Snowboard Kids
| Snowboard Kids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Racdym |
| Publisher(s) | Atlus Co. |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 64 |
| Release | March 15, 1998 (US) December 12, 1997 (JP) |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | 1-4 Players |
Snowboard Kids, also called Snobow Kids (スノボキッズ, sunobo kizzu), is a video game for the Nintendo 64. It was developed by Racdym and published by Atlus. The game features 10-year-old children who snowboard down various courses, not necessarily involving snow. Many reviewers compared its style to that of the Mario Kart series.
Plot
The kids are arguing about their snowboarding skills. The debate escalates to the point where they decide to hold a snowboarding tournament to determine who is the best.
Characters
The characters in the game are designed in a chibi style, with big heads and small bodies. It has been suggested that the game became a cult classic because of these character designs, whose chibi style and very large noses broke most other trends of game character design.
Nancy Neil
Nancy is the slowest character on the course, but has a very good set of tricks. Players who favour using tricks to gain money may be suited to her. She's at her best when paired with a Level 3 All Around board. Nancy wears pink clothes, has rabbit-style ears, a purple bow on her back and hearts painted on her face. According to the background material for the game, she regards herself as being very modest, and never brags about her skills, even though she is easily the best at performing tricks.
- Speed-1
- Turn-3
- Trick-3
Slash Kamei
Slash is technically the most balanced character in the game and as such is good for beginners. He has long, black spiky hair and wears yellow and blue goggles. He's well suited for use with a Level 2 or 3 All Around board. Slash is automatically selected as the character used at the training mode, and in the shot and item demos. According to the background material, he considers himself to be the fastest in the village. He has too much energy for his own good and is always fighting with Linda.
- Speed-2
- Turn-2
- Trick-2
Jam Kuehnemund
Jam is often considered the best of the initially-available characters in the game for his notable handling and tricks, although he is one of the slowest characters. Distinguished by his brown dreadlocks, he also wears blue goggles and a white and purple striped beanie. The background materials tell us that Jam follows the New York Rap Scene and refuses to believe that Nancy is better at tricks than he is, so he desperately wants to beat her.
- Speed-1½
- Turn-2½
- Trick-2½
Linda Maltinie
Linda is one of the fastest characters in the game but suffers from poor handling and average tricks. She wears red and blue goggles, a bikini top and leopard skin pants. The background materials describe that when Linda was 7, she moved to Snow Town because she needed to stay at a hospital there to receive treatment for a rare disease. She recovered eventually, but wished to stay in the village because she liked it so much.
- Speed-2½
- Turn-1½
- Trick-1½
Tommy Parsy
Tommy is the fastest character available by default but has the worst handling and trick ability. He wears bright green clothes and has a bandage on his nose. The background materials state that he's often teased by Slash because of his considerable weight problem; despite this the two of them remain friends.
- Speed-3
- Turn-1
- Trick-1
Shinobin
Shinobin is initially found as an opponent in the last level, and is very difficult to beat. Once defeated, he is unlocked as a usable character. He is a ninja wearing a black shinobi shozoku. Little is known about him, including his age. Like Slash, Shinobin has average stats.
- Speed-2½
- Turn-2½
- Trick-2½
Shots & Items
Throughout the levels there are "shops" represented as white boxes with either a red or blue ribbon. Running into these boxes when one has at least 100 coins results in getting either a "shot" or an item. If one has an insufficent amount of coins, the shops function as an obstacle.
Shops with red ribbons give players a "shot." Shots come in sets of three, and their purpose is to hinder an oppenent. The effects of shots vary, such as the ice shot, which temperoraily turns the victim into an obstacle, or the parachute, which sends the victim up into the air where they gently float down. If the parachute is used before big jump, the victim can take longer to reach the ground, although they favour Linda. The ice shot favuors the use of Jam.
Shops with blue ribbons give players items. The functions of items vary. Some, like shots, hinder the progress of other players, while others increase the users speed. Other purposes include stealing opponents money, becoming invulnerable to most attacks, and laying "booby traps." (Speed Fan favours Tommy; Rat face, Shinobin; Invisible, Slash; pans, Linda).
Your "shots" or "items" will depend on what position you are in the race. If you are in a low position, then you will get better ones e.g. parachute but if you are in a high position you will get less effective ones e.g. bomb shot and the rock item. Rocks can be placed near the lift, causing opponents to trip over it, lossing a spot possiblity.
See also
Sayings
We only know 1 saying from Tommy. Basically, sayings are heard in the game or Instruction booklet
Nancy
- Attacking someone-Dummy
- Crashing-Pete, owe
- Finishing first-Yeah
- When being attacked-Whenever you are being attacked there will be an expuation point over your head. When this occurs you can either jump over the attack or turn invisible to dodge the attack. But you can't jump over flying pans, but you can trip over rocks. Dummy...
- Linda's thing-Stop it, Linda, it's too much
- Speical tricks-Whee!
Slash
- Crashing-Wha?, owe
- Finishing first-Yeah
- Using Linda's favorite wepaon-Cool! After this jump I'll finish in 1st! I guess nobody can beat me. Wha?
- When falling-Whoaaa...
- Speed ability-Nah, dummy, I'm the fastest
- Asking Linda a question-What are you doin'?
Jam
- Crashing-Ouch
- Attacking someone-Got you
- Finishing first-Thank you
- Nancy's trick ability-Nancy isn't the master trickster. I am
- Linda's rich dad buying her a cell phone-I can't believe her dad brought her a cell phone
- Speical tricks-Boo
Linda
- Attacking someone-Oh yeah
- Finishing first-Next time
- Special tricks-Yes
- Crashing-Yikes, ouch
- Nancy's trick ability-Nancy may be good at her tricks, but I'm dentifitly the fastest.
- Competition saying #1-A competition will prove I'm right. My rich dad will buy what I need, because he knows that I'll win.
- Linda is ready for the competition-OK, everything's ready.
- Answering Slash's question-I'm setting up the comeptition and it'll be big
- Naming the competition-Start the competition! Let's name it the Maltinie Cup, after me, Linda Maltinie.
Tommy
- Story behind Linda-Linda is competely wrong, like always