Few multiplayer games live up to the excitement that SSX Tricky brought. Whenever I go to my local retro gaming bar, there's always someone hitting the slopes and pulling off amazing tricks while racing a friend, trying to knock them off course with a well-timed punch. Many have tried to replicate that same feeling (I'm looking at you, Tricky Madness), and while we've been waiting for EA to get their act together and make a sequel, it's the newly returned Acclaim that have come to the rescue.
Yes, the studio behind Turok and Shadowman are teaming up with developers Wabisabi Design Inc to work on a game that feels like SSX Tricky meets Tony Hawk's Pro Skater with some Jet Set Radio-esque graphics thrown in for good measure. It's called Hyperyuki: Snowboard Syndicate, and it captures that arcade multiplayer feeling with some amazing features that will take you right back to the early 2000's.
I've been watching the trailer above on repeat for about 10 minutes now to pick up all the different nuances of this game. The first thing I'll say is that I'm a big fan of the cel-shaded look - when I look back at the likes of 1080 Snowboarding on the N64, it just looks old. Cel-shaded games like The Wind Waker have much greater longevity, and Hyperyuki looks as though it would still be relevant and playable decades after its release.
Pulling off tricks looks amazing, and the more you pull off and land, the more power and skill you'll have to go faster, higher, and pull off even better tricks. There's even a sort of lightning super mode like you get when playing Guitar Hero after pulling off tonnes of epic moves.
Hyperyuki: Snowboard Syndicate brings custom character and board features (with one racer looking like a Mexican potato chip), all with a soundtrack that has you tapping your controller just like in the good old days of THPS1. There are four main modes to play through: Challenge, Race, Chill, and Multiplayer, all providing their own unique experiences.
Challenge mode has players completing objectives to hit the highest score possible, as well as collecting items and pulling off the biggest tricks. It's all the parts that made solo play on Tony Hawks feel epic. To be fair, we've been collecting golden letters from the Donkey Kong Country days, so this kind of thing is ingrained into us! Plus, the fact that there's eight-player online and four-player local multiplayer in this game is unreal - I can't wait to come last every time I play just like I did/still do when playing SSX Tricky.
We're still waiting for a release date for Hyperyuki and keeping an eye out on the Acclaim website for more details. As soon as I hear more, I'll let you know right here!
