MOTOR TOON GRANDPRIX 2 The Original FAQ Edition 1.11 by Matthew Sephton ============================================================================= CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The Game 1.2 Graphics 1.3 Gameplay 2.0 Playing Concepts 2.1 The Joypad 2.2 Driving 2.3 Characters 2.4 Tracks 2.5 Weapons 2.6 Ghost Racers 2.7 Two Player Battle 3.0 Cheats 3.1 Goodies 3.2 Hidden Options 3.3 Shortcuts 3.4 Fast Starts 4.0 What Do You Know? 4.1 Contacting The Author 4.2 Release 4.3 E&OE 4.4 Thanks 5.0 Version history --- 1.0 INTRODUCTION This FAQ aims to be the definitive source of information for the PlayStation game Motor Toon Grand Prix 2, henceforth MTGP2. It serves no other purpose. At this time no manual in any language has been seen by the author. 1.1 THE GAME Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 is, in my opinion, and at the time of writing (August 1996), the best game on the Sony PlayStation. It is a cartoon based, cutesy driving game. It features Championships, Time Attacks, Free Runs, Replays, Ghost Racers, multitudes of options and overall brilliant gameplay. It is a collaborative effort between Sony Japan (SCEI E.D.D.#1), Bandit Inc. (Programming) and Opus Corp. (Music & SFX) and thus features one of the best combination of programming, graphics and music I have seen to date. 1.2 GRAPHICS However pretty the scenery may look it is of no functional use. Such items as the Pirate Ship, Zeppelin, Ferris Wheel, Waterfall, Windmill and so on are for aesthetic value only - there are no hidden entrances or such. The game either prevents you from touching the scenery or provides no collision detection for the scenery. One interesting point is that is possible to jump onto the top of some buildings, but is that really any use in the game? 1.3 GAMEPLAY The game is simplicity itself to play. However it can take time to become a master. To show what I mean here's an example. I set a record with Billy The Tough on Toon Island II and thought that it would take a lot to beat, trying again and coming within hundredths of it. Coming back to that record a week later I shaved at least a second off it! Experimentation with driving lines is the only way to improve lap times. Learning how each weapon operates and where is best to use it is the key to ploughing through the field in a race. --- 2.0 PLAYING CONCEPTS As with any other game playing skills will improve over time. Perseverance is the key. Select a character and stick with them to learn how they drive. The same can be said when learning courses. 2.1 DRIVING It is essential that a good driving line is taken. Try to enter corners wide and get as close to the apex as you can without hitting it. Take time to learn the layout of each course. Driving off course will slow you down. To turn tight corners more easily hold down the brake whilst still accelerating, causing your machine to skid or slide. It is sometimes more beneficial to slow down around a corner than to go full speed around it. However don't slow down too much (one quick press on the brake is more than often enough) try dabbing the brake if you have to use it a lot. If you do need to use it a lot, then try to change the angle of approach to that corner so you don't have to use it as much. Turning after a jump also helps to get around those tight corners. An example is when you go under the bridge on Toon Village. If you turn your vehicle slightly just as you go into the jump, you will tilt in the air. On landing you will make a sharper turn than normal. It is possible to gain extra speed by slipstreaming other vehicles as in real life racing. Just approach another vehicle from behind and the square in the middle of your revometer will change colour from blue through red and orange to yellow according to how well you are slip streaming. Results vary according to character but are typically similar to that gained by using three power ups. 2.2 THE JOYPAD Here is a list of the default joypad buttons and their functions. BUTTON RACING REPLAYS Left Turn left Right Turn right Square Brake Change driver view direction Triangle Reverse Change driver view direction Circle Start/select items Toggle driver or TV camera style replay Cross Accelerate Toggle driver or TV camera style replay L1 Behind view Zoom view in R1 Zoom view out L2 Zoom view in R2 Zoom view out Start Pause menu Pause menu Select Beeps horn Beeps horn 2.3 CHARACTERS SCEI use Captain Rock for all their racing, but this is not to say that he is the best character. On the contrary, I have beat several of the SCEI records using, for example, Billy The Tough and Raptor & Raptor. Princess Jean is best for beginners giving a natural progression to Billy The Tough. DRIVER ROCK JEAN BOLBOX PENGUIN RAPTOR VANITY BILLY CHING Handling 4 1 3 8 7 6 2 5 Forward 303 282 293 311 271 340 291 337 Forward PU 306 287 309 321 282 341 293 349 Backward 74 63 71 59 299 103 87 103 Brake 10 10.5 10.5 11 4.5 5.5 20.5 5 Brake PU 5.5 7.5 6 7 3.5 4.5 16 3.5 Speed 4 7 5 3 8 1 6 2 100km/h 3.27 3.20 3.19 3.20 1.00 3.17 4.75 3.14 200km/h 6.26 6.31 6.61 6.44 2.20 6.41 7.85 6.41 Max 13.09 12.12 15.18 13.62 5.67 17.53 11.75 14.11 Max PU 4.46 4.72 6.16 5.42 2.48 4.84 4.71 5.83 Accel. 3 2 7 6 1 5 8 4 KEY: Rough timings are in seconds, braking distances are in white lines, other ratings are in the range 1=best to 8=worst. PU = with 3 Power Ups. An interesting point is that Raptor & Raptor travels faster backwards than forwards. I have used this (holding down L1 does not reverse the controls for steering left and right) to better a number of normal Raptor records but it does spoil the game a little. In my experience Billy The Tough can beat records set with backwards Raptor. 2.4 TRACKS The tracks are in no real difficulty order, but some have trickier sections than others. People have their favourite for different reasons. Note the difference between pinky coloured roadside. Pink, as long as it is only touched slightly will not affect your speed - unlike other coloured roadside. (eg. Toon Island II - the chicane just before the home straight) Driving off the course will also slow down your vehicle's performance. There are a total of ten tracks plus the MT-R track. The track order in the game is Toon Village, Toon Island II, Crazy Coaster, Gulliver House II and Haunted House. On the PAL version of the game, the order of Toon Village and Toon Island II is swapped. 2.5 WEAPONS The time denotes how many seconds the effect lasts for. Times may not apply or may vary, see the symbol key below. The remaining time the item has left is displayed just under the lap times. Only the first three Power Ups have an affect on performance. ITEM TIME EFFECT 2nd Boost * ! Turbo applied to other player. 32t Weight F Slows down victim. Big, Bigger, Biggest! 10 Increases your size and decreases top speed. Crazy Mushroom F Missile which makes victim dizzy. Dynamite D Drops behind you, rolls then explodes. Fireball F Missile which throws victim into the air. Jump ! Jumps your machine into the air. Handy. Magic Hand * ! Steals current item from other player. Missile F Homing missile. Cruise control during flight. Oil Slick D Erratic driving for whoever drives across it. Pandora's Box ! Disorientates other players. Power Up !@ Increases machine performance for race duration. Stealth Field 10 Makes your machine invisible to other players. Super Shield 10 Makes your machine invincible and faster. Tiny, Tiny, Tiny! 7 Decreases your size and increases top speed. Turbo ! Gives your machine burst of acceleration. Wonder Clock ! Freezes all other characters. KEY: * = items only available in link-up mode, D = Dropped on track, F = fired at player in front, ! = instantaneous, @ = lasts whole race. The Wheel o' Items is position dependant, in that the items it contains are dependant on your race position, or more accurately the time difference between you and the race leader. Pandora's Box and Wonder Clock will appear more often if you are nearer the back of the pack. You can quite accurately select the weapon of your choice through knowing that the wheel if stopped during the first few rotations (ie. before it starts to slow down) will take one rotation to stop. If you get thrown up in the air by another driver try to use it to your advantage. Try and take a shortcut or land on other drivers. 2.6 GHOST RACERS When you complete a time attack and return to the option screen you will see that the 'Save Video...' option is now enabled. You can save that replay to your memory card for future replays or to race against! Later you can 'Load Ghost from Video...' and you can then race against it in the time attack. Be aware that the game records every move you make on the joypad so the more buttons you press or the longer your race is - the more space the replay takes up. A safe approximation is that you can fit about 10 in one memory card slot. With an analogue controller such as the NegCon from Namco, you can fit only 2 per slot! This is due to the fact that digital controllers send data in the form 'Left for X seconds, right for Y seconds' whilst analogue send it in the form 'A degrees left for X seconds, B degrees right for Y seconds'. A simple change in degrees will mean new information being sent. 2.7 TWO PLAYER BATTLE If you are lucky enough to have a circle of friends with two copies of the game (or the Japanese dual CD version), two PlayStations and two TVs then you can play a two player battle. This is just a race with two machines. A number of options are available in this game mode (defaults in CAPITALS): ITEMS ON/off 2nd CAR BOOST none/low/HIGH GAME STYLE NORMAL/scratch LAPS/points 2+ ITEMS switches the wheel o' items on or off. 2nd CAR BOOST alters how much of a hand in terms of catch up speed the player losing gets. GAME STYLE changes a normal set number of laps race to a 'one point per lap' race, the winner being the first to the set number of points. TWO PLAYER BATTLE WITH ONE GAME CD (TWO PLAYSTATIONS & TWO TELEVISIONS) It has been found possible that you can play two player link-up of the game with only one game CD. Just use the following trick, which will not work on import/foreign versions of the game without a suitable PlayStation, be it foreign or modified with a chip. Place disc in PS1, Load game, Choose your track and car on PS1, Enter the options menu (so that the demo won't start). Place disc in PS2, Load game, Choose your track and car on PS2, Start "2 Player battle", Wait until the little disc in the bottom right corner stops spinning, Swap the disc to PS1 (within a few seconds!). --- 3.0 CHEATS There a few real cheats for MTGP2, but many hidden options or secrets. Those that I know of are outlined below. 3.1 GOODIES Each time you complete the game you are rewarded with a goody. These are listed below. EASY Extra Characters, Vanity (Motorbike), Billy The Tough (Train) and Ching Tong Shang (F1). NORMAL Extra Tracks, These are the first five tracks in reverse mode with different scenery and colour palettes. HARD Tank Combat, Similar to Spectre VR on PC and Mac. A first person tank game in keeping with the MTGP2 character themes. Linkable. PROF. Submarine X, A 3D implementation of the Battleships board game. Linkable. EXPERT Motor Toon R and README, Race a modified version of Toon Island II in a real F1 or Stock car. Supposed to handles realistically. A history of MTGP2, its making and cheats? Not in PAL version? DEBUG MODE It is possible to get the Goodies without completing the game over and over using the Debug Mode method outlined in the next section. 3.2 HIDDEN OPTIONS A number of SCEI options used silently by the game can be activated by a few button presses. ADVANCED OPTIONS Hold L1, L2, R1 and R2 whilst choosing Options to obtain more options. SCEI REPLAYS Hold down R1 when selecting any memory card accessing option to divert the game to the built-in SCEI replays on the game CD. You can now watch or race against ghosts of the SCEI team's best times. Not in PAL version. DEBUG MODE Choose Goodies from the main menu. Hold anyone of the L or R buttons and push select. You should see four numbers in the lower right corner of the screen. Now R1=1, R2=2, L1=4 and L2=8. By combining the button presses (eg. L1+R1=5) it is possible to compose any base 16 (hex) number. So, hold the appropriate L and R buttons and press select to enter the digit. GOODY JAP. US UK Extra Characters 4e43 ???? ???? Extra Tracks 4154 ???? ???? Tank Combat 5443 ???? ???? Submarine X 5358 ???? ???? Motor Toon R 4631 ???? ???? README ???? ???? ???? 3.3 SHORTCUTS Here are a few legal shortcuts which can speed up your lap times. Be aware that Raptor hovers so he can do things that would take a Jump with any other cars. Jump height also relies somewhat on speed. The last five tracks are the first five reversed, so some shortcuts apply to both directions. TOON VILLAGE 1 ALL CHARACTERS Use a Jump to hop onto the bridge just before the home straight. You may find it a little easier if you approach from the left side of the road aiming for the wall on the right of the bridge. Be careful that you don't jump too late resulting in totally clearing the bridge. Not all cars can get enough height to do this one. 2 ALL CHARACTERS Drive onto the grass on the right hand side of the road through the fair ground and jump over the fence, between the buildings. Not all cars can get onto the grass to do this. Same goal as (1). 3 ALL CHARACTERS Use a Jump to hop over the fence between the castle and the fountain. This will skip the difficult hairpin bend, and you can still get the speed up on the exit from the hairpin. 4 RAPTOR & RAPTOR / SUPER SHIELD Drive between the windmill and the bridge instead of under the bridge. Not all cars can get onto the grass to do this, but it may be easier if they have a turbo or increased speed. 5 RAPTOR & RAPTOR / SUPER SHIELD Keep going straight on at the top of the hill after the castle and you can drive straight to the road by the fairground by going behind the buildings. Not all cars can get onto the grass to do this, but it may be easier if they have a turbo or increased speed. TOON ISLAND II 1 ALL CHARACTERS Approaching the first bend after the checkpoint, drive off the road to the right and drive over the hill onto the bridge. All the cars can do this with a Super Shield or Jump, Bolbox, Billy and Raptor can do it without. 2 RAPTOR & RAPTOR / SUPER SHIELD Every corner that doesn't have a wall can be cut across. CRAZY COASTER 1 ALL CHARACTERS Where the track goes over head (where they cross on the map) use a jump to jump from the top of the hill onto the track above. Cuts loads off. Not all cars can jump high enough to do this. GULLIVERS HOUSE II 1 ALL CHARACTERS Just before the table lamp, it is possible to jump the track divider lined by little chicks in egg shells. It may be easier to approach from the left side of the road and do a handbrake turn just before you jump to make sure you've changed direction by almost 180 degrees when you land and then still get the speed up arrow. Raptor doesn't need a Jump. 2 ALL CHARACTERS One such area is the platform with the glass on the right hand side of the road before the home straight. Use a Jump and drive between the glass and the wall. Because of Raptor's hovering ability it can coast over any low obstructions such as this. 3 ALL CHARACTERS Cut across the roulette wheel. This will only be quicker if you take a good racing line and hardly slow down at all. HAUNTED CASTLE 1 RAPTOR & RAPTOR Hover over the hairpin just before the entrance to the cave. SNOW VILLAGE 1 ALL CHARACTERS The pond is frozen over, so it can be driven over just like a corner, making the hairpin less so and missing out a little bit of road. 2 ALL CHARACTERS use a Jump hop off the bridge by the Christmas tree. Alternatively, you can Jump between the buildings on the left-hand side just before the Christmas tree to achieve the same goal. 3 ALL CHARACTERS Use a Jump to hop over the fence between the castle and the fountain. This will skip the difficult hairpin bend, and you can still get the speed up on the exit from the hairpin. 4 RAPTOR & RAPTOR / SUPER SHIELD Drive between the windmill and the bridge instead of under the bridge. Not all cars can get onto the grass to do this, but it may be easier if they have a turbo or increased speed. 5 RAPTOR & RAPTOR / SUPER SHIELD Keep going straight on at the top of the hill after the castle and you can drive straight to the road by the fairground by going behind the buildings. Not all cars can get onto the grass to do this, but it may be easier if they have a turbo or increased speed. + Also see TOON VILLAGE above. NIGHT ISLAND + See TOON ISLAND II above. GALAXY COASTER + See CRAZY COASTER above. GULLIVER NIGHT + See GULLIVERS HOUSE II above. HEAVENLY CASTLE 1 ALL CHARACTERS Where the track doubles back on itself the wall has gaps in it - like the battlements on top of a castle. If you are travelling fast enough you can jump through the second gap from the right onto the road ahead. You may find it a little easier to steer right during the jump so the wall isn't a problem on landing. Works even better with Raptor & Raptor. + Also see HAUNTED CASTLE above. 3.4 FAST STARTS It is possible to do fast starts! The position on the revometer where the colours change from blue to green will give a fast start if the needle in it's vacinity when the character starts to move. There is a slight margin for error, in that I have got a near enough version of the above by being just too high on the revometer and got a little bit of a skid before the start. If this happens just make a instantaneous dab on the accelerator. However, the needle rises at different speeds for each character. This makes trying to land the needle in the correct position a game in itself! What I try to do is pre-empt the commentator saying go. Just keep trying - it is possible! Try using Princess Jean she was easiest for me, other characters like Billy The Tough rise so fast I would say it's virtually impossible to get the very fastest start with him. --- 4.0 WHAT DO YOU KNOW? If you have any additions which you think should be included in this FAQ then please send them to me as below. Already there are a number of questions that need answering. 1 Can anybody access the Yellow Taxi Cabs which you see racing on the demo of some tracks? They seem to replace the three bonus machines. 2 Does anybody know how to do a better fast start than outlined above? 4.1 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR The author of this FAQ, Matthew Sephton, can be contacted by e-mail or through his web page (which contains information about Björk, other music, Monkey (Magic), the Sony PlayStation and is the place to download some of my Windows 95 shareware). e-mail: matt@ewtoo.org www: http://www.ewtoo.org/~matt/ 4.2 RELEASE This FAQ is obtainable from various places on the Internet, but the latest version can always be downloaded from this URL: http://www.ewtoo.org/~matt/PS/ I have written FAQs for Choro Q Racing/Penny Racers, Hermie Hopperhead, Micro Machines V3 and WipeOut 2097/XL which are also available. 4.3 E&OE All errors and omissions excluded. As far as I know the information in this document is accurate. Correct me if I'm wrong. Use at your own risk. 4.4 THANKS Original FAQ by Matthew Sephton. Thanks to my brother Chris Sephton for all his help. Debug tip from , with extra information from . for slipstream information, my friend Jason Jones for the Crazy Coaster shortcut, Christian Seier Wittus for the two player game with one CD trick, Jonathan Weeks for lots of shortcuts and information. -- 5.0 VERSION HISTORY 1.00, 06 Aug 1996 Original release. 1.01, 08 Aug 1996 Fast start added, slight reorganisation and modification. 1.02, 12 Aug 1996 Fast start: section improved. 1.03, 13 Aug 1996 Debug mode section improved. 1.04, 15 Aug 1996 Weapons section improved, fast start finalised. 1.05, 19 Aug 1996 Ghost racer section added. 1.06, 30 Aug 1996 Slipstream added, debug section fixed. 1.07, 24 Sep 1996 Turning around a jump added. 1.08, 20 Nov 1996 Crazy Coaster shortcut added. 1.09, 17 Dec 1996 Two player battle section added. 1.10, 15 Feb 1997 Two player mode with one copy of the game added. 1.11, 26 Feb 1997 Lots more shortcuts added, some PAL specific information. FUTURE: More detailed coverage of US and UK versions.