You and your roller skating friends have taken over a disused multi-story
car park where you are holding a competition to find the championship
skater.
Each level of the car park has a course laid out using tyres, boxes, traffic
cones, tin cans, ramps etc. It is around this course you must skate,
performing stunts to impress the judges, whilst passing between the timing
gates.
Fellow skaters will judge your performance and award marks at the end of
the course - should you complete it - and these marks determine whether you
may progress to the next level.
There is a wide variety of stunts you can perform to impress the judges -
jumping from the ground or from ramps, twisting in the air, jumping over
obstacles, etc. However, be careful not to tire yourself too much. Jumping,
falling down, crashing and skidding are all very tiring and will register
on your fatigue meter. If your fatigue meter reaches full you will have
to retire from the game, exhausted!
As you pass through the starting flags the timer on the screen will start.
You have until the time runs out to reach either the next gate - a pair of
cones (special cones if it is a "backwards gate")*, or the flags at the end
of a course. Failing to complete a section of the course between gates
results in the loss of one of your four lives. Reaching the next gate with
the timer in the green earns you a bonus. An extra bonus is awarded if you
didn't crash after the last gate.
You may skip gates if you get lost or are in desperate trouble, but if a gate
is skipped you must pass through the next one - and you may only skip up to
a maximum of five gates, any more and you will be disqualified!
* Please Note:
On the CBM 64 version of "SKATE CRAZY" all the gates are marked by flags.
Yellow flags mark normal gates and red mark the "backward gates".
After the judges have awarded their marks - and providing you have impressed
them enough to progress to the next level - you will be placed in front of
two doors.* Skating towards the RIGHT door takes you to the next level of the
CAR PARK CHALLENGE. The LEFT door takes you to the CHAMPIONSHIP course.
Changing from one game to the other does not loose your level within either
game. e.g. Should you change to the Championship course after completing
level 2 and then later come back to CAR PARK CHALLENGE, you will resume on
level 3.
All four levels of each game must be completed to finish SKATE CRAZY.
JUDGING:
There are four judges each assessing different aspects of your
skating ability:
JUDGE 1: OVERALL SKATING
+ good jump landings, collecting bonuses, backwards skating.
- crashing and skidding.
JUDGE 2: COURSE
+ good time between gates, knocking can over.
- missing gates, not reaching gates in time.
JUDGE 3: JUMPING FROM RAMPS
+ complexity and variety of moves.
- bad landings, repeating stunts too often.
JUDGE 4: JUMPING FROM FLOOR
+ Complexity and variety of moves, objects jumped.
- bad landings, repeating stunts too often.
N.B. Jumping without performing a stunt will not impress the judges, but
they will not penalise you either.
Moving Freddy
Holding the joystick in the required direction causes Freddy to skate in that
direction, accelerating to a maximum speed. Once you let go of the joystick
and it returns to its central position, Freddy will freewheel to a halt.
To turn Freddy and keep his speed, move the joystick to an adjacent position
(if travelling up, then up-left and up-right and adjacent positions). Freddy
can do a large sharp turn without losing speed by moving the joystick to the
required direction using adjacent directions.
* PLEASE NOTE
On the CBM 64 version after completing one level you are placed on a ramp.
Skate to the RIGHT for the next level of the CAR PARK CHALLENGE or LEFT for
the CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE.
Moving the joystick to a new direction that is not adjacent will make Freddy
skid to a halt, and then set off in the new direction (useful for braking).
Jumping
Freddy can jump in two ways - from the floor and off ramps.
To jump from the floor, select the height of the jump using the FIRE button
and power meter. When moving in the required direction and speed, hold the
fire button down and you will see your power meter quickly rise. Release the
button when the required power is reached to start the jump. Jumping
obstacles on the floor requires good timing. Jumping from a ramp is similar
- once direction and speed are reached use the button to select your jump
power, but now the ramp will automatically release the power for you as you
hit it, so keep the button pressed until after the jump has started. If you
release the button too early, you will jump over the ramp like the other
floor obstacles.
The judges base their marks for jumping on the variety and complexity of the
manoeuvre. The complexity of a jump is assessed on the number of half turns
and changes of direction, and whether the landing was O.K. (landing backwards
particularly impresses the judges).
Twisting In Jumps
To twist during a jump is fairly easy - simply turn the joystick clockwise or
anti-clockwise (or a mixture as you get better). Be careful to move through
the adjacent directions throughout the turn.
There are rules to landing a jump correctly. You must either face the same
direction, adjacent to take off direction, or directly backwards. If you
land backwards you will continue moving backwards with all the directions
reversed (you will need to be able to skate backwards for the special gates
in the higher levels). To return to forward skating perform another jump and
land facing forwards. If you crash into something you will get up facing
forwards.
Ducking
This manoeuvre can be performed on all levels, but is only needed on the
later levels. It is performed by pressing FIRE while freewheeling. Use the
duck to pass under low barriers. Should you come to a half while ducking
you will get up immediately, so make sure you're going fast enough to clear
the obstacles.
Objects And Uses
FLAGS - Mark the beginning and end of the course.
ARROWS - Mark the course route. Ignore these and you may get lost or miss gates.
CONES - Used in pairs to mark a course gate.
TYRES - Used as course guides and obstacles to jump over.
BOXES - Used as course guides and obstacles to jump over.
CANS - Bonus multipliers. At the end of the level your score is
multiplied by the number of cans knocked over - get as many as you can.
PILLARS - Support the roof of the car park! They may look small but you can't jump them.
RAMPS - To jump off, allowing complex jumps and twists.
OIL - Skating into an oil patch will make you skid. Avoid!
GLASS - Uneven and tiring surface.
SAND - Slows you down swiftly. Tiring to skate through.
POTHOLES - Throw you into a short skid at a random angle.
HOLES - Fall through floor - instant death - avoid at all costs.
TARGET - Skate onto this slowly to present yourself for judging at the end of a course.
Other skaters will also be skating in the Car Park. Some are just a nuisance,
all will knock you down if you hit them.
