============================================================================== = :::::::::::::: By Ben Cureton :::::::::: (tragic@toxic.net) :::::::::::::: = ==============================================================================
| .......... This file MUST be viewed in a monospace typeface!!! | | 1234567890 "Courier New" is recommended by the author. |
This guide is for the Dreamcast community. It is also meant to be free. You may distribute this guide at your leisure, so long as you leave the content intact and receive no monetary compensation for it. All text, strategies, and other non-official information contained in this guide regarding Sonic Adventure or A-Life are (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 Ben Cureton. Do not steal the information contained in this guide or attempt to reword it. As with all my other faqs, this doccument contains methods for determining infringement of copyright. I've had one too many FAQs/Documents stolen by "professional" publishing companies, and if you are caught doing the same here you will be prosecuted. Also, you'll end up looking like a moron... like the others.
Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure, A-Life, VMS, Chao, and all other official info is (C) 1998, 1999 Sega Of Japan.
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[i] Legal
[1] Prologue [2] What is an A-Life/Chao? [3] The Chao Gardens - General - Trees - Uploading/Downloading - Warping [4] Raising Chao's - Finding Chao's - Hatching Chao's - Modifying Chao's - Mating Chao's [5] Chao Race [6] VMS Mini-Game - General - Menus - Paths - Extra [7] Credits
Since I only write guides/FAQs for something I'm excited about, I figured that an A-Life/VMS guide would be an excellent choice for my next project. When I initially attempted to find literature on the A-Life and VMS I learned that it was very sparse. Now, after scouring the web, searching through tons of usenet posts, and having some freinds translate... I've come up with this: "The Sonic Adventure A-Life Guide". As of now it is far from complete, but I think that it should shine some light on the subject for beginners and perhaps help get other questions answered for all the A-Life fans. Anyway, If you see anything that is missing, wrong, or incomplete... please feel free to email me and let me know. Eventually I would like this guide to completely cover the best A-Life procedures and tactics. Have fun! - ben (tragic)
============================================================================== = [2] :::::::::::::::::::::: What is an A-Life/Chao? ::::::::::::::::::::::: = ==============================================================================
First of all, I guess some of you may not even know what an A-Life/Chao is. A Chao is basically a little egg that you find in the Sonic Adventure world, and then hatch/raise it into a neat little creature. With this creature you can race in the Chao Race, mate it with another Chao, or even download it to your VMS for an extra mini-game where you can go on an adventure, fight enemies, find treasure, and build up its stats. You can even mate your Chao with your freinds Chao, or battle them as well! Then you can upload it back to Sonic Adventure and race it or mate it again! Pretty cool if you ask me.
============================================================================== = [4] :::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Chao Gardens :::::::::::::::::::::::::: = ==============================================================================
- General -
The Chao Gardens are where the majority of all Chao action takes place within Sonic Adventure. You can modify your Chao, Mate it with another, and even feed it. There are 3 Chao Gardens in Sonic Adventure. Below is a listing of each:
#1: Station Square This Chao Garden is located in the hotel up the left elevator. This is basically the main Chao Garden of the game. It looks basic: a large room with stuff in each corner, some trees, and a bit of water. One of the large walls has large entrance doors to the Chao Race arena.
#2: Mystic Ruins This Chao Garden is located on the other side of one of the caves in the ruins. You must take a mine cart to it. This Chao Garden looks a bit more complex than the first: forrest looking, some structures made from stone, some trees, and a bit more water. It's also located on a cliff, sorta.
#: Egg Carrier I have yet to find the Egg Carrier.
- Trees -
The trees within each Chao Garden are important to Chao development. This is because they grow nuts (I'm not sure which one heh) which are the main food for the Chao when you first start. In order to get a nut from the tree, you must first wait for it to grow. I believe the nuts only grow while you are actually in the Chao Garden so if your Chao needs food, you should stick around. After the nuts become orange/brown, you have to shake them out of the tree. Stand next to the tree and press X,Y,or B to grab onto the tree, then press towards the tree to begin shaking. Eventually the nut will fall out and you can feed it to your Chao.
- Uploading/Downloading -
Possibly the coolest feature of the A-Life/Chao's is the ability to download them to the VMS (Visual Memory System), play a separate mini-game which enhances your character, then upload the creature back to Sonic Adventure and participate in all the same stuff you were doing before except with a better creature. Definitely cool. To initiate the upload/download sequence you must first be in a Chao Garden. Then you have your character step on the big red button in front of the graphical VMS. If you wish to download your Chao onto the VMS you must set it down on the grating, then the menu will come up. If you wish to upload your Chao from the VMS the menu will instantly come up when you step on the button. This menu shows each VMS that is plugged in and the Chao Data contained on it. I believe you can only have one Chao and one Egg on a single VMS at any one time. Once the menu comes up, press A to upload or download the Chao. Simple!
As a special bonus, if you upload your Chao from the VMS to a Chao Garden, any fruit that you had in the mini-game will be uploaded as well. This may prove to be useful for feeding your other Chao's that reside in a Chao Garden. By finding/winning fruit int he mini-game, you can upload it all to the Chao Garden and feed it to your other Chao's! Cool! It seems as if you cannot get the fruit back to the VMS once you have uploaded though. =(
- Warping -
As a really cool transportation feature in Sonic Adventure, each Chao Garden contains two Warp Pads. Each of the Warp Pads takes your character to another Chao Garden so it's very useful for moving your different creatures between Gardens or simply warping to a different location. To utilize a Warp Pad you simply need to step on it. Only Warp Pads with a colored light emitting from it with a title are active. Warp pads become active once you have visited the area that it can warp to... IE: If you have been to the Station Square Chao Garden, then go to the Mystic Ruins Chao Garden the Warp Pad will be active between the two areas.
============================================================================== = [4] ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Raising a Chao ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: = ==============================================================================
- Finding Chao's -
Throughout the Sonic Adventure world you will encounter Chao eggs. I believe each Chao Garden has at least one, and others can be found in certain areas of the Sonic Adventure world. Below is a listing of places other than the Chao Gardens where Chao Eggs can be found.
#1: Mystic Ruins (In the pool under the waterfall. I think you may have to press the rock thingy near the waterfall for the Chao Egg to come out. It will drop from the waterfall, then float to the shore where you can pick it up.)
#2: Station Square (In front of the large building at the end of the main road where you first fight Chao's 0. Previously I thought this was an Chao Egg but it turns out it's a rock. Take this rock to the Toy Store and set it on the ground. Pick up the Gold Chao Egg and the front door will close and lock. Now set the Gold Chao Egg down, and place the rock where the Chao Egg was (like Indiana Jones heh). Now the doors will unlock and you are free to go.
- Hatching Chao's -
To hatch a Chao Egg, simply pick it up and run with it a short distance, then toss it against a wall or rock. I know this seems sorta mean, but I it works. I have also heard that if you just wait in the Chao Garden for a while, the Chao will hatch by itself. I have yet to confirm this.
- Modifiying Chao's -
Modifying Chao's is still a bit of a mystery to me. So far I know that if you rub a game-creature against your Chao and it will gain the attributes of that creature. Game-creatures are those little animal things you get after beating and enemy with Sonic. A little creature thingy comes out and is added to the bottom right-hand corner of the screen when you touch it. Once you go back to a Chao Garden all the game-creatures you have amassed pop out and wander around. Once you leave the Chao Garden, all the game-creatures that popped out will be gone. I think there is a limit to the number of game-creatures you can amass at any one time.
As an experiement I went through Sonic's first level and got a bunch of the penguin game-creatures. I touched them all to my Chao and I noticed that with new penguin I rubbed to my Chao, it began to look different. After adding all of the penguins to my Chao, it sorta looked like a penguin! The eyebrows were bushy and it seemed to be a bit more squat in stance.
Another little note. I was feeding my Chao once in a Chao Garden with the nuts from one of the trees. I accidentally hit the Chao with Knuckles. Soon after that the Chao sort-of leaned over and a transparent Egg began to surround it. Eventually the Egg turned solid white then disappeared. I thought I somehow killed the Chao so I immediately reset and my Chao was back to normal. After that I bgan to handle the Chao's with extreme care as I thought I could kill them by hitting them. Now, one time I just came into the Garden and I noticed the same Chao was turning into the transparent Egg again. I knew I hadn't hit it this time, so instead of resetting I went into the Chao race area to see if my Chao was still selectable. Guess what? It was... but now it looked different. It had a different shaped head. When I downloaded the Chao to the VMS it looked just like it did in the Chao Garden... definitely cool. I'm guessing that when I hit it and it turned into the transparent Egg it was merely coincidence. I believe that the transparent Egg is the state during which the Chao matures. Basically a Chao metamorphosis. Now if this is true, I wonder how many states it must go through to become fully matured. As usual I will update as soon as I find out. If anyone has any info on this, let me know ASAP. =)
- Mating Chao's -
Supposedly you can mate Chao's within Chao Gardens, but I have yet to figure this little trick out. If anyone knows, drop me a line.
The Chao Race is only available within the Station Square Chao Garden. Because I haven't messed around with the Chao Race much (due to the fact I get my ass kicked every time I enter), I can't really expand on this section quite yet. I would definitely be grateful to anyone that could shed some insight on how to make a kick-ass Chao-Racing Chao... mine always gets worked.
When you first enter the Chao Race lobby, you will see a colorful wall with eight numbers on it. These are the competitors slots. When you step on the big red button that says "Entry", a meny will appear. From the translations I received the options read:
: Chao Race : Beginners Mode : Multiple Entry
No matter which option you pick, the next menu is the same for each. It has four Gems from left to right signifying the different races and the best times in each race as well. From left to right the Gems/races are:
Pearl Course: Ball Push Race Amethyst Course: Basic Foot Race Saphire Course: Super Foot Race Ruby Course: Swimming Race
Once I figure out how to kick-ass at all the Chao Races, I'll fill up this area with some coll tactics. =)
After downloading your Chao to the VMS, you can play a very cool mini-game that raises its stats. To start the Chao Mini-Game you must first download a Chao to the VMS. Then use the "MODE" button on the VMS to select the SPADE playing card. Press A to bring up the title screen, then A+B to initiate the game. You will see your Chao walking from right to right as it has begun its adventure.
- Menus -
Press A to open the Menu screens. While in the Menus press A to confirm and B to go back. The Menu options and decriptions are as follows:
: Status The Status menu has two parts. The main screen shows the Chao's name and hit points (current and max). The Japanese text between the name and hit points represent the Chao's general status. I think this represents the Chao's mood. Sometimes your Chao will be in a friendly mood... sometimes it will be naughty. I have yet to find out how many different "moods" it has and how they affect the game or the Chao's overall advancement. Mark Green did say that if the Chao is "naughty" it may refuse food... stats won't increase but the food item is removed from the inventory.
Press A to see the second screen. The next screen shows the Chao's individual stats. From top to bottom they are:
- Swim - Flight - Run - Strength
: Item The Item menu shows the current food items your Chao is carrying. When you have no items it reads "don't have anything". After obtaining food items, simply highlight and item and press A to feed it to your Chao. Items are obtained by winning the "concentration" game, or through the treasure boxes. The known items so far are:
- Yellow Fruit: Swim +4 (kiiroi mi) - Purple Fruit: Flight +4 (murasaki no mi) - Blue Fruit: Run +4 (aoi mi) - Red Fruit: Strength +4 (akai mi)
- Chao Fruit: Everything +4 (chao no mi) - Star Fruit: Punch x2 (hoshi no mi) - Hasty Fruit: Speed x2 (sekkachi no mi) - Heart: HP Full (ha-to no mi)
- Empty Nothing (karappo)
: Game The Game option goes right into a "concentration" style game. When the game begins, all the cards will be visible. After a second or two they will flip over and you must match each pair together to win a prize. Use the d-pad to highlight a card and A to flip it over. If you match two cards correctly they will remain flipped over. If you fail to match a pair you will lose a chance. After three missed attempts the game is over an the Chao will say "dissapointed!". If you match all the pairs you will win a food item.
: Mate Since I don't have two VMS units yet, I can't expand on this section yet. However, if anyone has some info, let me know.
As of now it reads: "please connect"
: Battle Since I don't have two VMS units yet, I can't expand on this section yet. However, if anyone has some info, let me know.
As of now it reads: "please connect"
: Owner This is where you can view your personalized information. - Name - Birthday - Telephone - Favorite Things - Secret - NO1Taimu ?
: Friends I am unsure about this option right now. Maybe I need another VMS. As of now it says "no freind".
: Map The Map option shows the progress of your Chao's quest. The bar indicates how far into the present area you are. The numbers indicate how many miles/meters (?) your Chao has walked. The second menu screen shows what path you have taken.
: Settings This is where you can togle sound on/off, input personal information to personalize your VMS, and name your Chao. The Settings menu options are as follows:
- Sound - On - Off - User Data - Exhange - Don't Exhange - Data Entry - Name - Sex (Male/Female) - Blood Type (A/B/O/AB) - Birthday (YY/MM/DD) - Telephone - Things You Like - Secret - Chao's Name
- Paths -
When you come across a fork in the road, you can decide which path to take or let the Chao decide for itself. The first two options will be areas, the last is "either way is ok" which allows the Chao to choose.
The different path areas in no particular order are:
- Seashore (walk) - Woods (walk) - Sea (swim) - Above the Sea (fly?) - City (fly) - Desert (walk) - Oasis (swim) - Above the City (climbing) - Shinden (walk)
- Extra -
Sometimes during the Chao's quest it will stop advancing. This can be the result of a few things. Most often your Chao "trips" or "slips". On a walking stage the Chao simply falls on its face. On a climbing stage it loses its footing. I have also seen the Chao get big and puffy (I have no idea why). At any rate, simply press A to get the Chao moving again.
Another time your Chao will stop is when it encounters a special character or creature. So far I have encountered Sonic, Tails, and Amy (and I think maybe Knuckles). They say something and you have a fruit in your hand, but I don't think it appears in your inventory. Perhaps you are giving them a present? I have also met some stage-specific characters such as a bird and a fish. If you come across one of these creatures just press A to get your Chao going again.
When you come across a random trasure chest you simply have to pick one of the three boxes. If you guess right, you will get an item. =)
Author: Ben (tragic) Cureton ........................................ tragic@toxic.net
Super Contributor: Mark Green (research, info, testing etc.) ........... Mark.Green@reading.ac.uk
Other: Kirk Bender (excellent translation .gifs) ................... kbender@znet.com Daniel Riley (tidbits in his SA FAQ) .......................... driley@lnc.com
Special thanks goes out to anyone else that advertently or inadvertently helped with the creation of this guide. Usenet, Web, and IRC... THANKS!
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