Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1997 08:31:26 -0600 From: fredga01@holmes.ipfw.indiana.edu Subject: TM2 FAQ 2.0 PART#1 Newsgroups: rec.games.video.sony TWISTED METAL 2 - CHARACTER FAQ v2.0 - (1-31-97) by Graham Fredrick --------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is actually intended to be a strategy guide for each of the different vehicles in TM2. I won't talk about any secret stuff other than the codes for Minion and Sweet Tooth (i.e. no extra tracks) If you would like to discuss strategies or add something to this FAQ, please contact me at "fredga01@holmes.ipfw.indiana.edu" --------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm really sorry if I missed someone in the credits section (I'm sure I'm missing at least one); it seems like sometimes when I tried to edit the file, it would act like it saved changes but in actuality did nothing. As a result, some strategies (one using Grasshopper) are lost in limbo. FAQ CONTRIBUTORS: Michael R. Baraniecki Getting rid of fire, Grasshopper strategies Jio Crash and Bash strategy Charles Raimond Moscow and Spectre strategies, debunking a hoax Joel L. Hoffa Minion special attack Sean Sullivan Amazonia ambush points XvVWVvX@aol.com Health code Todd Bangerter Grasshopper strategies, Roadkill strategies Jason M Haugh New York strategies, Hong Kong strategies (?) Jordan Galloway Hammerhead strategies Rverwnd@aol.com Grasshopper strategies And thanks go to the following for posting the FAQ on their pages: Lawerence F. Mize, Jr. "http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~lmize1/tm2/" Also thanks for putting the FAQ into HTML format Mark Tseytlin "http://pw1.netcom.com/~mzt/cheats.html" Brian L. "http://members.aol.com/blandel/psx/" Joel L. Hoffa "http://www.mindspring.com/~hospcom/PSX/FAQs/" Jeff Veasey "http://www.gamefaqs.com/" --------------------------------------------------------------------- General Strategies: Numbers after the Advance Attack show how much energy is used in pixels. Your energy bar holds about 47 points, and its color is very helpful: Green means 19-47 points, Yellow means 6-18 points, and Red means 0-5 points. Attacks are arranged in a general order of usefulness. Ice (L,R,U, 19) can be used to stop your opponent and set them up for another attack. They are completely vulnerable and can't break out of the ice, unlike TM1. It also causes slight damage. A basic combo is to ice someone and follow up with your special. Ice will melt after about 4 seconds. Napalm (R,L,U, 19) is helpful if you don't have any Napalm weapons. It explodes on impact for some good damage and also sets the enemy car on fire, draining even more energy. A Napalm blast will stay burning for about 5 seconds. Shield (U,U,R, 19) is very useful since it prevents any damage against you. It only lasts three seconds and uses a lot of energy, but vehicles with little armor can use this to be even stronger. Even though the Shield stops actual damage, you still get knocked away from bombs and specials. Don't assume you're safe in New York if you put up a Shield. Rear Attack (L,R,D) sends your highlighted weapon shooting out behind you. Unless you have a good homing weapon, you could easily miss. One benefit is that it doesn't use ANY advance attack energy. Minion's Special (U,D,U,U,R2 42) is somewhat useful in 2P mode, and a little more dangerous in a tournament since it drains most of your Advance Attack energy. This attack gives cars with weak specials an extra gun for thier arsenal. Use it carefully. The Mine (R,L,D, 6) can be useful in tunnels or narrow spaces (Amazon, Hong Kong) or in places where you know enemy cars will go (landing places from warps in Paris and Antarctica). They are also good for enemies on your tail. You can try to drop them near the edges of cliffs, but enemies probably won't hit them since they disappear after 15 seconds. Jump (U,U,L, 6) is more of a utility than a weapon, although you can get out of some bad situations with Jump and turbo, since it doesn't cost as much as Shield. Invisibility (R,D,L,U, 19) is utterly useless. It lasts for 4 seconds, but anyone with a radar, including the CPU, still knows where you are. You can shoot Ice or Napalm backwards by using the Rear Attack followed by Ice or Napalm. This only works if no weapons are highlighted. This includes when you run out of weapons *AND* after you run out of one type of weapon. There is a small window where no weapon is selected. You can enter the code in there and it will still work. A good idea is to keep only 1 fire missle so you can access the rear-ice in an emergency. Large characters can be easily punished by Napalm shots. Just stand right next to them, release the Napalm, and it will hit them on the way up. The most effective way to get rid of flames on your car is to use a quick burst of turbo. Activating your Shield and driving into water also puts out the flames. On the other hand, Ice doesn't put out flames (???). After you use Napalm try to Ice the person again and wait for the flames to die out on thier own befor attacking. To turn around on a slope without moving or getting your directions messed up, press brake while you turn. This comes in handy in the Hong Kong subway. Some CPU cars just love to ram you. Axel, Grasshopper (with her special), and Mr. Slam are just a few. You can use this behavior to your advantage in cliff levels. Just wait near an edge, jump and turbo away, and the other car will often go plummeting over the edge. This can be simpler or faster than using weapons or mines. Also, in Amazonia, you can bait the ramming cars so that they drive on the lava over the tunnel instead of going in after you. The lava gradually drains their energy; just make sure you grab the health before you try it. CRASH AND BASH All you have to do is just aim for any opponent vehicle's side and keep pressing the turbo button to crash the vehicle. The opponent's vehicle will then keep flipping sideways if your crash is successful. Meanwhile in your crash, keep shooting and using all of your specials and weapons. The opponent will die in no time. This is easier to do after you ice someone, but not necessary. It seems that the lower your armor is, the harder it is to do without taking a lot of damage yourself. Placement is somewhat tricky when you use smaller cars because sometimes you will end up being flipped instead. This is really helpful if you run out of weapons and you can't ice the other car. Nothing's more fun than a kamikaze attack! RUNNING CIRCLES If you are low on life and you're fighting a CPU car, try setting the view to Helicopter mode and drive backwards in circles. If you judge correctly when to turn, the car will almost always miss you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMBUSH POINTS There are certain areas where any car can effectively destroy most opponents with little risk to themselves. These are ambush points. Always destroy Spectre first to avoid getting knocked out of place, and also watch for Warthog and his long range missiles. Generally, cliffs, tunnels, and teleporters are the ideal places. Specifically: LOS ANGELES Useless against the CPU but helpful in 2P battles, you can hide in smoking buildings and attack while your enemy is puzzled as to where you are. If you are desperate, you can use the cage, tunnels, or roofs of tunnels. However, these places offer little protection. MOSCOW Although it's not a perfect ambush point, there are some good spots for picking off other drivers. In L.A. stock up on Homing missiles and save at least one remote bomb. When you get to Moscow, set the remote bomb off on the purple pad to destroy all of the bridges. Then wait on the edge of one of the destroyed bridges and use the homers to destroy the other cars. PARIS There are three good areas in Paris, in order of decreasing help. First there is the Louvre (the building at the end of the street facing the Eiffel tower). Enemies will teleport up and drive right off the edge, making easy targets. Also, you can do it in the Eiffel Tower before it gets blown to smithereens. Lastly, use the very narrow diagonal side streets as perfect ambush points. AMAZONIA Get some remote bombs and power missiles and hide in the tunnel or a temple with a small opening. In the tunnel you can drop the remote at the opening or use mines, and then follow up with missiles or Napalm since the path is sloped upward. In the temples, set the remote in front of the entrance and maneuver to the side so that the polygons disappear and you can see outside. A third great spot is the temple with the ramp leading to the top. From there, you can slam anyone coming up the ramps with ice, homing missiles, or remote bombs. Helicopter view helps you keep track of who is coming up the ramp. These strategies are perfect against Minion. These tactics are perfect against Minion. NEW YORK The teleporter that ends up on top of the green glass building is perfect. Park yourself so that your back is to a barricade and ice and ram/ricochet anyone who goes up. A more risky spot is the swimming pool. Drop a remote bomb (from the locker room) right where the cars fall and blast them with your special. If you're playing 2P, these areas won't be accessible. Instead you should collect the ricochet bombs (grey parking deck, brown ramp, building with signs). Take the teleporter back to the grey deck and go to the lower level. From there, you can aim your car at the ramp and use the ricochet bombs to knock off any cars that drive down the ramp. If you're lucky, some cars will even fall off of nearby buildings trying to get to you. This strategy is great even in 1P mode. ANTARCTICA The epitome of the perfect ambush is the teleport to the small island. There you can find ricochet bombs that can be fired on cars exiting the warp. One well-positioned bomb will put any car into the icy ocean. Plus, the rest of the level will disintegrate while you wait patiently on the solid island. (Note: Only CPU cars will appear on the actual teleporter. The second player will end up nearby, but not close to the edge.) HOLLAND Holland has few places to hide. You can use the windmills as bases, but they are quickly demolished by the enemy cars. You can use the tall crops if you are using a small vehicle, playing 2P, and the radars are turned off. HONG KONG This level is like a cross between Amazonia and New York. The subway tunnels act like the Amazon tunnels, the teleporter in the temple is like the glass building in NY, and the small sidestreet next to the harbor can be used as a cliff if you have a pop-up weapon. Sometimes you can use the subway trains to your advantage if any enemies try to chase you down the track. Just use a Ricochet to knock the car into the path of an oncoming train. They'll roll long enough for you to freeze them. Just make sure this doesn't happen to you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- DAMAGE APPROXIMATIONS Fire Missile less than 2 Homing Missile less than 2 Remote Bomb starts greater than 5, decreases with distance Power Missile less than 4 Napalm initial blast about 4, fire damage adds up to 8 Lightning two blasts of about 2 each, total around 4 Ricochet Bomb starts near 2, increases with time Ice Blast less than 2 Land Mine greater than 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AXEL Handling: Intermediate Armor: *** Special: *** - 3 points, decreases with distance Speed: ** - 101 top, 138 turbo One of the new characters, Axel is the large guy stuck between the two huge wheels. He is a good all-around large character. His special damages everyone around him plus makes them jump into the air, somewhat incapacitating them. Unfortunately his low speed and large size makes him an easy target. Strategies as: 1) If there is a group of cars smashing each other, turbo past them and release your special attack to damage most of the enemies. Also try ramming the center of the pack and then using the special repeatedly. The cars won't be able to escape fast enough to avoid all of the attacks. 2) When you freeze someone, drive up and stop right next to them. Use your special to pop them up and strike them with Napalm or press (R,L,U) if you don't have any. This can be followed up with a ricochet bomb, ram, and another freeze for a very damaging push-back combo. If you use this on a human, they will probably have enough time to shield themselves. 3) Use your special as a substitute for mines. Wait on an edge in New York for an enemy to come screaming towards you, activate your Shield to prevent icing, and use you special as the come towards you. Try to park in front of a barricade in case the other car uses bombs. In a tunnel, the bouncing effect causes even more damage. Strategy against: In case you didn't notice, every CPU controlled character does something you would never be able to do. Axel uses his special attack multiple times, sometimes 3 or 4. Keep your distance and use anything you can that doesn't require you to get close (Ice, Napalm, Homing Missiles). If you do get trapped, immediately use Shield and turbo away. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GRASSHOPPER Handling: Tight Armor: * Special: ** - greater than 4 Speed: *** - 119 top, 157 turbo Probably the hardest vehicle to use against the CPU, Grasshopper looks suspiciously like Pit Viper from TM1, but the special is quite different. This is Grasshopper's only strong point: her weak armor and mediocre speed make her hard to use well. Strategy as: 1) Simply activate your Shield when you use your special attack to avoid taking any damage. This leaves you some time to retreat or attack some more. 2) To avoid getting hit out of your special, Jump and then use your special attack. Drop a mine as you retreat and the car will usually hit it. 3) For some extra damage, use your special far enough from your enemy so that you land and are turboing towards them. Now that you're rocketing straight for them, you can use lots of missiles before you even hit them. 4) Since the special plants you right next to your target, release some napalm after you ram for some good damage. 5) Similar to one of Thumper's strategies (explained below), you can repeatedly use your special and re-freeze your opponents. Although Grasshopper's special isn't as strong as Thumper's, the faster recharge plus extra weapons can even up the score. Strategy against: Grasshopper can be a nightmare if she's right next to you, so keep a little distance. If she does her special, drive backwards and hit her with anything. Homers or napalm usually works well. Avoid her rear ice and pummel her whenever she's on the ground. Some characters' specials are very effective at taking her out of the air. Twister, Axel, and Outlaw-2 can knock her right out of the Leap 'n' Slam. --------------------------------------------------------------------- HAMMERHEAD Handling: Sluggish Armor: *** Special: *** - greater than 4 Speed: * - 94 top, 138 turbo This rather large monster truck has not changed from TM1. He's still a great up-close fighter, good for ramming and driving over opponents with his special. Since it is automatic, you can't miss, letting you concentrate on other attacks. For such a large vehicle, Hammerhead has light armor. Strategies as: 1) Whenever you drive over an enemy, drop a mine for extra damage. 2) Try to stay under 75 MPH if you want the special to activate. Otherwise, you might end up ramming the car. If you go slow enough, you can stay perched on top of the car; the longer you stay on, the more specials will be used. 3) With some practice, you can actually turn Hammerhead into Grasshopper. It takes some practice to do, but you can do the Jump, use turbo's to navigate to your enemy's position, and hopefully you can hit them. This can also be applied to any car, similar to the Crash 'n Bash tecnique. Strategy against: Hammerhead is fairly easy to beat. He seems to have plenty of Power missiles, but is otherwise slow and simple to destroy. No real strategies are really needed, just avoid the ice that he uses when he is far away. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MINION - (L1, U, D, L) Handling: Intermediate Armor: ***** Special: ***** - greater than 8 Speed: **** - 126 top, 168 turbo Definitely the strongest contender that can be played without a Game Shark, Minion is a wonderful vehicle. He is somewhat different from other vehicles, but plays like a cross between Warthog and Hammerhead with some speed added in. His special is like Warthog's with an ice attack added on, and he is so large that he can roll over any enemy with ease. Plus his special builds up quickly. You won't be able to continue with him, and you'll have trouble convincing your friends to let you play as him, but he is obviously the most powerful car in the game. Strategies as: 1) A simple special combined with a ram should take any car to at least 50% health or less. Just don't go after too many cars at once and you'll be fine. Strategy against: Since you face Minion on the Amazonia course, use the ambush points and remote bombs to their fullest. Often, if you hide in a temple with a narrow opening, Minion will just drive back and forth mindlessly, leving you some free shots. Note: Hammerhead can't usually drive over Minion. Try Jumping to get on top. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MR. GRIMM Handling: Tight Armor: * Special: ***** - greater than 8 Speed: **** - 124 top, 166 turbo Mr. Grimm is the small ghoul riding the fast motorcycle. His special weapon is probably the most powerful in the game. It is quite large, moves fast, and can take off nearly 40-50% of a life bar. Another good thing is that it won't remove the ice from a trapped car. It doesn't home in on enemies, so make sure you have a clean shot. Mr. Grimm's downfall is his lack of armor, but a Shield is all you need. If you want to beat the game quickly, Mr. Grimm is probably your best choice. Strategies as: 1) Since the special doesn't free frozen opponents, use it often to destroy your opponents. Run away and wait until you get another special and hunt down your next victim. He can be very powerful in Paris and Hong Kong where you can lose your opponents in the winding streets. 2) Similar to mines, you can wait at a warp point (especially in the Louvre at Paris) and ambush your enemies. If the Eiffel Tower hasn't fallen, almost nobody can hurt you if you wait on the Louvre's roof. Strategy against: Mr. Grimm is probably the least cheesy of all the CPU characters, but that still doesn't say much. NEVER drive behind or head-on when facing him, because he can only shoot it straight. He is so small that any car can ram him and cause major damage. If you can ram his side, he can get knocked over. Follow this with Ice and your choice of attacks. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MR. SLAM Handling: Sluggish Armor: **** Special: ***** - slams add up to 9, less than 4 on largest vehicles Speed: * - 91 top, 138 turbo A new character, Mr. Slam is a huge bulldozer with an even larger pair of chompers, used for slamming (what else?) your enemy multiple times. He's quite powerful since he has a strong special attack and thick armor. Unfortunately, he is extremely large and moves slowly, making him a sitting duck. Watch out for Hammerhead, Minion, and Dark Tooth; their vehicles are too large to be picked up with the special. Strategies as: 1) A great CPU killer is to load up on weapons and grab a car. Use everything you have (Napalm,Power,Homers) and re-ice or ram and repeat. Cars are somewhat vulnerable when you slam them since they get turned sideways. Also try driving against a wall for more damage. Watch out for human opponents: they CAN use a shield while getting slammed. 2) Mr. Slam can be brutal on the cliff levels. Even if an enemy puts up a Shield, you can turbo-ram them right off the edge. Just be careful you don't drive off the edge, too. 3) Nothing is more fun than picking up a vehicle and using it as a shield! This is EXTREMELY helpful in Holland. All you have to do is pick someone up and the CPU characters will blast the car, trying to get at you. 4) The Crash and Bash move works very well with his special, since the enemy vehicle is already turned to the side. Strategy against: Mr. Slam is one of those characters that just loves to ice you to death. Whenever his is far to mid range away, he will continually shoot ice, missiles, and bullets. Either stay close or stay away. He shouldn't be too hard to take down with Ice. Oddly, sometimes he will ice you and move in for the kill but turn away at the last moment. Capitalize on this. --------------------------------------------------------------------- OUTLAW-2 Handling: Intermediate Armor: ** Special: *** - two hits, add up to 4 Speed: **** - 126 top, 168 turbo Outlaw-2 is slightly different from the TM1 incarnation. The taser special now pops the enemy up in the air and can be used similar to Axel's special, since it hits one person near the car. Remember that it damages when you first hit and when it shuts off. Outlaw's speed makes ramming a breeze, but the bad handling plus the speed make her tricky to use on levels like New York. Strategies as: 1) Outlaw plays very similar to Axel: you can drive by a group of cars and use your special or pop someone up and Napalm them or set them up for a combo. Similarly, you can wait by an edge, use the taser, and the enemy will float right off the edge. 2) Position yourself next to a building or a wall in the course. When an enemy comes at you, use the special and the enemy will bounce along the wall, racking up damage. Strategy against: Outlaw tends to be the last person on the course because she is difficult to approach. Treat her like Axel and you should be safe. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ROADKILL Handling: Intermediate Armor: ** Special: *** - greater than 2, near 9 on return trip Speed: *** - 117 top, 156 turbo Roadkill has changed quite a bit from TM1. His special is now a boomerang that becomes extremely powerful on it's return trip and can take about 1/3 off a life bar. Another good plus is that if the boomerang makes its way back to the car, it will go back into the special move stockpile. They also seem to regenerate quickly. Plus he's the only game character who KNOWS he is a game character! Strategies as: 1) Above all else, practice using the special on a nice flat course so you can find out it's range, like with Warthog. Since you can fire the boomerangs quickly, you can kill opponents with a few well timed blasts. 2) Like the above strategy, freeze someone and drive up right next to them. Turn your car slightly and rapidly shoot your special. This can take down nearly every car. 3) I haven't mastered this yet, but you can get the boomerang to spin around you, making a powerful offensive Shield. It takes a lot of practice, but is very useful. Strategies against: Roadkill can be the most devastating opponent because he has no problems with repeatedly freezing you at point blank range. You might get lucky and he might turn away like Mr. Slam, but don't count on it. Hit and run tactics are very helpful. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SHADOW Handling: Intermediate Armor: ** Special: **** - about 5, decreases with distance Speed: *** - 112 top, 149 turbo Another newbie, Shadow takes a little bit of practice to use effectively. His special attack acts much like a cross between a ricochet and and a remote bomb: it hugs the ground as it travels and damages everyone around it when it explodes. Make sure you never detonate it too close to yourself. It is very damaging and useful for large groups of cars. Strategies as: 1) Since the special can't be fired rapidly, you'll need some good combos. Try freezing someone, shooting a special quickly followed by a Napalm blast and some more ice. Or, begin by freezing and planting a remote bomb, back off and do the special/Napalm attack. 2) Since it pops enemies in the air, use it like Axel's and Outlaw's as a substitute for mine attacks (cliffs and tunnels). Just remember to stay clear. 3) Always look for unusual shots, especially in 2P mode. Since the attack is small and dark, it can be a deadly surprise in Holland or dark colored rooftops. 4) Yes, Shadow has a magic distance like many other cars. In this case, you can repeatedly use his special to keep your enemies in the air. Since you can't fire as rapidly as most other weapons, yo'll have to experiment to find a good place to be. Strategy against: Like Mr. Grimm, avoid trailing or facing Shadow head-on. He's too eager to blast you away. Going for his side is easy because of his average speed, handling, and the length of his frame. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECTRE Handling: Tight Armor: * Special: **** - less than 3 Speed: **** - 129 top, 171 turbo I haven't used Spectre very much, but his special missiles are very handy since they pass through obstacles. His armor is so weak that you'll need them often to get out of jams. They also knock a person slightly backwards, interrupting whatever they were doing. Strategy as: 1) A great strategy is to hide behind buildings or other obstacles and aim Spectre towards the dots on your radar. Once you're lined up, use the special missles for a sure shot. Strategy against: Spectre is one of the most annoying CPU characters in the game, IMHO. I ALWAYS take him out first to keep him from disrupting my attacks on other people. Since his armor is so weak, any type of frontal assault will demolish him quickly. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SWEET TOOTH - (U, L1, Tri, R) Handling: Sluggish Armor: **** Special: *** - greater than 3 Speed: * - 91 top, 138 turbo Sweet Tooth is the semi-hidden ice-cream truck that sticks out like a sore thumb. Anybody who can beat the game with this vehicle deserves an award. He's slow, huge, has a weak special, plus you don't get any passwords (you have to beat the game without continuing!), plus he seems to roll over excessively when he gets hit. In addition, his special wavers up and down, sometimes allowing small cars to completely avoid damage. Only use him if you want a real challenge. Strategy as: 1) The only good thing about him is that his special knocks enemies back a little and it recharges quickly. Use it to pummel your opponent repeatedly. Strategy against: Probably #2 in my book of difficult CPU characters, he uses his special constantly, making him difficult to approach. Fortunately, his big frame makes him an easy target from far away. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THUMPER Handling: Intermediate Armor: ** Special: **** - total fire blast about 12, fire damage makes 18 Speed: *** - 110 top, 147 turbo Thumper is a very strong contender: his speed and special are quite good and don't seem to have changed from his TM1 version. If you can ice an enemy, his special can take off even more energy than Mr. Grimm's special! I believe this is caused by the car catching on fire for extra damage. Thumper is an excellent CPU killer. Strategy as: 1) Thumper's special is quite straight-forward :). Just ice an enemy and use your special to eat away their energy bar. 2) If you have more than one Special stored up, you can really destroy someone by freezing, using the flame thrower, and repeating the freeze. You can time it so that the other car just cant escape. Strategy against: Whatever you do, do NOT get too close to him or you'll eat flames. He also loves to use rear Napalm and rear special attacks. Ice will stop his flames in no time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- TWISTER Handling: Ultra Tight Armor: * Special: **** - several hits adding up to 6 (without obstacles) Speed: ***** - 140 top, 178 turbo The last new challenger, F-1 type Twister has a *DEVASTATING* special attack, but her armor is so weak that she often takes lots of damage during it. This is her only downfall. That, and open spaces. Strategies as: 1) Much like other area specials, (Axel, Outlaw) you can use your special at ambush points for easy kills. Don't forget to use your shield. 2) You might think that the enemies swirling above you are getting plenty of damage, but to maximize this do the special near buildings and add plenty of Napalm and missiles. Sometimes you can kill enemies in one special combo! Strategy against: Like many opponents, keep your distance. If you feel lucky, use some ice; unfortunately you'll miss often since she's so speedy. The best times to hit her with ice are when she does her special (the car gets flipped up and makes a bigger target) and after a knock-back attack (mines, ricochet, remote). --------------------------------------------------------------------- WARTHOG Handling: Sluggish Armor: **** Special: *** - missiles about 4, fireballs about 5 Speed: ** - 100 top, 138 turbo Warthog is slightly different from TM1: his triple-missile special turns into fireballs if the missiles stay in the air long enough. His Armor makes him somewhat difficult to destroy. His only real problem is his turning ability. Strategies as: 1) Practice using the special to find out the magic range when the missiles turn into powerful fireballs. Then in battle, ice someone, back up and shoot Napalm, back up some more and use the special. Turbo helps in getting to the right distance quickly. (Note: It seems like the fireballs are not significantly stronger than the normal missiles. Therefore, you may want to use the missiles at point-blank range instead of trying to get the perfect distance.) Strategy against: Because of his good speed and armor, he is sometimes a tough customer to beat. Like many other drivers, try not to tail him and especially avoid head on confrontations. His speed and armor create the perfect ramming machine. He doesn't ice excessively, so you won't need to worry about that. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL NOTES Most of the High Speeds are not completely accurate. On occasion, you can get a few extra miles per hour, although I'm not sure why. The Advance Attack energy was estimated using pixels, and is for the most part accurate. Damage, however, was calculated using quarter-inch units on a light armor character, Mr. Grimm. The numbers show more of a relative difference between attacks rather than exact damage amounts. Of course, an attack on Mr. Grimm will end up causing more energy loss than one on Minion. However, I didn't want to loose my eye sight counting pixels of damage. Plus it was really frustrating. Just for reference, Mr. Grimm can sustain about 20 points of damage. As many might have noticed, there is also a magic distance away from you where CPU cars take no damage. I think this was an effort to keep people from just letting the CPU cars kill each other. My opinion on this is divided between that, and the strategic placing of mines and remotes, or using lightning. Since you have to be close to the actual weapon to give the enemy cars any damage, the usefulness of these weapons decreases. I'm no expert in Chinese, but I could swear that most of the signs in Hong Kong are actually in Japanese. For an interesting bug, try getting Mr. Slam to use his special on your car as you teleport. This happened accidentally in New York and created some wacky moving cameras, with me ending up nowhere near the drop point for the teleporter and Mr. Slam also very far away. Sometimes in a 2P battle, my friends turbo meter showed 1 unit of turbo but the car acted like it didn't have any turbo. On the Los Angeles course, if you look at the grey ramp sections on the outer edge of the arena, there is something looks like "R1,squ,tri" Maybe it's part of a code, maybe not. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I probably won't make another version of this, as most vehicles have enough strategies to be played effectively. If any of you want to "carry the torch", go right ahead. I hope you find our strategies helpful or interesting. As for my future FAQ pursuits, I'm probably going to do one on Tetris Attack and/or Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo. Yes, these games are quite different from TM2; however, they are both extremely fun and addicting games. Graham Fredrick fredga01@holmes.ipfw.indiana.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====----------------------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet