CAVE Boardin' Games

[Pretas]

It's high time that we had a topic dedicated to Cave's unjustly (for the most part) overlooked snowboarding and skateboarding titles. In an alternate timeline where the STG genre had completely sputtered out in the mid-nineties and failed to develop a lasting following, Cave would have instead been remembered for these games and their Touge drift racing series (which Ghegs here is apparently more familiar with).

Steep Slope Sliders was Cave's first boarding game, from 1997. Originally a Saturn exclusive, it demonstrated some of the more smooth and impressive 3D on the system. The defining feature of the game, and the one that chiefly set it apart from Cool Boarders and 1080, was the separation of control between the movement of the rider's body to shift their center of gravity, and the movement of their legs to twist the angle of the board. This mechanic allowed players to fine-tune their movement and plan ahead for turns much more precisely than in other contemporary snowboarding games of the time.

Performing tricks and landing from jumps also feels smoother and more natural, and characters feel less rigid in general than in other 32-bit snowboarding games. SSS is complemented by a quality acid techno and grunge-flavored soundtrack that is heavily evocative of the 1990s. Also of note is the Time Progress feature, which triggers a dramatically accelerated progression of time as players make their way down each course, shifting from morning to night in the space of a few minutes. There are other curious and amusing touches, like a dog that sometimes chases behind you midway through the course. Strangely enough, SSS was ported to the ST-V arcade system for the Japanese market a year later. This is a rather mysterious release with little known about it. It was unknown whether the game was originally planned for the ST-V and had its release staggered. It definitely feels more suited to an arcade than a traditional console environment.

Tricky Sliders (JP)/Trick'n Snowboarder (US/EU) was Cave's second boarding game, released in 1999 exclusively for the Playstation 1 (by which time the Saturn was all but dead). It likely borrows its engine from Steep Slope Sliders, and the controls, mechanics and overall feel are reproduced more or less verbatim. While the graphical detail is marginally improved, the Time Progress feature is missing this time around, possibly due to the Playstation's limitations. Tricky Sliders greatly expands the content of SSS for a more console-friendly experience, adding a scenario mode, multiplayer, the ability to customize your boarder with officially licensed gear, and an armful of new specialty courses focused on performing tricks.

The scenario mode sees the player following a rather shifty videographer making snowboarding films, showing off tricks for the cameras at specific points along the courses and competing with CPU boarders in speed and trick contests. One area in which the game took a significant step back was the music - it's forgettable background noise without any of the edge or 90's charm of SSS. Tricky Sliders also supports the Playstation Link Cable for 2-player versus on multiple displays that does not compromise the game's framerate. Because the game was published by Capcom, Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, and a zombie cop from Resident Evil/Biohazard 2 are unlockable as secret characters with a code.

Snowboard Heaven was Cave's third boarding game, and their first on the Playstation 2. Unlike the prior two, it was denied a localization and only saw release in Japan in 2000. I have not personally played it yet due to its relative scarcity and Japan-exclusive status. Information on this game is hard to come by, even on the Japanese web, with nary a video in sight on Youtube and only one on NicoNico. It must have sold fairly well though, as it was reprinted in 2002 as part of Capcom's CapKore budget line. From the extant footage, it seems to play quite similarly to SSS and TS with a major graphical upgrade. Courses appear to be wider and larger, with more alternate routes and vertical space for jumps.

Yanya Caballista: Featuring Gawoo (JP)/Yanya Caballista: City Skater (US) was Cave's final boarding game, and their first foray into skateboarding. Released in 2001 on the Playstation 2, it is by far the most unique and distinctive of the four games, though definitely not the best of them. This is most evident in its control method. Every copy of the game included a miniature plastic skateboard that clips onto the analog sticks of the DualShock. With the controller held on its side, the board is manipulated by the player's fingers, and the in-game board matches its movements. In a sense, it is a precursor to the control methods seen in both the Skate series and Tony Hawk Ride, as well as Katamari Damashii. It's also much more interesting in theory than in practice, as it significantly limits the player's level of control, is consistently frustrating to grapple with in situations where delicate inputs are required, and the mini boards were notorious for detaching from the sticks and flying off during play.

YC draws heavy inspiration from Sega's Jet Set Radio, enough that one could almost label it a rip-off. This is seen everywhere from the ridiculous story (punk skater kids save San Francisco from annoying but benign aliens by impressing them with tricks), to the aggressively colorful cel-shaded graphics, to the setting that recreates real-world urban locations through an exuberant, cartoonish lens. YC sees you roaming around non-linear areas in a series of timed story missions, performing tricks within the aliens' fields of vision to get rid of them. Often, they are stashed away in locations that require jumping gaps and grinding rails to reach. There are even boss fights against tougher aliens. Despite the game's strong (if derivative) sense of style and its goofy, eye-catching gimmick, YC is reduced to sub-mediocrity by its simplicity and highly inconvenient controls. It doesn't help that character movement feels quite slow and weightless compared to the Tony Hawk and JSR series.

[Doctor Butler]

I couldn't get into Yanya. The controls were... bizarre.

[Ghegs]

Nice, thanks for the write-up. I hadn't heard of their PS2 boarding games before.

I've given some thought to getting the ST-V version of Steep Slope Sliders, but I'm not sure if the trick system would keep me interested.

Are you going to write something similar about the Touge games? If not, I might take a crack at that.

[Pretas]

I have not played the Touge games, and only became aware of them because some of them feature Negcon compatibility. Go ahead and write about them if you wish.

SSS isn't really about tricks, they're just kind of a bonus. Tricky Sliders takes a stronger focus on them with its trick-oriented extra courses and scenario mode, though. Yanya is about nothing but tricks.

[kilauea]

I should give these another look. I love SSX3 and still play that a lot today. Are there any similarities?

[Pretas]

It's hard to compare SSX to Cave's snowboarding games. The control feels completely different, and Cave's games are more reserved and realistic than SSX's over-the-top, high-flying antics.

It's rather a missed opportunity that Cave never included references to their STGs in their boarding games. It would have been cool to see boards and clothes with DDP bee designs. There could have been publisher conflict preventing this at the time, though.

[D]

What a excellently written article! This should be an article on HG101.

[Despatche]

No, it fucking should not. This is quality and as such needs to stay far away from the lifeless void known as HG101. We need a better site for that.

Aside from that, I think we need a giant article on everything from Toaplan, its predecessors, and its various offshoots. Someone has got to make up for the disrespect shown by the Toaplan Shooting Collection.

[D]

No, it fucking

Well....ok....What a excellently written article!
What would you recommend as an alternative to HG101?
Please share sites that do something similar.

[Despatche]

Wow, I can't believe it took this long to get called out about a misplaced sense of prudeness.

We don't have a site at all. That is the entire problem.

[Pretas]

There's not nearly enough detail here for a HG101 page, anyway. And I haven't played Snowboard Heaven at all.