Posted 31st October 2006 08:56 by Mark Turner
Hello! Bcdefg123 here again, with this week’s interview. Masango37 is this week’s #1, at Trackmania Nations! This game has a lot of competition, in no small way owing to the fact that it’s free. Get it at http://www.trackmanianations.com/
Bcdefg123: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Masango37: Well... My name is Gabriel Baronnier and I'm 17. I live in France. I have played video games since 8, starting with the NES. I have practically always played on nintendo's systems (NES, Megadrive, N64, GBA,and now NGC) and I have begun to play on the PC. This year, I mostly play at TMN, and I have even integrated the french team PAF (site : http://paf.verygames.net/index.php?file=News). Our team participates in a french championship (the challenge FFP: http://vanou.maugendre.club.fr/Championnat/Accueil2.html) which gathers the best french teams of TrackMania Nations.
I don't have a favorite type of game; I own at least two games of each kind (sports, action/adventure, fighting, FPS, multiplayer games, racing, RPG, ...), but I am fond of rhythm (donkey konga, DDR) and platform games like Super Mario Sunshine.
Besides playing video games, I spend hours on the Net, read some comics (Sin City) and manga (Dragon Ball), watch some movies, listen to music and have fun with friends.
Bcdefg123: So what's your favorite in-game level?
Hummm ... I can't choose just one of them, but I like the quite fast track, with some technical turns, where you have to do some speed drifts, in the same style as G6 or D4.
I also really like the short ones, like B5, C0 and C9.
But the best tracks I have ever played are on the exchange (http://nations.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx). Classical tracks like rerun or Japanese style are extremely pleasant to drive.
Bcdefg123: This is of the few games I still play, and I believe online play is the best fun I've had with a game in a long time. Do you play online?
Absolutely. When I play at TMN, I spend most of my time online. It lets me play with my team, practice some tracks for the matches, and also discover new tracks. There is much more competition in multiplayer than in the solo mode. You learn also much faster some technics with other guys, it's so much fun. Online add a huge life to the game, almost infinite.
Bcdefg123: Do you make tracks with the editor?
No, I'm not a very good mapper, I'm not imaginative enough, I prefer to leave this work to the best, like ORA, Andree, Panis, Ganjarider, Darck_cz, Ron Turbo, .... (the list is very big, sorry for the guys I miss).
Bcdefg123: You're not alone. Any records you'd like to brag about?
Now, I have only 4 WRs on tm-exchange. At one moment, I was happy to see I was holding 9 of the 10 WR on B-race. I still have the oldest WR on Nadeo tracks, B-1.
This one is not very difficult to drive, but most of the players don't have good technical skill to make a good time.
In fact, you just have to go at full speed during the whole track, except in the jump. In doing this, you bounce on the road, and this produces a small dash. Then, you simply have to finish the race. 9"6X is a good time, but my world record is 9.59 (http://nations.tm-exchange.com/get.aspx?action=recordgbx&id=54791). It is certainly improvable.
Bcdefg123: Any tips for us?
Yes, of course.
First, if you're discovering a new track, watch the global map (press the number 7) to localize all the checkpoints. In this way, you can easily find various shortcuts, so choose the best way. Many mappers forget to put enough checkpoints on theirs races.
It seems obvious, but to go the fastest possible, you have to touch the road all the time. To reduce this air time, you can jump lower taking the springboards on the side. You can even make a flip, but the landing is quite difficult to succeed.
There are two ways to drift:
- The first one is to begin to turn and brake during the curve, holding off the throttle button. This is very easy to do but that wastes time.
- The second one is almost the same, except you press the throttle button during the turn. You almost don't waste any time, but your trajectory is very difficult to maintain.
You can also bounce on the walls when you have to take a very hard turn.
There is also a small trick which let you gain some hundredths of second (very useful in beginner races).
If the first block of the race is a turbo (like B0), you can use this. You just have to turn after the beginning of the race to roll earlier on the turbo.
In a general way, try to avoid the edges of the road; there are a lot of bugs when you roll or land on them. For example, you can easily slip on them when you go faster.
Bcdefg123: Number 9 is done, and the next one is a interview with MikkyX himself! Bye!
Written by Bcdefg123