First-person shooter games, world-building games, and adventure games seem to be the most popular now. For me, I was always a fan of racing games. Even as a kid, I couldn’t wait for my parents to take me to the local arcade so I could rush to where the racing games were. I remember loving Mario Kart and even owned California Speed for the Nintendo 64. In general, my taste is games lean more towards older video games. This will sound blasphemous, but I own a Playstation 4 and an Xbox One and I use both as means of watching streaming services.
It’s Going to Be Very, Very Interesting…
The highlight of my video game playing years was almost solely dedicated to SSX Tricky. Never heard of it? Doesn’t surprise me. I hardly heard anyone speak of it, even though it was an entire franchise that consisted of around six games and even was available on the Gameboy Advance. The SSX franchise started in 2000 with SSX. It was a snowboarding racing game that featured a handful of players to choose from. You could pick their outfits, their boards, and what track they’d race on.
How SSX Tricky Stood Out From Its Predecessor
SSX Tricky is the second game in the franchise; it was released by EA Sports in 2001. I owned this game on the Playstation 2 and I spent years playing it. SSX Tricky really elevated what was started in the first SSX. Not only were there more characters, but there was more substance to them. More outfits, bigger personalities. The game really acted like these characters truly existed and were on a tour around the world. Each character was given a bio, a Q&A, and more to define them. You had friends and enemies that you would talk to/confront at the beginning and end of a race. You could even shove a character aside, to ensure you would surpass them. There was so much added in this game to really make each person shine.
It’s Tricky
Where SSX Tricky really set themselves apart from its predecessor were the tricks. You could perform tricks in the first game, but SSX Tricky took it to another level. In general, the game’s style was inspired by skateboarders. Skateboarders were studied, how they crouch, how they perform tricks, and that was applied to this game. Get to a certain level during a race and it was time for “Tricky”. The tricks now were wild and albeit reality-defying. But, that was what made it so much fun. Each character had its specialty move and it was fun to see what wild trick you could achieve with the right button combination.
The Voice Cast
SSX Tricky also had a massive voice cast – each person had their own video explaining their character and their inspiration behind voicing said character. There was even a music playlist. The voice cast included the likes of David Arquette, Macy Gray, Lucy Liu, Bif Naked, and more. Even writing this article, I’m remembering this game fondly and I’m wondering if I should plug in the ol’ PS2 and relive the magic.
The Games That Followed Tricky
SSX 3 took a different direction and while I liked the game, it was inferior to SSX Tricky and many of those who I have spoken to weren’t the biggest of fans. It was hard to live up to Tricky. Afterward, you had SSX: On Tour and SSX Blur (for the Wii) – both of which almost were unrecognizable as SSX games. It seemed like the franchise was dead, until EA Sports came out with SSX 2012 for the Playstation 3. It took everything that was great in SSX Tricky, revamped it, added in new aspects such as sun glare and ice, and it really does stand up to Tricky. SSX 2012 even brought back fan-favorite Eddie Wachowski, which I don’t know why they got rid of him in the first place.
Rating: 5/5 (But, I’m Biased)
Perhaps I haven’t really returned to video games because I enjoyed SSX Tricky so much. There’s hardly been anything else that was as fun to play [for me]. I did enjoy games like Tekken and the Dragonball Z games, but there is no other game that I spent as much time on as SSX Tricky. It’s a really fun game and if you can get your hands on it, I suggest doing so. I also want to know who out there has played SSX Tricky and are you as big of a fan as I am?
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