Arthur! Ready To Race Guide

Controls

Racing:

• Left and Right: Steer left and right.
• Cross: Slows down the car.

Elwood Town:

• Left and Right: Move left and right.
• Cross: Jump.

In both modes, Select Pauses and brings up a Menu. Start shows you the progress of your current build.

Things To Know:

• Collecting all 256 Bionic Bunny cards and the 12 CDs has no payoff. Nothing unlocks; there’s no hidden anything. It’s just done for fun. However, you can only achieve 11/12 CDs as of this last guide update.
• If you’re going for the complete set of cards and music CDs, you don’t have to finish a level. If you miss something, press Select to choose Return to Elwood. You’ll be whisked away to the town street, with all the collected collectibles intact. Re-enter the stage and complete the quest.
• Any Bionic Bunny cards captured turn into coins in future runs. If you need coins for the Toy Store, replay a stage you already collected all the cards from. That’s a minimum of 20 extra coins guaranteed, plus the already existing ones.
• The game only saves upon successful completion of one of the four mini-games (before you race if it’s the last piece you needed) and after a race. If you’re in dire need of saving, run to the library and snag the baby. During Phase II, it starts on the left. During Phase III, it’s somewhere on the right. This also allows for some extra coins to be had.
• If you replay a stage you already collected the car part for, you’ll be rewarded with 5 coins upon successful completion. 

Main Game

The game starts with the practice race, having Arthur and friends fresh off building their first racer. 

Opening Race

After the opening cinema, the game drops you off into the first practice race. Use the cross button to slow down in corners. It’s needed to snag all the collectibles, which are sometimes at odd angles. 

To Collect: 30 Cards, 1 CD

Once completed, you’ll be given the blueprints for the Phase II Race Car. This also opens up the block of Elwood to adventure in. 

Elwood City – Races, Mini-Games, and Parts Locations

The city is a single block, with 2 streets you can walk up and into. Along with the mini-game locations, there are several ‘Enrichment Activities’ (the manual’s term) that are miniature fetch quests. These reward the player with 5 coins per successful quest, while others are more just for amusement. 

Each mini-game location has Phase II (red boxcar) and Phase III (silver boxcar) variants. Since the differences are minimal, I’ll add both of them here to save time and space.

Let’s get down to business and tour the city. 

Muffy’s Garden Challenge

The farthest house to the left. Muffy’s butler is off, so it’s Arthur’s turn to collect tomatoes for her tomato sauce business. The garden is set up like a maze, with several hazards to sidestep. You will need to collect a set amount of tomatoes before the timer in the bottom left turns completely pink. Note that the final tick of pink still allows for about 2 tomatoes to be picked if they’re close enough. 

Phase II Version

During your first adventure here, the main villains will be the porcupines and the bushes themselves as they block parts of the path. Some of the cards and coins are almost hidden behind the bushes, so explore everywhere. The CD is in the middle of the maze.

To Collect: 20 Tomatoes, 20 Cards,1 Music CD
Reward: New Front Wheels

Phase III Version

The second time around, you’ll now have 25 tomatoes to collect, with more in your way. There are now skunks and porcupines, and more of them. Tomatoes will also fall off the bushes, removing them from potential picking.

To Collect: 25 Tomatoes, 20 Cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: Magnesium Front Wheels

Barn

The barn is where you can re-race if you failed previously. During the parts acquisition, walking up to the friends will trigger a conversation reminding you where to go. 

Arthur’s House – Chasing Pal

That pesky pet of theirs has stolen something and must be chased around the back paths before he reaches his dog house. This particular stage cannot be done in one pass due to a fork in the road. So don’t feel bad if you don’t do it the first time. 

The meter at the bottom of the screen displays how close you are to him and his doghouse.

As a play tip, Arthur moves a bit faster when he jumps forward. To catch Pal, keep jumping forward and running alongside the path, avoiding the mud as you go. He’s super easy to catch, but Pal’s run speed does change up every so often. There is a single Bionic Bunny card hidden behind the fence on the left path. It’s super easy to miss if you’re paying attention to Pal.

Phase II Version

To Collect: Pal, 20 cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: Steering Wheel

Phase III Version

More mud, and now piles of leaves, adorn the forest floor.

To Collect: Pal, 20 cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: Spolier

Cemetary Search

Arthur’s friend Blinky took a shortcut through the cemetery, regretfully dropping an item in the process. It will be up to our hero to rescue said object while avoiding all the spooky things that go bump in the night. 

The meter at the bottom of this mini game shows how often Arthur gets frightened from bumping into a ghost, a bat, and sliding in the mud. If the meter gets filled, Arthur runs out of the cemetery, and you have to start over.

Phase II Version

To Collect: Backpack, 20 Cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: New Car Body

Phase III Version

On the second run, there will now be more ghosts and bats, with added piles of autumn leaves strewn about. Blinky dropped his clarinet this time. 

To Collect: Clarinet, 20 Cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: Supersonc Car Body

Baby Kate’s Library Chase

Arthur’s little sibling is on the run, or at least, the crawl. The library is set up like a maze, and you will need to find the baby (by running into her) before your sister does. 

The meter at the bottom is similar to the Pal chase. It shows you, the baby, and how close you are to her and the finish line.

Here, the library itself is the enemy. Paths will be blocked, requiring backtracking if you go the wrong way. Amusingly, if you stand still at the beginning and watch the meter, you can just catch the baby as it crawls out from the maze back to the mom. 

Phase II Version

To Collect: 1 Baby, 20 Cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: New rear Wheels

Phase III Version

In the second run, more aisles are blocked. Besides the “just stand there” trick, you can also run up to the top middle of the maze and catch Baby Kate as she crosses the aisle. 

To Collect: 1 Baby, 20 Cards, 1 Music CD
Reward: Magnesium Rear Wheels

Phase II Race

With all 4 parts collected, you’ll be taken to the qualifying race. And here’s where the game’s coding issue begins. There is no CD to collect here, which is why it’s impossible to score the perfect 12/12. That said, same race advice as before. Use the brake as needed, but note you do need to finish the race before the timer runs out. 

To Collect: Win The Race, 35 Cards

Winning this race will trigger a cinematic where Arthur dreams of the Bionic Bunny giving him the supersonic car. Thus triggers Phase III’s adventure. See above for mini-game changes.

Once the supersonic car parts are collected, the third and final race will automatically start. Here’s the wacky thing: there’s no way to save if you win this race. If you’re successful, you’re given the ending cinematic and then booted straight to the title screen. If you want to save your game with a ‘perfect run’ on the memory card, you will need to intentionally lose this race after you have all the cards and disc. Exit out and repeat the library mini-game, and then save. 

Phase III Race

To Collect: 40 Cards, 1 Music CD

The End!

 

Enrichment Locations

Toy Shop

The toy shop is where you will spend the coins you’ve acquired. There are 8 total items to be had, with a quirky surprise on two of them. For the paint jobs, 15 Coins, you can repaint your current boxcar. Available colors are red, blue, green, and brown. Only one color can be active at a time. 

There are also four available accessories for the box car.

• • Cow Catcher – 50 Coins. Decorative, appears on the front of the car.
  • Deer Whistle – 30 Coins. Once purchased, R1 triggers a honk noise in-race.
  • Car Alarm – 50 Coins. Once purchased, L1 triggers a police siren in-race.
  • Pennants – 30 Coins. Decorative items appear around the car.

Jack’s Joke Shop

There’s literally no reason to go here unless you would like to hear one of several random knock-knock jokes. So far, these are the known “Who is there?” subjects:

• • “Ach-choo” Sneeze
  • Wanda
  • Forty
  • Leaf
  • Xavier
  • “Who” Owl
  • Wire
  • BC
  • Dwayne

Pet Store

The pet store is one of two money-collecting sidequests. Once you have spoken to the clerk for the first time, a pet will randomly appear in Elwood or inside one of the 4 mini games. Collect them and return them to the store for a 5 Coin reward. Note that their order of appearance is completely random. I had the skunk appear twice in a row. The complete list of missing pets are as follows.

• • Olivia
  • Monty The Parrot
  • Nutty The Squirrel
  • Pointy The Porcupine
  • Hoppy The Frog
  • Daisy The Skunk
  • Darwin
  • Quinn The Dog
  • Vladimir The Black Cat
  • Ginger The Cat

Post Office

The exact same premise as the Pet Shop. Once you have spoken to the postmaster for the first time, a package will randomly appear somewhere in the world or one of the four mini games. 

Each returned package will award you 5 Coins. 

Sugar Bowl

While a favorite hangout in the cartoon show, here it’s a music player. Each of the CDs can be listened to on the jukebox. Whichever track you leave the Sugar Bowl on will become the game’s new background track.