Strategy Guide

10-23-95

Maintained by : Game Zero Magazine
Edited and posted by : Bryan aka R.I.P (rip@gamezero.com)

-2) Intro:

This document Copyright 1995 - Game Zero Magazine, and can only be distributed in its complete form, including this header. WipeOut is copyright 1995 Psygnosis.

The current version of this file can be found on the Game Zero Magazine web site at:
http://www.gamezero.com/team-0 in the "Pro Page" area.

You can retrieve a zipped, raw text version of this file from here.

-1) Object of this FAQ:

This file has been written as a level by level guide to help you achieve the best time possible in the game WipeOut.

0) Object of the game:

Choosing from eight different vehicles, you must rank third place or higher in six open tracks to make a second class of tracks available for play. You can play one-player only or play two-player via PlayStation link-up with two machines.

1) Preliminary Notes and Strategies:

• Think of this game as Stun Runner (a game released in the late 80's from Atari in which you drove a sled on a track shooting enemies with a top mounted cannon, while hitting as many boost pads as possible for top speed).
• Run each course through in time-trial mode without hitting any boost-pads, so as to get the layout down on each track. Remember, you can take all the time you want in "Time Trial" mode, and the game does allow you drive backwards if you miss your turn.
• Give yourself a big lead-in to all turns... in fact, the faster you are going, the more lead-in you should give.
• As soon as you've learned to lead-in to your, turns, forget that your airbreaks ever existed. You will never get a top time by using airbreaks (one exception may be track Silverstar, which I'll discuss later in this document).
• Up and down are crucial in gaining you that extra time. Nose up off of ramps for extra distance, as well as stability when you land. Nose down cresting a hill, so that you can hug the track and maintain top speed.
• It is not always advantageous to hit every single boost pad. Some of the are situated as hazards, so be aware!
• Some boost pads need to be crossed at an angle. In a few cases you will find you need to be moving across a boost pad almost sideways to make a turn at maximum speed.
• In order to trigger a boost pad, you only need to get some part of the central body to pass over any part of the pad. This allows you to clip a pads corner and still get the effect.
• For a medium turbo start on any track: Start the race with your thrust fluctuating between boxes six and seven for quick acceleration from the starting line.
• For a full turbo start on any track: You need to have the thrust bar touching the bar between (counting from the right) box three and four the moment the race starts to start the game as if you had activated a boost power-up. A slightly easier way to time this trick is to push thrust at the very moment the announcer ends the word "ONE", but not before the sound of his voice trails off. Timing is crucial on this trick, so you will probably have to practice it a good bit to get it down correct (this seems to work with all of the cars).

2) General Combat/Power-Up Strategy:

In WipeOut you will encounter six different power-ups. You gain power-ups by driving over large color-strobing "X"s which you will find liberally scattered about each track. Power-up pads seem to distribute items in a seemingly random manor. Although I've noticed, if you hit a pad at, say, a particular shade of yellow, you will always get mines, a different shade of yellow will always seem to give you the missile. Since detecting these very slight shading variances within colors is not practical while racing, it might as well be random.

The power-ups you will encounter are:

(Homing Missile) = a pink disk with a single-lined arrow pointing up to a small circle at it's tip. Active target will be highlighted by an opaque diamond. A ship hit by a missile will come to a near dead stop and be shaken violently for a moment.

(Rocket) = a red disk with three lines merging into a single line which continues up to form an arrow. This weapon fires in a straight line from your ship. A ship hit by a missile will come to a near dead stop and be shaken violently for a moment.

(Homing Shock-Wave) = a blue disk with a jagged line moving down into an arrow point. A second bar parallels the top segment. Active target will be highlighted by an opaque diamond. A ship hit by a Shock-Wave weapon will loose stability for a few seconds and veer sharply if it attempts to turn.

(Mine) = a green disk with five bars radiating up and right in a half arc from the center. There are also two dots down and left from the central point. This item disperses a group of floating mines from the rear of the vehicle, which vanish after a brief time.

(Shield) = a white disk with slash going across from bottom left to top right and a semi-circle to either side of the line. When activated, the vehicle is enclosed in a protective shell which is impervious to all weapons. The shield only lasts for a few moments.

(Turbo Boost) = an orange disk with a small circle at its top and three lines radiating downwards from the circle. There is also a dot to the left and right of the circle. When activated, the vehicle is launched forward with as much speed - if not more - than if it had crossed over a boost pad.

3) Level Strategies/Walk-Throughs:

Venue - Altima VII
Location - Canada / Length - 5.5 Km / Max Height - 359 m
Surface - R3600 racing std / Power-Ups - 17 / Boost Pads - 25

Strategy - When you first start playing for rank, skip the first two pads on this track. At the top of the hill, hit the pad on the left and the next two pads that follow it. The track will now jog left and right. Go ahead and skip the pads on the outside of the turns here. Now hit the next three pads as you climb up this hill, and when you hit the crest of the hill push down hard. If you don't have a power-up at this point, go ahead and hit the pad along your right. Then when you hit the bottom of this hill, pull up through the caution stripped area. If you have a Boost power-up, use it immediately as you pull out of the caution striped area, and be sure to hit the two boost pads here, first on your left, then to your right. The course will continue for a stretch after the pads and then you will ramp off into empty space. Keep your car steady and pull up on the nose so you don't wobble when you land. You should be going pretty quick at this point, so be sure to take the next two turns with a lot of lead-in, while trying to ignore the two boost pads here. Skip the next three boost pads as you cruise through the arc, as well as the boost pad at the bottom of the hill. Bank left here and hit the three boost pads the come up on your left. Now, you'll stretch into a long curve to your right. I recommend you ignore the two pads you encounter here. One is far along the turn on your left, and the next is near the end of the turn on your right. When you are first starting, these pads will usually only help you in losing control of your craft. Also, you want as little extra speed as possible for the tunnel that's coming up. The last boost pad I recommend you grab on this lap should be the first pad inside the tunnel on your right. Avoid the two that follow it.

Once you have mastered this course, you should be able to hit all of the boost pads successfully for best times.

Venue - Harbonis V
Location - Japan / Length - 3.4 Km / Max Height - 107 m
Surface - Reclaimed Titanium / Power-Ups - 13 / Boost Pads - 13

Strategy - When you first race this course I suggest you skip the first pad you see on your left, but make sure you hit the next three pads (two on your left, then one on your right). Then go up through the tunnel and as you near the exit, go wide to your right and then aim towards the left corner of the exit to the tunnel. Immediately as you leave the tunnel, push down while nudging your craft to the left. Initially, stay to your right as you decent the track, and skip the boost pad here, then veer left and give yourself plenty of lead-in through the next few three turns. Also, skip the double boost pad here since it will normally ram you into the wall trying to get it at first. If your up to it, as you come out of the third turn, hit the boost pad on your right. Navigate the next "S" turn (it's not as sharp as the one you just went through) and you will end up on a straight-away. Use your Boost power-up here if you have it, and make sure you hit the boost pad on your left after the first jump. You'll have another jump, then you need to bank left. Start your turn early and go wide missing the next boost pad on your left (in fact, don't hit any more boost pads for the rest of your lap, all of them are pretty much hazards to the first time player). After another straight away here, you will hit the toughest part of the track. All I can do is remind you to start your turns early, and don't worry about speed. The track swerves left, right, left, right, hard left, hard right, then straightens out onto the finish/start line. This strategy should get you at least third, once you get the hang of the track.

Once you have mastered this course, you should be able to hit all of the boost pads successfully for best times.

Venue - Terramax
Location - Germany / Length - 4.1 Km / Max Height - 121 m
Surface - F3600 racing std / Power-Ups - 13 / Boost Pads - 20

Strategy - At this point, you should be getting better on your turns, so go ahead and hit the first two pads on this track (right and left respectively). Take the upcoming hill to the right, and after you crest the top, stay right so as to miss the double boost pad here on your left. There is a tight turn right at the bottom of the hill, so take it with plenty of lead in. Now you're getting into tough part of this course... beginners will want to avoid the next four boost pads (two on your left before the entrance to the tunnel, and a double boost pad on the left hand side of a right turn in the tunnel). Trust me, you'll have enough fun initially getting these turns down without the extra speed. As you leave the tunnel, you will be forced to cross over one of a pair of side-by-side boost pads... these are actually ok since you probably just bounced off a wall and need a little pick-me-up. Now, you'll start out over a bridge, skip the boost pad on your left as you turn to the right and head for the ramp (in fact, I would suggest skipping this pad always since more times than not it will cause you to hit the wall). Make your jump and again, skip the pad immediately on your right, as you bank left. Then move near the left wall and get ready for a long easy curve to your right, being sure to hit the triple boost pad while nudging into the turn. This turn will take you into a straight-away (use your Boost power-up here if you have it) where you should hit the two boost pads on your left. Then the course will start to climb and curve to the right. Be sure to hit the boost pad on the right side of the track here. Now, as you crest the hill, point your nose down and nudge your craft to the right. There will be another side-by-side set of pads to hit, then a ramp... and you've finished the lap.

Once you have mastered this course, you should be able to hit nearly all of the boost pads successfully for best times.

Venue - Horodera
Location - Russia / Length - 5.4 Km / Max Height - 210 m
Surface - Carbonic Iron / Power-Ups - 24 / Boost Pads - 43

Strategy - This track is probably my favorite of the bunch, and just a warning, if you haven't at least gotten a handle on turns yet, you're going to be in trouble from now on in the game.

Right off the starting line, you have a medium "S" turn, going right then left. You want to try and grab the first boost pad after the "S" (on your left). The track is now going to climb a bit and bend to your left. Take the corner close and you should be fine. Coming down the hill, you'll see another slight left turn with a boost pad, which you should hit. Climb up the next rise, and take the left corner easy at the top. Don't bother with the next pad on your right at the bottom of the hill. Now, you're going to hit a right turn before another hill... there are side-by-side boost pads here so you have to hit them. But, as soon as you crest the hill, point down and start steering towards the left fork in the road (get in the habit of taking the left split here since when you need to start doing this for speed, this is the fastest and optimum path). When you get to the ramp, be sure to stay near the right wall before you jump, and whatever you do, be sure to avoid the four boost pads here until you have really gotten a grasp at high speed swerving (initially, these pads will usually cause you to bounce wildly off of the walls here). Ok, now that you're past that, you'll come to a left turn... skip the pad on your left and as you climb the hill, hit the pad on your right. Crest the hill and be prepared for a sharp left turn with a dip and two boost pads you should avoid at first (don't worry, you'll probably always hit the far wall here when first playing this track. Just straighten out and use the double boost pad to get back up to speed). After the crest of the next hill, avoid the pad immediately on your left, and take the right turn sharp, hitting the pad on your right. Also, hit the three pads that follow it on your way up the next hill. At the top of this hill, the course will bend left and drop sharply into the most difficult turn on this course. At the bottom of the hill you need to make a very sharp 90 degree right turn. Start this turn wide from the left and bank hard right about four inches before the corner so that you just clear it as you turn right. Now, straighten out and use your Boost power-up here if you have it, also hit all of the boost pads ahead (first to your right, second on your left and third is a side-by-side boost pad in the tunnel). Now you will come to a ramp. The first times through the course, be sure to nose your craft down here so that you can quickly locate where the track picks up below and land without crashing (as you get better, you can hold your nose up and land past the small left bend in the road with no bobbing or great loss in speed). Try and hit this next boost pad square on so that you can use the speed to get you up the next hill without hitting the boost pad located at its base. As you climb the hill, stay to your left and skip the boost pad that's near the top on the right, and as you crest the hill, nose down and veer to your left while drifting towards the right wall. Hit the boost pad there on the right as your going down and give yourself a good lead-in to the turn at the bottom. Right after the corner there is a triple set of boost pads on your left, and then a triple set of boost pads on your right. Use your best judgment on these at first as to how much speed you want for this straight-away. Now you will come to a wide right turn with four pads in it (pads alternating, left, right, left, right). Initially try to avoid them some of these pads since they will most likely leave you slammed into the far left wall of the turn. I suggest leaning hard into the turn and hitting the second pad, the drift left to go between pad 3 and 4, then straighten out as you enter the tunnel. From now until the end of the race you will pass over three sets of side-by-side boost pads, so be ready to take the last swerving turns at a decent speed.

Once you have mastered this course, you should be able to hit nearly all of the boost pads in your path here successfully for best times.

Venue - Arridos IV
Location - USA / Length - 6.04 Km / Max Height - 245 m
Surface - Blasted Sandstone / Power-Ups - 30 / Boost Pads - 27

Strategy - This track is a close second for favorite... probably because, while it is just as challenging as Horodera, it is not any more difficult to master since all of the maneuvering hazards are essentially the same.

Right off from the start, you have to pass through a segment of track that weaves back and forth, and the pavement is ridged, which will many times make your ship bob along the track. I suggest you just pick a straight line through and don't worry about power-ups here (in fact, power-ups should be a secondary concern on this track). After this segment you will hit a tunnel. Inside the course will turn right and climb, hard left and drop, hard right and level out, the hard left before you leave and hit the ramp. While you are in this tunnel, I strongly recommend you avoid all four boost pads since they make the turns pretty much impossible the first few times you play the track (boost pads are located at the first right turn along the left wall, just before the next turn left along the right wall, immediately after the crest of the hill in that left turn on the way down along the right wall, and then along the left wall right before the second left turn). Also, don't worry if you bounce around in this tunnel the first few times through. After you come off of the ramp at the end of the tunnel, and land back on the track, you'll go directly into a left turn. Go ahead and hit the boost pad here on your left, as well as the next boost pad following that on your left as you climb the hill then drift to the right side of the track when you are near the top. When you crest the hill, begin to nose down. There is a boost pad immediately over the top on the right side of the track, then veer to your left so that you can hit the next boost pad (along the left wall) on the way down. When you get to the fork in the road, be sure to go left (this lines you up for the next fork, and gives you a great place to fire off a Boost power-up). As you climb the hill path, stay near the left wall, and after you crest the hill, aim your nose down the path and along the track into the right fork further down the road (it's pretty clear when you see it). Here is where you want to use your Boost power-up if you have it. Now, after you have gone right at the next fork, you'll have three boost pads to hit, a side-by-side right after the split, and two more along the left side of the road. This segment is an easy hill where the road makes an easy curve to the left (this is great for taking at a really high speed). The road then enters a tunnel where you need to make a sharp turn left. Hit the boost pad on your left as you exit the tunnel, then get ready for another sharp turn left. Go ahead and try and hit the pad on your left here as well as you climb the hill, then when you get to the top, hang by the left edge and pull hard left for a second while nosing down (aim for the right wall initially so you can miss the boost pad just over the hill on your left. As you get better, you can try and hit this pad). You'll now hit a sharp right turn at the base of this hill and at your option, hit the triple boost pad along the right wall after the corner. Now, you'll go through a stretch that cuts left, right, right and right again. Next, hit the two boost pads on your left before the course veers right and straightens out. Then hit the next two boost pads here (first on your right, then on your left). Skip the next boost pad along the left wall that points into the right turn, and you only have a side-by-side of boost pads and a jump between you and the finish/start line.

Once you have mastered this course, you should be able to hit nearly all of the boost pads in your path successfully for best times.

Venue - Silverstream
Location - Greenland / Length - 6.4 Km / Max Height - 232 m
Surface - Artificial Crystal / Power-Ups - 34 / Boost Pads - 65

Strategy - Of all the open-initial courses, this is the hardest and most challenging. Additionally, this course has quite a few boost pads in it that should be avoided at all times, even for the skilled player.

If you've made it this far, you've obviously managed to grasp the many skills of driving in this game. Therefore, rather than nursemaid you through this final course, I'll leave you with a few important tips:

1) In my experience, you will need to use either an AG Systems or Feisar team vehicle since they are the only ones capable of sharp turns using no breaks. I recommend Feisar team with Paul Jackson as the driver (white on red and blue colored vehicle). I personally feel this vehicle has the tightest handling, hands down.

2) This track is very slippery, and using airbreaks on the course normally will cause you to slide straight into a wall so I don't recommend using them in general for this track. Although, I've found the need to actually use airbreaks on one of the turns (the hard left at the end of the third split).

3) The optimum path through the course is: go left at the first fork, go right at the second fork, and go left at the third fork. This path through the course is shorter with less switchbacks, and what there is of them can be taken at reasonable speeds so you don't have to rush yourself.

4) Skills you will need to have mastered in order to solve this track include; passing over boost pads at hard angles and banking turns at high speeds (which involves leading into a turn quite a bit ahead of time).

Venue - Firestar (secret track)
Location - Mars / Length - 6.3 Km / Max Height - 198 m
Surface - Unknown / Power-Ups - 31 / Boost Pads - 72

Strategy - At this point, since it is a hidden track, I'm not going to give a strategy for it (other than right, left, executed flawlessly!). But if there is enough interest, I'll do up a strategy in a re-issue of this file.

4) Summary and Closure:

Finally, if there is demand for it, I can do a blow-by-blow guide for the Silverstar and Firestar. To be honest though, if you've managed to solve the first five tracks, you should be able to handle the last two on your own.

Once you've gotten to a point where you are blazing through these tracks (for a top time), you should normally be in no less than third place by the beginning of your second lap, and in first by the beginning of your third lap.

Also, when you get to the point where you are in first for half of the race, you might want to try dumping all of the power-ups as you pick them up, in hopes of getting a few Boost power-ups. If you're luck enough to get a couple of these in your last lap on a course, you can bring your lap time and race time down considerably.

As for the Rapier class tracks, the courses are the same except that day tracks are now night tracks and visa-versa for the most part. Also some of the boost pads on the tracks have been resituated. If there is demand for tips on these tracks I'll do re-issue of this file covering them.