Race Tips

- Keep your eyes peeled for "out of bounds" signs, as they can sometimes point to shortcuts. Experiment with them and find out if they truly are shortcuts, as sometimes they may actually be longer routes.

- Most great shortcuts aren't marked, but you'll soon find that anything is a shortcut, just try it and see.

- Some of the courses are primarily "S"-like shaped, snaking down the side of a peak. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so you should always be looking for a way to bypass or jump over the "S" to make your path straight down the peak.

- Find the proper balance between tricking and not tricking. As a general rule of thumb for races, earn your boost via tricks on small jumps, and ignore big jumps, or gain as little air as possible. The more you're on the ground, the faster you're going.

- Rails are your friends, and always boost on the rails. Each and every rail + boost = a 20 or 30 MPH gain in speed, which is always good.

- Experiment with different types of snow and find which ones to avoid and which ones to stay on. Bluish/icy surfaces will help your speed, while pillowy/powdery snows will bog you down.

- The fastest you can go is 75 MPH, so as a rule of thumb, any time you're going 75 MPH, it's a good thing. Enjoy those nice long falls on backcountry drops.

Freestyle Tips

- Always boost going into a ramp/jump, especially on super pipes. When you approach a ramp, your thumb should be firmly planted on both the A and B buttons, to charge your jump and give you boost. You'll get plenty of air, and the boost will add distance to that air and add to your air time. On super pipes, you should hit A and B the instant your board touches the ground, or before.

- Let go of the jump button at the absolute top of the ramp, maybe even a millisecond after the top. More air. With these two tips, I've been able to pull off 9 Übers in one jump on several occasions.

- When your boost meter isn't full, always tweak your tricks for extra points and boost (tweak with the B button). Always.

- The amount of points and boost you get per jump depends on the amount of rotations you also pull. Remember to always prewind prior to a jump by holding right or left on the D-pad. Don't be afraid to mix it up with left/right, forward flip/backward flips, or both at the same time.

- Pull off Übers on rails as much as possible, especially when no jump is nearby. If a tree or other such rail points into a jump, you can have a head start on Über-tricking by starting the jump with a rail-Über, then going into a regular Über or two.

- If you find that you often can't complete an Über before hitting the ground, head to the lodge and buy a faster Über. You can preview each Über before purchase.

- Everything is a ramp, and everything is a rail. If you have this outlook, then soon you'll find that it's mostly true.

- The 5x and 10x multipliers should become your best friends. Learn where they are, and go to them every time. A 10x multiplier is worth passing up two or three 2x multipliers.

General Tips

- Big Challenges are the greatest thing to happen to SSX. They'll teach you shortcuts and make you learn how to get great boost via tricks on courses. Don't ignore the Big Challenges, and keep doing one until you finish (don't give up and lose the moment).

- Do yourself a favor and force yourself to load a track and not leave it until you've grabbed 3 or 4 cash crystals. Not only is it a nice diversion from the rest of the game, but it'll free you up to just explore. On almost every course, 1/3rd of the cash crystals are hidden in secret shortcuts, so it'll help you find them.

- Platinum medals = lots and lots of cash, so look at the requirements for Platinum in the lodge and set about getting the platinums.

- When buying stats, your priority should be speed and acceleration, then stability and edging, then tricks and spinning, and finally toughness. I find it easier to focus on racing to build up my character, then once his tricking is built up, go back and do the trick courses. You can fake racing greatness thanks to the shortcuts, but you pretty much need full trick-related stats (edging, spin, tricks) in order to achieve tricking greatness.

- Take it easy on your thumb. The D-pad doesn't need to be mashed incredibly hard to register when you're pulling off tricks, so learn to be gentle. Also, when your thumb gets tired, focus on racing courses or Big challenges/collectibles.