Skitchin' FAQ v1.0 by Joshua Harring (harring@student.umass.edu)
Written on 11/1/99
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
I. Prize Money
I. Equipment
I. Courses
I. Introduction
Skitchin' is a rollerblading game from EA Sports that came out in 1994 for the
Sega Genesis. The word "skitchin'" comes from two words - skating and hitching.
The act of skitchin' is grabbing onto the back of a moving car and riding with
it. Of course, this is highly illegal. :)
The game itself feels similar to another EA Sports game, Road Rash. There are
12 courses in cities in the United States and Canada, and you fight your
competitors with punches, kicks, and weapons that you can pick up. You fight
with the C button, and pick up weapons by crouching Down and pressing A (grab)
as you pass a weapon.
To skitch a car, watch your rear view mirror. As a car is passing you, press A
to grab onto it and skitch a ride. You can stay on this car as long as you
like, but you'll have to watch out for other racers that skitch onto the same
car. In addition the car may suddenly make a lane change, slow down, or stop
completely.
While you're on a car, press Down to crouch. This prevents the driver from
seeing you. When you want to release your grip on the car, press A and you'll
let go. A better way to let go is to go to the edge of the car and then press B
to slingshot forward. You'll pass the car you were just holding onto. This is
a great way to get on another car ahead of you, or to skitch a car in the other
lane that's moving faster. Practice skitchin', because it's the only way you're
going to win races.
You must finish in the top five to advance to the next race. Placing in the top
five earns you some prize money. Note that each race has an entry fee, so
you'll eventually run out of money if you keep losing.
You can also lose races by getting arrested. The cops will bust you if they see
you skitchin'. However, if you're feeling particularly daring, you can skitch a
cop car and earn money for every second that you're on it.
You also have six pieces of equipment. As you get banged around and wipe out,
the equipment degrades. You'll need to replace equipment if it gets bad enough.
There's a shop you can visit in between each race that sells the equipment. If
your skates or wheels completely break down, you'll be forced to retire from the
race and buy new equipment. After each race, you'll see a Status screen that
displays how intact your equipment is. The colors from best to worst are:
Green, Yellow, Red, Black.
You can perform various tricks by jumping off of ramps, dirt piles, fallen
street signs, and many other things. You perform a trick by pressing a
direction or a button in the air. Three judges will rate you on a scale of 1-10
according to difficulty and how well you performed it.
Down at the bottom of the screen during a race, you'll see a number of displays.
The bar besides your name indicates your stamina. When this is depleted to
zero, you fall down. This bar recovers over time. If you see another name
under yours, that's your closest opponent, and his stamina meter. When you
fight him and deplete his bar to zero, you earn a Knockdown. You also see what
place you are in, and how much distance is left in the race. The first aid icon
and the bar beside it represent your health. If this bar gets depleted to zero,
you'll have to retire from the race and go to the hospital (and pay a bill).
The bar below that is how intact your skates are. Remember that if these break
down, you'll have to buy new equipment.
Sometimes you gain access to bonus courses by meeting a specific requirement
within a regular course. It may be to finish within a certain time, or doing a
certain number of tricks. The bonus courses stays consistent with the
objective, and you can earn lots of cash on the bonus courses.
Pay attention to the skitchers that say something before each race. They often
have important general and course-related clues that are helpful.
II. Prize Money
There are six different factors that determine how much money you get at the end
of each course:
1. Race Bonus
You gain money if you finish in the top five. How much you earn depends on what
place you came in and what course it is. Here is the breakdown:
Races 1-3: 1st ($50), 2nd ($40), 3rd ($30), 4th ($20), 5th ($10)
Races 4-6: 1st ($100), 2nd ($80), 3rd ($60), 4th ($40), 5th ($20)
Races 7-9: 1st ($150), 2nd ($120), 3rd ($90), 4th ($60), 5th ($30)
Races 10-12: 1st ($200), 2nd ($160), 3rd ($120), 4th ($80), 5th ($40)
2. Thrash Bonus
Every time you earn a Knockdown (depleting an opponent's stamina to zero), you
earn $5.
3. Warp Bonus
Unknown at this time.
4. Trick Bonus
By performing tricks off of the ramps and jumps, you earn some amount of money
for each one. The exact amount you earn for a particular trick is unknown at
this time.
5. Skitchin' Bonus
You earn $1 for each vehicle that you skitch. It doesn't matter if it's the
same one, you still earn $1 every time you skitch it.
6. Cop Bonus
You earn $1 for every second that you skitch a cop car.
With the money you earn, you pay entry fees and replace equipment. If you run
out of money, the game ends.
III. Equipment
Here is the cost of each piece of equipment:
Economy Beginner Standard Quality Professional
Wheels $10 $25 $50 $75 $100
Skates $50 $100 $150 $200 $250
Knee Pads $10 $20 $40 $80 $160
Elbow Pads $10 $20 $30 $40 $50
Wrist Guards $5 $10 $15 $20 $25
Gloves $5 $10 $15 $20 $25
Economy is the worst, Professional the best.
IV. Courses
Race 1 - Vancouver (7.2 kilometers)
Entry fee - $10
Head Skitcher - Fester
Objective - Speed (min. req. 2:35?)
Properties - Traffic only travels in the left lane.
This is an easy course with only one lane of traffic. Practice your skitchin'
and slingshotting here, as well as jumps if you want in the right lane.
Speed Bonus Course (4.2 kilometers)
In this course, when you skitch a car, the cars in the other lane automatically
start moving faster. Thus, you need to slingshot and grab onto a car in the
other lane as it passes you, and then repeat the process over and over until you
reach the end of the course.
For every second under 80 seconds that you finish the course in, you earn $5.
In other words, if say you finished the course in 70 seconds, you would earn
$50. If you don't finish in under 80 seconds, you don't earn any money. In
addition, you can only earn a maximum of $100.
Race 2 - Denver (4.5 miles)
Entry fee - $10
Head Skitcher - Jezebel
Objective - Tricks (minimum of 5 completed?)
This course features traffic that switches lanes one-third of the way through
the race. In addition, there are jumps over a truck and a train that you can
attempt, but you have to be going pretty fast.
Trick Bonus Course (unknown distance)
No need to finish as fast as possible, just take advantage of all the ramps and
perform a variety of tricks. You earn some money depending on how many tricks
and what type they were. The exact amount each trick is worth is unknown at
this time.
Race 3 - San Diego (4.6 miles)
Entry fee - $10
Head Skitcher - Thrasher
Objective - Unknown
This is probably the first race where you'll want to crouch down when skitchin'
a car. There are plenty of drivers who will slow down if they see you
skitchin'.
Race 4 - Seattle (4.6 miles)
Entry fee - $20
Head Skitcher - Jackal
Objective - Speed (2:40 minimum requirement?)
Race 5 - San Francisco (5.1 miles)
Entry fee - $20
Head Skitcher - Karcass
Objective - Unknown
Race 6 - Los Angeles (4.8 miles)
Entry fee - $20
Head Skitcher - Viper
Objective - Unknown
Race 7 - Washington (5.9 miles)
Entry fee - $30
Head Skitcher - Caustic
Objective - Unknown
Race 8 - Toronto (10.3 kilometers)
Entry fee - $30
Head Skitcher - Malice
Objective - Unknown
Race 9 - Detroit (6.4 miles)
Entry fee - $30
Head Skitcher - Slash
Objective - Unknown
Race 10 - Chicago (8.9 miles)
Entry fee - $40
Head Skitcher - Reject
Objective - Unknown
Race 11 - Miami (8.7 miles)
Entry fee - $40
Head Skitcher - Tank
Objective - Speed (4:30 minimum requirement?)
Race 12 - New York (8.9 miles)
Entry fee - $40
Head Skitcher - Dan Grr
Objective - Unknown
This is the final track, with lots of NY taxi cab drivers. If you place in the
top five here, you win the championship.
Well, as you can see, there's a lot to fill in. I will continue to play this
game to attempt to uncover more stuff, but you can email me at
harring@student.umass.edu if you know something that I don't have listed here.
