About this Article
This section will detail the different "tricks" and advanced techniques
that the SSX 3 players have discovered to boost your scores. Often times
they take advantage of little known information that very few people know
about. If you read this section and use all these techniques, you will
probably see your scores skyrocket or your times lowered.

The "180 Trick"
TECHNIQUE # 1 - "The 180 Trick"

Events: Slopestyle, Big Air, Superpipe

Importance for High Scores: Critical

HOW to do "The 180 Trick": At the beginning of the freestyle event, stop
as soon as you leave the gate and do 180's (hold LEFT or RIGHT and push
the jump button) until your combo meter reaches anywhere from 20x to 30x,
THEN continue the event normally.

Why do "The 180 Trick"? Because it's absolutely critical to get high scores
with. You can get platinum on all freestyle events without it, but if you
want to compete with the top scorers, you need to do this.

WHY does "The 180 Trick" work? The trick system in SSX 3 rewards a high
combo (10x or above) by adding a higher percentage of your score into the
combo bonus. At 30x, the maximum double the amount of points for each trick
is added into the combo bonus (for example, if you do a 15K trick, 30K is
added into the combo bonus.) So if you do a Big Air Run on Much2Much and get
200K, if you do 20-30 180's at the very start, and THEN go do that exact same
run, you will get at least twice the points depending on where you stopped
your combo bonus at. If you stopped it at 30x, you will essentially triple
the score you would have gotten (your regular score, plus each double the
trick total in the combo bonus.) That is how you see people getting monstrous
scores on superpipe and Big Air.

Notes: Remember, you MUST complete your combo in order to get the monstrous
scores - if you crash, you lose the entire combo bonus. Also, remember that
STYLE points (Inverted, Stall, Off-Axis, Late Spin and Grab Bonuses), are
NOT added into the combo bonus. However, flips, grabs, Ubers, and the bonus
points accumulated by Monster Tricks ARE added.


The Gate (180) Trick
TECHNIQUE # 2 - "The Gate (180) Trick"

Event: Superpipe, Big Air

Importance for High Scores: Very Important

What to do: In the beginning of a race, look for a fence to handplant onto,
then once you have handplanted onto it, drop onto it and do 180's exactly
like the trick above.

Why do "The Gate Trick"? Because it gets you a much higher combo bonus much
faster than the regular 180's trick would, plus it gives you full Level 1
Boost as well. Then you continue with the rest of the track the same way
you would with the 180 Trick.

Why does the "Gate Trick" work? The game registers 180's on a fence as TWO
different tricks for the same one - a regular "180" and also a "180 to rail"
trick, and that doubles the amount of 180's you can do and also builds up
your boost bar much faster. Consequently, if you do a nosepress while doing
the Gate Trick, each 180 will net you 3x!

Notes: It's not possible on every track, and there are also places where
fences are not handplantable, but try it on the Big Air and Superpipe courses
and experiment whether it would be worth it to do. In most cases, it is
absolutely the best starting technique you can use. Remember that after 30x,
your combo bonus cannot get any larger (double the amount of each trick) so
you don't need to do more than that before you continue your event.


The "Select Trick"
TECHNIQUE # 3 - "The Select Trick"

Events: Racing

Importance for High Scores: Very important

How to do "The Select Trick": Look for certain areas of the track that you can
push manual reset on ('Select' on the PS2 controller, hence the name) and in
certain areas you will be warped ahead almost instantly.

Why do "The Select Trick": Because in advanced racing, people will use any
advantage they can get, and you might be left behind if you don't use them.

Why does "The Select Trick" work? Because of the necessity to have ways to
escape from certain areas of the track where you may otherwise get stuck. For
example, if the game didn't reset you past a large jump that you just don't
have enough speed to jump over, you would never be able to get past it.

Notes: There are not "Select Tricks" on every track - and they only work on
certain spots. It may also be beneficial NOT to use them as you lose almost
all your boost if you push the manual reset button. The only completely
safe time to use them is if you have SUPER UBER spelled out and then you
won't lose any boost if you use the Select Trick.

Also note that this trick has been around since SSX, and is rarely spoken
about and is usually understood that you use them if you can. However, it is
VERY important to remember that the "Select Trick" is banned in official
World Record racing attempts (see http://www.twingalaxies.com for more info.)
Using the "Select Trick" also means that your run was not "clean" as you used
a glitch to get a better time than you could have gotten racing normally.


Tap Boosting
TECHNIQUE # 4 - "Tap Boosting"

Events: Racing

Importance for High Scores: Medium

How to do "Tap Boosting": Tap the boost button instead of holding it down. The
faster the better.

Why do "Tap Boosting": Because it makes your boost last much longer if you
don't have unlimited SUPER UBER boost.

Why does "Tap Boosting" work: Because it parcels out your boost over a longer
period of time and therefore maintains a higher average speed than you would
get if you held the boost bar down.

Notes: Tap Boosting is not as good as getting unlimited SUPER UBER boost, but
it's a way to make your boost last longer if you are on a track where you may
have a hard time getting boost. Tapping the boost button is an old school
trick - it's been around since the very first SSX.


Monsters Through Multipliers
TECHNIQUE # 5 - "Monsters Through Multipliers"

Events: Slopestyle

Importance for High Scores - Very Important, almost critical.

How to do "Monsters Through Multipliers": Umm...do a Monster Trick through a
trick multiplier, heheh.

Why do "Monsters Through Multipliers": Because it's essential for getting
the very top scores, and because it can make difficult slopestyle tracks MUCH
easier by increasing the points you get on a single trick.

Why do "Monsters Through Multipliers" work? Because the game adds the Monster
Trick point bonus into the score that gets multiplied, meaning that you can
sometimes score more than 500,000 points on a single trick! For example,
if you do an Overseer Monster Trick through a 10x Multiplier on a jump, you
will probably get at least 40K total on the trick. While the actual flip+spin
+Uber point total is not that high (maybe 10K), the 30,000 point trick bonus
is added into the total and multiplied, making the total worth of the trick
once you hit the multiplier and land a whopping 400,000 points!

Notes: Note that the multiplied bonus is NOT added into your combo bonus, so
you wouldn't get 400,000 added into your combo bonus if you did the trick
above. But on difficult courses like Kick Doubt, you can sometimes have a
very crappy run, then pull of a Monster Trick through a multiplier and manage
to get gold where you would have never had a chance without it.

Also, think about the possibilities of the using both Monsters through
Multipliers and The Smurphy Trick for the huge airtime Slopestyle jumps.


"AI Boost"
TECHNIQUE # 6 - "AI Boost"

Events: Racing

Importance for High Scores: Not very important, but every little bit counts.

How to do "AI Boost": Spend the first few attempts at a race hitting the same
character over and over. Then, when they are raging mad (they have a red
exclamation point over their head), try to time a punch for the same time
they hit you. If you do this trick right, you will both knock down the
other rider to get full boost and get a burst of speed when the enemy tried
to knock you over but failed. You'll know it when you see it.

Why do "AI Boost"? Because, like I said, every little bit counts. This may
save you half a second on a track where the top scores are all separated by
a second or two.

Why does AI Boost work? Because of the near-crash animations that you get
when you are at your highest level of Toughness. I'm not 100% sure why
you get a boost of speed when you are hit but not knocked down, but it occurs.

Notes: This trick was discovered by Cpd4224, and while it's not mandatory
it can give you that little extra edge that might help. It is rather
difficult to get, however.


"Glitch Shortcuts"
TECHNIQUE # 7 - "Glitch Shortcuts"

Events: Racing

Importance for High Scores: Not very, as there are very few of them. But
on tracks where there is an established one, it is absolutely critical.

How to do "Glitch Shortcuts": If you played SSX Tricky, you know all about
these glitches. What this entails is finding "holes" in the reset perimeter
in a track, jumping through this hole and falling "off the edge of the world"
and into infinite falling space. After a certain amount of time (varies with
each glitch shortcut), manual reset out of falling. You will re-appear much
further ahead in the track than you would have had you tried to race there
normally in the same amount of time.

Why do "Glitch Shortcuts"? Because someone else may attempt to use them to
beat a time you achieved fairly. These are another technique banned for
World Record attempts, and using this in a run means the run isn't "clean."

Why do "Glitch Shortcuts" work? I have no real idea, but they're some weird
by-product of the way the game resets you.

Notes: These are not nearly as big of a plague as they were in SSX Tricky,
and there is code in the game that keeps you from falling forever in general.
However, there are certain parts in a track where this code appears to be
bypassed, and when it is you can use Glitch Shortcuts to your advantage.

Also note that Glitch Shortcuts are very dangerous to use if you don't know
exactly when to manual-reset out of them. If you fall too far, you will
reset in some other portion of the mountain and then your game will freeze!
For example, if you found a glitch shortcut on Snow Jam, if you waited to
long and reset out of it too late, you could re-spawn in the backcountry
between Snow Jam and Metro City! Then, once the game realizes you are no
longer on Snow Jam, it doesn't know how to relate that to the event you
were in and locks up. Use these at your own risk!

Additionally, these techniques are banned by Twin Galaxies the same way that Select shortcuts are banned.


The "Smurphy Trick"
TECHNIQUE # 8 - "The Smurphy Trick"

Events: Superpipe (especially), Big Air, Slopestyle

Importance for High Scores: Critical for the very, very top, upper eschelon
scores. Not important if you are just looking for gold.

How to do "The Smurphy Trick": In order to do the "Smurphy Trick" you must
do a Monster Trick in mid-air, give it a second to register (stop briefly for
a moment), then do at least another 180 (or another Monster Trick) to have
it register again and you can get full points for your MT's on each jump. What
will happen is that you will hear the announcer say "Monster Trick" while
still in mid-air, and then you will get the FULL bonus for the Monster Trick
even if you've done it before! At it's basest level, the scientific explanation
of the Smurphy Trick is this: "Any late flip or spin trick done after a Monster
Trick will allow you to do that same trick again after you have landed."

Why do "The Smurphy Trick"? Because it allows you to do the same Monster Trick
over and over and over for every single jump and still get the same bonus you
did the very first time.

Why does "The Smurphy Trick" work? I've been told by different sources that I
trust that this is a bug of some sort, and it makes sense, since it completely
bypasses the "trick recorder" that halves the scores of any duplicated tricks.
In the logistics of the game, however, I have no real idea why it works, only
that it does.

Notes: While I'm in wonder of this trick, it takes a serious amount of fun out
of doing freestyle events because it makes each jump a matter of "How can I
score the most points in each jump", rather than rewarding variety of tricks
like in previous games.

This trick was discovered simultaneously by L12 SmURphY and NDogg6. It's
called the Smurphy trick since Smurphy was the first one to tell me it and I
promised him I would name it after him, heheh.


The "Tapping Trick"
TECHNIQUE # 9 - "The Tapping Trick"

Events: Superpipe, Big Air, Slopestyle

Importance for High Scores: Critical for all top scores.

How to do "The Tapping Trick": When you prewind a jump, instead of holding
the direction you want to flip/spin, TAP the direction quickly. This will
cause your boarder to spin/flip MUCH faster than they would if you simply
held the direction.

Why do "The Tapping Trick"? It increases your flip/spin speed significantly,
such as if you would have only done an 1800 spin, you can now do a 2300 or
above simply by tapping. If you want to be able to pull off two Monster
Tricks per jump on Perpendiculous, you need to tap the direction you are
spinning instead of just holding it down.

Why does "The Smurphy Trick" work? Because SSX 3's trick "auto-correct"
feature is faster than the regular spin/flip speed. When you tap the
direction, the game thinks you have finished the trick you are attempting
and finishes it for you, speeding it up.

Notes: The tapping trick is essential for getting the most out of every
jump, and also for getting those high scores on pipes and Big Air events.



The "AOSO Lander"

TECHNIQUE # 10 - "The AOSO Lander"



Events: Racing

Importance for High Scores: Very important.

How to do "The AOSO Lander": It sounds very simple, but timing is very
important in this technique. Simply do a tail or nosepress as you land
off a jump, then immediately let go so that the animation as you land
is smooth. It's tricky to describe, but you'll know it when you see
it.

Why do "The AOSO Lander": It can save you a few tenths of a second on
each jump, especially if you are on a track with several small and
hard-landing jumps, like Snow Jam.

Why does "The AOSO Lander" work? Have you ever noticed when you go off a
jump and you land hard, that your boarder leans backwards a bit while
recovering from the hard landing? That's a "crash animation" that slows
you down a few tenths of a second each time it happens. Doing the tail
or nose press as you land prevents that animation from happening, saving
you the time you would have lost had it happened.

Notes: This trick was discovered by AOSO, a member of the forums at
Merqurycity.com.



The "Frost Lander"
TECHNIQUE # 11 - "The Frost Lander"

Events: Racing

Importance for High Scores: Very important.

How to do "The Frost Lander": This trick is very similar to the AOSO
lander, but is both easier and more difficult in turn. To do the Frost
Lander, push and hold the jump button as you land. This eliminates
any and all rough landings right off the bat. After you land, you can
still steer if you need to as long as you continue holding X. The
problem is of course, that in SSX 3 there is no way to cancel a prewind,
which means you will have to continue holding X until you come to a
place you can do a jump. However, you can boost much easier right off
the bat from the Frost Lander, something that may be tricky to do with
the AOSO Lander.

Why do the "Frost Lander": Because it's tons easier to implement into
racing, but it's also harder to keep going. It saves you seconds if
you do it right, though.

Why does "The Frost Lander" work? For the same reason the AOSO Lander
works - it eliminates the rough landing animation that costs you time.

Notes: This trick was discovered by Frost, a member of the forums at
Merqurycity.com.


The "Wired 180 Trick"

TECHNIQUE # 12 - "The Wired 180 Trick"



Events: Freestyle

Important for High Scores: For the records? Not critical, but important
if you want to compete.

How to do "The Wired 180 Trick": It's very similar doing a nose press
180 trick on the fence. You quickly tap jump and right d-pad together
in a rhythm with the the stick used to do the nosepress forward the
entire time while you are on a fence or rail. Time it right
and it's 5x or more each time you land on the rail.

Why do "The Wired 180 Trick": Because it's by far the fastest way to get
30x. The faster you can get 30x, the more time you can have to do tricks
and get higher scores.

Why does "The Wired 180 Trick" work? I don't really know - I assume it's
some by product of the way the game reads 180's on rails. But technically,
you don't even have to do 180's to get this to work.

Notes: This trick was discovered by igloo, another member of the forums
at Merqurycity.com. He gave the trick it's "Wired" name, though he
originally called it the "Wired Smurphy" trick. Technically it has nothing
to do with the Smurphy Trick so I renamed it to correctly describe it's
intention and purpose.