Collection essentials #426 & #427: Snowboard Kids (N64) and Snowboard Kids 2 (N64)

If one were to sum up these games in one sentence, it would definitely be, “What if Mario Kart were a snowboarding game?” Many Mario Kart clones exist, and while not all of them are bad, a lot of them suffer from the problem of not standing out enough and making you think, “I could just be playing Mario Kart instead”. Thankfully, being a snowboarding game helps Snowboard Kids differentiate itself a little more and make it worth a try.

Like Mario Kart, you can choose from a variety of characters in this game who each have their own attributes. In this game you can also choose between snowboards you want to use which also have different attributes, so you can mix and match, something that Mario Kart didn’t let you do until several years later. 

You will notice right away that the controls feel very different from vehicular racing games, which is a good thing. Since you’re going downhill, you don’t need to hold onto a “gas” button, though you can still influence your speed by hopping to gain momentum. Pressing straight left or right will turn you, but not very much, and the more diagonally down you move the analog stick, the tighter the turn you will take.

And of course, since I made the Mario Kart comparison, you can guess that this game has items that are used to mess with the other racers or give yourself a boost. One thing a little different in this game is that the items have to be “bought” with coins. You can collect coins lying around on the course, or you can perform tricks in midair and then land smoothly to earn them as well. Usually you won’t be hurting for money, except maybe at the very start of the race at times.

There are multiple laps to these races, and once you reach the end of a lap, you need to get to the little passageway to the lift which brings you back up to the start. It’s very small and only one racer can go through at a time, so it can get dicey in a close race when multiple people are trying to get to the lift first! It can be very annoying when you miss or get knocked away from it and are left in the dust!

There aren’t as many courses in Snowboard Kids 1 as there are in Mario Kart 64, only nine of them. But they’re well-designed and feel pretty distinct from each other. The second game delivers more, with 15 total. There are also modes outside of the standard battle races, such as one where you want to score from tricks as much as possible and one where you try to use projectiles to shoot a bunch of snowmen.

It’s worth noting that the first game had a remake on the PlayStation only in Japan, called Snobow Kids Plus. There were a variety of welcome additions in this version, such as cutscenes, improved music, new characters, and more. But sadly it is overall inferior, since the gameplay is slower and you are restricted to only two human players even if you have a multitap.

Snowboard Kids 1 is a childhood game of mine, as my cousins Kevin and Peter used to have it and I played it at their house often. I can’t remember where and when I got the cartridge shown in the photo. I don’t think it’s the copy they used to have, but I definitely got it sometime in the early 2000s. The second game I haven’t played nearly as much, and I didn’t know it existed for a long time. My mom found it for me at a yard sale (even though it’s not a very common game) in my early teen years I believe, and that’s how I found out about it.

These two games add to the pile of great four-player options on the Nintendo 64. The games aren’t quite as easy to pick up and play as Mario Kart due to the controls, so perhaps they shouldn’t be the first go-to option for a multiplayer session. But with a group willing to learn and adapt to it, there ought to be plenty of fun in store. For that plus a personal nostalgia bonus, these games have earned their places as essentials.