These days, it’s not uncommon for indie developers to take matters into their own hands when their favorite game no longer has a sequel, or titles that harken back to the glory days of a particular gaming series are no longer being programmed. Among the current prominent examples of this are Stardew Valley, born from the love of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, or Sea of Stars, which is strongly reminiscent of the classic role-playing chrono Trigger.
After Electronic Arts has not offered snowboard fans a new game in its SSX series of extreme sports for years,nathan Darth has now made it his mission to develop a spiritual successor. This is how Tricky madness came about. A snowboard game whose description on Steam cites the SSX series and 1080 ° snowboarding as clear inspiration.
Tricky Madness is still in a very early access stage at the moment so it is available for a small amount of money. To be fair, it must also be said that the title currently appears to be an extended demonstration or proof of concept. Actually, all the building blocks that make up the game’s great role models are already there.
Just like in SSX or 1080°, the focus of Tricky Madness is on fast downhill racing. You race down the mountain on – at this point – one of two slopes and use different paths and shortcuts to impress your competition. There are ramps and rails scattered throughout the tracks that you can use for numerous tricks. Your grind, bite and flip earn you points. The longer and bolder, the better.Colored sparks on your hands show you how stylish your current activity is and give you a short-term boost of speed after landing. In order to stay on top, it’s significant to keep finding opportunities for new maneuvers on the road and keep your combo going. If you just rush down the mountain without using the trick system,you will only be able to see the other racers from behind.
In addition, with successful tricks you fill up the word FREAKY, which is shown at the top of the screen. As soon as all the letters light up, notably absurd actions will be available to you. You can spin your snowboard wildly around your neck like a blade or make wild dance moves on your board as you fly through the air. These special maneuvers give you a huge boost, but along with a full FREAKY bar, they also require more time in the air to perform. A system which is of course reminiscent of the super transfers from SSX.
All in all, Tricky Madness already manages to capture the fun characteristics of SSX and 1080° Snowboarding, which really emphasized the racing game factor. The basic trick system is something inherited from SSX, the different paths are more reminiscent of the model from the Nintendo 64.
by the way, did you know that Red Bull speedrunner GandPOObear was also a snowboarder before he discovered Twitch streaming after a fatal accident? In our interview he tells all about this life-changing event.