******************************************************************************* Supercross 3D for Atari Jaguar FAQ by BHodges Version 1.0 Created 07/23/09 This document Copyright 2009 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 A. Practice B. Race C. Tournament D. Load Game E. Options F. Memory Clear III. Basic Gameplay A. Controls B. Turbo Boost C. Staying on Track D. Basic Strategies IV. Game Modes A. Practice B. Race C. Tournament V. Tuning Your Bike A. Gears B. Shocks C. Tires VI. Tracks A. San Jose B. Anaheim C. San Diego D. Dallas E. Houston F. Tampa G. Daytona Beach H. Orlando I. Atlanta J. Charlotte K. Indianapolis L. Pontiac M. Minneapolis N. Seattle VII. My Best Times VIII. Game Review IX. Version History X. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is a FAQ for the Atari Jaguar game Supercross 3D. It contains a list of controls, information on how to play, tips, and a mini-review. ******************************************************************************* II. Getting Started Press any button on the Title Screen to bring up the Main Menu: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Practice Begin a practice session. See the Game Modes section for more info. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Race Begin a single race. See the Game Modes section for more info. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Tournament Begin a new Tournament. See the Game Modes section for more info. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Load Game Load a previously saved Tournament. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Options ............................................................................... Replays Toggle the instant replays on/off. I STRONGLY recommend turning this off. ............................................................................... Skill Level Change the skill level of the CPU bikers. The skill levels in order from easiest to hardest are Rookie, Rad, Pro, Tuff, and Ace. ............................................................................... In Game Music Toggle the in game music on/off. Turning the music off seems to help the frame rate a bit. ............................................................................... Controls Change the functions of the fire buttons. ............................................................................... Exit Exit the Options Menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Memory Clear To clear the cartridge's memory, hold down *, #, and Option while on the Main Menu. If you did it correctly, you will get a confirmation message. ******************************************************************************* III. Basic Gameplay ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Controls Note: These are the default controls, you can change the functions of the fire buttons in the Options Menu. Joypad Left/Right Turn bike Joypad Down Turbo boost A Button Brake B Button Throttle C Button Trick Numpad 1-5 Replay crashes Pause Pauses the game Option (while paused) Brings up the option menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Turbo Boost Your bike is equipped with a turbo boost. Press down on the joypad to activate it. Using your turbo boost before a jump will cause you to get more air. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Staying on Track Staying on the track is vital to winning races. Straying from the main track at all will result in a crash. Making sure your bike is lined up with the track BEFORE hitting jumps is key to staying on the track! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Basic Strategies - Try turning off instant replays and in game music to increase the frame rate a bit. - Having your bike configured properly for bike is key to success! - Be sure to run a few practice laps before each race to get a feel for the track. - In Tournament Mode, save after each race. If you have a bad race, you can always reset and try again. - Hit your Turbo Boost before a "rumble strip" (those sections of track with small ridges). If you time it right, you'll jump over the entire section! - Try to get out in front as soon as possible. Not only will this keep you from getting knocked around by other bikes, but the frame rate will improve. - PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! ******************************************************************************* IV. Game Modes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Practice On the Select Rider screen you can change your rider's name, colors, nationality, and team name (none of these appear to affect performance). You will then be taken to the Map Screen. On the Map Screen you can choose which of the 14 tracks to race on. Before starting your Practice session, you have the option of tuning your bike (see the Tuning Your Bike section for more info). Choose Practice to run a couple of practice laps or Map to return to the Map Screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Race On the Select Rider screen you can change your rider's name, colors, nationality, and team name (none of these appear to affect performance). You will then be taken to the Map Screen. On the Map Screen you can choose which of the 14 tracks to race on. Before starting your session, you have the option of tuning your bike (see the Tuning Your Bike section for more info). Choose Practice to run a couple of practice laps, Race to start the race, or Map to return to the Map Screen. Please note that you can Tune Up your bike before each heat, but are only allowed to Practice BEFORE your first one! After choosing Race, you'll begin Heat A. The top three finishers move on to the Semi-Finals. If you didn't qualify, you'll run a Last Chance Heat. The top two finishers will then move on to the Semi-Finals. If you don't qualify here, then you're done for that race. In the Semi-Finals, the top three racers qualify for the Finals. If you didn't make it, there will be a Last Chance Heat. The top two finishers will then move on to the Finals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Tournament On the Select Rider screen you can change your rider's name, colors, nationality, and team name (none of these appear to affect performance). You will then be taken to the Map Screen. On the Map Screen you can choose to save your game (Save), start the race (Go) or return to the Main Menu (Exit). Before starting your session, you have the option of tuning your bike (see the Tuning Your Bike section for more info). Choose Practice to run a couple of practice laps, Race to start the race, or Map to return to the Map Screen. Please note that you can Tune Up your bike before each heat, but are only allowed to Practice BEFORE your first one! After choosing Race, you'll begin Heat A. The top three finishers move on to the Semi-Finals. If you didn't qualify, you'll run a Last Chance Heat. The top two finishers will then move on to the Semi-Finals. If you don't qualify here, then you're done for that race. In the Semi-Finals, the top three racers qualify for the Finals. If you didn't make it, there will be a Last Chance Heat. The top two finishers will then move on to the Finals. You are awarded points based on your performance: 1st Place 20 points 2nd Place 17 points 3rd Place 15 points 4th Place 13 points 5th Place 11 points 6th Place 10 points 7th Place 9 points 8th Place 8 points After you've finished a race, you'll be taken back to the Map Screen. At the end of the Tournament, the racer with the most points is crowned Tournament Champion. ******************************************************************************* V. Tuning Your Bike Note: Check the Tracks section for my recommended configurations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Gears This allows you to customize your engine. High gives you good acceleration but poor top speed. Intermediate is a balance between acceleration and top speed, and Low gives you great top speed at the cost of poor acceleration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Shocks Shocks will soften the landing after jumps. You can set your shocks to either Soft, Medium, or Hard. Harder shocks are better for courses with a lot of large ramps. You have the option of setting the front and back shocks to different settings if you wish. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Tires Tires determines your bike's grip, having the correct tires for a track will make turning a LOT easier. You can set your tires to Hard, Medium, or Soft. The best setup depends on each track's individual surface conditions. Like the shocks, you have the option of having different tires on the front and back if you so desire. ******************************************************************************* VI. Tracks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. San Jose ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Hard |Best Time: 19:30 K. Knott | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Hard Front Tire: Medium | | Back Shocks: Hard Back Tire: Medium | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Anaheim ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Hard |Best Time: 23.32 C. Brunning | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Hard Front Tire: Medium | | Back Shocks: Hard Back Tire: Medium | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. San Diego ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Hard |Best Time: 28.54 I. Metcalfe | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Hard Front Tire: Medium | | Back Shocks: Hard Back Tire: Medium | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Dallas ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Medium |Best Time: 20.18 H. Roscoe | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Medium Front Tire: Hard | | Back Shocks: Medium Back Tire: Hard | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Houston ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Hard |Best Time: 22.57 D. Anderson | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Hard | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Hard | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Tampa ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Medium |Best Time: 18.82 N. Armitt | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Hard | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Hard | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. Daytona Beach ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Medium |Best Time: 33.97 F. Thomason | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Hard | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Hard | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Orlando ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Soft |Best Time: 21.00 S. Gibbons | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Soft | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Soft | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Atlanta ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Soft |Best Time: 24.51 W. Golder | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Soft | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Soft | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. Charlotte ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Medium |Best Time: 27.98 C. Brunning | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Hard | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Hard | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K. Indianapolis ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Medium |Best Time: 21.56 V. Conway | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Hard | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Hard | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- L. Pontiac ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Soft |Best Time: 21.77 A. Bodin | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Soft | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Soft | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- M. Minneapolis ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Soft |Best Time: 19.07 D. Campbell | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Soft | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Soft | |___________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- N. Seattle ___________________________________________________________ |Surface: Soft |Best Time: 36.78 H. Roscoe | |__________________________|________________________________| | My Recommended Bike Configuration | |___________________________________________________________| |Gears: High Front Shocks: Soft Front Tire: Soft | | Back Shocks: Soft Back Tire: Soft | |___________________________________________________________| ******************************************************************************* VII. My Best Times Here are my best times for each track. These times were achieved in Practice using my recommended bike configuration for that particular track. Note: A asterisk denotes a time faster than the default best time. ________________________________ |Track |My Best Time | |________________|_______________| |San Jose |18.96* | |----------------|---------------| |Anaheim |24.51 | |----------------|---------------| |San Diego |27.96* | |----------------|---------------| |Dallas |20.63 | |----------------|---------------| |Houston |21.91* | |----------------|---------------| |Tampa |17.68* | |----------------|---------------| |Daytona Beach |34.48 | |----------------|---------------| |Orlando |20.88* | |----------------|---------------| |Atlanta |24.01* | |----------------|---------------| |Charlotte |27.28* | |----------------|---------------| |Indianapolis |20.71* | |----------------|---------------| |Pontiac |21.29* | |----------------|---------------| |Minneapolis |18.86* | |----------------|---------------| |Seattle |36.38* | |________________________________| ******************************************************************************* VIII. Game Review Supercross 3D. In the decade and a half since its release, this game has become synonymous with the debacle known as the Atari Jaguar. Both the game and the console itself have been the subject of criticism and ridicule, even fans of the Jaguar are quick to label this game as "shovelware". But is this deserved? As you probably gathered from the title, Supercross 3D is a 3D motorcycle racing game. There are 14 different tracks and before each race you are given the option of customizing your engine, shocks, and tires and even running some practice laps to test out your ride. There is a tournament mode where you race a full schedule of all 14 tracks and the game gives you the option of saving your progress after each race. Sounds great, right? Let's talk about the graphics. If you have seen screenshots of this game in magazines or online, you may think that it looks pretty good for a Jaguar game. Apparently that was the idea! According to rumors, the suits decided to force the game programmers to add texture maps to everything, which literally makes the game look good on paper, but not in reality. This game has the absolute WORST frame rate of any console game I have ever played! To give you an idea, try installing Doom 3 on a laptop and then maxing out the graphics settings, yeah it's EXACTLY like that! The game itself is very unforgiving. If you stray from the main path at all, you'll crash. The frame rate doesn't help here either. The game has a steep learning curve and even racing game veterans will have to practice for a while to get the hang of it. Supercross 3D feels incomplete, like it was rushed out the door to make as much money as possible while the Jaguar was still on the market. Even simple things like displaying the current lap time and multiplayer are missing here. The instruction booklet is a joke, it only has 10 pages for each language. Two of these are "filler" and the last is just the credits, so really that leaves you with 7 pages of information, most of which is useless. They don't even mention the fact that your bike has a turbo boost! I tried to go into this with an open mind. Like most gamers, I was really turned off by the frame rate and constant crashing (at least 10 my first lap!). In order to write this FAQ, I spent several days playing this game, testing out different bike configurations on each track, participating in the various race modes, etc. And you want to know something crazy? This game actually started to grow on me! After a lot of practice, I was able to easily finish races without a single crash. A properly configured bike turns out to be a LOT easier to control, making gameplay more enjoyable. So what's the final verdict? Well, IF you can get past the poor frame rate and IF you are willing to put in a lot of practice, then this game should keep you entertained for a weekend or so. Of course, those are some big ifs, but I strongly encourage all Jaguar owners to give this game a try. Pros + You have the ability to customize your bike. + Game saves progress and best times. + Mainly due to the game's notoriety, copies are usually cheap. Cons - Worst frame rate of any console game I have ever played. - Very unforgiving, stray from the main track at all and you'll crash. - No multiplayer. - Tracks all look the exact same. - Game saves the TEAM name instead of the PLAYER'S name for best times. - Even the instruction booklet is terrible. ******************************************************************************* IX. Version History 1.0 07/23/09 Completed FAQ. ******************************************************************************* X. Contact Information You can contact me at Bhodges080@aol.com I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts you have for improving it. Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything. ******************************************************************************* End