While Super Animal Royale may not look like it, this game is actually a relatively complicated battle royale game. It only makes sense, given how long Pixile Studios spent working on it in Early Access. And, it seems like Early Access BRs are only becoming more prevalent over time, so here's hoping that they follow SAR's lead.
Yes, the animals are adorable and players chug from fountain drinks to heal, but there’s a lot to it. And, for those who aren’t very familiar with the battle royale genre, it’ll take some time to adjust. To help that adjustment period, for both new and veteran BR players, let’s take a look at some things anyone starting SAR for the first time should know.
8 Your Aiming Skills Don’t Translate 1-to-1 From Other BRs
First and foremost, this is a BR, but it’s not a 3D BR. It’s third-person, yet the camera isn’t behind the player, it's above them. Therefore, don’t go thinking that aiming skill in other games like Warzone, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or even Valorant will translate to Super Animal Royale perfectly. Sure, platinum Valorant players will likely still defeat newbies in SAR pretty easily, but they’ll likely find themselves struggling to hit their shots as reliably.
Because it’s a top-down shooter, leading shots is a lot more important (and fundamentally different) than it is in other games, but if a player knows that going in, the adjustment is a lot easier. And, luckily, for anyone who finds themselves completely unable to adjust, there are other BRs like Naraka: Bladepoint that focus entirely on melee combat.
7 How Exactly The "Fog-Of-War" Works
This tip applies to just about every BR title, and that is to always listen closely. Just like in other BR titles, listening for enemy footsteps, gunfire, and more is tantamount in the climb to number one.
But, one unique thing SAR does is that it also has a “fog of war” or mechanic where items and other players aren’t visible to the player character outside of their immediate area. Even more than that, the “shadows” that buildings, crates, and other terrain casts can also work as fog-of-war, meaning enemies can literally hide in the same building as each other without even noticing.
6 The Testing Facilities In The Pre-Match Lobby
There are two different lobby systems for BR games. One is where the game only pulls the player in once the lobby is full and about to deploy, and the other is where players are dropped into a separate area with infinite health/respawn until the lobby fills and the countdown finishes.
The second system is by far the more common and ultimately useful one for learning the game, as players can get familiar with the movement mechanics, controls, test guns, and more while waiting for each game to start. And, Super Animal Royale is an example of the latter, where players can test all the guns in the shooting gallery. Though, because players have to sort of explore the pre-match lobby to find it, there are a ton of people who didn't this existed for quite a while. There are also areas where players can test vehicles, campfires, items, and anything else the game has to offer.
5 It's A Game That Rewards Aggressive Play Styles
While it may look cute, Super Animal Royale is actually a very aggressive game by nature. Letting an enemy get away in a firefight means they can disappear into the fog of war to heal, repair their armor, or set up traps in the form of Skunk Bombs or Banana Peels.
So, players just starting out in this game should make it a priority early on to practice being more aggressive in fights rather than playing defensively. That doesn’t mean they should charge at 3+ enemies on their own but in a 1-v-1 fight the player who pushes forward while firing has a lot higher chance to win than they do to lose.
4 All The Complexities Of The Super Jump Roll
The Super Jump Roll is one of the main movement mechanics in SRA and there’s a lot about it people are misunderstanding or are just unaware of. Rolling has always been a hilariously overpowered mechanic in games, but it's not often that rolling has a lot of mechanics tied to it. For example, most people don’t know that:
- The Super Jump Roll doesn’t give any I-frames or invincibility, it’s just a way to move faster to approach or avoid gunfire.
- Players can’t reload or fire during a roll.
- If the player perfectly times their next roll right as the previous one ends, they’ll get a 10 percent speed buff temporarily (indicated by a particle trail appearing behind them, seen in the image above)
- They can be used while crouching for shorter rolls that make less noise.
- The Super Jump Roll is faster than the normal running speed.
So, as anyone can see, there’s a lot to this rolling mechanic, much more than the game makes it seem at first glance.
3 Super Tape Only Repairs One “Tick” Of Armor
Again, like other games in the same genre, Super Animal Royale has an armor system. But, unlike Warzone (or games like it) in which it’s very obvious by the player animations just when and how much armor someone is putting on, it’s pretty unclear in SAR.
To be more precise, when a player first grabs an armor jacket, there’s no animation of them “putting it on”. Furthermore, when they use the “Super Tape” item to repair armor, there’s a very slight animation of them applying said tape. But, because the animation is so subtle, most players have absolutely no idea that this Super Tape is only repairing a single “tick” of their armor at a time.
Sure, the grey-rarity armor only has one tip, but the common has two and the rare has three. It makes a lot more sense now why there’s so much tape around the map, doesn’t it?
2 What “Super Power-Ups” Do
Anyone who has played more than a single game of SAR has likely noticed the item system by now. Spread across the BR map are tons of items from healing items to guns to armor. But, every now and again, equippable items called "Super Power-Ups" appear such as boots with claws or a snorkel.
But, the game in no way defines what each of these items do. So before players get confused mid-match, here’s a quick explanation on each Super Power Up and its passive ability:
- Claw Boots: Cuts grass when stepped on, as well as increasing the loot drop rate from cut grass. Also stops slipping around in the ice environments.
- Banana Forker: Bananas turn into snacks instead of “weapons” that heal 25 health. Downed players (with this item) can eat nearby bananas to heal. Also doubles health gain from eating random food on the map like coconuts, mushrooms, etc.
- Ninja Booties: Walk 1.5 times as quietly, crouch-walk faster, and the crouch Super Jump Roll no longers makes any noise.
- Super Gas Snorkel: Increases move speed in Skunk Gas and reduces damage from Skunk Gas by 10 percent.
- Cupgrade: Healing from drinking is 25 percent faster.
- SAW Impossible Tape: Repairs an enemy’s armor once they’re taken out so that the victor can dawn new fully-repaired armor.
- Super Bandolier: increases the max ammo capacity for everything, including throwables and Super Tape.
1 There Are A Lot Of Little Gimmick Mechanics
And lastly, there are quite a few completely hidden mechanics in SAR that players are just meant to sort of “stumble upon” as they play. Some examples are:
- Campfire spots automatically light up when damaged players are nearby, healing them. (can only be used once per game).
- Players can eat random mushrooms and coconuts they find on the ground.
- Hamster Balls kill any enemy run over by them (but it's very hard to do)
These are just a few examples, and there are plenty more where that came from that the community helped the developers implement.