"secret" gameplay hints in Japanese XL manual

[AG-wolf]

See attached image.

I just noticed something in the manual for the Japanese version of XL for Saturn... it talks about how to get the boost at the start of each race, it mentions something about holding down on the D-Pad (presumably to pitch your nose up) and then it mentions something else about the left and right airbrakes... I can't understand japanese and I'm curious about this because I recall something Al and Arnaud showed me last year with a NeGcon on the PSX version of XL which supposedly went undocumented, and I wonder if this thing about the air brakes in the manual is something similar. The Saturn doesn't have a NeGcon, BUT this version DOES have support for both the Saturn steering wheel and the 3D-Analog pad (which has not only an analog stick, but analog triggers as well).

Does anyone here have any clue what this may say? Can any of the japanese members of the forums try to translate it? I can get a better scan of the page if necessary, I just took a quick picture with my cell phone for now...

[JABBERJAW]

tapping brakes only worked for piranha ship, and the piranha ship in the saturn version only runs at a maximum of venom speed (which sucks I might add). As far as the steering wheels are concerned, the steering works, the dpad does not. on the analog stick, either one or the other works when you select on the controller itself. I took out this device, but it defaults to analog, with no digital support. The only hopes of a saturn wheel to be able to control pitch, would be a wheel with an analog stick on it, which does not exist. OR when I pick up the ever exclusive ascii wheel, and mod it to the saturn, then it will be fully functional. I guess it may be possible to wire the dpad up/down function directly to the analog function, and it MAY WORK, but probably not. I will have to try this inside of the analog saturn controller and see if it works. I won't try this until after the tourney though, and AFTER I make the negcon work on the ps3 first, which I can do now, it will just take some time to complete.

[AG-wolf]

I'm still curious about what it says, at least... I'm gonna see if I can get a translation from someone.

[chri5]

I'll try to translate it. I'm learning Japanese and have a few Japanese friends who will help. Some of the characters are a little blur though...

[AG-wolf]

here's a higher-resolution scan of the image. There are some other pages I'd be curious to have translated as well, but this one first.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/5233/26011604.jpg

[Darkdrium777]

We need Xavier in here... (Not me, the other one)

[Xavier]

At your service!

The two kanji at the top left are uri, meaning "sell", and tora meaning "tiger", but that doesn't mean anything; it's just a pun on the word "ultra".

The big katakana across the middle say "adrenalin secretion", then below that "dopamine formula". Inside the white rectangle on the top right is "sweep away [all] rivals at once", and below that, "industrial techno".

Now for the explanation of the controls:

Above "control for a rapid racing" is, "special techniques for driving faster" (their English is just about right :) )

The text, which is what everyone's presumably interested in, says:

To go faster in Wipeout XL, you can't just race normally. If you master hese techniques, becoming a champion won't be just a dream.

Chart:
L, R buttons: decrease speed
L+R buttons: large decrease in speed
left directional button + L: sharp left turn (tail slide)
right directional button + R: sharp right turn (tail slide)

1. Learn to use the air brakes

Touching the walls and the track: do this less often and you'll gain a lot of time. Air brakes will decrease your speed and help you make sharp turns, but your tail will swing, so using the engine brake (let go of the B (accelerator) button) along with this is a good way to attack corners.

2. Dash ahead with a rocket start!

Let the thrust gauge get up to the last two panels on the right. When you're about to hear "GO!", let go of B and then press it again. [The diagram and text say just about the same thing.]

3. Control the nose of your ship

Touching the track with the nose of your ship after a jump will cost you speed. To avoid this, nose your ship up a bit immediately before landing. While in the air, however, holding the button down will result in air resistance, and you'll lose speed, so be careful.

That's about what it says. Didn't we know this already?

[AG-wolf]

sad, yes, i guess it was nothing special... Thank you very much for the translation though D: Im going to grab a couple other parts of the manual that I'm curious about, if you'd be willing to translate them as well :)

[Xavier]

No problem, AG-Wolf!

BTW, I'm looking at my own copy of XL, and that page isn't in it! All the pages have a dark blue background. Does the Saturn manual have more detail than the PSX version? The PSX manual is 24 pages long.

[AG-wolf]

here, i actually had scanned the whole manual at one point:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=COIZNKHS

:D