1080 Snowboarding

by Nintendo

Product Features

• Nintendo 64 Cartridge

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00000DMAO
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: Game Cartridge
• Release Date: April 1, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,761 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

One of the best snowboarding games on any platform, 1080 Snowboarding faithfully recreates the mountain experience with beautiful graphics, realistic character and environment physics, atmospheric sound effects, and addictive gameplay. Players compete on a variety of unique tracks ranging from a half-pipe and long jump--both devoted to trick-happy boarders--to long descents that offer plenty of environmental obstacles, including jumps, deep powder, ice, and thick stands of trees. On several tracks, simply reaching the bottom of the hill is an accomplishment in itself.

Much of the game's appeal lies in the finely tuned player controls. As in real life, learning the basics--turning, jumping, carving--is a snap. Honing one's skills to smoothly land a jump, pull off complex in- air tricks, and negotiate tight turns and steep descents, however, is very challenging. It's this appealing combination of skill learning and track mastering that promises to entice players back to the slopes season after season. Extra kudos to the designers for the beautifully realistic sound effects--scraping along icy sections of the track is, literally, a tooth-grinding experience. --Eric Twelker

Pros:

• One of the best snowboarding games on any platform
• Gorgeous graphics and environmental sound effects
• Realistic character and environment physics

Cons:

• Game engine slows down in graphic-heavy sections
• Opening "locked" tracks requires advanced 'boarding skills, patience, and a love for the sport

GameSpot Review

1080 Snowboarding is one of the best snowboarding games available on any system. It's an exhilarating-looking game with a great combo-driven trick system and tracks that are actually fun to race. It also requires a lot more skill than most of the competition.

Graphically, 1080 delivers smooth, evenly scrolling downhill tracks and half pipes. There's little, if any, polygon dropout in the riders, the backgrounds, or the tracks. Each of the tracks is stylistically different, too, from Crystal Mountain's dense fog, thick powder, and realistic snow and ice effects - it's actually snowing onscreen, and it looks great - to Golden Forest's clear skies, narrow trenches, and warm mountain treescapes. The most striking visual element of the game is the undeniable sensation of speed. 1080 looks and feels very fast. The track really blurs by, and you feel every turn. The only visual shortcoming is in the slowdown that occurs when you race through on-track trees, which is a great effect and a hair-raising test of skill, but causes a noticeable lag.

Control is thoroughly involving. The crouch move alone - which makes for supertight turns - makes this fun to play. The physics model is very solid throughout. 1080 Snowboarding features five different riders and eight different boards. The inclusion of a balance statistic in the riders' profiles makes for many different styles of play, and control varies throughout, depending on the rider and board combination selected. Riders range from cute little folks who don't move too fast but can really cut up the track, to Dennis Rodman-looking giants travelling at 120mph who can barely stand up. Unlike a lot of snowboarding games, landings are not automatic, so you've really got to earn those big jumps by learning how to finish them without crashing. This brings us to the issue of skill.

From Indy nosebone 540's to stalefish to mute grab 720's, all the usual tricks are here, but this time around they require a lot more skill in execution. Though a lot of the grabs are simple, two-button moves, the big rotations are executed with combos. That is, unlike a lot of snowboarding games, in which the angular prowess of each jump is decided simply by the length of time you've held down a button, in this game, you need to master a fairly intricate combo to pull off the big payback 1080-degree spins. In addition, the tracks vary in powder thickness, which has a big impact on speed and maneuverability. Some tracks have ice on them too, which is a much more dangerous surface - with refreshingly realistic physics. Since the game features a damage meter that can pull you out of a race after one too many falls, 1080 Snowboarding's varying terrain, coupled with the skill required to land after the more grandiose moves, requires a higher degree of finesse than most of the competition.

Unlike a lot of snowboarding games, whose half pipe modes are their only real thrill, the 1080's downhill races and time trials are great. The tracks are treacherous, and each is different from the last. Moguls, giant drops, and impossible curves are littered throughout. When time limits are imposed, it's not with occasional banners and 45-second bonuses, but through slalom flags, each of which doles out a two-second bonus. While initially this is frustrating, it does add tension to the trial, and it's a much better use of slalom flags than simply throwing you out for missing some predetermined and arbitrary number. Initially three tracks are offered, but an additional three can be unlocked by winning races.

1080 Snowboarding is the best snowboarding game around. Control is some of the most involving in racing - check out the impact crouching makes on your turning. If it weren't for the slowdown caused by the onscreen trees - why do designers always go for that one last feature that messes things up? - the graphics would be perfect. Innovative level design and gameplay that requires skill and rewards you for seeing your death-defying tricks through to completion, rather than just knowing the move, add up to one of the best values in both sports and racing gaming. --Josh Smith
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a wonderful toy for boarders of any kind!, July 23, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: 1080 Snowboarding (Game Cartridge)

When I first saw the box marked 1080* Snowboarding, I passed it by, thinking I had millions, trillions of choices in that video store gaming section... well, okay maybe two other choices. There was Mariokart 64, and Glover 64 (both of which I already own). I paid my $5 (not even wanting a game, it was just the rebelion against my parents money). I had never even heard of this game before, let alone played it. So, I took it home slapped in to my year old n64 (I bought it 2 weeks before the price went down $50) and turned it on. Man, that was some wicked graphics!!! It showed a couple of snowboarders doing awesome tricks all over my big screen tv. I played the different parts af the game including my favorites: trick mode and vs. mode. I got to be very good at my tricks in these two courses: The Pipeline, which is a half tube of snow that you can do many jumps on, and The Big Jump, where you have a jump that gives you about 20 seconds to do any tricks you want! It is a five star game!!! It is extremely challenging with many secret riders, boards, and tracks (all of which you get to choose every time)!!! Over all, even for a person that has never even gotten on any kind of board, Nintedo is at it's top!!!

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is a great snowboarding game., September 5, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: 1080 Snowboarding (Game Cartridge)

Thsi is a great game for Nintendo 64. It is a really good version of snowaboarding with secret characters, courses, and board. Once you start playing you wont be able to put it down.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest snowboarding game ever!, November 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 1080 Snowboarding (Game Cartridge)

1080 Snowboarding has all the key factors in it to make it the best snowboarding, perhaps even one of the best sports games ever made.

Granted, it has some minor flaws, like only six courses (plus Air Make, and half-pipe), and some might find the landing system incredibly hard, but if you can brush those small drawbacks aside, what you'll find is a terrific, extremely fun to play game that offers much more than meets the eye.

The game's five main boarders, plus three hidden ones to choose from offer plenty of variety and differences so that everyone can have a favorite person (mine being Dion for his speed and power).

There are four available courses at the begging of the game, but two can be uncovered if you beat the match race part of it, Dragon Cave and Deadly Fall. The courses are varied and challenging, in my opinion, Golden Forest is the best.

The many options in 1080 would include trick attack, time attack, 2 player versus, contest, and training mode.

All in all, 1080 Snowboarding is aboved and beyond what I expected from it, plenty to keep the average gamer going for quite a while. It's a must buy for any gamer's N64 library, period.