Tail of the Sun- Postgame Scavenger Hunt

Tail of the Sun was released for the original Playstation in 1997 by Artdink. It's an extraordinary experience set in an expansive open world featuring various monuments, landmarks, and oddities scattered throughout. 

To beat the game, you'll simply need to kill animals and return the meat to your tribe until your weapon levels up enough to take on mammoths, which are located in the Tundra, directly north of your village. When the mammoth tusks are returned to your tribe, they are stacked until you can climb high enough to reach the "tail" of the sun.

However, once that's accomplished, you'll probably have a lot left to explore if you want to see everything in this prehistoric wonderland. The instruction manual includes a map to get you started with finding the stone body parts, and furthermore lists some unmapped items and suggests there are many more. How many can you find?

Maps from the manual (thanks, BovineDevine):

*Update 12/27/23:

An achievement developer named Layton has developed a really nice set for Tail of the Sun on Retro Achievements, which gives these discoveries more of a purpose, and also sheds some light on what some of this stuff is supposed to be. He also shared another map from the Japanese strategy guide, which pinpoints all locations:

Discovered:

Stone Ear (1)

Stone Ear (2)

Stone Eye (3)

Stone Eye (4)

Stone Nose (5)

Stone Mouth (6)

Stone Hand (7)

Stone Hand (8)

Village (9)

Stone Foot (10)

Stone Foot (11)

Monkey Skeleton

Diamond

Aliens

Dinosaur Tracks

Ice Mammoths

Deserted Village

Stonehenge

Penguin

Cave Painting

Big Bone

Triceratops Skull

Floating Monolith

Dead Animal #1

Dead Animals #2

Breast #1

Breast #2

Body Parts Assembled

Butt Rock

Torso Rock

Giant Footprint

Sun Stone

Rock Painting

Stone Monkey

Stone People

Stone Shapes

Tusk Pile #1

Cocoons

Snakeskins

Strange Plants #1

Strange Plants #2

Crystals

Underwater Temple

Body of an Alien

Shadow

Layton also shared how to get each of the nine endings on the game's forum page on Retro Achievements.

Now my journey with this amazing game is finally complete, thanks to Layton!

"Wizard" by ZBR

 

Skate or Die 2 Strategy Guide

Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble

Adventure Mode 

Level 1

The Streets

You start at the leftmost edge of the map. Press the select button to enter the "Rad Pack".

You have three move slots:

MOVE1: B + Up
MOVE2: B + Back
MOVE3: B + Down

You can swap your tricks out by highlighting the slots and scrolling left or right through the options. I recommend leaving them as they are.

B + Forward uses the currently equipped "Weapon". Leave it on Paint, which fires straight across unlike the arcing M-80s and Eggs.

You start with one of each piece of currency: Tacos, Fries, Tapes, & CDs. You can trade this stuff to Rodney for new boards or to Lester for new tricks.

New Boards & Tricks

• Slipstream Board: skate faster and ollie higher than the Pokey Board.
• Rocket Board: skate faster and ollie higher than the Slipstream Board.
• Duck Shoot: shoot paint while ducking.
• Skid Stop: stop quickly.
• 180 Ollie: turn around in air and stop.

You start with the "Pokey" board. This is a problem! We need to upgrade ASAP.

Exit the Rad Pack and skate down into the middle of the street below and coast to the right until you see a manhole. Stop under the taco and wait. No enemies will appear yet.

Around the 20 second mark, Rodney will skate up and offer to sell you the Slipstream board. You already have what he wants in trade. Buy it, but don't move afterwards.

Stay still. You also have the stuff to buy the Rocket board. Rodney will bounce off of the map's edge to the left and return to sell it to you nearing the 30 second mark. You skated a bit to the right so that Rodney would go off-screen before coming back, which resets his hit-box to enter his dialogue.

Now we can enjoy this level at an acceptable pace. Skate around and collect ammo and currency. If you see Lester, you may want to buy the Duck Shoot, which can be useful later. If you do buy it, make sure to equip it to MOVE2 and not MOVE3, as it is not a replacement for regular Duck. Leave his other tricks alone; the 180 Kickturn is a better stop than either of them.

Lester

The Mayor's Wife is in the door next to the M-80 pickup.

She can only face left or right and roll or throw rolling pins. Skate down onto her level and stop just above her line of attack. If you stop in the correct spot vertically, you can easily shoot her while she cannot hit you. Keep pumping her full of paint until she explodes.

Level 2

The Mall

You start at the edge of the map, near "B Wallton Booksellers". There are two floors connected by the escalators at each end. Press the select button to enter the Rad Pack.

On the bottom of the screen, you will see that your first delivery is to "Weremouse Records", which is the sixth store from the left on the current floor.

Full Map (click)

You will be given a very quick two "minutes" to deliver each shipment before they are considered late. If you make too many tardy deliveries, you will fail the level. If you deliver early (within the first minute and a half) or on-time (inside the final 30 seconds), you will receive a tip. If you enter the wrong store, they will kick you out and deduct 30 seconds from your delivery time.

Beware of this man:

Security Guard

If you are caught by the Security Guard once, he will let you go with a warning. Next time, he will deduct 30 seconds from your delivery time, inflict damage (2 health bars), and relocate you to an edge of the map. Note that he cannot turn around until he reaches the edges of the map- take advantage of this!

One more pesky obstacle on this level are the shoppers. Use the Duck move (not Duck Shoot) while skating into them to send them toppling over.

The number below "D" at the top of the screen displays how many deliveries are left. The level will end when you make the last delivery.

Level 3

The Beach

You start at the leftmost edge of the map. The goal of this level is to collect the number of pages below the letter "P" at the top of the screen. Each page also replenishes 1 health bar.

When you see a page that is out of reach, skip it and come back later. The wind will eventually blow it to an accessible location. Don't worry about the pages blowing off of the level entirely; they will ultimately stay put in one of the final positions on the right side of the map.

The wind moves to the right, and so do the slopes, so it's easier to maneuver for pages when skating to the right in this level.

Rodney and Lester are back, so if you're planning to trade with them, make sure you use the Duck move (not Duck Shoot) when seagulls swoop down, because they can steal your stuff!

New Boards & Tricks

• Afterburner Board: skate faster and ollie much lower than the Rocket Board.
• Hang Time Board: skate slower and ollie much higher than the Rocket Board.
• Brick Wall Stop: stop more quickly than Skid Stop.
• Tail Bump: fire M-80s and Eggs from the back of your board.
• 720 Kickturn: perform a spinning melee attack.

I can't recommend purchasing any of this stuff unless you're curious. Neither board is better than the Rocket, and the tricks aren't very useful in practice. The most interesting of them are the Afterburner board and the 720 Kickturn- pick them up if you have the goods to trade.

Collect all the pages in this relentless level to move on to the final mission.

Level 4

The Warehouse

There are two goals: find the permit and rescue CJ from Icepick. 

This is an absolutely punishing labyrinth that really has no business being in this game. The maze consists of single screen rooms crawling with masked skaters shooting paint. This is a good time to use Duck Shoot to take them out and pick up the paint clips they drop. If you don't have Duck Shoot, simply use Duck, as they can't hurt you when you're ducking.

If they damage you too much, you can find health refills in many dead ends around the maze. 

Otherwise, stick to these exact directions:

Gray

Up

Up

Up

Left

Down

Elevator

Green

Left

Down

Elevator

Blue

Left

Up

Up

Right

Down

Elevator

Red

Left

Up

Up

Up

Up

Right

Elevator

Blue

Up

Left

Down

Down

Right

Elevator

Green

Up

Right

Elevator

Gray

Up

Left

Down

Down

Down

Elevator

Green

Left

Up

Up

Up 

*Grab the Permit

Down

Down

Down

Right

Elevator

Gray

Up

Up

Up

Right

Down

Elevator

Green

Left

Down

Elevator

Blue

Left

Up

Up

Right

Down

Elevator

Red

Left

Down

Down

Down

Down

Right

Elevator

Blue

Up

Left

Down

Down

Right

Elevator

Green

Up

Right

Elevator

Gray

Up

Right

Right

Down

Elevator

Green

Left

Down

Elevator

Blue

Left

Up

Up

Right

Down

Elevator

Red

Left

Up

Up

Up

Up

Right

Elevator

Blue

Up

Right

Down

Down

Right

Right

Elevator

Green

Up

Left

Down

Left

Left

Up

Right

Elevator

Gray

Up

Left

Down

Down

Right

Right

Right

Down

Elevator

Green

Left

Down

Elevator

Blue

Left

Down

Right

Right

Down

Down

Elevator

Red

Left

Up

Up

Up

Up

Up

Right

Down

Down

Down

Down

Elevator

Rooftop 

*Icepick & CJ

You enter the roof from the elevator on the right. Icepick moves up and down on the left side of the screen. He will eventually charge to the right side of the screen and return left in a straight line, which is easy to avoid. Just keep shooting to the left and moving up or down when he charges. When you hit him with enough paint, he will cry "Mama!"

Congratulations! You just earned the right to legally shred the gnarly ramp that you and your friends have been working so hard for.

Ramp strats coming soon...

Dumbest Game Ever by PGR

Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic Games

_____________________________________________________________________

I hate this game. It's soooo stupid because I suck at it. And get this- there is a camera in the game and you have to control it. No other game makes you do that. Oh, and ewwww you have to collect things! I don't want to get anything ever in any game. Please just give me totally empty worlds- I don't want incentives to explore every corner.

And it's wayyy too long. No, I mean it's too short. It's too long and short. We should all just give a bad rating now because it will probably have DLC and all games with DLC are bad.

What's worst of all, it can't run perfectly on my computer which I just got eight years ago. OMG no, the very worst thing is that they removed an actor's voice from the game just because he was revealed to be a raving racist right before the launch of the game! Way to go you stupid democrats! I think I should've had a say in that matter. I helped fund the game on kickstarter from the very beginning, even though I hate the Banjo series and platformers in general. I thought this would be different.

-ProfessionalGameReviewer

Steam Quickies #5

Inside

Playdead

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Inside is amazing from the get-go and proceeds to get better, climaxing with a mind-blowing series of events that wouldn't be conjured up in your wildest dreams... or nightmares. My girlfriend was so scared that she had to put the controller down and walk away. She had to get Outside.

Playdead has assembled a roller coaster of intense situations and puzzles to boggle the mind for just the right amount of time. No challenge is so difficult as to interfere with the story which unfolds with no outright exposition let alone any dialogue whatsoever.

Don't play another minute of anything else until you've set aside three to four hours for Playdead's Inside. It's guaranteed to immediately mesmerize.

ABZU
Giant Squid
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I hope the old debate of whether or not video games are an art form has been put to rest. If there's anyone out there who still feels they aren't, I challenge them to play ABZU, the latest from the "art" director who collaborated with thatgamecompany to bring us the quintessential art game, Journey.

Prepare your eyes and ears for a good dazzling as you swim through lush waters, and keep your finger near the F12 button as you experience chilling sequences which are sure to overload your screenshots folder. ABZU is about exploring environments which aren't large and solving puzzles which aren't challenging. Pardon the pun, but ABZU is more about the "journey" than anything else.

Steam Quickies #4

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Night Dive Studios & Iguana Entertainment

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Attitude Era kids rejoice as an essential piece of the Nintendo 64 library is now on Steam. Night Dive Studios has introduced Turok: Dinosaur Hunter to the modern audience with slick visuals and a contemporary update to the vintage control scheme. Some classic gameplay elements, like limited continues, are kept unsullied for a difficult yet fair challenge. The same heart-pounding tribal beats return to accompany this super speedy first-person run 'n' gun platformer. Turok is still the ultimate action experience; the Predator of video games. Keep an eye out for Seeds of Evil in 2016.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D

Factor 5

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Another N64 classic pops up on Steam. One of the premier dogfighters of all time, Rogue Squadron is still a smooth operator with plenty of replayability, but all is not well in the galaxy far far away. First off, you'll need a controller as the M/KB setup is awful. Also, there's only a few resolution options available, so prepare to play in windowed mode. Menus are unsightly, achievements are sorely missing, but the worst offender is the goofy default camera option which is set to hang back while your ship flies off into the distance. Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D isn't a bad game by any means, but if the stage is being set for the remainder of a remastered trilogy, let's hope for better treatment.