Nostalgia Sunday: Cool Boarders 4

Cool Boarders 4

One of the first games we bought for the Playstation. It was a really fun game and also a real challenge. There was so much stuff, we didn't unlock and so much that surprised us, when we unlocked it. We didn't even know how to grind on rails, until a friend of mine told us to press the triangle button, who hasn't even played the game. There was so much different, when you played games as a kid. I think, if I played the game today, I would just rush through it. Back then, till we sold the PS, I didn't even "finish" the game.

The Story:

At first, you can choose between several snowboarders, choose your footing and customise your board. The campaign of the game consists of different challenges. There are several mountains you for example do slalom, time attack, or point challenges. If you win enough challenges and be the first place on that mountain, you unlock a new mountain and other stuff. That's basically your story.

The Game:

The game is your basic snowboard game. You do time attacks, point challenges, slalom etc. Apart from the normal challenges, you also have for example a track, where aliens invaded the place and you have to do tricks through rings. You can also unlock new characters, luck one called "Honey Bear", which is obviously a bear, who rides a treelog. Like almost any game back in the day, you have a multiplayer mode, which lets you do the challenges with up to four players. It's basic, but really fun. I don't know, if the game and its mechanics and modes still hold up today, but back then it was awesome.

Prequels and Sequels:

The "4" in the name indicates, that there are more Cool Boarders games...who would have thought that? There were Cool Boarders 1,2 and 3, which improved and added more stuff after another. There was also a "Cool Boarders Pocket", which was made for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The last entry in the series was "Cool Boarders 2001", which was released on PS1 and, as first in the series, on PS2. I never played any of these games. I think Cool Boarders 4 was just enough, or well...you know...money as a kid was short. It's a shame the series ended so early. I'd like a new Cool Boarders game, with everything the old games had and new stuff added to the old.

I might aswell play this game on a PSX emulator again, since my PS is long gone, but I fear that it won't hold up today. It was a fun experience and I might keep it that way.