Hydro Thunder/Nile Adventure

Of the bonus tracks, Nile Adventure is the only non-circuit. Instead it's the longest track of all, more than a third longer than most of the others (based on time). As with many tracks you start on a long straight this time heading for a bridge with three archways. Head for the middle archway and try to boost over it - a 4 second hidden boost is waiting for you. As you land or go through an archway, the track heads right under a bridge and immediately right after the bridge to a pair of ramps. The closest ramp offers a 9 second boost and the farther ramp a 4 second boost. Grab a boost and by the time you land the track will be headed left again only to turn sharply right at the end of the rock face you've no doubt hit once or twice. Take the right-hander and cross the first check point before turning left onto a long straight. The straight has a drop halfway along with a 4 second boost hanging in the air in the near distance. To get the boost you can either jump from before the drop and boost to get it or drop and immediately jump to grab it. Either way, there are a pair of waterfalls, one to either side and an entrance to a tunnel. Take the tunnel as these waterfalls only mask rocks. Once in the tunnel the track takes a series of turns, between each turn the water slopes downward. The turns are left, right, right and finally left with a 4 second boost after the first right.

After the turns you will be in a long straight with some basic hieroglyphics on the walls and a guardian statue at the end. Just before the guardian is a 4 second boost and a long drop to beneath the guardian, so if you are jumping along the straight be sure to land before it. At the bottom of the long drop is the second check point and another guardian this time guarding the entrance to a tunnel. Look ahead as you go under the guardian. The track goes left under another tunnel entrance and a smaller tunnel entrance is to the right. Don't bother with either one, instead look up to see three archways which would otherwise be a large single archway if it weren't for a pair of very solid pillars. Aim to get between the two pillars and land at the entrance that is there. Manage this correctly and not only will you get the 9 second boost for passing through any of these three archways but you will get an instant speed boost that will put you at maximum speed immediately. You are now on a long upward straight which jettisons you high into the air over a long thin canal and culminates in long narrow slope where you collect a 4 second boost on the way down.

Exiting the slope and you plummet into a wide tunnel with a snake's head in front forming the exit and almost swallows the 4 second boost that sits there as you pass by. Inside the snake's innards, the track takes an immediate left revealing a small straight followed by a long right hander that begins sharp. As the right-hander straightens the river slopes down to a 4 second boost and a long left hander. By the time you collect the four second boost and start on the left hand turn you will be out of the snakes innards as it changes to be a rock tunnel with snake moving through it. At the end of the left hander you can see the snake moving through the right-hand side of a long straight and a 4 second boost at the end of the tunnel. As you collect the 4 second boost there's a large drop down and a sphinx's head guarding another tunnel. Jump before the drop and you will fly through the face of the sphinx and into the tunnel.

This tunnel forms the nastiest part of this track and probably any of the tracks. It is lined with sarcophagi and the track itself is lined with triangular forms either side that will slow you down if you hit them - and that's pretty easy to do. The tunnel takes a left shortly after starting and then a long right before a sharp left with a 4 second boost. This is followed with another long right and on the next left is another 4 second boost which leads you onto a short straight. Depending on version, you'll have already noticed many of the sarcophagi drop down as you travel along the water of the track. No matter which version, this next straight will drop down various sarcophagi and may hit you as you attempt to jump at the hanging 9 second boost. Try to get the boost as you land as the track takes a sharp right hand turn. You'll notice at the end of this straight a sarcophagus opens to show a hidden section of track. Despite containing two 9 second boosts (one hidden as you enter the tunnel) it's actually a longer way through. Take the right hand turn and you will find check point 3 under another archway. After the archway the track heads right then left and onto a long straight where you can see the exit. Along this section of track large sections of roof drop down to keep you at track level so don't try jumping anywhere here.

Exiting the tunnel you find the only location that allows the night sky to shine - this is the same part where the hidden section of track will lead you to. As you drop down from the tunnel exit to the water below you can see a ramp with a 4 second boost atop and in the distance another tunnel entrance this time in the shape of a triangle (think pyramid). This tunnel takes you right then left before taking an even sharper right then left. Don't boost around this last left as you will overshoot and miss the 9 second boost that sits before another large drop and the tunnel's exit. At the bottom you enter another tunnel. This tunnel heads straight and soon enters a section where the roof and sides are circular and revolving. The track takes a mirrored split that you can safely ignore. Instead jump over the islands in the middle to collect a 4 second boost in the middle of each - 3 island in all. Just prior to the third island is a 9 second boost traversing the width of the tunnel. After the last island, the revolving ceiling finishes and you career along a now rock-lined straight which ends in a left. This left initially hides a climbing bargeway heading right then right and climbing again. At the top it heads left and back into a the rock-lined tunnel for a short straight with a 4 second boost and another long drop at it's exit.

You will now be flying along a huge cavern with a single-eyed scorpion-like creature lying beneath the surface of the water with it's legs flailing around in the air. Ahead of you is another guardian over a tunnel entrance and it's eyes fire a pair of beams which intersect at the water just in front of you for the duration of this long straight. As you near the eye of the creature beneath the surface, in some versions, it rears the eye & you can use this to bounce off to get the 9 second boost or you can simply jump at the boost and avoid the speed reduction that occurs with the collision of the eye. Land you boat and enter the final tunnel of the track. The tunnel begins with a short straight followed by a right then left before exiting on that left turn with a 4 second boost and the now familiar drop. Go headlong at the finish line which will now hopefully be in front if you took the left turn correctly between the feet of a sphinx.


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