Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a brand new driver, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a great game that’s accessible to everyone. We liked it quite a lot and you can check out our review here if you’re curious. Starting out in any new game can sometimes feel a bit daunting, so we’re here to bring you 5 tips for new Crash Team Racing players.
1. Boost, Boost, and More Boost
This is the number one tip as it’s the most vital one for new and old Crash Team Racing racers. Boosting is an absolute necessity, I can’t stress that enough. There are a number of ways to get a speed boost, but let’s start with the most important. The power slide. There are two buttons used to make your racer hop and initiate a powerslide, depending on what control scheme you use.
Press and hold down one of these to turn into a powerslide. As you do so the meter at the bottom right of the screen will start to fill up. Once it is full enough (and while still holding one of the powerslide buttons) tap the other button for a boost of speed and watch the meter fill up again so you can repeat the process. This can be done up to three times for maximum boost.
Getting the timing right is key and thankfully there are a few ways to get this down to a tee. Firstly, the meter will fill up, obviously, but an easier way to get the timing is to look at your kart. When the boost is ready to be initiated the tires will glow and the smoke from the exhaust turns black. It will all become second nature, trust me. As will boosting from the start line. It’s simple, just hold down the accelerator right before the lights turn green, this will give you a burst of speed from the line.
Another way to boost is to hop at the top of a jump as doing so will cause a boost when you land
2. Wumpa Fruits
The addiction of Bandicoots everywhere. Wumpa fruits are scattered around each track, both loose and in crates. Collect 10 of these and your kart will become juiced up causing it to be stronger and faster. It’s always worth grabbing these to make your kart the best it can be, giving you an advantage over other racers. It’s also worth grabbing them when you have the 10, just to make sure your competitors can’t have them. Win by any means.
3. Don’t be Afraid to Change the Difficulty
Crash Team Racing can be a hard game, especially for the uninitiated. You may well have already started the game on normal or hard and are finding yourself struggling to get through it. I know most people, myself included, like a challenge and there’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t feel ashamed to start again on a lower difficulty. Doing so will allow you to practice as you play whilst learning how to use boost effectively, find shortcuts, and learn the levels.
Once you’ve finished it on easy the benefits will be two-fold, you’ll be better at the game and you’ll have two more difficulties to finish it on. More Crash Team Racing is never a bad thing.
4. Find a Control Scheme That Suits You
The 2019 version of Crash Team Racing has two control schemes to pick from, a classic scheme with X to accelerate or a more modern one that has the shoulder buttons do that job. Disclaimer: X is for the PlayStation pad, please don’t try to accelerate with X on the Switch or Xbox, you won’t get anywhere and you’ll just blame me.
It sounds like a pretty obvious tip, and it is, but finding a control scheme that you’re comfortable with will help. I tried both and found myself struggling with the placement of one of the hop/powerslide buttons on the alternate scheme and my play suffered because of it. You may be the other way around, so try both and see what works for you.
5. Have Fun
Crash Team Racing is just a fun game and it’s important not to lose sight of that even if you’re struggling. Some of the harder difficulties and time trials can be really unforgiving. Being 0.1 of a second away from victory can be absolute agony, especially when on, a retry, you end up a couple of seconds slower than that. This definitely happened to a friend and not to me.
Occasionally Crash Team Racing will make you want to throw your control pad at the wall. Don’t do this, especially if you’re playing on the Switch, those things are expensive. Keep calm and have fun. If you are getting stressed on a particular challenge, move on, play with some friends online, or practice with other characters. Often times stepping away from a challenge and going back to it will see it completed the first time and make you wonder what all the fuss was about. Just don’t lose sight of the reason we play games. Fun.
There you have it, our 5 tips for new Crash Team Racing players. Get back on that track and let us know how you like the game in the comments below!