LogFAQs > #961347332

3. Snowboard Kids 2 (N64, 1999)
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Though many of the games I got for Christmas in 98 along with my N64 have appeared on this list, Snowboard Kids was the one I coveted the most and the main reason I asked for an N64 for Christmas in the first place. Racing had already been established as my favorite genre by that point with the likes of Al Unsers Race to the Top, Biker Mice From Mars, and Super Mario Kart being among my favorite games at that point in my life. Other than Uniracers though, pretty much every racing game that I played up to that point used one of your typical motorized vehicles. I didnt know much about snowboarding at this point in my life, so I just thought of it as something people did tricks with or leisurely go down a mountain slope with. It never crossed my mind that you could make a bona fide racing game out of it.

From scouring over the box art, to reading the manual with some silly comic panel explanations, to hitting the title screen with the goofy ass characters with the huge noses on display, I was raring to go before finally hitting the slopes on Rookie Mountain. I cant even imagine what a first time gamer would feel upon playing a superb racing game now like a Forza Horizon title, but man I felt like I was playing one of the greatest things ever. It is a little stiff and try as you might, you will almost never be able to do a flip from the ground without some incoming elevation assistance, but it was still a blast going down slopes from mountains, plains, deserts, and even an amusement park. They incorporated a tool system with weapons (called shots and received from red boxes) and items (blue boxes) that cost money to receive from successfully landing tricks or finding coins lying around. If you dont have enough money, then hitting a box will be like hitting a brick wall. Honestly, I would prefer that items cost nothing or they hiked the prices up a bit because you will be swimming in cash most of the time, or at least I never had issues with money.

One of the things that I loved and found out by accident was basically forcing a high-stakes duel. Normally, every race has four people. Now, I dont remember exactly how I came to discover this, but what you do is you select the speed board in the pre-race menu. Not all courses are created equal in this scenario, but I always loved doing it in Grass Valley. At the start of the race, basically twist your character around, and because of the shape of the speed board, the game thinks you are going in reverse even while moving forward. Two of the three opponents will race normally, but the rubber banding in this game will cause the last place opponent to slow down considerably. You might not have the patience for this, but you race with the board in reverse until the first two opponents finish all laps. The game conveniently has a progress bar with character heads on it. If it doesnt move for many seconds and doesnt appear at the top of the progress bar (indicating it started a new lap), then you know they are finished.

When they finish, you twist your board into the proper stance, and then race for 3rd place. Upon meeting up with that final opponent who lagged behind, then the rubber banding kicks in again, and they will be hot on your trail for a pretty intense duel for effectively one lap. Its not for everyone of course, but I like doing that almost as much as standard racing. And all this talk is for a game that ultimately I did not include on my list. Had the sequel never existed, Im certain it would have, but 2 is simply an improvement upon the first in nearly every meaningful way.

I know that I brought this up in other writeups, but I didnt have the internet until like 2001, and the only magazine that I remember subscribing to was Ranger Rick. Some of my friends played video games, but not like I did, so word of mouth wasnt a big presence in my life. Discovering games basically came down to me browsing behind the glass at a place like Meijer or Target or seeing what Blockbuster had in. Some time in 1999, I just happened to be in a store, I want to say it might have been Walmart, when I went down the video game aisle and had my mind blown. Staring me right in the face was this blue box art full of familiar characters with the title Snowboard Kids 2 sprawled across the top. That might be my favorite video game memory at a store, the pure astonishment and jubilation. I dont know what the MSRP of the game was, but Walmart had it for $30, and there was absolutely no way I wasnt going to get it on the spot.

Because I liked to torture myself, I read the manual first, showing additional characters and more humorous comic panels. My main in the original was Jam, so I grabbed him again and headed to Sunny Mountain, and wow. The game apparently came out barely a year after the first one, and you would think it would have been closer to five. You will immediately notice just how smooth riding is, and you can do tricks basically whenever you want and string together multiple tricks on a jump. They have a lot more tools (useful ones at that) from boxes. I liked the originals music, but 2s has routinely been in my Top 10 VGM OSTs for two decades now. While your preference regarding course design may vary (I do think that the original has the better top to bottom set), they are wackier (haunted house, outer space, and a jungle the most out there choices) and more detailed with elevation, obstacles, split paths, and shortcuts. They must have really pushed the N64 to the limit (or lacked experience) apparently because multiplayer is a bit disappointing because like many other games, they had to make sacrifices, such as reducing the framerate.

Every year, I dedicate one day between Christmas and New Years Day to spend 4-6 hours playing a marathon of N64 racing games. There are four permanent members and one rotational member, but I always begin with Snowboard Kids on Sunset Rock and end with Snowboard Kids 2 on Lindas Castle. I always said that if I ever won the lottery, the first luxury purchase I would make is buy the Snowboard Kids IP and find a way to get some remakes of them and make sequels. I never play the lottery, but wish me luck every day anyway!