Is It About Time?

A game I would like to see make a return is the 1080 Series. While Nintendo's release schedule has never been great, in the past they had a way where they could get by just releasing a different game or genre every so often. You would get an acceptable mix of games in a fun racer like Mario Kart, a futuristic racer in F-Zero, and the snowboard racer in 1080.

While most have preferred the SSX series, I've never been really impressed by it. I picked up SSX3 day one and was done with it after a weekend. Tricks have never been my forte. The character designs have been kinda comic book. And I never got the feeling of snowboarding.

Step in 1080 Avalanche which came out two months later in December of 2003. This was the snowboarding game I was looking for. Maybe it was the style of the characters, they had a cute asian girl instead of a sexy one. But I think it more had to do with the game mechanics.

The game focused more on racing. Sure there were trick stages, but the game and stage design revolved around trying to be the first around the finish line. You couldn't get the air that you could in SSX, but you were able to get something else, a sense of speed. When you held down the crouch button, you'd become more aerodynamic. Going down a hill, your speed would increase and bits of snow began to visibly fly by and stick to your parka. The controller rumbled and shook. You really felt that if you didn't hold everything together that you would end up crashing horribly.

It was the little things that made me keep playing the game. Cushioning your landing was crucial to maintaining your speed, so you were always paying attention to timing the button press with when you made contact with the ground. I played the game for weeks unlocking every board and hidden character, playing all the courses regular and reverse, and getting gold on all the time trial and trick stages. It's not often that I play a game for all the extras but in a game without too much storyline, there's not much else except gameplay and extras.

Which leads me to my final point. This was the first snowboarding game I spent a lot of time with. I want a new one to be made, but if it's more of the same, I could see myself getting tired of it very quickly. That's one of the reason I've seen series like SSX and Tony Hawk fade into the shadows in recent years. Developers always have to come up with something new and fresh to keep the IP interesting. Either that or they need to time the releases after a few years so that the concept can be forgotten a little.

For the 1080 series, it'll be especially hard because in Avalanche, the actual force of nature was the draw of the game. The last course in each set was literally a race against an Avalanche. It was invigorating to have the feeling of being chased down by a white wall of death. Trees would be collapsing around you with white powder splashing around your heels. It was something not done before and one of the reasons I think Nintendo has held off on bringing back the franchise.

Even if they didn't want to take the time, effort, and money to reinvent it, they could at least do a revisit.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?
David