Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls - World 1 - Downtown (Perfect)

The first non-tutorial world is set in a smoggy urban environment. I remember the manuals stating how the towers are ancient structures, so either this is some weird technology advancement, the person in charge of writing the premise worked independently on those who made the artwork, or this is set far into the future. Whatever the case, you’ve seen this theme in Easy Street. Skyscrapers take up much of the backgrounds, and the platforms resemble asphalt roads with fire hydrants decorated throughout.

Since this is still World 1, things are pretty simple and straightforward, and the towers never really get too tall.

For this one, I’ve selected Amanda as my player character. She doesn't have any theme in particular, so I might as well put her here.

00:20 - Tower 1 - I’m Saying “Eleven!”
I’m not really sure what the reference in this tower’s name is, and I Googled it up and found nothing. Though as the first non-tutorial tower (not counting Baby Enchilada, which was really more of a review of what you had learned to that point), this one’s pretty short and simple. It introduces the goo platforms though, which are sticky and slow you down a lot.

02:13 - Tower 2 - Tube Ride
The name of this tower most likely refers to tubing, in which you ride an inflated inner tube down a river. This was a fairly popular and well-known pastime in the 1980s and 1990s, at least where there are safe rivers. Towards the end of each lap, I used a technique known in-game as flapping—I’ll explain that in more detail later, when it becomes a required technique and not just something to use to stay in the air for longer.

05:15 - Tower 3 - Nice Action!
You might have noticed by now, between this tower and the last one, that fans are a good way to skip some manual clmbing: just let the updraft send you upwards rapidly until you reach solid ground. The computer players do it, so you might as well!

08:17 - Tower 4 - Cooky Jar
I’m not sure why “Cookie” is spelled wrong for this tower’s name, but you’ll see at the beginning of this tower’s introduction that there are only 2 laps for this one. They tend to be reserved for the ones that take longer to complete a lap, though the final tower for each world, which always takes place in the ruins area, is always 1 very long lap.

10:31 - Tower 5 - Wobbler
Though it goes without saying in any racing game, it’s important to be at least passingly familiar with each racetrack. For this tower, the last segment is a series of long, irregularly shaped horizontal loops with one segment where you can grapple through. You want to know the optimal path through there, because you can bet the computer players in Hard difficulty will.

13:05 - Tower 6 - Super Happy Fun
I have my doubts about it, but I remember some people saying that this tower is named after the Super Happy Tree from Yoshi’s Story. That game had just come out the previous year, and people playing on the Nintendo 64 had it fresh in their minds. Here, I demonstrate, albeit unintentionally, that you can get hit by your own blue electric shot items. Very nice if you hit someone with it. Not so nice if you hit yourself.

15:37 - Tower 7 - The Ring’s the Thing
Crucial to me winning this race was sheer aggression against the computer players. And hey, why not? They’re very aggressive to me, so I might as well fight them. There’s relatively little infighting among them, so you might as well hold nothing back when they come around. Make them miss those moving platforms.

18:46 - Tower 8 - Clang Clang! (Armored)
For the record, every standard world has one “Armored” tower. This means that 75% or more of the tower is made of armored ground, which can’t be grappled through. Any non-grappling means of movement will work though, like bouncing on another racer’s head or dipping into the acid below (not that it’s practical in this specific tower). In hindsight, I’m not sure why this signifier exists. It’s not like your strategy is any different knowing that.

20:58 - Tower 9 - Maze of Torment
Though I like the design of this tower, the spiraling climb up feeling like something suitable for the last tower with the Downtown theme, there’s nothing maze-like about this.

23:19 - Final - Orbital
And finally, the tower set in the ruins, which, if it concludes a world, is only 1 lap. But as you can see, this lap is as long as a whole race in some other towers.