8. Cool Boarders
"Cooooool BOARDERS"
Sorry, it had to be done - it's like looking at the THX logo and not hearing that noise in the background. Anyway, something a ton of extreme sports games' developers get wrong, is that balance between realism and pure exaggerated escapism. They forget we don't always want to worry about exactly how to land a move or how to position ourselves before a grind - if the physics model feels right it's every bit as worthwhile to just leap off the highest peak and twist in a million directions at once, slamming down to the ground before fist-pumping the sky in celebration. This balance is what slowly killed off Cool Boarders back in the day - that and a change of developer, anyway. The first two instalments were absolutely incredible for their time, blocky as hell sure, but with a axis-spinning trick model that gave way to a great learning curve. Following that it was too much too fast, and by the time we got to part four, the series had devolved into basic linear mountain runs, where the fun of pulling off tricks was forever outweighed by the godawful presentation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3jplPWnILs The thing is though, this series started out with such a brilliant sense of identity. From the audible logo to the Crazy Taxi-style fonts, the entire presentation was meant to leave a mark - hence why you (hopefully) at least recognise its name, despite it getting so little exposure. Any of the new consoles would kill for a game with an inbuilt sense of identity people can get behind, and Cool Boarders is exactly the type of underdog that fits the bill.