Snowboard Kids

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Snowboard Kids
Snowboard Kids box cover
Developer(s) Racdym
Publisher(s) Atlus Co.
Release date(s) March 15, 1998 (US)

March 16, 1998 (EU) December 12, 1997 (JP)

Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) 1-4 Players
Rating(s) ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s) Nintendo 64
Media Cartridge

Snowboard Kids, also called in Japan Snobow Kids (スノボキッズ sunobo kizzu?), is a snowboarding 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.

Contents

[edit] 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. One character, Shinobin, has no involvement whatsoever until it is unlocked by the player

[edit] Gameplay

In addition to the usual gameplay of a snowboarding game, Snowboard Kids adds "Shots" (special weapons used to attack players) and items which can help the player, hinder other players, or both.

The game has nine main courses. Although some of the courses are snowy mountains, many are courses that would be unorthodox for snowboarding in the real world. Such courses include an amusement park, a desert, a vast valley, a dark highway, and a Japanese village during the cherry blossom festival.

[edit] 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.

From the left: Shinobin, Slash, Nancy, Jam, Linda and Tommy.
From the left: Shinobin, Slash, Nancy, Jam, Linda and Tommy.

[edit] Slash Kamei

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.

[edit] Nancy Neil

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.

[edit] Jam Kuehnemund

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.

[edit] Linda Maltinie

Linda 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. Linda's brother Brad replaces her in the Nintendo Ds version of Snowboard Kids.

[edit] Tommy Parsy

Tommy 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.

[edit] 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. He has the most unique of snowboards, ranging from scrolls to Kunai.

[edit] See also

[edit] External Link

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