Ridge Racer

When you load up the game, you could be forgiven for thinking the stage of Galaga is just there to keep you amused whilst you wait for the real action to begin. Wrong! It's there for a reason. If you destroy all of the ships in the short space of time you have, then you'll gain access to eight brand new cars. That's twice as many as you originally started with - not bad, huh?

Finish all four tracks in the first place to gain access to another four. These are essentially the same four as before, except they are raced backwards! This may sound easy, but believe me its not.

Whenever you start a race, you will see a chequered flag waving in the wind. If you hold down the L1, L2, R1 and R2 buttons and press the D-pad you can make it flip and rotate in different directions. Alternatively, you can press the X button to zoom in on it and the Square button to zoom away from it. Pressing start as well, will also make the flag go transparent. Remember though, the L1, L2, R1 and R2 buttons have to be held down throughout for these tricks to work.

To race on a track that is the mirror image of the normal one, after the start of the race, turn around. On the normal tracks this must be before you get onto the main straight. On the extra courses this must be before you get the first bend. Now accelerate as fast as possible and drive through the brick wall in front of you. You'll now be able to carry on around the track, but what was a right hand turn will have become a left one and what was a left turn, will have become right. Novel, eh?

If you hold down the L1, Triangle and X button, whilst pressing up on the joypad, as the game loads, you should get two ships during the Galaga game , rather than one. Side by side, these give you twice as much firepower and twice as much chance of completing the game and accessing the bonus cars.