******************************************************************************* Checkered Flag for Atari Jaguar FAQ by BHodges Version 1.0 Created 02/07/10 This document Copyright 2010 by Brian Hodges. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ******************************************************************************* Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Getting Started III. Basic Gameplay A. Controls B. Steering C. Basic Strategies IV. Race Options A. Color B. Weather C. Airfoil D. Tires E. Gearing F. Drones G. Race H. Laps I. Track V. Tracks A. Green Valley B. River Mouth C. Desert Pass D. Deep Wood E. The Hole F. Island Hop G. The Gorge H. Concrete Canyon I. Sunset Strip J. Arctic Run VI. Cheats VII. Game Review VIII. Version History IX. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is a FAQ for the Atari Jaguar game Checkered Flag. It contains information on how to play the game and a mini-review. ******************************************************************************* II. Getting Started Press B on the Title Screen to enter the Race Options Screen. Use the Joypad to make your choices and press B when you are ready to race. For more info see the Race Options section below. ******************************************************************************* III. Basic Gameplay ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Controls Joypad Up Shift to Higher Gear Joypad Down Shift to Lower Gear Joypad Left Steer Left Joypad Right Steer Right A Button Accelerate B Button Brake C Button Hold for Cruise Control Numpad 1 Cockpit View Numpad 2 View #2 Numpad 3 View #3 Numpad 4 View #4 Numpad 5 View #5 Numpad 6 View #6 Numpad 0 Toggle Music On/Off * + # Reset ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Steering Here's how steering is described in the instruction booklet: "Steering velocity follows a shallow bell form and with practice can be anticipated for successful turns." Huh? I guess they realized that was clear as mud because there is a second paragraph for clarification: "While holding the Joypad down, the car will turn a small amount at first, then will turn more sharply before lessening again." So basically the developers decided to make the steering more realistic, but ended up making the game nearly unplayable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Basic Strategies - When turning TAP the joypad, do NOT hold it down. - I recommend using the cockpit view (Camera View 1). - Use Wet Tires in Rain or Fog to compensate for loss of traction. - A Low Airfoil gives you more speed but less control, a High Airfoil gives you more control but less speed. - Until you get the hang of steering, I recommend choosing Auto 5 as your gearing. - The Save Feature saves your best times and race options but NOT your Tournament! If you want to complete Tournament, you must do it in one sitting. ******************************************************************************* IV. Race Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Color The Color option allows you to change your car's paint scheme. The six choices are: Red/Black, Blue/Yellow, White/Green, Red/White, Green/Blue, and White/Orange. As far as I can tell, this is purely cosmetic and has no effect on your car's performance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Weather Weather affects visibility and how well your car handles. The four types are: Sun The "optimal" weather condition, visibility and handling will be at their best. Rain Rain will make it harder to see and the wet track will make steering even more challenging than usual. Be sure to use Wet Tires! Fog Fog makes it very difficult to see. It will also dampen the track and make your car handle worse than usual. Dark Dark lets you race at night. Visibility will be even worse than during Fog, but the track won't be slick. You must unlock Dark by entering a code (see the Cheats section for more info). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Airfoil The Airfoil can be adjusted to modify your car's speed and handling. A Low Airfoil will increase your speed but decrease your handling while a High Airfoil will increase your handling but decrease your speed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Tires It's crucial to choose the correct tires for the current track conditions. Use Dry Tires when the weather is Sun or Dark and use Wet Tires when it is Rain or Fog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Gearing This option lets you choose whether you want an automatic (Auto 5) or manual (Man 6) transmission. The manual transmission has an extra gear meaning your car will have a higher top speed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Drones This option lets you choose how many opponents you wish to race against in Single Race mode. In Free Practice it will always be 0 and in Tournament it will always be 5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. Race You can choose one of three race modes: Single Race This allows you to run a single race on the track of your choice against CPU drones. Free Practice This is the time trial mode. Here you can race without any drones to try to get the best lap time possible. Tournament You will race against five CPU drones on each of the ten tracks for the championship. You earn 6 points for first, 5 points for second, 4 points for third, 3 points for fourth, 2 points for fifth, and 1 point for last place. In Tournament Mode the Weather, Laps, and Track options are preset and cannot be changed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Laps This option allows you to choose how many laps (1 - 99) you wish to race in Single Race or Free Practice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Track Choose which track you wish to race on in Single Race or Free Practice. ******************************************************************************* V. Tracks In this section I list the Tournament track conditions as well as my best lap times and the set up I used to achieve those times. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Green Valley Track Conditions Laps: 10 Weather: Sun My Best Lap: 0:33:8 Recommended Setup Airfoil: Low Tires: Dry Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. River Mouth Track Conditions Laps: 13 Weather: Rain My Best Lap: 0:27:0 Recommended Setup Airfoil: High Tires: Wet Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Desert Pass Track Conditions Laps: 10 Weather: Sun My Best Lap: 0:39:4 Recommended Setup Airfoil: High Tires: Dry Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Deep Wood Track Conditions Laps: 13 Weather: Fog My Best Lap: 0:38:3 Recommended Setup Airfoil: High Tires: Wet Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. The Hole Track Conditions Laps: 15 Weather: Fog My Best Lap: 0:31:2 Recommended Setup Airfoil: Low Tires: Wet Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Island Hop Track Conditions Laps: 12 Weather: Sun My Best Lap: 0:37:2 Recommended Setup Airfoil: High Tires: Dry Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. The Gorge Track Conditions Laps: 15 Weather: Rain My Best Lap: 0:26:4 Recommended Setup Airfoil: Low Tires: Wet Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Concrete Canyon Track Conditions Laps: 12 Weather: Rain My Best Lap: 0:29:8 Recommended Setup Airfoil: Low Tires: Wet Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Sunset Strip Track Conditions Laps: 14 Weather: Sun My Best Lap: 0:27:9 Recommended Setup Airfoil: Low Tires: Dry Gearing: Auto 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. Arctic Run Track Conditions Laps: 10 Weather: Sun My Best Lap: 0:34:2 Recommended Setup Airfoil: High Tires: Dry Gearing: Auto 5 ******************************************************************************* VI. Cheats Dark Mode To unlock Dark Mode, while on the Race Options Screen highlight the Weather option and enter 8, 4, 7, and 3 on the numpad. Dark (nighttime) will now be available as a weather option. Special Thanks go to the Atari Times for posting this on their website! ******************************************************************************* VII. Game Review Checkered Flag is a polygonal 3D racer developed by Rebellion, the same team that created Alien vs. Predator and Skyhammer, two of the best games available for the Atari Jaguar. So how does Checkered Flag compare? Graphically, Checkered Flag is a complete dud. The primitive polygons are SNES Fx chip caliber and just look awful. You'd think that the total lack of texture maps would help the framerate, but no, it's just as bad as Supercross 3D! As bad as the graphics are, it's the controls that kill this game. The manual proudly proclaims that steering "follows a shallow bell form". The explanation given is that when you first press the joypad, the car turns a little bit, then a lot, then a little again. While wanting to have a "realistic" control scheme sounds in theory, it absolutely sucks in practice. One other "interesting" thing about the controls is the cruise control button. Holding this down will freeze your speed until you press another button or crash. The physics are also out of whack, every time you BRUSH against a wall or car you end up bouncing around (think Ridge Racer DS). When you "crash", your car will flip over and land right side up and ready to go. The one bright spot is the soundtrack. While not the best quality, the tunes are catchy and are a good fit for a racing game. There is also some sparse digitized voice. Jaguar fans looking for a good racing game should check out Super Burnout or World Tour Racing. Checkered Flag is one racer that doesn't qualify. Pros + I really like the music. Cons - HORRIBLE controls. - Terrible graphics. - No two player mode. ******************************************************************************* VIII. Version History 1.0 02/07/10 Completed FAQ. ******************************************************************************* IX. Contact Information You can contact me at Bhodges080@aol.com I would appreciate hearing your opinions of this guide and any thoughts or suggestions for improvement. ******************************************************************************* End