Snowboard Kids

Developer: Racdym Publisher: Atlus

Released: February 1, 1998 Rated: E 7/10

The N64’s first brush with the extreme sports craze that produced dozens of snowboarding titles in the latter half of the ‘90s, Snowboard Kids boasts the setting and premise of a fast-paced downhill trickfest, but actually plays a lot more like a number of games that the N64 had already become known for by its early ’98 release. Coming on the heels of Diddy Kong Racing and well after Mario Kart 64 had made the N64 the go-to console for hectic four-player frivolity, Snowboard Kids plays like a kart racer with an automatic accelerator, which goes great with a cartoony aesthetic and pick-up-and-play presentation.

Stumpy characters with spiky hair and big noses doesn’t sound like a great aesthetic, but it’s one that works for this bouncy and bright-colored package. Its six characters aren’t particularly memorable, but they’re at least distinct with just enough tactile difference for players to know what to expect when they assemble their combination of rider and board. The options are limited, sure, but you’re simply not intended to spend much time on menus or option screens. Figure out if you want speed or control and take it from there, partly based on if you’re playing traditional races or side games.

In a single-player context, Snowboard Kids can seem a little bit too simple, that’s for sure. The control stick makes for most of your input throughout a race, with A being used to prep for a jump and B to use items. Pulling back on the stick slows you down to turn tighter, and holding it in any direction while jumping will do a spin/flip trick. The C buttons will do grab tricks in midair and that’s it. It’s good that you don’t feel like you’re fighting the physics too much going down the slopes, and that it’s more about feeling out the analog control on the stick. It’s a simple control scheme for everybody to grasp but the courses and the nature of the races themselves are where you get the excitement from.

The chokepoint of getting on the lift to go back up to the top for the next lap is a uniquely chaotic experience that only this series delivers

Sometimes it might feel like a little too much excitement, though, as even kart racing fans might be put off by the hectic nature that mostly comes from the frequency and power of Snowboard Kids’ items. They don’t seem to be balanced out like Mario Kart’s or use a leveling system like Diddy Kong Racing. Add that to a field of only four racers and it can feel like bedlam more often than not. And that makes for a pretty amazing multiplayer experience, if I’m being honest, but can make single player feel a bit frustrating when you can’t seem to progress much on skill alone. At least for skill-based competition, there are some side games that offer a little more consistency when going at them alone, including a trick, speed, and shooting contest.

Snowboard Kids’ only other real negative is that it can seem a little short, or at least light on content. While other snowboarding and racing games on the system admittedly don’t offer as many characters or tracks as Snowboard Kids, the kart racers that match its complexity of gameplay often do have that content to keep things interesting. You’ll get through all of the races here fairly quickly barring some particularly bad luck, but you’ll enjoy your time on them nonetheless.

With a whimsical presentation and easy to grasp gameplay, Snowboard Kids is certainly a delight. Jaunty tunes, cute visuals, and simple yet satisfying controls will make this a popular choice once you rotate through your staples on game night, but there’s only so much meat on the bone to keep it in your system for long stretches of time.