------------------------------ ============================== = BATTLE GRAND PRIX MINI-FAQ = ============================== ------------------------------ Welcome to the one-and-only Battle Grand Prix mini-FAQ...or maybe it should just be a full-fledged FAQ, since it's the only one! This FAQ was written in 2006, 14 years after the release of the game. ------------------------------ - WHAT IS BATTLE GRAND PRIX? - ------------------------------ Battle Grand Prix is a top-down racing game, where you and an optional friend compete against computer players to see who can react better to the oncoming turns. While at first glance it may seem a fair-to-middlin' SNES game, my friends and I enjoyed it for hours, often alternating with Super Off-Road. If you give it a chance, BGP's entertainment value may surprise you. ------------ - CONTENTS - ------------ - Difficulty Levels and Team Breakdown - Set Up - Notes, Tricks, and Bugs - End ---------------------------------------------- ---- DIFFICULTY LEVELS AND TEAM BREAKDOWN ---- ---------------------------------------------- -- Beginner -- The level that started it all! In Beginner, you can choose from a wide range of drivers, each with their own two initials, slightly-altered helmet design, and country of origin. Homelands run the gamut from the United States, England, Japan, and France to whatever crazy country J.N left his wife alone with the kids in. (That's the J.N from ???, not the J.N from France.) Don't worry if your friend steals your first-choice driver, because as far as anyone knows, which driver you pick doesn't change your car's abilities. After choosing your driver, you can press Down or Select and ally yourself with one of eight different teams. Each team gives your car different attributes (handling, top speed, acceleration, etc) and a cool paint job, which is good because otherwise Hudson Soft would have had to make different race car sprites. A Survival game at this level will limit you to the easiest tracks with only blue and some yellow turns. Top speeds per team, if tuned for top speed: Dia Team - 303 Team Bee - 307 Foam 3 Team - 299 ??? Worna - 299 ^ Team - 307 GLP LeMans - 296, ouch. Culb Team - 311, the fastest at this level. Ess Team - 303 -- Pro -- Mildly more exciting than beginner, at the Pro level the driver selection gets even more intense, but don't worry - both you and your friend can play as K.T from Japan, each with a different helmet! Once you both calm yourselves and actually start racing, you will notice that the cars accelerate slightly faster and can reach higher top speeds. A Survival game at this level will take place on trickier tracks, with the dreaded red turn occasionally making an appearance. Top speeds per team, if tuned for top speed: LeMans (blue background) - 333 Alen Town - 337 Wall Cool - 329 LeMans (white background) - 329 Teem Toy - 337 Plolice Zoom - 326, aww... BROS - 341, the fastest at this level. Kapen - 333 -- Expert -- Aah, Expert level. The pinnacle of top-down-sprite-based-racing goodness (at least in this game), Expert offers yet more mysteriously-initialed drivers, new teams, new tracks, better acceleration, and the highest top speeds in the game. Prepare yourself for the same basic gameplay, only more intense! A Survival game at this level utilizes the full vengeance of the red turn and the um...red turn again. Top speeds per team, if tuned for top speed: Team Bend - 363 PD Team - 352, the slowest at this level ...or is it? Team Estor - 359 Team Lava - 359 Team Milla - 367 Lanni - 356 King - 371, the fastest in the game! ...or is it? (See Bugs...) KENG Team - 363 ------------ -- SET UP -- ------------ Before your first race, instead of choosing Start, you may also go to Set Up. This screen allows tuning of the various attributes of your car. From the top down they are: - Run - choose this to start the race. - Downforce - Affects top speed and cornering. "Down" means higher top speed with better cornering, and I would guess that "Up" means better acceleration, though I never use it. For top speed, go with all the way Down. - Steering - Affects the rate at which your car turns, Mild to Quick. I always go all the way toward Quick. - Tires - choose whether your tires are Hard or Soft, for both your Slick and Rain sets of tires. Hard means you skid slightly more when turning quickly but your tires last a long time, whereas Soft sticks you to the track but wears out after only a lap or two. I usually go all the way to Hard for both tire sets, but some people prefer the middle. - Suspension - Honestly, I have no clue what this does in this game. Hard or Soft make no noticable difference. I usually move it a slight bit right so it's actually in the middle. - Engine - A very important choice. Choose from 4 specs, with Spec 1 being geared for more revs and therefore higher top speed, and Spec 4 being geared for more torque (leading to a lower top speed but higher acceleration). For top speed, go with Spec 1. - Brakes - Set the braking power for the Foot Brake (brake button), Engine Brake and Auto Brake. Foot Brake power determines how fast the car slows down when you hit the brake button; Engine Brake determines how fast the car slows down when you let go of the gas; and Auto Brake determines how fast the car slows down when you are about to hit another car from behind. If you put Auto Brake at min, your car will not slow down at all regardless of how close you are to another car. I put Foot Brake at max, and Engine Brake and Auto Brake at min - this gives you the greatest control over the speed of your car with the buttons, and avoids it automatically slowing down to avoid accidents. - (Trans)Mission - Choose from 2- or 6-speed, manual or automatic. 6-speed gives a higher top speed, 2-speed gives higher acceleration but a significantly lower top speed. Automatic shifts for you, manual does not. I go with 6-speed automatic. Summary for top speed: Downforce - all the way Down Steering - any (I choose Quick) Tires - any (I choose Hard) Suspension - middle (may not matter) Engine - Spec 1 Brakes - any (I choose Foot Brake max, Engine and Auto Brake min) Mission - 6-speed, automatic or manual is up to you --------------------------- - NOTES, TRICKS, AND BUGS - --------------------------- - Notes - Choosing Type 1 or Type 2 when picking your team only results in a different set of defaults for the car's Set Up. If you manually Set Up your car (say, for top speed), then which Type you choose is meaningless. If it starts (or stops) raining, you need to pull into the pit to change tires. You can pull into the pit the moment the weather changes, even though the computer will often wait an entire lap. If you don't pit in and have the wrong tires on for the weather, you will slide much more when turning. If you crash enough, or drive on soft tires for too long, various parts of your car can start to have problems. For the most part, these adversely affect performance, so it is advisable to pit in and have them repaired. The only good that can come from broken parts is if you have transmission trouble and it decides to remove 6th gear, a few cars actually have a higher top speed in 5th gear, which you normally cannot reach with an automatic. - Tricks - If you want an extra edge over AI cars you pass, pull in front of them to make the game engage their Auto Brake. This is why I set Auto Brake to min. (^.^) - Bugs - When you hit an opponent and spin out, if you have full power, you can choose to drive on top of them again as they start moving. If you do this, both of you will spin out again, and your health will go down to near zero, but it will force the other person to Retire. You can do this to multiple cars at once, but watch out afterwards - one more crash and you're out yourself. You can pull into the pit to restore your health, but that costs time. Ensure a top spot by Retiring enough opponents that you can't lose. At first, it appears that PD Team (352 MPH) is the worst choice on Expert, and King (371 MPH) is the best. However, if you are skilled at avoiding the edges of the track, PD Team actually has the fastest car in the game! If you tune the PD car for top speed, then when you reach 352 MPH, it doesn't actually stop accelerating. Your speed slowly but steadily increases to 353...354...355...and if you're good enough it will eventually surpass King's 371 and top out at a very-hard-to-control 391! Combined with the fact that for curvy tracks, if you tune the PD car for torque it has one of the highest accelerations in the game, this makes PD truly the team of choice for expert players. ------- - END - ------- Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoy this often-overlooked game as much as I did! (C) 2006 Mike Z