Four Trax/Walkthrough

When Namco's Japan-only 1989 arcade game Four Trax is in attract, the explanatory text "UP TO 2/4/6/8 (the number depends on how many two-player cabinets are linked up together) PLAYERS CAN RACE SIMULTANEOUSLY. RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK WHEN OTHERS ARE ON THE TRACK, OR RACE HEAD-TO-HEAD BY STARTING SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH OTHER PLAYERS." shall scroll past at the top of the screen, while it displays its first gameplay demonstration; it will then cut to the title screen (which features a digitized sepia photo of a quad bike rider) before cutting to the middle section of the game's default "best time" table. It will then cut to another gameplay demonstration (with the same explanatory text scrolling past at the top of the screen), before cutting back to that title screen for a second time, then cutting to the bottom third of the game's default "best time" table - and it will then cut to a third, last gameplay demonstration (once again, with the same explanatory text at the top of the screen), before cutting back to the title screen once again. It will then cut to the top third of the game's default "best time" table, before proceeding to repeat its attract cycle from the start all over again; once you have inserted your coin into the cabinet the text "ENTRIES NUMBER: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8" (the number depends on the slot that you've inserted your coin into) will appear in the centre of the screen, as the text "NOW AWAITING OTHER ENTRIES. PLEASE STAND BY." scrolls past above it up at the top of the screen, then that timer at the bottom of the screen counts down from a preset number of seconds (which depends on what the arcade owner has set the "Wait Time" setting in the game's options menu to: A - 12 seconds, B - 15 seconds, C - 17 seconds, D - 20 seconds). This means that anyone else who wishes to play the game with you must insert their coin before the timer runs out or the race will begin without them - however, if you're using MAME to play this game (which you almost certainly will be unless you are a native inhabitant of the "Land of the Rising Sun"), you may just wish to set the "Wait Time" dip switch in the game's options menu to A given that nobody else will have the opportunity to play it. Once the timer has run out, it shall be set to 70 seconds as up to seven blue (CPU-controlled) bikes materialize around your bike; a white square with a blue outline will then appear in the top-right corner of the screen and count down from "3" to "G0" to indicate the start of the race. Step on the gas pedal to accelerate your bike as you pass a Bridgestone billboard upon the left side of the track and two rocks on the right side of the track then turn to the left once you have passed the silver pickup truck on the left side of the track - and you shall then come to five more billboards for Kawasaki, Answer Racing, Shoei, Okey and Coors Beer on the alternating left and right sides of the track. Once you have passed them all, you will come to two bales of hay upon both sides of the track; once you have passed them, you will come to two more bales of hay on both sides of the track. Once you've passed them, turn to the right as you come to two more billboards with an arrow pointing to the curved northern right on both sides of the track - and once you have passed them you will come to a tree, two more rocks, a cactus and four bushes on the left side of the track. Once you have passed them all, you will come to another tree on the right side of the track; once you've passed it, you will come to a third tree, two more bushes and two more bales of hay on the left side of the track. Once you've passed them all, turn to the left as you come to a fifth rock, a fourth tree and two more bushes on the left side of the track - and once you've passed them all, you shall come to five more bushes on the alternating left and right sides of the track. Once you've passed them all, you will come to two more bales of hay and a fourteenth bush on the left side of the track; once you have passed them all you'll come to two more rocks and a fifth tree on the track's right side. Once you pass them all, you will come to two more bushes and a sixth tree on the right side of the track - and once you've passed them all, you will come to twelve more bushes on the alternating left and right sides of the track. Once you've passed them all you'll come to six more bales of hay on both sides of the track; once you've passed them all, you will come to two more billboards with arrow pointing to the curved southern right on both track sides. Once you pass these, turn to the right, as you come to two more billboards for Scott USA and Axo Sport on the left side of the track - and once you have passed them you will come to two more bales of hay and a thirteenth billboard for Honda on the track's right side. Once you pass them all, you will come to two more bales of hay and a seventh tree on the left side of the track; once you have passed them all, turn to the right, as you come to two more billboards for Fox and Suzuki on both sides of the track. Once you've passed these, you will come to four gazebos and a removal van, on the left side of the track - and once you've passed them all, you will come to two more billboards with an arrow pointing to the curved northern left on both sides of the track. Once you pass these, turn to the left as you come to two more bales of hay, on the left side of the track; once you have passed them, you shall come to two more billboards for Dunlop and Bell Helmets on the right side of the track. Once you've passed them, you'll come to an eighth rock and two more billboards with an arrow pointing to the curved northern left on the track's right side - and once you pass them all you'll come to two more billboards for JT Racing USA and Yamaha on the alternating left and right sides of the track (the latter of which are the manufacturers of this game's YM-2151 FM sound chip). Once you have passed them, you will come to four more bales of hay and two more rocks upon the right side of the track; once you've passed them all turn to the left as you come to three more bales of hay, an eighth tree, and a twenty-fourth billboard for MS on the track's left side. Once you have passed all these you will come up to a twenty-fifth billboard for Arai and four more gazebos on the alternating right and left sides of the track - and once you pass them all you shall come to a black pickup truck upon the track's right side. Once you've passed the truck, you'll have completed a full lap of the track; you will also receive 30 extra seconds to complete the next lap of the track in as your lap time and the text "TIME EXTENDED" appear in the centre of the screen. (As with the waiting timer, the amount of laps you must complete to win the game depends on what the arcade owner has set the "Lap" setting in the game's options menu to: 3, 4, 5 or 6) - and once you have completed your final lap of the track your final position will be displayed on the screen with your fastest lap time, distance travelled and total time below it. If your total time's less than 1:56:20 you'll have the chance to enter your initials on the game's "best time" table (but this isn't an easy time to beat); once you have entered your initials on the table, the game will go back into attract mode.