Motor Toon Grand Prix
Frequently Asked Questions
MOTOR TOON GRANDPRIX 2 The Original FAQ
Editition 1.09 by Matthew Sephton
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CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The Game
1.2 Graphics
1.3 Gameplay
2.0 Playing Concepts
2.1 The Joypad
2.2 Driving
2.3 Characters
2.4 Tracks
2.5 Weapons
2.6 Ghost Racers
2.7 Two Player Battle
3.0 Cheats
3.1 Goodies
3.2 Hidden Options
3.3 Shortcuts
3.4 Fast Starts
4.0 What Do You Know?
4.1 Contacting The Author
4.2 Release
4.3 E&OE
4.4 Thanks
5.0 Version history
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
This FAQ aims to be the definitive source of information for the PlayStation
game Motor Toon Grand Prix 2, henceforth MTGP2. It serves no other purpose.
At this time no manual in any language has been seen by the author.
1.1 THE GAME
Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 is, in my opinion, and at the time of writing (August
1996), the best game on the Sony PlayStation. It is a cartoon based, cutsey
driving game. It features Championships, Time Attacks, Free Runs, Replays,
Ghost Racers, multitudes of options and overall brilliant gameplay. It is a
collaborative effort between Sony Japan (SCEI E.D.D.#1), Bandit Inc.
(Programming) and Opus Corp. (Music & SFX) and thus features one of the best
combination of programming, graphics and music I have seen to date.
1.2 GRAPHICS
However pretty the scenery may look it is of no functional use. Such items as
the Pirate Ship, Zeppelin, Ferris Wheel, Waterfall, Windmill and so on are
for aesthetic value only - there are no hidden entrances or such. The game
either preevents you from touching the scenery or provides no collision
detection for the scenery. One interesting point is that is possible to jump
onto the top of some buildings, but is that really any use in the game?
1.3 GAMEPLAY
The game is simplicity itself to play. However it can take time to become a
master. To show what I mean here's an example. I set a record with Billy
The Tough on Toon Island II and thought that it would take a lot to beat,
trying again and coming within hundredths of it. Coming back to that record
a week later I shaved at least a second off it!
Experimentation with driving lines is the only way to improve lap times.
Learning how each weapon operates and where is best to use it is the key to
ploughing through the field in a race.
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2.0 PLAYING CONCEPTS
As with any other game playing skills will improve over time. Perseverence is
the key. Select a character and stick with them to learn how they drive. The
same can be said when learning courses.
2.1 DRIVING
It is essential that a good driving line is taken. Try to enter corners wide
and get as close to the apex as you can without hitting it. Take time to
learn the layout of each course. Driving off course will slow you down.
To turn tight corners more easily hold down the brake whilst still
accelerating, causing your machine to skid or slide. It is sometimes more
beneficial to slow down around a corner than to go full speed around it.
However don't slow down too much (one quick press on the brake is more than
often enough) try dabbing the brake if you have to use it a lot. If you do
need to use it a lot, then try to change the angle of approach to that corner
so you don't have to use it as much.
Turning after a jump also helps to get around those tight corners. An example
is when you go under the bridge on Toon Village. If you turn your vehicle
slightly just as you go into the jump, you will tilt in the air. On landing
you will make a sharper turn than normal.
It is possible to gain extra speed by slipstreaming other vehicles as in real
life racing. Just approach another vehicle from behind and the square in the
middle of your revometer will change colour from blue through red and orange
to yellow according to how well you are slip streaming. Results vary
according to character but are typically similar to that gained by using
three power ups.
2.2 THE JOYPAD
Here is a list of the default joypad buttons and their functions.
BUTTON RACING REPLAYS
Left Turn left
Right Turn right
Square Brake Change driver view direction
Triangle Reverse Change driver view direction
Circle Start/select items Toggle driver or TV camera style replay
Cross Accelerate Toggle driver or TV camera style replay
L1 Behind view Zoom view in
R1 Zoom view out
L2 Zoom view in
R2 Zoom view out
Start Pause menu Pause menu
Select Beeps horn Beeps horn
2.3 CHARACTERS
SCEI use Captain Rock for all their racing, but this is not to say that he is
the best character. On the contrary, I have beat several of the SCEI records
using, for example, Billy The Tough and Raptor & Raptor. Princess Jean is
best for beginners giving a natural progression to Billy The Tough.
DRIVER ROCK JEAN BOLBOX PENGUIN RAPTOR VANITY BILLY CHING
Handling 4 1 3 8 7 6 2 5
Forward 303 282 293 311 271 340 291 337
Forward PU 306 287 309 321 282 341 293 349
Backward 74 63 71 59 299 103 87 103
Brake 10 10.5 10.5 11 4.5 5.5 20.5 5
Brake PU 5.5 7.5 6 7 3.5 4.5 16 3.5
Speed 4 7 5 3 8 1 6 2
100km/h 3.27 3.20 3.19 3.20 1.00 3.17 4.75 3.14
200km/h 6.26 6.31 6.61 6.44 2.20 6.41 7.85 6.41
Max 13.09 12.12 15.18 13.62 5.67 17.53 11.75 14.11
Max PU 4.46 4.72 6.16 5.42 2.48 4.84 4.71 5.83
Accel. 3 2 7 6 1 5 8 4
KEY: Rough timings are in seconds, braking distances are in white lines,
other ratings are in the range 1=best to 8=worst. PU = with 3 Power Ups.
An interesting point is that Raptor & Raptor travels faster backwards than
forwards. I have used this (holding down L1 does not reverse the controls
for steering left and right) to better a number of normal Raptor records but
it does spoil the game a little. In my experience Billy The Tough can beat
records set with backwards Raptor.
2.4 TRACKS
The tracks are in no real difficulty order, but some have trickier sections
than others. People have their favourite for different reasons.
Note the difference between pinkey coloured roadside. Pink, as long as it is
only touched slightly will not affect your speed - unlike other coloured
roadside. (eg. Toon Island II - the chicane just before the home straight)
Driving off the course will also slow down your vehicle's performance.
There are a total of ten tracks plus the MT-R track.
2.5 WEAPONS
The time denotes how many seconds the effect lasts for. Times may not apply
or may vary, see the symbol key below. The remaining time the item has left
is displayed just under the lap times. Only the first three Power Ups have an
affect on performance.
ITEM TIME EFFECT
2nd Boost * ! Turbo applied to other player.
32t Weight F Slows down victim.
Big, Bigger, Biggest! 10 Increases your size and decreases top speed.
Crazy Mushroom F Missile which makes victim dizzy.
Dynamite D Drops behind you, rolls then explodes.
Fireball F Missile which throws victim into the air.
Jump ! Jumps your machine into the air. Handy.
Magic Hand * ! Steals current item from other player.
Missile F Homing missile. Cruise control during flight.
Oil Slick D Erratic driving for whoever drives across it.
Pandora's Box ! Disorientates other players.
Power Up ! Increases machine performance for race duration.
Stealth Field 10 Makes your machine invisible to other players.
Super Shield 10 Makes your machine invincible and faster.
Tiny, Tiny, Tiny! 7 Decreases your size and increases top speed.
Turbo ! Gives your machine burst of acceleration.
Wonder Clock ! Freezes all other characters.
KEY: * = items only available in link-up mode, D = Dropped on track,
F = fired at player in front, ! = instantaneous.
The Wheel o' Items is position dependant, in that the items it contains are
dependant on your race position, or more accurately the time difference
between you and the race leader. Pandora's Box and Wonder Clock will appear
more often if you are nearer the back of the pack. You can quite accurately
select the weapon of your choice through knowing that the wheel if stopped
during the first few rotations (ie. before it starts to slow down) will take
one rotation to stop.
If you get thrown up in the air by another driver try to use it to your
advantage. Try and take a shortcut or land on other drivers.
2.6 GHOST RACERS
When you complete a time attack and return to the option screen you will see
that the 'Save Video...' option is now enabled. You can save that replay to
your memory card for future replays or to race against! Later you can 'Load
Ghost from Video...' and you can then race against it in the time attack.
Be aware that the game records every move you make on the joypad so the more
buttons you press or the longer your race is - the more space the replay
takes up. A safe approximation is that you can fit about 10 in one memory
card slot.
With an analog controller such as the NegCon from Namco, you can fit only 2
per slot! This is due to the fact that digital controllers send data in the
form 'Left for X seconds, right for Y seconds' and analog send it in the form
'A degrees left for X seconds, B degrees right for Y seconds'. A change in
degrees will mean more information.
2.7 TWO PLAYER BATTLE
If you are lucky enough to have a circle of friends with two copies of the
game (or the Japanese dual CD version), two PlayStations and two TVs then you
can play a two player battle. This is just a race with two machines. A number
of options are available in this game mode (defaults in CAPITALS):
ITEMS ON/off
2nd CAR BOOST none/low/HIGH
GAME STYLE NORMAL/scratch
LAPS/points 2+
ITEMS switches the wheel o' items on or off. 2nd CAR BOOST alters how much of
a hand in terms of catch up speed the player losing gets. GAME STYLE changes
a normal set number of laps race to a 'one point per lap' race, the winner
being the first to a set number of points.
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3.0 CHEATS
There a few real cheats for MTGP2, but many hidden options or secrets. Those
that I know of are outlined below.
3.1 GOODIES
Each time you complete the game you are rewarded with a goody. These are
listed below.
EASY Extra Characters,
Vanity (Motorbike), Billy The Tough (Train) and Ching Tong Shang (F1).
NORMAL Extra Tracks,
These are the first five tracks in reverse mode with different scenery
and colours.
HARD Tank Combat,
Similar to Spectre VR on PC and Mac. A first person tank game in
keeping with the MTGP2 character themes. Linkable.
PROF. Submarine X,
A 3D implementation of the Battleships board game. Linkable.
EXPERT Motor Toon R and README,
Race a modified version of Toon Island II in a real F1 or Stock car.
Handles realistically(?).
A history of MTGP2, its making and cheats(?).
DEBUG MODE
It is possible to get the Goodies without completing the game over and over
using the Debug mode method outlined in the next section.
3.2 HIDDEN OPTIONS
A number of SCEI options used silently by the game can be activated by a few
button presses.
ADVANCED OPTIONS
Hold L1, L2, R1 and R2 whilst choosing Options to obtain more options.
SCEI REPLAYS
Hold down R1 when selecting any memory card accessing option to divert the
game to the built-in SCEI replays on the game CD. You can now watch or race
against ghosts of the SCEI team's best times.
DEBUG MODE
Choose Goodies from the main menu. Hold anyone of the L or R buttons and push
select. You should see four numbers in the lower right corner of the screen.
Now R1=1, R2=2, L1=4 and L2=8. By combining the button presses (eg. L1+R1=5)
it is possible to compose any base 16 (hex) number. So, hold the appropriate
L and R buttons and press select to enter the digit.
GOODY JAP. US UK
Extra Characters 4e43 ???? ????
Extra Tracks 4154 ???? ????
Tank Combat 5443 ???? ????
Submarine X 5358 ???? ????
Motor Toon R 4631 ???? ????
README ???? ???? ????
3.3 SHORTCUTS
Here are a few legal shortcuts which can speed up your lap times.
TOON VILLAGE
1 ALL CHARACTERS
Use a Jump to hop onto the bringe just before the home straight. You may
find it a little easier if you approach from the left side of the road.
CRAZY COASTER
1 ALL CHARACTERS
Where the track goes over head (where they cross on the map) use a jump
to jump from the top og the hill onto the track above. Cuts loads off.
GULLIVERS HOUSE II
1 ALL CHARACTERS
Just before the table lamp, it is possible to jump the track divider. It
may be easier to approach from the left side of the road and do a
handbrake turn just before you jump to make sure you've changed direction
by almost 180 degrees when you land and still get the speed up arrow.
2 RAPTOR & RAPTOR
Because of Raptor's hovering ability it can jump over low obstructions.
One such area is the platform with the glass on the right hand side of
the road before the home straight. Drive between the glass and the wall.
SNOW VILLAGE
1 ALL CHARACTERS
The pond is frozen over, so it can be driven over just like a corner
missing out a little bit of road.
HEAVENLY CASTLE
1 ALL CHARACTERS
Where the track doubles back on itself the wall has gaps in it. If you are
travelling fast enough you can jump through the second gap from the right
onto the road ahead. You may find it a little easier to steer right during
the jump. Works even better with Raptor & Raptor.
3.4 FAST STARTS
It is possible to do fast starts! The position on the revometer where the
colours change from blue to green will give a fast start if the needle in
it's vacinity when the character starts to move. There is a slight margin for
error, in that I have got a near enough version of the above by being just
too high on the revometer and got a little bit of a skid before the start.
If this happens just make a instantaneous dab on the accelerator.
However, the needle rises at different speeds for each character. This makes
trying to land the needle in the correct position a game in itself! What I
try to do is pre-empt the comentator saying go. Just keep trying - it is
possible! Try using Princess Jean she was easiest for me, other characters
like Billy The Tough rise so fast I would say it's virtually impossible to
get the very fastest start with him.
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4.0 WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
If you have any additions which you think should be included in this FAQ then
please send them to me as below. Already there are a number of questions
that need answering.
1 The last Goody 'README' is in Japanese. Can anybody translate it or offer
a type up of the UK version?
2 Can anybody access the Yellow Taxi Cabs which you see racing on the demo
of some tracks? They seem to replace the three bonus machines.
3 What does the number to the right of the Replay name mean? It looks like
some sort of timing (3:11.23), and decreases with every replay save.
4 Does anybody know how to do a better fast start than outlined above?
4.1 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
The author of this FAQ, Matthew Sephton, can be contacted by e-mail or
through his web page (which contains information about Bjork, other music,
the Sony PlayStation and contains some of my Windows 95 Shareware).
e-mail: [email protected]
www: http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~u5ms/
4.2 RELEASE
This FAQ is obtainable from various places on the internet, but the latest
version can always be downloaded from this URL:
http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~u5ms/PS/mtgp2faq.txt
4.3 E&OE
All errors and omissions excluded. As far as I know the information in this
document is accurate. Correct me if I'm wrong. Use at your own risk.
4.4 THANKS
Original FAQ by Matthew Sephton. Thanks to my brother Chris Sephton for all
his help. Debug tip from <[email protected], with extra information
from <[email protected]. <[email protected] for slipstream information, my
mate Jason Jones for the Crazy Coaster shortcut.
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5.0 VERSION HISTORY
1.00, 06 Aug 1996 Original release.
1.01, 08 Aug 1996 Fast start added, slight reorganisation and modification.
1.02, 12 Aug 1996 Fast start: section improved.
1.03, 13 Aug 1996 Debug mode section improved.
1.04, 15 Aug 1996 Weapons section improved, fast start finalised.
1.05, 19 Aug 1996 Ghost racer section added.
1.06, 30 Aug 1996 Slipstream added, debug section fixed.
1.07, 24 Sep 1996 Turning around a jump added.
1.08, 20 Nov 1996 Crazy Coaster shortcut added.
1.09, 17 Dec 1996 Two player battle section added.
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