This piste is quite delightful... I think it's very vital, to play (this game), that's right (one game), SSX Tricky is the title, here we go!
Ah, snowboarding. What is it about you as a sport that attracts so many development teams to you? 1080, Cool Boarders, Shaun White, Shaun Palmer, Shaun the Sheep... there's a snowboarding game for everyone, but are any as HYPE as SSX Tricky?
I know for sure that I played the PlayStation 2 demo of SSX Tricky, but don't recall having owned it or any other SSX title in my youth. I have a disc these days, a Platinum rerelease, showing how successful the series was, with Tricky at the top of the mountain, by most accounts.
Does it continue to show off all these years later?
Fun Times
Sing it with me now: It's tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time it's Triiiickyyyyyy... It's Tricky (Tricky) Tricky (Tricky). Huh.
SSX Tricky was sold, quite effectively, off the back of Run-D.M.C.'s tricky track, and was so hype that not even my capturing software could contain the introduction movie. If you weren't pumped for playing after watching this, if you weren't amped and excited, then SSX Tricky probably wasn't for you.
A cast of unusual and eccentric characters, some voiced by celebrities you may recognise (though may not, after nearly two decades have gone by), help the game to become larger than life. It is over the top in a great many ways. The riders are exaggerated, the best tricks are physically impossible, and the mountains you'll be hurtling down are full of geometry that was carved not by the movement of snow according to gravity, but by artists brushes who know precisely what they want players to feel when snowboarding through this world.
After settling on Eddie, I jumped into the World Tour mode, which is split into a Racing category, or a Show Off one. It's been a while since I played, so I'll focus on the racing for the moment. Might as well learn some of the tracks, right? They're built with multiple branching paths and secret areas and shortcuts, so the more you can find out about the slope you're on, the better.
Not only the slope but the controls. Grabs are on the shoulder buttons, the X button sets you up for a jump, the sticks or the d-pad are used for turns and flips. You'll be snowboarding in no time, but not a professional from the start.
Before starting, we're told of the Aggression mechanic, where riders will, over time, become your rival, especially if you end up punching them in the face while riding. A couple of one-liners set up the idea that Eddie and Luther are probably going to end up squaring off against each other, but I suppose that may be up to us. Depends on the racing. I guess we should just hop to it.
Flying out of the blocks, I have an uncontested run to the first jump, though it's less of a leap and more of a drop. It does serve as a big moment, seconds into the first race of your game, and says that SSX Tricky is going to be a bit wild.
Remembering that I should be pulling off tricks to increase my Tricky meter, I press one of the shoulder buttons to perform a Mute Air. Spins and flips can modify your score, but landing straight and on your board is quite important, especially in a race, so don't go overboard. Bigger, better tricks and a higher Tricky meter will reward you with increased speed, so don't ignore tricks either.
Not too long afterwards, I go off course and find the rest of the slop somewhat traversable. Deep snow and dangerous rocks don't help with going fast, but shortcuts like these can be used to significant effect, if you can find the right moment to use them, and go into them with enough speed to get you through it.
Frustrations
As the race went on, I was growing more aware of the quirks in the controls, especially relating to analogue vs digital input. When you press X to crouch down and get ready for a jump, you can use the D-pad to pre-load spins and flips, ready to be performed when you release X and start tricking.
From what I could tell, you couldn't do this with the analogue stick, despite it giving more precise control over your position when you're in the air. There's nothing I'd love more than to just go nuts and start spinning and flipping to the point of throwing up, but I just couldn't do so, and before I knew it, I was at the back of the pack, though, I think the position indicator was making it up half the time.
You'll notice these last few screenshots aren't quite right. "Eh, it's probably just emulation woes. I can live with it", I thought. Well, live with it I'd have to, as I and every other rider would soon turn invisible.
I'm surprised I landed anything successfully, and there were the odd moments where my character model was visible but was nowhere near where he should have been. I was emulating from a disc, though, so after this race, I headed all the way across to the other side of the room and tried it on the PlayStation 2 instead.
Further Frustrations
I genuinely thought I'd have a better time. Technically, I did. The game worked, and nobody went invisible. But measured as a degree of how much fun I had, whatever energy I was hoping to find just wasn't found. The hype and excitement were replaced with disappointment. I wasn't snowboarding, I was sliding. I wasn't tricking, I was holding on for something to look at. I wasn't enjoying SSX Tricky.
But this was a game whose demo, at least, I'd played so often in my youth. I wouldn't play boring demos more than once. Why did I play SSX Tricky more than once?
Maybe it was the Show Off mode. I hopped in and had a run. It was disastrous. I didn't know how to grind the rails until I was close to the bottom of the slope, and score multipliers don't do a whole lot if you can't get the spins and the flips ready in time because you're not quite sure if you should go with analogue or digital input.
Final Word
I put down the controller shortly afterwards and haven't gone back since. I didn't try another character, I didn't go for another course. The SSX Tricky playing in front of my eyes was not the same SSX Tricky that I saw in my mind.
Had I overhyped it? Was I misremembering it? Do I just have to get good to make it look fancy, over the top, and as fast as a bobsled on ice? I am sure this game was better all those years ago. I don't know how to have a better time with it these days. Persistence? Multiplayer? Cheats?
SSX Tricky is an excellent choice for a 1001 list. It'll never go down as one of the unquestionably great video games, but it is an easy game to jump into, with plenty of characters and customisation options to unlock should you want to explore it all. Everything about it is big, and it practically screams that you'll have a good time.
I know I've had a good time with SSX Tricky. I just can't remember when and how. I'm missing something, and I don't know what it is. Oh well. Maybe I'll find out later.
Fun Facts
One critique often levelled at the game is that it is more SSX 1.5 than a full sequel, which happens to be one of the internal names used by the Tricky developers.
SSX Tricky, developed by EA Canada, first released in 2001.
Version played: PlayStation 2, 2001, also via emulation and teenage memories.