Chao Races [SA2]
One of the main reasons that people raise Chao is to race them. There are many different races, and winning them all is essential as they reward emblems needed for the full 180 emblems required to complete the game (10⁄180 for the Dreamcast and 4⁄180 for all other versions). In order for your Chao to be any good in the races (excluding beginner), you should raise all of your Chao’s stats up to a respectable level. The exact stats needed depends on the specific race and its difficulty. With high enough stats, your Chao should be able to win all the races and emblems with ease.
The Chao Stadium
To enter your Chao in a race, you will need to visit the Chao Stadium. The entrance to the Chao Stadium is located behind the waterfall in the [neutral] Chao Garden. You will then be able to venture into the cave to the main race lobby, and pick from the races that are available to you. You can then enter any one of your Chao.
Race Mechanics
Basics
There are six different categories of race: Beginner Race, Jewel Race, Challenge Race, Hero Race, Dark Race, and Party Race. At first, you will only have the Beginner Race and Party Race options available. You can unlock other categories as you win the available races.
Each category of race has a number of different races and difficulty levels available. For example, the Beginner Race category includes four different races, each with three difficulty levels. Every race involves up to eight different Chao, including the Chao that you enter. The opponents that you get depend on the race.
Each race also uses a different track, which means that different races have different terrain for your Chao to travel over. Your Chao might have to run, swim, fly, climb, or even solve puzzles! The stats that your Chao needs to be good at depends on the race you are trying to win.
Note!
Note that on the PC (Steam) version of the game, there is no Party Race option in the Chao Stadium menu. Instead you can access Party Race from the 2P battle mode, and it only allows two players to choose a Chao each to race.
Stats
| Stat | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Swim | This stat determines how well your Chao can swim, or if it can swim at all. It is therefore very important for races that contain a lot of water, as a low Swim stat will cause you to lose your position to the better swimmers. |
| Fly | This stat determines how well your Chao can fly, or if it can fly at all. It can be very useful in races where your Chao has to jump down from a height, as it can use that opportunity to pull ahead if its Fly stat is high enough. |
| Run | This stat determines how quickly your Chao can walk or run, or if it can walk at all. It is probably the single most important stat for races; nearly all the races have a huge emphasis on running, and your Chao will have a significant advantage if it has a high Run stat. An extremely low Run stat will mean your Chao can only crawl very slowly across the ground. |
| Power | This stat determines how strong your Chao is. It is mostly needed for climbing cliffs in the races, where a higher Power stat will allow your Chao to climb up faster. Some races also have trees which require strength from your Chao in order to shake a nut down before proceeding. |
| Stamina | This stat is one of the other most important stats for races, as it determines the size of your Chao’s energy bar. A high Stamina stat allows your Chao to keep its speed level and get more speed boosts. This is explained in more detail below. |
| Luck | This stat determines the chance that your Chao will trip while running. It is also important in some of the later races, which include trap holes towards the end - your Chao must choose a lane to run down and if it chooses the wrong lane, it will fall into the trap hole and probably lose its position. A higher Luck stat helps your Chao pick the correct lane to run down. When solving the Jack-in-the-Box, Luck is used to determine if the scary toy pops out or not. |
| Intelligence | This stat is important on some of the later races, where your Chao must solve puzzles such as a shape game or Jack-in-the-Box. Having a higher Intelligence stat helps your Chao to solve the puzzles much more quickly, allowing it to continue on with the race sooner. |
Stamina and Boosting
When you are racing your Chao, you will see a bar under your Chao’s name. This represents your Chao’s energy. It will gradually decrease as the race goes on; the higher your Chao’s Stamina stat, the more the bar is filled!
You can cheer for your Chao by pressing the by pressing the ‘L’ or ‘R’ buttons on the Dreamcast, or the ‘Jump’ button on all other versions. This will boost it’s speed for a short while! However, it will also decrease its stamina rapidly, so be careful and make sure you have enough to last for the entire race. The best time to use the boost is when your Chao is using its strongest attribute. For example, if your Chao has an exceptional Swim stat, then use a boost while it is swimming to be more effective. Boosting will have no effect on your Chao’s speed when it is tripped over, getting up after tripping, solving a puzzle, or eating.
Pay close attention to your Chao’s stamina throughout the race! There is no way to restore your Chao’s energy in the middle of a race, and if the bar gets completely empty then you are in a lot of trouble! Your Chao’s abilities will drop drastically, and it will slow down to a crawl’s pace (at least 80% speed reduction). Unless your Chao is far in the lead and close to the end of the race, you will almost certainly lose if it runs out of stamina.
Party Race
The Party Race is a singleplayer or multiplayer race between your own Chao. You can select up to eight Chao from any of your gardens or memory cards. Invite a friend to challenge your strongest Chao! You can choose a track to play on from your available races. The Party Race is just for fun; there are no emblems or toys to win here.
The Dreamcast game is the only version that supports 8 player Chao in Party Race! This feature was removed from all the modern games.
Dreamcast game: 8 Chao can race simultaneously. With four controllers attached, each trigger boosts a relevant Chao.
Gamecube game: 4 Chao can race simultaneously with 4 controllers attached - one per Chao.
PC (Steam) game: Only 2 Chao can race simultaneously accessed via 2P Battle mode.
The Courses
Beginner Races
The Beginner Races are the first ones that you will enter your Chao into. By completing all of these, you will unlock the Jewel Races. As you’d expect, your Chao’s stats don’t need to be very high to win the Beginner Races. However, you will need to raise them a little!
A prize is awarded to your Chao when it wins a race on the third difficulty level, along with the relevant medal. The Shovel and Watering Can are needed for your Chao to be able to plant seeds in the garden.
After the Beginner Races are beaten for the first time, the Jewel and Challenge Races will be unlocked.
| Map | Race Description | Medal | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Crab Pool “key to winning is swimming” This is simply a swimming competition from start to finish, with the exception of a few steps before the pool at the start of the race. |  |  |
 | Stump Valley “key to winning is flying” This track is a running track with a cliff you have to fly down. However, if your Chao is not very good at flying you may have to climb up the cliff. | |  |
 | Mushroom Forest “key to winning is running” This is a straight running race up a light incline hill with nothing else involved. | |  |
 | Block Canyon “key to winning is climbing” Run forward a short distance and you will get to the main cliff that you have to climb up to reach the goal. | |  |
Jewel Races
The Beginner Races were the easiest races to win. The Jewel Races are next, and are much harder. This is the main set of races; with six courses, each with five levels. By completing all of these, you will unlock the Challenge Races, the Hero Races, and the Dark Races.
A prize is awarded to your Chao when it wins a race on the fifth difficulty level, along with the relevant medal.
| Map | Race Description | Medal | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Aquamarine “key to winning is swimming” This course is focused on running and swimming; the largest pool is near the end. |  |  |
 | Topaz “key to winning is flying” Flying is needed to have an edge, although nearly every other skill is tested too. |  |  |
 | Peridot “key to winning is running” This course is just a long running race with no other skill needed. |  |  |
 | Garnet “key to winning is power” This course needs running and power. You need power because of a few cliffs that need to be climbed and a tree that you have to shake down a nut from to eat. |  |  |
 | Onyx “key to winning is intelligence and luck” Running is needed as well as intelligence/luck. The first puzzle is a Jack in the Box (intelligence determines how quickly the Chao opens it, luck if there is a spring toy inside to startle the Chao), the second shows a picture of a fruit that your Chao must pick up (intelligence), and the last part needs luck to avoid falling down a hole after choosing a finishing path. |  |  |
 | Diamond “key to winning is general ability” Every single skill is tested in this race, is your Chao up for it? I still recommend your running stat to be very good to stand a chance. |  |  |
Challenge Races
These are some very fun races that are usually quite long, but can show you some very rare and strange looking Chao! They consist of different races with different opponents.
The Challenge Races only have three prizes available - from the 4th, 8th and 12th race. These prizes are special in that they are not owned by any one Chao; instead, they are placed in the [neutral] Chao Garden for any Chao to play with. This means that they only need to be won once.
| Map | Race Description | Medal | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Gold and Silver Rivals Gold and Silver Chao A long course against Gold and Silver Chao. You will probably need a well-rounded Chao for this race. | - | - |
| He Returns Chacron The same track as the previous race. It is against seven Chao but one of them is Chacron from the Sonic Adventure 1 races (he is very good). | - | - |
 | I’m Trying! Omochao A long running race against seven Omochao. This race isn’t to hard if your Chao has a good running stat. | - | - |
| Small Animal Challenge Small Animals A medium length race testing your ruinning skill against seven small animals. | - |  |
 | Cockroach Chao Group Black Chao with Dragon Antennae (as Chao ears) This race is against some black Cockroach Chao. Not too hard. | - | - |
| Oh, My Egg! Full Eggs A long running race against Chao Eggs that have eyes and legs! Quite amusing to race against. | - | - |
| Skeleton Group Chao with Skull hats This is a long race against seven other Chao wearing skull hats. | - | - |
| Pumpkin Group Chao with Pumpkin hats This race is exactly the same as the skeleton group but the Chao are wearing pumpkin hats instead. | - |  |
| Ghost Group Chao with no legs and flame emote ball (Chao bat legs, Half Fish Chao ball) This is on the same course as the skull and pumpkin group race but the Chao all have no legs and a flame chao ball. Some wear hats too. | - | - |
| He Strikes Back Chacron again The levels get raised now. Chacron is back for revenge and he is harder to beat! The race is on the same track that you raced him before but Chacron has improved in every area and may give your Chao a tough challenge. | - | - |
| Chao Ranger Jewel Chao (DC) or Shiny Chao (Modern) This race is against some Jewel/Shiny Chao depending what version of the game you are playing. This race isn’t that tough and you should win if you beat Chacron in the previous race. | - | - |
| Ultimate Rival Light Chao (Neutral Chaos Chao) This is the last Challenge race and is against the Light Chao. This race can be pretty tricky to beat but if your running stat is quite high, you should win. |  |  |
Hero Races
Dark Chao cannot enter these races. Neutral and Hero Chao only! There are only four races, but they can be quite tricky. The courses are re-decorated to look a lot spookier.
The Hero Races only have two prizes available - from the 2nd and 4th races. These prizes are special in that they are not owned by any one Chao; instead, they are placed in the Hero Garden for any Chao to play with. This means that they only need to be won once.
| Map | Race Description | Medal | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Baby Devil Small Dark Chao A medium length running race against some small Dark Chao. Running is the only skill required. | - | - |
 | Child Devil Evolved Dark Chao A long race against some faster Dark Chao. Your Chao needs to have more stats compared to the last race. | - |  |
 | Death Troops Skull hats A race against some Dark Chao with skulls on their head. Mainly power is needed with two cliffs to climb and a nut tree to shake. | - | - |
| Devil vs Angel Devil Chao (Dark Chaos Chao) A one-on-one race against a strong Devil Chao. A tough race to beat, just like the final challenge race. |  |  |
Dark Races
Hero Chao cannot enter these races. Neutral and Dark Chao only! There are only four races, but they can be quite tricky. The courses are re-decorated to look a lot more heavenly.
The Dark Races only have two prizes available - from the 2nd and 4th races. These prizes are special in that they are not owned by any one Chao; instead, they are placed in the Dark Garden for any Chao to play with. This means that they only need to be won once.
| Map | Race Description | Medal | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Baby Angel Small Hero Chao A medium length running race against some small Hero Chao. Running is the only skill required. | - | - |
 | Angels Evolved Hero Chao A long race against some faster Hero Chao. Your Chao needs to have more stats compared to the last race. | - |  |
 | Flying Angels Flying type Hero Chao This course requires high flying and swimming stats, with running having to be quite high as usual. There are a few cliffs with water below, and a pool to swim in near the end. | - | - |
| Angel vs Devil Angel Chao (Light Chaos Chao) A one-on-one race against a strong Angel Chao. A tough race to beat, just like the final challenge race. |  |  |
