XJ220 The Game Pro Enthusiast Thread

[dex]

After playing a lot of car games and recently some older ones (like the excellent Lotus trilogy) I returned to the one racer I could never finish: XJ220 The Game. I would like to invite anyone who actually knows what he's doing in the game and can actually finish it to this thread - to help other poor guys like me finish this

As an introduction, let's talk about HOW difficult this game is to complete: I finished quite a lot of racing games from rally games like Colin McRae, Burns etc. over arcade Racers on DOS like Screamer 2 to futuristic racers like the whole WipeOut series or Hi Octane over all platforms from DOS to PS1, PS2, PSP to PS3 and Vita to modern arcade/sim racers such as Gran Turismo 3-6, Forza or the pure Arcade NFS: Most Wanted + Remake, Rivals and also Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2, The Crew, Driveclub or whatever - you name it, I probably played and completed it (that means if the game has a full season/career/championship). Yet, XJ220 is still standing as the one who can't be beat - or can it?

So, what about XJ220 then?

I won a few races, I roughly can get about as far as the one longer Youtube video where a player seems to get pretty far but th en quits recording. I already learned that the car performs worse if it's damaged, though it's not always clear which damage causes the slowdown or to what degree. Also money can be a problem if you drive recklessly So my questions would be:

- Which repairs are absolutely needed and which are not in terms of speed/handling?
- Which is the best route to win the game (order of countries to travel to in relation to cost?)
- Are there any special things/tricks/hints to consider/remember while driving in comparison to other pseudo-3D racers like Lotus or OutRun?

Thank you very much for any hints in advance, I know there are some enthusiast out there who can win this game no sweat... at least I hope so

[daxb]

As far as I can remember the costs are linear to the travel lenght (you can see the costs before travel). So it seems a good idea to first finish europe races. I never finshed it but repair cost wasn`t a problem if you drive carefully. Save game only when race was good. Like most race games it is good to know the course. I guess it was demotivating playing long courses again and again. If all fails use trainer funtion.

[dex]

Thanks for your help Trainers are unfortunately not an option of course Hmmm, it's a lot of courses to remember - and if driving recklessly is out of the question... phew!

[FOL]

Originally Posted by dex

Trainers are unfortunately not an option of course

I agree, never have and never will use cheats or trainers.

[dex]

Hey guys - DID anyone ever finish this game by the way (without any kind of cheat of course)? I mean what if it just isn't possible? The actual "end" of the game (as in winning, not the game over when you're losing) was never mentioned by any of the old reviewer in the old magazines (see HOL) nor is there any kind of "longplay" on Youtube, nor any kind of "solution" or "walkthrough" for the game. There has to be someone who actually played through all of it, right?

[Shatterhand]

It's funny, I was thinking about this too yesterday. I loved XJ220, played it a lot (either single player or with a friend), and could never finish it either, being one of the very few racing games on Amiga I didn't finish.

And it also felt incredibly hard. I always felt the motor would breakdown no matter how reckless you drive, and at some point you would not have enough money to repair it, because you need to spend money to travel to South America etc.

So, put me in the group that has always been curious to see the ending of it too, and always felt the game was bloody impossible.

[Retroplay]

I finished it back in the day.
The "trick" to win races is not to brake in tight corners, just ram the signs and let the car "skip" through them, that's much quicker than braking.

I also attempted to make a longplay for RAG back in 2006-07 but cancelled, it was just waaay too long and boring to watch in the end.

[dex]

Oh no - please do a longplay, I'd watch it and I guess a lot of other people, too You finished it without a cheat by skipping through the signs and still had enough money (because of repairs) to travel to all the countries? Does that mean at some point you don't even need to repair the car anymore because it's fast enough anyway because of the "skipping" through the signs? Come on, tell us them secrets

[Predseda]

I finished it few times - the key is really to choose the shortest possible world tour distances to save money for repairs. Note: if you play the game in 2players mode, you have soon so much money that distances and repair costs just don't play any role. Not possible to finish the game in one normal day, though. I used to save it and finish in 2 days marathon with my brother and also used to control the game via the mouse.

[BippyM]

Have you tried "cheating"?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

I finished it back in the day.
The "trick" to win races is not to brake in tight corners, just ram the signs and let the car "skip" through them, that's much quicker than braking.

I also attempted to make a longplay for RAG back in 2006-07 but cancelled, it was just waaay too long and boring to watch in the end.

You don't need to brake. Just don't accelerate. Same thing as lotus.

[Gzegzolka]

I also wonder how this game ends. I try, but after few countries I give up. It's fun to take two-three races in different parts of the world. But I was not able to score first place, I set emulation cpu speed to very slow, use save states, but it also do not help me much. I dislike how opponents car drive - while You need to slow down, or bump into tight corners - they just drive like it was straight line. That kind of opponent cheating is something unfair.

[Retroplay]

Nah, my LP days are long gone.

However, I made a custom Amiga soundtrack using Jaguar XJ220 mods for Top Gear 2 SNES using MSU1.
Grab Higan and get the game and soundtrack here if you want to check it out.

topgear2_msu1-1.pcm : Lotus III - The Ultimate Challenge - Breathless (Patrick Phelan)
topgear2_msu1-2.pcm : Jaguar XJ220 - Moody Breeze (Martin Iveson)
topgear2_msu1-3.pcm : Turbo Trax - Title Music (Adam Pracey)
topgear2_msu1-4.pcm : Jaguar XJ220 - Title Music (Martin Iveson)
topgear2_msu1-5.pcm : Jaguar XJ220 - 19ktune (Martin Iveson)
topgear2_msu1-6.pcm : Overdrive - Jingle 4 (Allister Brimble)

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by Gzegzolka

I dislike how opponents car drive - while You need to slow down, or bump into tight corners - they just drive like it was straight line. That kind of opponent cheating is something unfair.

Beside that, opponents in this game are just great and have their personalities. When you are approaching a car from behind, even in a fog, you can recognize what type it is from a long distance and if it is in top 5 places you can even correctly guess which driver it is. The best ones are Rahalo and Pescarolo, together with Dyson in his Porsche 959. They all have their driving style, which is just superb in comparison to anonymous cars in Lotus series, which stupidly move from left to right and back. And also there is that strategy element with refuelling, especially in 2 players mode this made the experience unique. I prefer Jaguar XJ220 much more than Lotus, although the graphics is better in Magnetic Fields game.

[Shatterhand]

I must say after I saw the speed on the Jaguar XJ220 demo, thinking about the final product dissapoints me a lot. But I also used to prefer it over Lotus games.

I must say I never noticed different AI for drivers, though of course it was really cool to recognize the different cars on track.

[dex]

Hey Retroplay, that's a very nice idea with the music

Well, I may try the game in 2 player mode but I'd really like to finish it in Singleplayer... somehow. Got to keep tying I guess!

@bippym: Nope, still not an option at all

[Gzegzolka]

Originally Posted by Predseda

Beside that, opponents in this game are just great and have their personalities. When you are approaching a car from behind, even in a fog, you can recognize what type it is from a long distance and if it is in top 5 places you can even correctly guess which driver it is. The best ones are Rahalo and Pescarolo, together with Dyson in his Porsche 959. They all have their driving style, which is just superb in comparison to anonymous cars in Lotus series, which stupidly move from left to right and back. And also there is that strategy element with refuelling, especially in 2 players mode this made the experience unique. I prefer Jaguar XJ220 much more than Lotus, although the graphics is better in Magnetic Fields game.

I still think CPU cheats, one day I try very hard to be first, I use save state, not bump into single stuff on road or car. As result I was third, I even start to loop other opponents but I can not get close to first and second driver, for whole time since I start race I didn't see them on road so they must drive perfect and fast. I feel bad about that, game put me always on last place on start and give no chance to actually win race. Back then I start to think it was some kind of error because I drive also fast and perfect so I should have find them. After some time - some tracks are hard and that one was hard, some tracks are easy and it is possible to be first (but still it's hard).