Shenkuu River Rush

Shenkuu River Rush
ID #	877
World	Shenkuu
Category	Action
High Scores
Game Page

Shenkuu River Rush is an action sports game released on July 20, 2007. It is the first game on Neopets with a 3D look and as such requires the 3D Life Player plug-in. It is also the first and currently only game in which the clothes one's active Neopet wears influence the gameplay.

While Mystery Island would seem like the obvious choice for surfing in Neopia, the professional surfers know that the waves at the waterfalls of Shenkuu are the biggest. Two of those professionals are Bowe and Cassile, of whom the player needs to guide one to the end: a lake at the end of level six.

How to play

The game starts after the user has picked one of the two surfers. There's no difference in gameplay between them, except that they perform the various tricks slightly differently. The goal of the game is to reach the end of Shenkuu River and to score as many points as possible by doing stunts and picking up power-ups. The user has three lives, which are reduced by one when a crash landing is made or when an obstacle is hit. The only way to get them back is by reaching the next level, which restores one life.

As the user descends the waterfall, the game proceeds to become more difficult. The river makes more turns, and the number of obstacles and their size increases as well. Certain moves, the Double Jump and the Long Jump aren't available until just before the third level and just before the fifth level, before which they aren't needed. Besides steering the riverboard to safely pass through the levels, the user has to pick up power-ups. They look like small, glowing orbs and are each worth one point. There are three different ones: one increases speed, one allows a super jump and the third one grants a one time invulnerability.

While reaching the end within a certain time limit gives the user points, far more can be obtained by performing stunts. A stunt can be done during a jump or fall by holding down Shift. The longer the stunt takes to perform, the more points it is worth. During a jump or fall, there's usually enough time to perform multiple stunts. In that case, the points will be added to a total. Points for stunts are only awarded when they are followed by a safe landing. This means one has to land on the water (or sometimes the shore) when not performing a stunt. The queued stunts can be cleared by pressing the Spacebar.

Stunts

There are six stunts available in Shenkuu River Rush. Making am error when entering a trick code resets the arrow input, and starts over from the first working input key. Each stunt has a basic value for performing it, but the values can become bigger by doing multiple stunts in one fall or jump.

1-point tricks Tomamu Tail Flare: down-down Whirling Kazeriu: right-left

4-points tricks Juma Spin: right-down-left Sandan Somersault: up-down-down

8-points tricks Pygui Roll: left-right-down-left Quilin Eclipse: up-left-down-up

Items

The following are the clothes items that can be collected to affect gameplay.

	Boots of Leaping - Jumps are more powerful.		Pack of Holding - Adds 3 points to a user's score when a new level is started.
	Bracers of Fury - Creates a softer landing on user's stunts and jumps, but they still have to be on board to land or a life is lost.		Speed Beads - Increases speed.
	Helm of Recovery - Faster recovery when you lose a life.		Winged Talisman - Decreases gravity and increases flight longevity.

Trivia

• Every stunt is named after a Fanciful Fauna Petpet.
• The Gnorbu who maintains the Lunar Calendar can at various points be seen while moving down the rapids.
• The power-ups might very well be motes: Speed Boost resembles the Electrical Mote, Invulnerability resembles the Metal Mote and Super Jump resembles the Air Mote.
• While the game is supposedly about surfing, the gameplay far more resembles snowboarding as done in games like the SSX series.
• During gameplay (shortly after the user receives the Double Jump message), there's a fourth super jump where another river can be seen to the right. This is a secret path, and if the user jumps into this river, they will go through a series of much more difficult caves.

External links

• Help File: 3D Life Player Plug-in
• Editorial: 303
• Selected Petpages: Shenkuu River Rush Up Close, Shenkuu River Rush Guide