Tips for getting collectibles

[grim_fendango]

Personally I have found that getting all of the collectibles in the game is the hardest thing about Kung Fu Rider. In this post I provide some tips to make this easier.

 

Tip #0 Where are the collectibles

There is a collectibles guide for this game somewhere on the internet (I'm being intentionally vague in order to comply with the PSNP guidelines). You should be able to find it after a quick google search.

 

Tip #1 Learn to back flip

You will notice that some of the coins seem to be impossible to reach. These will require you to use the mid air backflip kung fu move (yes putting those words in a single sentence does mean that this game is awesome).

 

I would recommend that before you go for collectibles in the last few stages that you take time to learn how to pull this off consistently.

 

To do it you need to jump (flick your wrist upwards) then flip your wrist further back again almost pointing towards your chest while holding triangle. Then while holding triangle, keep flicking between your chest and straight up or forward and they will keep flipping. If you are lucky and you didn't move your move controller diagonal to your right or left at all you will do the flip. If you mess up the character will instead do a sideways summersault which will not help you get enough height to reach the coins.

 

Seriously practice this so you can do it at least semi consistently. You can even do it while standing still and jumping. You don't need forward momentum. This game expects you to do these mid air where things get stressful. So practice practice practice.

 

Once you get the hang of it, you can even make getting some of the coins that don't require the back flip even easier by doing the backflip.

 

Tip #2 Adjust jump and dash boost sensitivity

In the main menu select options and then go to the action sensitivity settings. I would recommend you set the forward dash to level 3 when going for collectibles. Accidentally forward dashing while on top of roofs can be incredibly frustrating. So making it less sensitive will reduce the risk of this happening.

 

As for the jump setting, I would say during main missions with ranks, increasing the jump sensitivity to level 1 is good. At level 2 quite often you will need to give a solid flick in order to jump and it's inconsistent. But for collectible stages it really depends. I had it set to level 2 and I think it's better at level 2 as it maybe helps you perform the backflip more consistently. But I could be wrong there. Anyway change that setting depending on what you are doing.

 

Tip #3 When to use a second controller

If by some miracle you have 2 PS3 compatible move controllers and a willing friend, you may be wondering if two player mode can help with anything? For the main ranked stages they can help. In two player mode the second player is just a floating cursor that can interact with objects, collect money and chain boosts. But they cannot grab collectible coins for you. So I really wouldn't bother with 2 player mode in the free roam stages. But in the main stages, sure go nuts.

 

Tip #4 Recalibrate your controller

So the game has a recalibrate function that you should use every now and then to ensure that the moves you do in the real world can remain semi consistent in game. But the PS3 XMB also has another calibration option you can use as well for further recalibration. See the video below for more on this.

 

 

Tip #5 Speed speed speed with the best chair

So the pro chair / stool is the best in the game. I would recommend that you try and unlock this before trying to get S rank on any of the main stages / going for all collectibles the other stages. Certain collectibles require you to be going very fast in addition to using a backflip. To unlock this you need to have gotten at least D rank in all the other main stages so power through those first. Then get 10 collectibles in the last stage and the pro chair / stool will be yours.

 

Tip #6 Speed speed speed with a full boost meter

In order to get max speed you need to have a full boost meter. The boost meter is the big coloured bar on the top of the screen. You can fill up the bar by jumping over cards, knocking out mafia men and collecting the coloured boosts items (they are the rectangle things, different colours give more boosts). You can also get boost by doing kung fu moves (knocking out mafia men or doing sick flips off a jump). You loose boost by hitting civilians, getting wiped out, colliding with walls and bumping into cars (and not getting wiped out). Last of all, you can get boosts by grinding on rails. If you keep failing a jump you should make liberal use of this to refill your meter as it's better than waiting for boost items and mafia to respawn.

 

For many of the collectibles you will need a maxed boost meter in order to get them. Don't even attempt the jump without a full meter.

 

Tip #7 Speeding up and jumping

Some collectibles require you to speed up and then jump off a ramp. You may find that your character just won't jump when you hit the ramp. This is likely because you were peddling right before you hit the ramp. In order to perform any action (flip, kick or jump etc) you need to finish the animation from the previous action. So when trying to make jumps, I recommend you stop peddling a little bit before you hit the ramp. 

 

Tip #8 Use Karen

Some might say that there are only two reasons to use Karen (if you catch my drift), but honestly I think Karen is superior from a gameplay perspective as well. For what ever reason the field of view for Toby is closer than Karen. Also he has his legs spread out more wide like he is riding a horse. These factors can make it harder to see certain obstacles etc. It is possible that Toby has a larger hit box and you might find it easier to hit certain collectibles but I just can't get past the more close up field of view.

 

Tip #9 Luck = Persistence Over Time

Some collectibles require you to speed across a road with busy traffic in order to make a jump. This is somewhat luck based. Just be persistent. You will get it eventually. Remember some coins can take upwards of an hour to obtain. That's normal. This game is hard. You will get it eventually.

 

Tip #10 To Clear a path or to not clear the path

Other collectibles require you to speed through an area with a lot of objects. Consider clearing the path with a round house kick or two first. Just note that this may remove some of your boost meter. But also, these objects will reset if you go too far away from the area. So to might be easier to learn the route that avoids the objects instead. Minimising time between retries is often key to success.

 

Tip #11 Getting on top of blue vans

Some coins are on top of blue vans. In a lot of cases the jumps to get on top of these vans using the stage ramps etc can be quite tricky to pull off. But fortunately there's another way. Head towards the van from the front side (with the bonnet and windscreen) and jump on the bonnet. If you have enough speed and you jump at the right time your character should keep rolling up the top of the blue van like a ramp, allowing you to get on top of it.

Edited June 26, 2023 by grim_fendango