Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!: turtle racing, training and all 63 wins

Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!: turtle racing, training and all 63 wins Turtle-racing completion requires your own turtles to win every race. Betting on someone else's winner doesn't fill that record. There are ten races in each of the five normal classes and thirteen unrestricted races. That's 63 altogether. Keep checking the individual race results so you don't spend an evening winning the same race repeatedly. Getting started Visit the turtle seller on Shijo Street in Rakugai during Chapter 5. He gives you the tub for your home. Buy a turtle from him or pick one up while exploring, then take it to the tub at the Tatsuya. You can keep five there. Carry the turtle you want to enter in your inventory and visit the turtle-racing attendant at Gion's gambling area, along Inari Yokocho near the shrine. Select its race entry rather than the ordinary betting option. Turtles also appear around Kyoto. Useful places to check include Suiten Inari and Gion Inari, inside the Zanki Dojo, near the horseback-archery area and Shishido's cave on Forest Road, around the waterfall, along Kawara Street and the farm roads. They don't always appear on every visit. Leave the area and come back if a spawn is absent. The turtle expert at Nakanokura in Gion charges ten mon for an appraisal. He can assess turtles already in your tub, so you don't need to fill your inventory with all five. His comments help identify growth potential and remaining life. The five classes The order is Hiramaku, Komusubi, Sekiwake, Ozeki and Yokozuna. Three wins in a turtle's current class promote it. Five consecutive losses demote it; another loss after that can drop it again. A promoted turtle can't simply go back and enter the lower-class races. That's why one successful turtle isn't enough to clear the ordinary list in a straight climb. Each class has ten races, but promotion happens after three wins. Use several turtles and keep track of which races you've already won at each rank. A strong turtle that has reached Yokozuna won't fill your remaining Hiramaku gaps. Work through the record like this: • Hiramaku: all ten individual races won. • Komusubi: all ten won. • Sekiwake: all ten won. • Ozeki: all ten won. • Yokozuna: all ten won. • Unrestricted: all thirteen won, including the special-entry events. Training the right stats Speed determines pace. Stamina determines how long the turtle can maintain it. When stamina runs out, its speed falls sharply. Water, sand and mud abilities matter on their respective surfaces, so a fast turtle with poor terrain skills can still lose. Feeding improves stats and replenishes stamina, but a full hunger gauge stops you feeding again immediately. Allow time for it to drop. The turtle's personal stat ceilings and growth pattern are set when you obtain it, so feeding forever won't turn every ordinary turtle into the same champion. Buy basic training food from the turtle seller: • Tubifex/worm food builds stamina. • Pond snails, loaches and crayfish build speed. • Freshwater clams, clams and scallops develop sand performance. • Shrimp, prawns and lobster develop mud performance. • Medaka, goldfish and sweetfish develop water performance. • Dried tengusa raises hunger capacity, letting you fit more food into later feeding sessions. Use the food description to check both the current-stat increase and the limit increase. A large immediate gain and a large increase to the stat ceiling aren't the same thing. Condition, trust and encouragement Condition ranges from very poor to excellent. Poor condition makes accidents more likely and slows the turtle. If a promising turtle is having a bad spell, let its condition improve rather than feeding it into a string of avoidable losses. Trust is shown by hearts. Wins and feeding after races help. Racing with exhausted stamina, ignoring the turtle or feeding something that lowers its stats can hurt trust. If trust falls too far, it can leave. Encouragement during the race gives a burst but uses stamina. Don't hold it down throughout a long course and leave the turtle crawling at the end. Personality matters too. Wild turtles respond positively to encouragement, while Coward turtles lose trust from it. Normal turtles can slow down unexpectedly, Wild turtles can hit the sides and Coward turtles can fall asleep. Fickle turtles vary between personality effects from race to race. The Terrible nature is especially accident-prone. If you're trying to protect a winning streak, start each race with a suitable course, adequate stamina and decent condition. A higher raw speed number doesn't remove all those other factors. The four special-entry races • Adamantine Cup: win every Yokozuna race first. • Elder's Award: enter an old turtle with 10% or less of its life remaining. Use the expert's appraisal rather than guessing from how long you've owned it. • Strongest Winner Award: enter a turtle with ten consecutive wins. • Strongest Loser Cup: enter a turtle with ten consecutive losses. For the losing-streak event, keep a separate weak turtle rather than wrecking the record of your best racer. It still needs to remain with you long enough to enter, so watch trust and condition while building the streak. The Elder's Award needs an ordinary aging turtle. The Immortal Turtle's lifespan is useful elsewhere, but it cannot become old for you. Ordinary turtles have a limited lifespan Feeding and racing age them. Don't assume your current favourite will last through the entire 63-race list. Keep several developing turtles so that one death doesn't end your progress through a class. There are four special rescue turtles in one-time story areas: • Chapter 1: outside Miyamoto's dojo, near the shed where Marume is. • Chapter 2: the temple grounds. • Chapter 3: the farm area. • Chapter 7: beside the river after the encounter with Ito. Turn them upright when you see them. These are different from the ordinary turtles you pick up for your inventory. The rescued turtles can later appear at your home after successive deaths among your owned turtles: Miyamoto after one, Temple after two, Farm after three and River after four. Their strengths differ. Miyamoto has exceptional sand potential, Temple water, Farm mud and River speed. The rescue locations are story-only, so go back to an earlier save if you missed one and specifically want that turtle. Missing a rescue does not prevent you completing the races with other turtles. The Immortal Turtle Finish all seven courtesan relationships, their requests and final letters to earn it. It never ages and is the only turtle that can ultimately reach the maximum in every stat. It still needs training, and its Terrible nature means accidents remain possible. “Immortal” doesn't mean it wins automatically. It also doesn't remove the need to finish the lower ranks with appropriate turtles or enter the Elder's Award with an aging one. Finishing the list Check all fifty class races and all thirteen unrestricted entries individually. Make sure the four special-entry events are among the wins, not merely unlocked. Then check the minigame completion record before moving on. Do the Gion racing work before speaking to Ito at the final departure. Keep that save if you're still training turtles or waiting for an older one to qualify for the Elder's Award.