There’s always been a market in the games industry, however small, for extreme sports titles. Fans of skiing, snowboarding and rally racing can come about as close as possible to the real thing by playing games like Steep or the DIRT franchise. However, there’s still an appetite for extreme sports games that are a little less heavy on realism. That’s a niche that Byteparrot, the one-man studio behind upcoming combat-racer Slopecrashers, is hoping to fill.
The arcade snowboarding game is less of a simulation and more of an over-the-top take on extreme sports in the style of SSX and similar titles. The Best War Games sat down with lone developer Johannes Lugstein to talk about his inspirations and where Slopecrashers fits into the genre.
Slopecrashers is Heavily Influenced by a Little-Known N64 Title
Lugstein’s interest in extreme sports games was kindled when he was younger, but not by one of the genre’s better known entries. “Probably the biggest influence, one of the reasons the game actually exists, is Snowboard Kids on the N64,” he said.
Snowboard Kids, released in 1997, is an arcade snowboarding game similar in style to Lugstein’s Slopecrashers. Both titles feature item-based combat and a lineup of non-traditional racing locations. Racjin, the game’s developer, released a sequel in 1999, but it never hit store shelves in Lugstein’s native Austria, he said. Snowboard Kids got a Nintendo DS reboot in 2005, but since then, the franchise has gone quiet.
Despite that, Lugstein recalls how important Snowboard Kids was to his childhood. “When I was a kid, I had three games on N64: Mario 64, Mario Kart, and Snowboard Kids,” he said. “For some reason, that was the game my sister and I played all the time.”
Of course, Slopecrashers is inspired by other arcade racing games. Lugstein appreciates the freedom titles like SSX and Steep give their players by doing away with hard barriers and allowing greater exploration in races. “You don't have to follow one path with a fence on your left and right,” he said “You can jump over the fence and go off track.”
Slopecrashers also has “a little bit of Mario Kart in there with items,” Lugstein said, but his game’s item types are more heavily influenced by Snowboard Kids. More than anything else, that game is the reason Slopecrashers exists, he said.
As he works through developing his game, Lugstein said he’s been surprised at how many people in the community recognize Slopecrashers’ influences. “Some people have said, ‘oh my God, this is like Snowboard Kids,’ he said.
“That's been really great, because those are the games that influenced me to make this game, but I never thought that would actually come through to the people that also enjoyed those games.”
Slopecrashers Fills a Niche in the Extreme Sports Genre
Much like the games that inspired it, Slopecrashers is a somewhat unorthodox take on snowboarding games. Players compete as a number of animal mascots, including lemurs, parrots, and even two ferrets on one board. Races take place across several different environments not usually considered snowboarding venues such as cities or deserts, Lugstein said, and the game doesn’t shy away from gravity-defying stunts.
Slopecrashers is also designed to be enjoyed as a group, The game should ship with splitscreen multiplayer, Lugstein said. He’s also working on a port of the game for Switch that will allow four players to progress through its events-based campaign together.
Lugstein hopes that his game brings something new and different to the table compared to a lot of other extreme sports games coming out today. Many of those new titles, like Rider’s Republic and Shredders, “are aiming for the more realistic side of things,” he said.
“Simulations can also be fun, but for my game I wanted crazy, over-the-top action, with added combat elements.”
For now, Lugstein said, Slopecrashers occupies something of a niche among extreme sports games — or at least among snowboarding games. His title focuses more on “over-the-top crazy wackiness” than simulation-quality realism, which is a formula not currently well-represented in the genre.
Slopecrashers is coming soon for PC and Switch.