section.
+ Velocitar (Secret Course)
It's a super speedway on the moon and it's yours for earning at
least a bronze award in all six Race challenges.
+ Cyclone Weapons Upgrade
Earn at least a bronze award in all six Weapon challenges and you'll
receive the option to enable Cyclone Weapons in single races and
multiplayer. Cyclone Weapons do double the damage. Woohoo! If
Cyclone Weapons are active, the weapon icons will flash.
+ Super Combo Challenges
Earn at least a bronze award in all six Race, Time Trial, and Weapon
challenges, and you'll unlock a set of Super Combo challenges. These
are essentially Race and Weapon challenges combined; your target
objectives will be to finish in a certain place AND destroy a
certain number of enemy vehicles.
+ Gold Challenges
Earn gold awards in all six Race, Time Trial, Weapon, or Super Combo
challenges and you'll unlock a seventh Gold Challenge for that set.
Gold Challenges have only a gold target objective, and it's usually
pretty hard to get.
----- Codes -----
+ Get the Piranha II
At the main menu screen, hold down Z, L, and R and press C-down,
C-down, C-down, C-down, C-right, C-up, C-left.
+ Get the Velocitar course
At the main menu screen, hold down Z, L, and R and press C-left,
C-right, C-up, C-right, C-left.
+ Get the Cyclone Weapons upgrade
At the main menu screen, hold down Z, L, and R and press C-left,
C-right, C-down, C-left, C-right, C-down, C-up.
+ Unlimited Time
During a race, hold down Z, L, and R and press C-up, C-right,
C-left, C-down, C-up, C-right, C-left, C-down.
+ Unlimited Shields
During a race, hold down Z, L, and R and press C-up, C-down,
C-left, C-right, C-up, C-down, C-left, C-right.
+ Unlimited Weapons
During a race, hold down Z, L, and R and press C-down, C-down,
C-left, C-left, C-right, C-right, C-up, C-up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 9. Strategy and Tips |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here I've gathered up all the strategy and tips I can think of for
beating every Challenge in the game. Some are quite easy; others will
undoubtedly leave you cursing at your TV and throwing your controller
around. There aren't many tricks to winning the gold on the hardest
challenges; it just takes practice, a little luck, and a whole lot of
patience.
----- General Tips -----
+ Memorize the courses. You'll probably do this without even thinking
about it after playing the game for a while. Your chances of winning
any given races will be much greater if you know exactly where the
turns are.
+ Remember that while air brakes make sharp turns easier, they also
slow down your craft. Try to get used to using your air brakes
sparingly. Most of the courses require their use very little. The
only two courses that require quite a bit of air braking are Sokana
and Machaon II. On Machaon II you'll be air braking on almost
constantly. Just a word of warning.
+ As your skills increase you'll probably want to drop any Autopilots
you get. Their only real purpose is to help you get through tough
turns, and if you can do this on your own, you'll have no need for
this item. This item does have drawbacks; you can't use other
weapons while it's active and it won't steer you around mines.
If you're a good driver, don't use it.
+ Turbo boosts are best saved for the checkered area near the end of
each lap. Using them anywhere else could mean a nasty collision with
a wall, especially on the higher difficulties.
+ Don't use Shields as soon as you pick them up. That Amiga-like voice
that you hear during the races actually warns you of incoming
weapons. If you have a shield, wait until you hear that voice say
something and then use it immediately.
----- Strategies -----
+ For winning Race challenges: Not much strategy is involved in
winning these. Just follow the general tips, don't get killed and
don't worry about destroying other vehicles since your goal is
always to finish in a certain place.
+ For winning Time Trial challenges: Memorize the courses, hug the
turns as much as you can, use your air brakes sparingly, and
practice a whole lot. Be patient. :-)
+ For winning Weapon challenges: Don't play weapon challenges like
regular races. Remember that your goal is to destroy vehicles; it
doesn't matter what place you come in when you finish. Just make
sure you clear the checkpoints. Try to stay behind a vehicle and
keep hitting it with weapons until it's destroyed. Pay attention
to the type of vehicle you're trying to destroy. Look for AG Systems
and Feisars; they're easy kills. Don't bother with the Piranha II's;
destroying them takes far too much time. Always drop your Autopilots
and always fire any weapon you pick up, even if you just want to get
rid of it. You might hit something. :-)
+ For winning Super Combo challenges: I wouldn't suggest using Weapon
challenge tactics in these. Concentrate primarily on winning the
race, and just blow up vehicles as you go. Often times finishing
first in these challenges will be much harder than destroying the
required number of vehicles. The only exception to this is Super
Combo challenge #5, which I will explain in more detail because it
is about 47 times harder than any other challenge in this game. I
wasn't counting, but I'd guess it took me near 50 tries to win it.
+ For winning Super Combo challenge #5: Psygnosis must have been in
a psychotic mood when they designed this challenge. To win the gold
award, you have to place first and destroy eight vehicles. Not only
that, you have to do it on the highest difficulty using the Qirex
on Machaon II with the Power Snare as your only weapon. Ack.
Here are some strategies for winning this ultra hard challenge.
First, practice a whole lot. This shouldn't be a problem because I
guarantee you'll get a lot of practice from doing this over and
over. The good news is the more you do it the better you'll get
at piloting that big typewriter through the turns without hitting
walls. You'll need to run over nearly every blue arrow to keep up.
The hardest part will be killing eight vehicles with the Power
Snare. Remember that the power snare creates an energy wall that
always forms on one side of track, covering half of it. What you'll
need to do is watch the movements of the computer controlled racers
and memorize which side of the track they drive on for each part
of the course. Thankfully, the computer vehicles are too stupid to
steer around power snares, so if you launch them in the right
places the computer vehicles will always hit them and you'll get
more kills. Those are all the hints I know of for this challenge.
Remember, be patient and keep trying. Good luck. :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 10. Credits |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Psygnosis - for making such a cool game!
Midway - for stepping up and getting this game to the players.
Nintendo - for the continued production of quality products.
Codes for this game were obtained from GameSages. (sages.ign.com)
This document is copyrighted 2000 by Karl T. Zickler a.k.a. Scorch!
Do not link directly to this file from your website! Link to GameFAQs
instead. Do not copy any part of this document without my permission!
Feel free to send me feedback and information if you'd like me to add
something in a later version. You can send me flame mail but I'll
probably just delete it. Send everything to
[email protected] - and
happy racing!
