"The entirely underrated game who's thunder Mario Kart stole"

It had been a long time since the name "Snowboard Kids" was seen in the games markets. Had Atlus put their beloved snowboarding game on the back burner due to a lack of interest? The DS has lifted the creativity of many a franchise.

Fans bewailed the style change in the game, saying that the ridding of the short people with large noses was killing the soul of the game. Is this a franchise revival or a stock DS innovation test? Let's see.

Graphics: 8
The DS's capabilities for 3-D modeling were speculated and doubted at first, but again and again it has proven that the portable system is up to snuff. The 3-D models are basic and only hold one expression each, but for most of the game you'll be looking at the characters' backs, anyway. The environments are expansive and well rendered. Some stages, are even beautiful to look at even though your attention is supposed to be focused on the race. Cute little cartoon head markers kep track of the racer's places and they even change expression when a character is attacked or falls. These are accompanied by lone cartoon frames for introductions and ending portraits that are tragically sparse.

Sound/Music: 10
Sounds are crisp and really add to the environment. Voices are good and fitting to each character (even little quirks are added for a little bit of dimension to certain character's personalities) although some samples suffer from microphone muffling. The music really does shine when you give it a chance. It mostly fits to the older theme of the game and uses rock guitar for that hardcore feel. Go deeper and actually keep the sound on and you will find a surprising variety of tunes varying from the heavy metal 'clash of the titans' tunes to an uplifitng accordian beat. I have found myself turning the volume up in glee when certain songs accompany my races.

Story: 6
Unfortunately, this game focuses so much on graphics, sound, and gameplay that the little things that made the first Snowboard Kids games so charming are all bit gone. The scenarios that accompanied each mission in the original games are replaced by one general goal that each boarder is trying to accomplish by entering the same snowboarding tournament. Most of the characters transfer over and some into new personalities. Slash remains the competitor striving to make something of himself. Jam's Jamaican backgronund becomes more pronounced. Other classics like Nancy go under a complete overhaul, as now Nancy is an antisocial "Ice Queen" who enters only to do her family proud. Tommy makes the radical change into an vicious attacker boarder who's intentions are entirely love-based. Newcomer Koyuki is a ninja who enters to "capitalize on her ninja skills," as the game puts it. It all seems to have enough depth until you realize that those short introductions and scriptless ending animations are all that you have to go by when it comes to storyline.

Gameplay: 8
Okay! Here's where this game goes completely underrated. You start off by tapping the touch screen to nudge your boarder forward and you do that every time momentum dips low. Tricks are a lot easier to pull off in this installment to the point where on any straightway you can just jump and do a grab. The items are few but enough. Unlike the often-compared to Mario Kart, the items are meant to pull back the leader with no chance to dodge or contest. As you do tricks, your SBK Meter fills up and as it does, it gives you the ability to perform your boarder's respective "shot" which range from Nancy's freezing tactics to Jam's confusion-inducing shot that reverses controls and disables all other abilities. If you fall off a jump, all effects go away, so there is some way to keep yourself from losing too much ground. On one hand it keeps a player of superior skill from winning, but that is also the other hand. The items and shots keep all players huddled together and makes each race a frantic trick-fest in which the ranks are constantly shifting. If a player gets too far ahead, they can look forward to a hard shelling until they fall back into line. This is a welcome departure from Mario Kart in which one racer can get so far ahead no amount of items will tear them down. There is one way to avoid being bogged down by shots and that is to pull a sideways trick. Doing this is challenging and often would put you in a more precarious position. There is just a very rewarding feeling that comes from deflecting a shot back into an opponent's face, though. DS innovations come through when you are using your microphone to unfog the screen or wake up your boarder. Signature tricks are pulled off using the touch screen. It is a great mesh of all features that never gets too overbearing or complicated.

Fun Factor/Overall: 9
I had an absolute blast playing this game. The play mechanics are so fresh and engaging that I still have not gotten bored. The only downfall is that this game is very challenging. At one point you can be ahead, next you can be last, but just as quickly you can be in front again!

Rent or buy: Buy! If you enjoyed Mario Kart DS and have a need for a real challenge, pick this game up and see that the Snowboard Kids franchise is not dead, but stronger than ever! I just hope that SBK 2 has Wi-fi!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/06