Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (June 21st, 2019)

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

16 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Quick question - I've decided to knock out Oxide Station now before doing Cortex Castle and N. Gin Labs. Is Accel or Speed the best class for it?

Either one will do. Which classes have you been getting better oriented with in the meantime?

Piece of advice. This is definitely one of those courses where you'll want to mind hitbox sizes as well.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Either one will do. Which classes have you been getting better oriented with in the meantime?

Piece of advice. This is definitely one of those courses where you'll want to mind hitbox sizes as well.

Mainly Spyro for speed, Coco for Accel.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

3 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Mainly Spyro for speed, Coco for Accel.

Ah, good smaller-sized characters. Nice to see you took my hitbox advice into account. Either one of those should do you good.

The rest is up to you. Avoid walls at all costs, while also building up as much speed as possible. Oxide Station has a feared reputation amongst us Time Trialers and for good reason.

Maintaining the blue fire for as long as you possibly can is key, and again,  I can't stress this enough, avoid so much as brushing a wall. The ghosts are that bad.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Ah, good smaller-sized characters. Nice to see you took my hitbox advice into account. Either one of those should do you good.

The rest is up to you. Avoid walls at all costs, while also building up as much speed as possible. Oxide Station has a feared reputation amongst us Time Trialers and for good reason.

Maintaining the blue fire for as long as you possibly can is key, and again,  I can't stress this enough, avoid so much as brushing a wall. The ghosts are that bad.

Yep. I just barely unlocked N Tropy's ghost at 3:32:93. It's gonna be a pain.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I can't believe this shit...

...I beat both Oxide and Tropy's times, Oxide's particularly, by 13 miliseconds.

on Tropy's ghost.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I can't believe this shit...

...I beat both Oxide and Tropy's times, Oxide's particularly, by 13 miliseconds.

on Tropy's ghost.

Yup. It's that tough with N. Tropy. Now just replicate your victory and you're on your way. Good luck.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Yup. It's that tough with N. Tropy. Not just replicate your victory and you're on your way. Good luck.

No luck needed, Oxide Station is toast. 

figuratively speaking, since I'm beat Oxide with Spyro

[TheOcelot]

5 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Quick question - I've decided to knock out Oxide Station now before doing Cortex Castle and N. Gin Labs. Is Accel or Speed the best class for it?

I'd recommend acceleration as Oxide Station has lots of sharp turns. Make sure you retain the blue-white boost for as long as possible (which you can obtain near the end of the lap).

Edit: Oh you've already beaten it. Nevermind.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

All the practice on time trials paid off, I just beat Hard Mode for Adventure.

Christ, Oxide is a fucking nightmare on Hard, at least til you pass him.

[Jango]

Ah, that reminds me... I have to finish Adventure Mode on Hard now that I've completed the Classic Mode 101% (ages ago actually)... But every time I touch this game I want to play online and farm some coins. Yeah, a month without GP would benefit us players, but certainly not Activision's pockets, sigh.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Well, big update - I just platinumed the game! Hard mode completed, all Oxide and Tropy ghosts beaten! 

Out of all of them, Dragon Mines especially was the absolute worst. 3 hours it took, over 100 tries, and even at that, I had to literally learn an unintended game mechanic in able to properly finish it. This one was horribly designed in the 90s, and it was horribly designed now.

After that, Tiny Temple, and Oxide Station are tied. Tiny Temple is absolutely ridiculous with how perfect you have to be in order to pull it off. Literally one mistimed hop, or one mistimed boost, and you've lost. It might've been fine, if Oxide held blue fire for a full lap, maybe a lap and a half, if you're stretching it. But two full laps is utterly ridiculous. 

Oxide Station didn't take as long as I'd thought it would, but it was ridiculous for how tight the timing just had to be, and how much it required hopping and doing desperate boosts to hold blue fire as long as possible.

Other highlights of one's I hated would be Blizzard Bluff (the shortcut is far too inconsistent), Inferno Island (Piss easy, but the framerate dips make it really annoying to time boosts),  Sewer Speedway (the barrels are absolutely annoying), and Cortex Castle, because blue flames at the end is your real only way of catching up. N Gin Labs as well for how inconsistent it was to get the slide inside of the boost tunnel, and how even at blue fire, Oxide would still magically be right next to you on regular boost.

Easiest, by an absolute margin IMO, and surprisingly - Hot Air Skyway. And the reason for it is simple - it would be difficult normally...but if you know how to U-Turn, you can hold blue fire after the tight left turn, and hold it all the way up to the narrow segment near the track end, and then you can U-Turn again to keep a marginal boost after the extremely tight turn right next to the end of the track to boost to the end of the track. This even worked in Hard mode, and on Hard Pinstripe, after you get past him and his bomb spam.

But yeah, I can't believe it's done. 3 nights ago, I thought I wouldn't even pass Crash Cove, and now here I am, with all of these times finally beaten, and with a much deeper knowledge of the game mechanics. I want to thank everyone on this topic who took the time to give me advice, and get me up to speed on these mechanics, and how to get through these time trials. I legitimately don't think I could've got here without you guys.  

[Jango]

I guess the full list of data mine wasn't shared here yet, so here we go:

Lots of cool things. All the previously leaked characters names were removed from files, leaving only a few like Brio, Moe, Nina, King Chicken (!) and babies Cortex and Tropy (yes, Rilla Roo was removed, shame ).

Dark Coco skin also listed, don't loose hope goth lolis fans.

There's also a new... Class? It says "prototype" on the file tho'. Maybe Beenox is tinkering something.

Oh, the Nitro Festival icon was also found, it's a circus tent. Hmmmmmm.

[Sonicka]

Interesting stuff!

At this point it’s pretty much a monthly thing with no breaks then until Christmas I guess then?

A general festival/carnival theme for GP5 would make sense - November doesn’t hold anything specific I can think of beyond Bonfire Night with Fireworks Festivities - but that’s a UK tradition and then you have thanksgiving in the US.

GP6 (because this will undoubtably happen) is obviously going to be Christmas Related, with Santa style outfits for the Bandicoot teams and elf costumes for the Norm characters no doubt. 

Beyond this I wonder how much more support the title will receive in terms of updates and GP’s?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I think I was right on the money when I said a few weeks back that October would be a Twinsanity based prix. Not only due to Nina being the character, but Dark Coco, and Evil Crash slot in perfectly as the costumes for the nitro bar. This also means if Dark Coco is actually Evil Coco from Twinsanity (why didn't just call the other costume NV Coco?), there could be a chance to see some unused concepts as costumes. Hopefully meaning we might even get the Good version of Cortex that was planned - 

As for the track, I'm still holding out hope that it'll be a remake of Academy of Evil, it's the only real memorable area associated with Nina. 

[Jango]

A track based on Academy of Evil is a given at this point. 

Look how cool this fan art look:

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/androjuniarto/ctr-academy-of-evil

The file BetaM found says "Nina Night Ride" as the name of the track.

Really hope they make this track long as Prehistoric Playground or Twilight Tour, with parts going in and out of the school, to the boiler room area, to the rooftop area where you play as Nina for the first time in Twinsanity. Spyro Circuit was soooo short compared to the other 2.

[DabigRG]

I may have asked this before, but what's this King Chicken nonsense again?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

46 minutes ago, Jango said:

Spyro Circuit was soooo short compared to the other 2.

Hate to say it, but it's a track that really sucks.

For being based off of a game as wide open as the series it came from, Spyro Circuit is horribly linear. No real shortcuts and barely any alternating fork of path.

And it's terribly narrow, leading to a claustrophobic feeling, and not in the good way. The exploding chests certainly don't help things.

The track layout itself is quite bland. Furthermore, Spyro Circuit has some Dragon Mines-tier of infuriating design in the "boundaries" wherein so much as brushing up to the wall at times has gotten people respawned. And a bounce up the wall enough from speed friction will also spell doom for you. It's rather stupid design. 

And then, there's the worst aspect of the track, the portals. Why are these so hated? Oh quite simple.  Thanks to the way they work, if someone leaves a power-up, like say, a beaker or Nitro box, while driving through said portal,  they're impossible to avoid.

Finally, the track design does not lend itself well to any of the classes really, especially with a lot of turns resorting to going straight only to then cut off right in another direction,  not even cleverly.

Oy vey. One could write a whole essay on Spyro Circuit's problems; it's comparable to Dragon Mines, go figure.

24 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I may have asked this before, but what's this King Chicken nonsense again?

Eh, nothing confirmed, just an alleged character found in the files.

Some people noticed a door with chicken eggs on it in the Ruins area of the adventure mode and thought that might have something to do with it, given the abundance of chickens in this game.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

The part of Spyro Circuit that messes with me is the first doorway. Is it me or is there some really funky visual effect added to make the room appear small until you actually enter it?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

The part of Spyro Circuit that messes with me is the first doorway. Is it me or is there some really funky visual effect added to make the room appear small until you actually enter it?

That's likely moreso due to the cramped nature of the course. That say, the doorway is capable of suffering the invisible walls syndrome of this game.

[Sonicka]

I... I actually really like Spyro Circuit. I will happily admit that wasn’t very impressed with this back on release though, and there are still plenty of missed opportunities with the scope and portal to portal locations.

If anything the big bug bear for me was that the Artisans outdoors section should have been treated more openly than be constricted, like how Nintendo dealt with MK8’s Hyrule Field section of its circuit. 

But, a week of play has given it some newfound appeal. The track is definitely not long enough considering the legacy character, but I do have an appreciation for CTR’s short and tight track design variety that crop up - and this falls into that category nicely. 

There’s enough going on to keep online races exciting throughout with plenty of traps and hazards - this mixed with no sacred fire opportunities (unless you have the right set of items or conditions) is excellent as then speedsters don’t dominate. 

Yes - the blindness to a Nitro Box or Potion being laid directly at the exit of the portal is devious... but on the flip side YOU feel a huge sense of self gratification when YOU are the one placing it. I’m also grateful that the portals are designed in a way that even hitting the edge of it still takes you through than have you colliding to a stop.

The wall respawn is an annoyance in the second section for sure, but this is what makes the shortcut an excellent risk/reward situation. If you could clip the edge without issue on landing everyone would be doing it without a fret. 

I cant speak to any other respawn sections or invisible walls on the track however as I’ve yet to come across this issue myself. 

But yeah, would be great to have a lengthier track next time. 

[Jango]

What bugs me about Spyro Circuit is the fact that I was SUPER hyped and I really wanted something based on Dreamweavers. I got a big underwhelming feeling.

I still like the track, but it's indeed too narrow and too short. And yeah, those fireworks can fuck off, especially the one sitting in the last left turn. The power-up in the portals, hey, I do that xD

Other than that, eh, it's an okay track at best. It's visually awesome, but that's a rule for every track in this game, so yeah. Also the music is pretty nice. 

Now I wonder. If they indeed make an Academy of Evil track, there's a chance we could get a remix from one of Spiralmouth songs The Academy of Evil songs are among my favorites from Twinsanity.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

If we could get some more Twinsanity tracks, personally, I'd love one based off Slip Slide Escapades, along with it's theme - 

Instead of the usual CTR tracks where you're always going in a straight shot around a track, I'd love them to try make a take on a stage where it's one singular track, like Wario Mountain, or Rainbow Road 64 from MK8. You start off on the station overlooking the mountain, driving off of it and slamming to the track below. Not only could you have shortcuts comprising of the ice tunnels that usually hides the gems in Twinsanity, but you could potentially have a lot of jumps over sawblades, and driving through the gag locations like Moulin Cortex, with N. Gin's battleship being the final stop of the track. Hell, you could even have the drivers slam through Dingodile's house like in the original game as part of the track.

Honestly, there's so much untapped potential for tracks with Twinsanity. Since that game was based around being semi-open world, and allowing you to revisit and replay levels via secret routes, it just helped to make the levels a lot more memorable than the other games, since they were focused more on locales/locations instead of actual gameplay segments being memorable.

Wrath of Cortex has some untapped potential as well, I'd love to see a stage based on the Jungle Jeep levels, or the castle levels. I'm a bit disappointed with the Spyro track, but I'm more disappointed that the tracks thus far have strictly kept to Classic Crash instead of exploring possibilities from after the original trilogy. I'm really hoping that Nina's track will start setting a standard for more of them.

[Sonicka]

46 minutes ago, Jango said:

What bugs me about Spyro Circuit is the fact that I was SUPER hyped and I really wanted something based on Dreamweavers. I got a big underwhelming feeling.

Yup. I completely agree on this. High expectations on track with a disappointing payoff - thankfully the characters, skins, karts and wheel sets and colours make up for it - I want most of this stuff this time.

It’s a complete 180 on the last Dino GP - low expectations but got an AMAZING track, little to no interest in any of the characters or skins though. 

Hopefully Nina’s Night ride will be a more balanced affair overall. But then a lot of this will be subjective to what individual players look forward too. Everyone has varying interests on different aspects of the franchise. 

Beyond the Original trilogy and playing a little of both Wrath and Twinsanity...  I have little affiliation beyond the Naughty Dog years. A good and bad thing I guess - no expectations, but I will miss the details and references included for diehard fans. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

As cool as Orange Asphalt being in this game may be, I can't help but be baffled as to why they did this.

 

On 9/7/2019 at 4:32 PM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I think I was right on the money when I said a few weeks back that October would be a Twinsanity based prix. Not only due to Nina being the character, but Dark Coco, and Evil Crash slot in perfectly as the costumes for the nitro bar. This also means if Dark Coco is actually Evil Coco from Twinsanity (why didn't just call the other costume NV Coco?), there could be a chance to see some unused concepts as costumes. Hopefully meaning we might even get the Good version of Cortex that was planned - 

As for the track, I'm still holding out hope that it'll be a remake of Academy of Evil, it's the only real memorable area associated with Nina. 

Well, anything that shows that the powers that be have an interest in finally giving the world the Twinsanity remake that it deserves, is fine with me.

[Blueknight V2.0]

On 9/7/2019 at 4:32 PM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I think I was right on the money when I said a few weeks back that October would be a Twinsanity based prix. Not only due to Nina being the character, but Dark Coco, and Evil Crash slot in perfectly as the costumes for the nitro bar. This also means if Dark Coco is actually Evil Coco from Twinsanity (why didn't just call the other costume NV Coco?), there could be a chance to see some unused concepts as costumes. Hopefully meaning we might even get the Good version of Cortex that was planned - 

As for the track, I'm still holding out hope that it'll be a remake of Academy of Evil, it's the only real memorable area associated with Nina. 

Yeah, I agree on October's GP being a Twinsanity themed track for Nina with the Academy of Evil. Something I've been thinking was a possibility since June. Now that we're getting much closer, it's seemingly much more apparent. And also the Evil Crash & Dark Coco skins add into it too.

Another thing some of you might not have noticed. In a recent datamine by BetaM that revealed Nina's Night Ride, another Cortex skin was found called "Angel Cortex". Not sure if it's for next month's GP, but Twinsanity is the only game that had that as an animation for Cortex.

Either way, I'm very excited to see what next months GP holds.