So I've been playing Sunset Overdrive for a few days and having fun, but the entire time I kept feeling like this game lacked that key combo linker/saver that the Tony Hawk series had in its reverts and manuals.

Turns out Sunset Overdrive has an undocumented (or just poorly documented?) move: the Divebomb Rebound! (I don't know if this is the official name, but it's what I call it.)

The Divebomb is your ground-pound/butt-stomp move: you just hit melee (B) while in the air to smash the ground. What they don't tell you (or I was too stupid to notice) is that if you press jump (A) as you strike the ground you LAUNCH right back up into the air about 20-30 feet (usually a body-length above any power lines) and it adds to your combo. Essentially this move lets you super-bounce off of practically any surface you can stand on.

The only important thing to note is that you can't Divebomb again until you hit a grind/bounce again (or land on the ground and break your combo).

Divebomb Rebounds are super-key for continuing combos if you're facing a large number of area-denial enemies messing up your precious bounces and grinds, or if you misjudge a jump and are about to land short of a traversal item.

So, to summarize:

1.) Jump (A)

2.) Divebomb (B)

3.) Jump (A) as you impact

4.) Get back onto a grind (RB) or bounce

5.) Repeat ALL THE TIME. SERIOUSLY.

Sorry if this is common knowledge, but this was literally a game-changer when I figured it out, so I thought I'd make a post just in case I'm not the only one who missed this.

Brad mentioned this on the Bombcast (or maybe it was the quick look?)

Ah, thanks. My bad, I didn't watch the Quick Look because I already had the game, and I haven't gotten around to the Bombcast this week. Good job, Brad :D

yeah the game didn't really tell you this until later but it's definitely useful. also, figuring out the trick to skidding on the water surface took some practice but it's essential if trying to save a combo when going over water. Found that if you hold X, you can slide longer on water.

I didn't know about the press and hold to extend the duration, I'll have to give that a try!

Yeah, I've found the divebomb bounce to be by far the most useful move for keeping a chain going - as well as being a very effective attack. You can hit it at basically any time, including when you might get knocked off of a rail by an attack, and it will almost always give you enough height to air dash somewhere else to bounce/grind/wall run.

However, I think the bigger concern is that clearly some people aren't getting how essential it is to constantly be in motion because there are a ton of people I've seen online that are frequently just running around on the ground and shooting at stuff. I appreciated how quickly this game took the training wheels off, but maybe it actually should've done just a little bit more handholding because some people aren't picking up on how to properly play this amazing game.

I didn't know so this post is super useful. Thanks!

Wow, this sounds game changing for getting around. I just got the air dash last night and that was huge itself.

@chaser324: Yeah, I was watching a few coworkers play the beginning last night, and sure enough as soon as that first defense mission began they jumped off the rails and tried to go toe-to-toe with the waves.

@hatking: There is a mission that tells you about this divebomb bounce not long after the air dash mission, but it definitely doesn't make it clear just how useful it is.

When Brad mentioned that I was thinking "Something more useful than the air dash? Yeah right." But he wasn't kidding, it's such a lifesaver.

@chaser324: Ah, okay. I've been pretty busy this week, so I probably just haven't seen that mission yet. Personally I'm loving this game. I don't think any game has combined mobility and combat so well before, it's usually extremely segregated. Even in Assassin's Creed it's climb up to this place, then kill a dude. Can't think of a game that's ever really demanded a player to kill the dude while climbing up to that place.

Both this and the air dash are so damn useful that I would recommend new players to just focus on the main story and ignore side stuff until you get them (around 3 hours into the game). The wall running ability is also helpful. Funny thing about wall running is that you actually get access to it pretty early in the game but they don't actually teach you to use it in a mission until 2-3 hours in (you do it by pressing x if you are airborne and near a wall; important to remember that you press x if near the end of a wall to have your character swing around and keep wall running).