Beach Spikers FAQ and Strategy Guide v0.3b Written by Z-Force (z-force@execpc.com) Table of Contents I Intro and Disclaimer II Version History III Frequently Asked Questions IV Game Modes V Basic Gameplay VI World Tour Mode VII The Teams VIII Codes, tricks, and unlockables IX Contributor list Intro and Disclaimer READ BEFORE SENDING ME EMAIL This FAQ is designed to be a strategy guide for Beach Spikers on Gamecube. Mainly, it’s designed to cover World Tour mode, but it will cover everything else as well. The latest updates to this FAQ are on www.gamefaqs.com. If you want to use this FAQ for a site, please let me know, and I will probably give you permission, unless your site is a pay site of some sort (coughcoughIGNcoughcough), however, don’t expect me to send the latest updates to you, they will ONLY be available at gamefaqs.com. Also, if you want to use my FAQ on your site, DO NOT ALTER THIS DISCLAIMER IN ANY WAY!!!!! (That means you cheatcc.com) If you want to email me something to add to this FAQ, that’s great and you will receive full credit. However, do not send me questions that are covered in this FAQ, or you WILL be ignored. Everything I know about the game is in this FAQ, I’m not hiding anything from you. Version History Version 0.1 (8-27-2002) First version, everything you see is new Version 0.2 (9-16-2002) Updated the Disclaimer, and added a Frequently asked Questions Section Version 0.3 (9-17-2002) Added some info on the Versus mode games Version 0.3b (1-24-2003) Removed the Nude Code I made up in spite of people actually asking me if there’s a nude code for this game. If you’re the sort of person who needs a nude code for a video game, I advise seeking professional help. Game Modes Arcade Mode This is the same as the game is in the arcades (That’s what the manual says, so I have to take its word for it, since the arcades around me don’t have this game and probably never will) You will play in an elimination tournament, and will face off against 3 teams. Continues are allowed. If you beat the first 3 teams, you may have to play against the Dural team. I don’t know if you play them every time yet, or if there is a certain condition for unlocking them (If there is, I’m guessing that you beat the first 3 teams without continuing). You play to 15 points in this mode, although by default you start off at 10 points each, but you can change this in the options mode if you like. World Tour This is IMO, the meat and potatoes of the game. You get to create your character and partner, and play through a series of tournaments. Your partner starts off terrible, but you build her up along the way until she’s a volleyball machine. Once you’re done with World Tour mode, you can play with your created team in the other modes. Versus Mode You can play a quick game either against the CPU or with other players. You can change the settings to suit your needs. There are also Minigames you can play in as follows. These games are kind of boring when played alone, but can be entertaining with a group of friends. Beach Flags This mode is basically a button mashing race. You pick your team (up to four people can play this game) At the start you must hold down on the control stick to put your head down. When the announcer says “GO!” immediately let go of the control stick and start mashing the A button as fast as possible. When you get to the jump point, hit B to dive for the flag. The two winning players will face off for the title of Grand Beach Flag champion of the Universe. Beach Countdown This mode is like a cross between the regular game, and one of those puzzles where you have to leave the person you’re playing against with the last item, while selecting 1, 2 or 3 of them. This is a volleyball game with a bomb. You have two hits to get the ball over to the other side (you will automatically return it to the other side on the second hit) The bomb has a certain number of points on it, and when it reaches zero, it explodes, and whichever side it is on when it explodes loses. If the bomb hits the ground on your side, you also can lose that way. The A button decreases the count by 1, the B button decreases it by 2, and the A+B (or X or Y) buttons decrease it by 3. This game is a lot more interesting than the last one. You can also set it so that a random new rule is thrown into the game at certain intervals, which can do stuff like double the points taken off for each hit. Beach PK This is a cross between volleyball and a soccer penalty kick shootout. You and the opposing side each get 5 attacks, and the object is to hit the ball onto the ground in one of the goal areas on their side of the field. When you are on offense, the ball will be tossed to you by your partner, and you must try to land an attack in the goal area. If you are on defense, you must try and block the shot by the attackers. Whoever has scored more goals after 5 shots is the winner. If there is no winner, the game continues into Sudden Death. You can select the size and type of the goal, or have it random each time. Tutorial Mode This mode shows you how to do the various moves in the game and allows you to practice them in a series of drills. Options Set the options to your liking Basic Gameplay This section will give you insight on the controls, and your various means of whacking the ball around. The first and most important rule is that the X and Y buttons are your friends. Either of these buttons will have the same effect as pressing the A and B buttons at the same time, which is how certain moves are executed. This is important because it’s kind of hard to press A+B on the Gamecube controller, making moves done this way (mainly the jump serve) more unreliable. In this FAQ, I will list the X button to press for certain moves, you can substitute either the Y button for this (if that button is more comfortable for you) or the A+B buttons (if you’re a sadist) Serving Serving of course, is the act of getting the ball to the other side of the court. You can move your character into position with the control stick, and serve with any of the buttons. The meter on your left is the power bar, you’ll want to get this as high as you can before serving. If you take too long to serve (there will be a Hurry Up warning) you will miss the serve, and forfeit a point and the ball to the other team. There are 3 different types of serves. While hitting the ball, you can also aim your serve with the control stick Underhand Serve (B) – This is the weakest serve, but you don’t have to worry about making an error while serving. I don’t recommend using this one. Overhand Serve (A) – A good mid range serve. You might make an error if you aim wrong or don’t hit it hard enough, but this serve will serve you well most of the time. Jump Serve (X) – The strongest serve. I always use this one. If you want to use it, make sure your power is always at least 80%, or you run the risk of a service error. Against the weaker teams, a max power jump serve is often hard to return. Receiving This is the first of the 3 hits in most cases, it’s used to set up the next two contacts. There are 3 different ways of doing it Normal Receive (A) – The basic receive, and the one you will use in most instances Low Receive (B) – Not sure about this one, never really use it in normal play Two Attack (X) – Calls for a Two Attack, meaning that the person the ball is hit to will do an attack rather than tossing the ball. This can be useful for catching your opponent off guard, if their last hit was a weak one, and the players are out of position Tossing This is the second hit, and is used to set up the attack. For the first two, I’m not really sure of the differences yet. Normal Toss (A) Quick Toss (B) Two Return (X) – This will hit the ball back over the net to the enemies, possibly catching them off guard, but more often giving them the ball for free. I would recommend not using this. Attacking This is the 3rd and final hit, used to send the ball to the enemy’s side and hopefully score a point. You can aim your attack with the control stick, also there is a power meter showing how hard your attack will be. Generally, the better the set up was for the attack was, the higher maximum power you will be allowed. For example, if you got a good hit that your partner was in place for, you will probably be allowed full power to hit the ball. If it was a crappy toss from out of bounds or something, you won’t be able to put as much power into it. Spike (A) – Smack the ball as hard as you can to the other side of the court. This is the staple attack move, but watch out for blocks if the opponent is close to the net. Feint Shot (B) – This move is great to use if you are worried about a block (i.e. the returning is right at the net and jumping) You will hit the ball lightly over their heads. If one opponent is set for a block, and the other is out of position, feint the shot to where the partner isn’t standing and you’ll almost always get a point. Spike at Blocker’s Hands (X) – With this shot, you’re hoping that it goes off their hands and out of bounds for a one touch. Blocking You can block with the A button. If you time it right, you can counter the enemy’s attack and hit it right into their court for a point. I’m not sure of the timing on this one though, if anyone has any advice, let me know, and I’ll add it in. World Tour Mode As I’ve stated before, this is the bread and butter of the game. You get to start by creating a character and partner, then you’ll play through 8 tournaments, looking to advance in the rankings and be #1 in the World. Here are different tricks and strategies Rule #1: You WILL lose at first. Your partner will be completely incompetent and inept. Even if you are a god at the game, your partner will drag you down. You will get frustrated at first, but as you build up your partner, she will become tougher and better When creating your team, you get to select a country. It is a good idea to pick a country that fields a powerful team because then you won’t have to play against them. Brazil is the strongest team in the game, so they’re a likely candidate. Your partner has seven attributes, here is a description of each Serve – The higher this is, the better your partner will serve. With a higher level, she will serve with greater levels on the power meter. Once her rating gets to about 10, she’ll do full power jump serves, so you don’t need to go any higher than this Receive – The higher this is, the better your partner will be at receiving strong attacks and serves. At low levels, she’ll often miss these and hit the ball into the sand or do something else lame. Attacking - The higher this is, the better your partner will be at attacking. At low levels, she may have the potential to do a 100% spike, but she’ll probably hit at like 20% or something. Sometimes she’ll also spike the ball right out of bounds. Block – Makes your partner better at blocking. If you build this stat high enough, she can block lots of attacks and get you points without any work on your part. Toss – Affects your partner’s ability to toss you the ball. At low levels, she might toss the ball over the net rather than setting you up for an attack. Power - This is basically a blanket attribute that improves all of your other attributes. Needless to say it’s important. Response – The higher this is, the faster your partner will respond to stuff, hustling to get to the ball, etc. The most important attribute IMO, especially early on. When building up your character, I recommend emphasis on Response, and maybe power too. Once you’ve got these up to a respectable level, you don’t have to focus on them as much. Build your other attributes as you see fit, or feel there’s need for improvement depending on your playing style. I would distribute a point to serve each time you get some points until you’re up to 8 or so, at which point, she will be good enough at serving that you don’t need to worry about it anymore. Teamwork – This is very important, the higher this is, the better your partner will play overall, and the more attribute points she’ll get after a match for stat improvement. After every 10 points, you’ll have 4 different interactions you can do with your partner, which may raise or lower teamwork depending on the circumstances. Here’s some advice for each one. This is a rough guide, and if anyone has more insight here, send it in. Praise – Best used once your partner is competent and you’re winning by a lot (3 or more points) Encourage – If the game is close, this one might help. I don’t use it too often though. Useful at the middle stages of your partner’s development. Reprimand – You will use this all the time early in world tour when your partner is stinking up the court. Once she’s built up, you probably won’t need it anymore. Do Nothing – Best used if the game is tied, or your teamwork is already 100%. You won’t lose or gain more than a couple points for this one, so it’s safe in most instances. The Teams For each team, I will list the country, the players, the rating for the team (for use in Original mode in the Arcade game and World Tour mode) and any other comments I might have. Ratings range from SS (best) to S, A, and B (worst) The B ranked teams are generally really bad, and are easily defeated. A ranked teams are a little better, but you should still be able to beat them with practice. S ranked teams are tough, and give you a close match. SS ranked teams (or team, since Brazil is the only SS team) are really dangerous and powerful. USA Players: Lisa Mayer and Thelma Garnett Rating: S Brazil Players: Veronyca Marques and Akasha Costa Rating: SS Australia Players: Mira Joyce and Nicole Fraser Rating: S Spain Players: Gloria Sanchez and Elena Garcia Rating: B Japan Players: Naomi Wakui and Hikaru Sunaga Rating: A Italy Players: Irene Fano and Loretta Gilardi Rating: A France Players: Carine Lafont and Sophie Rouch Rating: A Cuba Players: Debra Gomez and Petra Fleta Rating: S Canada Players: Jullia Quilico and Luca Olvis Rating: B Mexico Players: Angela Sandi and Jessica Salinas Rating: B Thailand Players: Pinjai Tankul and Ratee Savana Rating: B Netherlands Players: Nel Feilke and Manon Renesse Rating: A China Players: Xiuhua Lee and Ling Cui Rating: A Germany Players: Anita Erhart and Hilda Wolff Rating: A England Players: Mary Clare and Susan Evans Rating: B Jamaica Players: Lynda Howell and Irie Coxe Rating: B Codes, Tricks and Unlockables Extra Outfits (for World Tour Mode) Arcade - The first 4 times you beat Arcade mode, you unlock some extra outfits. You also get extra outfits for clearing all the tutorials. World Tour Mode – The first time you clear it, you get some outfits, as well as extra stages. If you clear it in first place, you also get some bonus outfits. Passwords – Put these in when selecting your name for your character in World Tour Mode. They each unlock extra faces and outfits. When they work, you will hear a cheer, and the name will disappear JUSTICE (Virtua Cop uniform) DAYTONA (Daytona USA uniform) FVIPERS (Fighting Vipers uniform) ARAKATA (Space Channel 5 uniform) PHANTA2 (Phantasy Star 2 uniform) OHTORII (Sega uniform) Dural Teams If you clear World Tour with 100% Teamwork, you play the Gold and Silver Dural Team. Beating it with 30% or less Teamwork, you play the Black Dural Team. Beating either of these teams gets you some extra faces for creating a character. To play Unlocked stages in Arcade mode, hold down R while selecting Arcade mode. Contributor List None yet, send me some info and your name will be added here.