Speed tips - Character specific strats
Submitted by RPGnutter
General Tips
Obviously, you'll be wanting the boost start. Im not sure if there's anything specific that triggers this, I just hold 'A' from when I press Restart X)
An obvious one, collecting as many rings on the racing line as possible is also necessary, but straying for rings that would make you take a slower line through the corner is not usually the best option, but it IS character dependant, and I'll state where appropriate if you should stray for Rings.
Another obvious one, dont hit the walls, as it'll just ruin your speed. However, this is character dependant again, and in fact using the walls actually plays to 2 characters advantages (That should give some hint as to how I got my Amy/Gamma times).
As for the section with the Dash Panels, always take the middle capsule on lap 1, then swing left/right to make sure you get a 2nd capsule, as this 5 ring speed bost is pretty nifty.
Now onto specific strats!
Sonic
Boost start, obviously. You'll be drifting a fair bit as Sonic, he's speedy but his handling isnt superb, so you'll likely be letting off the accelerator now and then to avoid those infernal walls.
The rest of these strats will refer to corners as 'Turn [x]' where different characters function differently, just to let you know :o
Turn 1
Grab the rings, then swing in from the right side of the track and cut over the inside, you shouldnt have to let go of A here.
Turn 2
Sweeping downhill hairpin. You WILL have to let go here or you'll invariable crash. I find letting go for 1/3-1/2 a second and getting into a slide, before holding A around the rest of the corner to be very effective. You know you've done this corner well when you get the Rings in the short straight just after it.
Turns 3 and 4
You basically have two options with this fairly nasty section:
Either turn into Turn 3 sharply from the right hand side and then sweep right through the apex of Turn 4, ideally cutting close to the inner barrier on the exit, but this is pretty tricky and you may need to let go of A a little.
Or, you can hit the slope of Turn 3, and get enough air to get onto the railing and go around Turn 4 on the inside barrier, which is substantially quicker but hard to pull off consistently, and its also easy to fall off ether side, naturally falling into the void is worse though >_> You only really have a chance of making this jump if you got the Rings after Turn 2, otherwise I dont think you have enough speed, I could be wrong though.
Turn 5
Nothign special here, just sweep in from the right and let go of A a little to give you enough turning momemntum to avoid the barrier. Im not going to refer to the tiny right hand corner afetr this as Turn 6. Because quite frankly, if your crashing there, you should play something else.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
This is the only part of TC that annoys me, part. First up is the right hander. Just simply sweep right after landing, naturally its easier if you land on the left side from the dash panel section, but you will invariably land in the middle on Lap 2, owing to the capsule on the right half way up.
Swing left after, releasing A a little, tapping if necessary, especially where it starts to incline, as immediatly after you'll need to turn Right, although you shouldnt have to Tap A for this corner. Dont stray for any rings in this section, any you get while trying to get through this infernal section are good enough.
Turn 10
Again, nothing special, just Release A and reapply it to drift-turn round the corner. Be careful with the timing, release too soon and you hit the inside barrier, too late and you'll probably fall off the track.
Then just repeat twice.
Tails
Naturally, Tails is slower than Sonic and handles better, but this is not necessarilly a bad thing, in fact, I regard TAing TC as Tails to be far easier than Sonic.
Again, Boost start is good.
Turn 1
Grab the Rings and sweep in from the middle this time, you should just make it round the corner and be in oine with the capsule. Make sure you get it.
Turn 2
Simply turn into the corner and you should make it round with no problems, grab the rings at the exit.
Turns 3 and 4
Turn in from the left side (yes, into the inside). You dont need to turn much, just enough so that you'll go diagonally across the track into Turn 4, from there just hold Right.
Turn 5
Just Hold Left, you'll hit the wall on the exit but it'll lose barely any speed, whereas releasing A destroys the small amount of momentum Tails has on lap 1.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
This section is still a complete Arse for Tails. The optimum path for him is to swing in across the insode of all the corners, but particularly being on the very inside as you go up the slope Into Turn 9. You may need to briefly release A during Turn 8, or you can turn accordingly so that Tails hits the flat section of the barrier on the outside of Turn 8, as this allows Tails to turn sharply after impact, and line yourself up with left hand side of the incline more effectivly.
Turn 10
Just hold right, thats all there is to it.
Knuckles
Unlike any of the other characters, Knux is blindingly fast. In reality, he's not all that much faster than Sonic, but because he actually has decent handling to go with this, he seems completely uber, and naturally, I have my own specific strategy for using him effectivly :o
Turn 1
Boost start is even more essential as Knux. As he off-the-line acceleration sucks ASS. That aside, grab the Rings and swing in from the right. BEHOLD! Marvel at Knux's uber turning. Grab the capsule on the inside get ready for Turn 2.
Turn 2
Swing in from the left through the apex of the corner. You'll know when you've done this right as you'll line up perfectly with the Rings at the exit.
Turns 3 and 4
Knux only really has one option here: bounce up onto the railings on the inside of Turn 4 and rocket round on the inside. Swinging through here its very easy to hit a wall and it costs quite a lot of time just to turn the corners.
Turn 5
Release A for a split second during the turn and just hold left, dont worry about hitting the wall, you'll hardly be penalised for it.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
Once again, this section provides the bulk of the problems. Its quite helpful if (aside from the lap where you get the right-hand capsule in the Dash Panel section), you land up on the left barrier from the final panel. then swing across into Turn 7, before sweeping the other way into Turn 8. Release A very slightly before the incline, regardless of whether your going to make it in a good racing line or not; if you dont you'll simply go flying straight into the outside wall of Turn 9, just release the speed a little and zip round on the inside.
Turn 10
All you need to do here is exactly what you did for Turn 5, although it is unlikely you'll be hitting the outer wall this time round.
Amy
Ironically enough, I beat my PR (And almost the record, which I will do at some point to get my last remaning sweep back.) while playing this so I could get a feel for how to write up this characters strat.
Amy is by far the most pathetic character in TC. She is slow. She drifts VERY easily when she turns, often losing all her speed. Her only real good point is that while she is going so damn slow she can crawl round the inside of the corner and save herself some time.
Turn 1
Boost start is essential, as is Ring Collecting in this one, so just bear that in mind. You'll never be letting go of A apart from one specific part on the first. Doing so otherwise is speed-suicide. Just grab the rings and try and drift as far across the inside as you can so you hit the wall as far round the corner as you can. Just practice a little to see what I mean, its pretty difficult to explain. Grab the capsule on the exit.
Turn 2
Just hug the inside as close to the barrier as you can. Grab the rings on the exit.
Turns 3 and 4
Hug the inside and grab the rings in Turn 4. Grab the rings leading up to Turn 5.
Turn 5
Momentarilly let go of A just before to make sure you can get the 10 capsule. This is ESSENTIAL to getting a good time with Amy. (Yes, I know how that sounds)
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
From the final dash panel, simply try and land in the barrier of Turn 7, as far round as you can; there's no quicker way to get round other than to do this. Grab as many rings as you can from the middle in Turn's 8 and 9
Turn 10
Just hold right in anticipation of the corner, clipping the wall makes barely any difference.
Big
SHOCK. HORROR. SCANDAL. An area of SA1/DX where Big DOES NOT SUCK. Now thats out of the system, back to business.
Oddly enough, Big is somewhat of the exact middle between Sonic and Tails. he's pretty speedy, and so his handling suffers a little, but not to the extent of Sonic's. His kart is also large >_>
Turn 1
Boost start, swing in from the right, pretty standard stuff. Chances are you wont be hitting the capsule though, although its not necessary for Big.
Turn 2
Sweep in through the apex, tapping A where needed to keep a steady line.
Turns 3 and 4
Turn 3 will pose no problem, however you will almost certainly need to let go of A during Turn 4 or you'll crash.
Turn 5
Tap A as you start turning and use the outside wall as a 'cushion', it'll cost you very little/no speed.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
Gyaah, once again, this infernal part, although Big has a relativly easy time here compared to others.
Launch through Turn 7 and switch directions so that you pass slightly to the outside of Turn 8's apex. Tap A as you reach the incline to give yourself a good line to enter Turn 9.
Turn 10
Tap A as you start turning and pray you dont hit the barrier on the inside. I find it much easier to clip it as Big than anyone else. Maybe because he's freaking huge but still <_<
Gamma
Gamma has by far the most unique strat of all the characters for TC, involving a fair bit fo smacking into walls. As oddly enough, this saves more speed than actually bothering to try and drift round :/ Anyway, onto the strat!
Turn 1
Boost. Drift much the same you did with Amy and dive straight into the wall, this straightens you out and keeps more speed than turning :/
Turn 2
Grab the capsule if you can, and use the middle of this hairpin as another cushion to line yourself up for the Rings at the end.
Turns 3 and 4
Turn 3 is a simple 'tap left a few times', while you should use the flat piece of barrier in the middle of Turn 4 as a cushion
Turn 5
Hold Left, try and hit the barrier so that you are already facing straight towards Turn 6.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
Same as Amy, you'll be hitting the barrier on the exit of Turn 7. Turn steadily through Turn 8, keeping as much speed as possible, and using the straight piece of abrrier just before the incline to line yourself up appropriatly. Throughout Turn 9 (On the first lap atleast) try and grab as many rings as possible to maximise speed.
Turn 10
Just a simple case of holding right at the appropriate moment.
Well there you have it! All 6 of my Twinkle Circuit strats. By no means are any of my times perfect, for example, my 3rd lap in my PR run for Gamma was .5x seconds slower than my 2nd lap :X So now that you all know what Im doing, get out there and dish out some ownage! Although this is porbably the only thing I'm prepared to fight back for X)
Obviously, you'll be wanting the boost start. Im not sure if there's anything specific that triggers this, I just hold 'A' from when I press Restart X)
An obvious one, collecting as many rings on the racing line as possible is also necessary, but straying for rings that would make you take a slower line through the corner is not usually the best option, but it IS character dependant, and I'll state where appropriate if you should stray for Rings.
Another obvious one, dont hit the walls, as it'll just ruin your speed. However, this is character dependant again, and in fact using the walls actually plays to 2 characters advantages (That should give some hint as to how I got my Amy/Gamma times).
As for the section with the Dash Panels, always take the middle capsule on lap 1, then swing left/right to make sure you get a 2nd capsule, as this 5 ring speed bost is pretty nifty.
Now onto specific strats!
Sonic
Boost start, obviously. You'll be drifting a fair bit as Sonic, he's speedy but his handling isnt superb, so you'll likely be letting off the accelerator now and then to avoid those infernal walls.
The rest of these strats will refer to corners as 'Turn [x]' where different characters function differently, just to let you know :o
Turn 1
Grab the rings, then swing in from the right side of the track and cut over the inside, you shouldnt have to let go of A here.
Turn 2
Sweeping downhill hairpin. You WILL have to let go here or you'll invariable crash. I find letting go for 1/3-1/2 a second and getting into a slide, before holding A around the rest of the corner to be very effective. You know you've done this corner well when you get the Rings in the short straight just after it.
Turns 3 and 4
You basically have two options with this fairly nasty section:
Either turn into Turn 3 sharply from the right hand side and then sweep right through the apex of Turn 4, ideally cutting close to the inner barrier on the exit, but this is pretty tricky and you may need to let go of A a little.
Or, you can hit the slope of Turn 3, and get enough air to get onto the railing and go around Turn 4 on the inside barrier, which is substantially quicker but hard to pull off consistently, and its also easy to fall off ether side, naturally falling into the void is worse though >_> You only really have a chance of making this jump if you got the Rings after Turn 2, otherwise I dont think you have enough speed, I could be wrong though.
Turn 5
Nothign special here, just sweep in from the right and let go of A a little to give you enough turning momemntum to avoid the barrier. Im not going to refer to the tiny right hand corner afetr this as Turn 6. Because quite frankly, if your crashing there, you should play something else.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
This is the only part of TC that annoys me, part. First up is the right hander. Just simply sweep right after landing, naturally its easier if you land on the left side from the dash panel section, but you will invariably land in the middle on Lap 2, owing to the capsule on the right half way up.
Swing left after, releasing A a little, tapping if necessary, especially where it starts to incline, as immediatly after you'll need to turn Right, although you shouldnt have to Tap A for this corner. Dont stray for any rings in this section, any you get while trying to get through this infernal section are good enough.
Turn 10
Again, nothing special, just Release A and reapply it to drift-turn round the corner. Be careful with the timing, release too soon and you hit the inside barrier, too late and you'll probably fall off the track.
Then just repeat twice.
Tails
Naturally, Tails is slower than Sonic and handles better, but this is not necessarilly a bad thing, in fact, I regard TAing TC as Tails to be far easier than Sonic.
Again, Boost start is good.
Turn 1
Grab the Rings and sweep in from the middle this time, you should just make it round the corner and be in oine with the capsule. Make sure you get it.
Turn 2
Simply turn into the corner and you should make it round with no problems, grab the rings at the exit.
Turns 3 and 4
Turn in from the left side (yes, into the inside). You dont need to turn much, just enough so that you'll go diagonally across the track into Turn 4, from there just hold Right.
Turn 5
Just Hold Left, you'll hit the wall on the exit but it'll lose barely any speed, whereas releasing A destroys the small amount of momentum Tails has on lap 1.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
This section is still a complete Arse for Tails. The optimum path for him is to swing in across the insode of all the corners, but particularly being on the very inside as you go up the slope Into Turn 9. You may need to briefly release A during Turn 8, or you can turn accordingly so that Tails hits the flat section of the barrier on the outside of Turn 8, as this allows Tails to turn sharply after impact, and line yourself up with left hand side of the incline more effectivly.
Turn 10
Just hold right, thats all there is to it.
Knuckles
Unlike any of the other characters, Knux is blindingly fast. In reality, he's not all that much faster than Sonic, but because he actually has decent handling to go with this, he seems completely uber, and naturally, I have my own specific strategy for using him effectivly :o
Turn 1
Boost start is even more essential as Knux. As he off-the-line acceleration sucks ASS. That aside, grab the Rings and swing in from the right. BEHOLD! Marvel at Knux's uber turning. Grab the capsule on the inside get ready for Turn 2.
Turn 2
Swing in from the left through the apex of the corner. You'll know when you've done this right as you'll line up perfectly with the Rings at the exit.
Turns 3 and 4
Knux only really has one option here: bounce up onto the railings on the inside of Turn 4 and rocket round on the inside. Swinging through here its very easy to hit a wall and it costs quite a lot of time just to turn the corners.
Turn 5
Release A for a split second during the turn and just hold left, dont worry about hitting the wall, you'll hardly be penalised for it.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
Once again, this section provides the bulk of the problems. Its quite helpful if (aside from the lap where you get the right-hand capsule in the Dash Panel section), you land up on the left barrier from the final panel. then swing across into Turn 7, before sweeping the other way into Turn 8. Release A very slightly before the incline, regardless of whether your going to make it in a good racing line or not; if you dont you'll simply go flying straight into the outside wall of Turn 9, just release the speed a little and zip round on the inside.
Turn 10
All you need to do here is exactly what you did for Turn 5, although it is unlikely you'll be hitting the outer wall this time round.
Amy
Ironically enough, I beat my PR (And almost the record, which I will do at some point to get my last remaning sweep back.) while playing this so I could get a feel for how to write up this characters strat.
Amy is by far the most pathetic character in TC. She is slow. She drifts VERY easily when she turns, often losing all her speed. Her only real good point is that while she is going so damn slow she can crawl round the inside of the corner and save herself some time.
Turn 1
Boost start is essential, as is Ring Collecting in this one, so just bear that in mind. You'll never be letting go of A apart from one specific part on the first. Doing so otherwise is speed-suicide. Just grab the rings and try and drift as far across the inside as you can so you hit the wall as far round the corner as you can. Just practice a little to see what I mean, its pretty difficult to explain. Grab the capsule on the exit.
Turn 2
Just hug the inside as close to the barrier as you can. Grab the rings on the exit.
Turns 3 and 4
Hug the inside and grab the rings in Turn 4. Grab the rings leading up to Turn 5.
Turn 5
Momentarilly let go of A just before to make sure you can get the 10 capsule. This is ESSENTIAL to getting a good time with Amy. (Yes, I know how that sounds)
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
From the final dash panel, simply try and land in the barrier of Turn 7, as far round as you can; there's no quicker way to get round other than to do this. Grab as many rings as you can from the middle in Turn's 8 and 9
Turn 10
Just hold right in anticipation of the corner, clipping the wall makes barely any difference.
Big
SHOCK. HORROR. SCANDAL. An area of SA1/DX where Big DOES NOT SUCK. Now thats out of the system, back to business.
Oddly enough, Big is somewhat of the exact middle between Sonic and Tails. he's pretty speedy, and so his handling suffers a little, but not to the extent of Sonic's. His kart is also large >_>
Turn 1
Boost start, swing in from the right, pretty standard stuff. Chances are you wont be hitting the capsule though, although its not necessary for Big.
Turn 2
Sweep in through the apex, tapping A where needed to keep a steady line.
Turns 3 and 4
Turn 3 will pose no problem, however you will almost certainly need to let go of A during Turn 4 or you'll crash.
Turn 5
Tap A as you start turning and use the outside wall as a 'cushion', it'll cost you very little/no speed.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
Gyaah, once again, this infernal part, although Big has a relativly easy time here compared to others.
Launch through Turn 7 and switch directions so that you pass slightly to the outside of Turn 8's apex. Tap A as you reach the incline to give yourself a good line to enter Turn 9.
Turn 10
Tap A as you start turning and pray you dont hit the barrier on the inside. I find it much easier to clip it as Big than anyone else. Maybe because he's freaking huge but still <_<
Gamma
Gamma has by far the most unique strat of all the characters for TC, involving a fair bit fo smacking into walls. As oddly enough, this saves more speed than actually bothering to try and drift round :/ Anyway, onto the strat!
Turn 1
Boost. Drift much the same you did with Amy and dive straight into the wall, this straightens you out and keeps more speed than turning :/
Turn 2
Grab the capsule if you can, and use the middle of this hairpin as another cushion to line yourself up for the Rings at the end.
Turns 3 and 4
Turn 3 is a simple 'tap left a few times', while you should use the flat piece of barrier in the middle of Turn 4 as a cushion
Turn 5
Hold Left, try and hit the barrier so that you are already facing straight towards Turn 6.
Turn's 7, 8 and 9
Same as Amy, you'll be hitting the barrier on the exit of Turn 7. Turn steadily through Turn 8, keeping as much speed as possible, and using the straight piece of abrrier just before the incline to line yourself up appropriatly. Throughout Turn 9 (On the first lap atleast) try and grab as many rings as possible to maximise speed.
Turn 10
Just a simple case of holding right at the appropriate moment.
Well there you have it! All 6 of my Twinkle Circuit strats. By no means are any of my times perfect, for example, my 3rd lap in my PR run for Gamma was .5x seconds slower than my 2nd lap :X So now that you all know what Im doing, get out there and dish out some ownage! Although this is porbably the only thing I'm prepared to fight back for X)
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