The Decline of SSX ~ Design Doc
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- What happened to SSX? It's a snowboarding game series ready for a refresh. Let's talk about the history and the highs and lows of SSX Tricky, SSX 3, SSX On Tour, and SSX 2012.
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One of the biggest reasons I think Tricky is really loved and well remembered is because of the color pallet. Its bright, all of the colors of the racers stand out and its easy to distinguish them from the background. there was barely any white in the UI and it made excellent uses of the yellow/orange/red colors. All of the other SSX games seemed to really focus on a more muted and white centered pallet that just felt generic.
Not to mention it's imaginative track design. I spent hours upon hours in freeride on Pipe Dream
SSX 3 also had those random pockets of random colors in the snow that looked awesome. Riding down a course with a random green or pink light on it was pretty cool
@@TheShadowscale Yes! Bring back the tracks! Do you imagine Pipedream, Tokyo Megaplex and others in HD?
Chris Brinkley The characters talked more
I think it's the voiceovers and backstories
I never owned these games but I absolutely LOVED playing SSX Tricky at my friend's house. It still gives me a lot of nostalgia
havent made it far into the video, but i remember the original SSX! i was a really young kid when i had it, and barely understood how to play it, but i recall having a lot of fun anyway - seeing the snippet of footage from it has given me a wave of nostalgia
-i wonder if i can get my hands on another copy...-
man, I used to play SSX3 all the time as a kid - I can't remember it too well and I was never good at it but this video was such a nostalgia rush! really interesting to watch too, I had no idea about the wider context of the series ^^
Just bring back the track and character design from Tricky and combine it with the smoother mechanics of SSX3 and boom, you’ve got a great game. If that came to switch with good multiplayer, it would be very successful.
Something most people forget to mention, On Tour sped up the games considerably. As in, when you hit boost you ZOOM down the mountain. I always loved this and thought the previous games felt sluggish in comparison going back to them. Blur and 2012 continued this trend, which I enjoyed. 3 is definitely the best overall though.
Even though all the flaws for SSX On Tour are right and I agree on them, I did lose my childhood over that game! It was my favourite game for the PS2, when I was around ten years old. It holds a special place in my heart, with every flaw.
SSX tricky was a blast back in the day I think that lack of personality and uniqueness in the tracks really hindered the experience in later installments of the franchise.
Wow I cannot unsee Moby as Woolie now amazing
Good video bro ! I am hooked.
Anyone playing ssx3 in 2022
I'm loving it.
A major part of why the courses felt so bad in the reboot is because the core game was designed to be survival focused and a major selling point in early marketing for the game was the real world topography courtesy of NASA so players could traverse and survive the world's toughest challenges.
When Deadly Descents was retooled the maps weren't thrown out. So we have fans (myself included) who wanted the old SSX arcade experience vs this new 'realistic' approach from the game's first announcement before it got retooled.
Had they ditched the survival mechanics entirely (except the wingsuit, that was a fun addition~) and made brand new arcade like courses akin to Tricky and SSX3 the series might still be alive today sadly...
TL:DR
Having a death grip on an old mechanic that doesn't fit with the game's new direction will kill the very thing you wanted to keep alive.
SSX3 was the first game I ever completed/mastered. loved that game so much, I bought On Tour the second I saw it and omg.... It was the biggest disappointment I'd ever experienced. It was the personality, there was none. I couldn't bring myself to play more than an hour of it....
On tour PSP was alright but still watered down
Personally, my favorite snowboarding game has always been Amped 2.
I see that Woolie callout
Wow it will be so simple to take the ssx3 trick system improvement and ambience, mixing it with the crazy personality of tricky and make the ultimate ssx experience with maybe atomica and the other commentor (i forgot the name) joking around and hype you down the slope.
As a skier, On Tour is the best of them all, change my mind.
13:30 - 14:28 And this why the Mario Kart series doesn't have this mechanic in general
I only started with SSX 3 but damn that game was good.. on tour was a downgrade from that for sure. I hope someday another snowboard game comes out which rivals SSX 3.
Man, I miss EA Sports BIG. It felt like the one part of the Sports dev block that remembered they were making games, not just simulations.
yeah all the good fantasy/arcade sports. SSX, NBA/NFL Street, Quidditch (what? it was good), Def Jam...
I think Rocket League has come closest to those in recent years
@@TheShadowscale They also made FIFA Street which is a pretty fun game
Quidditch was a good sports game no arguments here
SSX3 is my nostalgia cryptonite, and I'm so happy to hear it holds up rather well. I hold many fond memories of playing it
Yup fr
One of the few games I have in an unlabeled case. It's a great time
Same. I played it lots as a kid. I dont even know how we got the game because i dont remember buying it or being excited about it before playing. But when I played that game, it was like everything to me at the time!
Game Company: "Our last game didn't sell well? Why?"
Players: "The game isn't very good, nor was the game prior to that."
Game Company: "Nonsense, we can do no wrong. There simply must be no interest in the series anymore"
Players: "No, we like the series. You just aren't giving us a good experience."
Game Company: "Guess we'll stop making this series cause no one likes it anymore"
Players: "What the fuck?"
So true tho :'(
EA killed that studio
Ninja Gaiden 😞
many such cases!
Just goes to show, game companies need to listen to their fans just as much as movie directors
This shows the importance of Personality in Games, I remember playing Tricky over and over again and lost interest with on Tour after a few days, also I loved that the Characters in Tricky would speak their native language like in Punch-Out wii^^
Tricky did a brilliant job with world building and developing personality in its characters. That sense of attachment made it by far the most memorable entry and has been lacking from the series ever since.
@@ELCNUmorFnaMehT agreed^^
I think at the moment I'd rather see a different developer try to recapture what made SSX great, rather than EA taking another shot at the series. We don't need microtransactions in SSX, and the game just has so many opportunities to have them crammed into it that I know EA wouldn't be able to control itself. Tracks, costume pieces, boards and characters crammed into loot boxes or locked behind hours and hours of grinding if you don't want to pay. It wouldn't matter how good the game was at that point, I just wouldn't be into it.
From the looks of it, the answer to 'what happened?' is 'EA happened'; the gradual sanding down of the things that made the series unique and the attempt to replace them with things that are appealing on a more 'generic' level - design elements that don't really take anything away, but add very little in terms of direct appeal - are both signature elements of EA's corporate process.
It's so 'textbook EA' that I'm pretty sure the SSX team being in-house was the only thing that kept them from shuttering the studio after 2012.
Camkitsune I disagree, SSX 2012 is the best
SSX 2012 was ok on its own, admittedly I ONLY played the 2012 version. But I had a lot of fun with it.
It's so sad. Just like they did with burnout.
Tae Ymssa Burnout was murdered by EA, damn I hate this company
@@sosamanotf642 SSX3 and 2012 (minus the microtransactions) all the way.
I enjoyed speedrunning the Descents and setting new records for the boards.
I appreciate Woolie (SBFP) reference.
EA Happin' . They tried to fallow the trend of more realistic games. Also, big studios chew through a lot of staff and consider people expendable, so it's very likely that couple of stuff members were crucial to have a successful SSX game with right ingredients. I still fell that making game is more of an art than normal business and not a lot of people understands that.
Are all snowboard game franchises doomed to blandify themselves?? It's especially odd considering snowboarding never seemed to reach any kind of cultural zeitgeist that would allow it to generate interest through groundedness (unlike, say, skateboarding and the Skate series).
I disagree.
I mean, Amped got crazier with each successive game. I mean, no one remembers Amped 3, aka The best Xbox 360 Launch Title, was, pretty much, "watered down Adult Swim, the game."
Rival shout-outs were a nice touch in Tricky as well. Elise's "Hey Kaori!" is forever ingrained into my memory.
Don't break anything on the way down, chicken legs
Get over yourself!
They did it In 3 as well
You unlocked a memory from my childhood
I remember there was a gamecube at the hair salon I used to go when I was a kid and there was only a snowboarding game. I was pretty young so I never knew the title of it and it always bothered me because I remember having a lot of fun with the game. But the second you showed footage of SSX Tricky I went : " That's it, that's the game." And as you said, I think it speaks a lot about its personality and uniqueness, just the fact that I can recall it by view almost 15 years later. Now excuse me while i download a gamecube emulator and thank you for granting this gift of knowledge, kid me would be happy.
Can't wait for the next game:
SSX - Microtransaction paradise
* cries in need for speed payback *
ironically that ea doesn't pay you back for the lootboxes
dont forget "diverse and inclusive cast for a modern audience"
Please don’t give them ideas.
don't make me sick, microtransactions is a bunch of illegal gambling garbage. just like lootboxing it is polluting the gaming community.
I think doing away with the varied and larger than life locales of Tricky was the first and greatest mis-step that SSX took.
SSX at it's best always had this big celebratory, globe trotting aura and atmosphere to it. Going to stunning and colorful locations with EDM and funk blaring out the speakers and fireworks rigged up everywhere. It was only when you discovered the backwoods shortcuts that you'd find long stretches of just plain old powder to ride down. They were a special treat that you got for being adventurous and unlocking Untracked-the only 100% pure mountain riding track in the game-was treated as being an incredibly special occasion and completely out of character for SSX as a whole. You partied hard and made it to the end so here's something real and unique and away from prying eyes that you can enjoy by yourself.
Setting SSX3 in a gigantic interconnected mountain was a novel idea but it should have been a feature exclusive to that game. There's only so much you can do with a big mountain and SSX3 was already grasping at straws by the end. Without unique locations to go through, the vibe of the game suffered immensely and with them also taking away focus from the individual characters, that only made the games feel more generic.
God, I love Snowboard Kids 2
what a freaking great game!!
you do realise that game wasn't released to half the world right...most people are like "there was a snowboard kids 2?"
DJ Atomika!! Yeahh, also in Burnout Paradise!!!
I knew that name was familiar!
"More punk aesthetic." "Less personality of cast." - Well, that's an obvious screw up. More punk aesthetic should have been an opportunity to go back to the OTT cast of Tricky.
I'd be interested in a quick comparison between the way racers are handled in Tricky and the F-Zero franchise since I'm fairly unfamiliar with both franchises but I've heard a lot of praise for the complicated, almost to the point of soap-opera, relationships of characters in F-Zero and you just mentioned about scripted rivalries with a dynamic system to influence those for Tricky with some clear fondness.
idk if you ever got your answer but unfortunately in SSX Tricky it's not that deep. Every character has set "friends", "neutrals", "orange neutrals", and "enemies". these relationships are a bit more fleshed out in written bio and interview sections (particularly friends and enemies), and even scripted banter at the race gates, but on the track it means little more than "who will try to punch you back if you punch them".
The best snowboarding game is final fantasy 7.
This is the only good TH-cam comment. I ❤ you.
You spelled Death Stranding wrong
You spelled Tony Hawk wrong
Sonic Adventure says, “Hello”
@@nicknackpattywhack3485 Tony Hawk adventures says ‘hello’
SSX On Tour is THE reason I got interested in music, which has been a huge part of my life since then. It's so sad to see something that has had a direct impact on my life just fade away like this. Thanks for the video, I really hope SSX comes back sometime.
For me it was both ssx3 and on tour. I fell in love with yellowcard in 3 and got into iron maiden bacause of on tour.
Bloc Party?
@@krdjmtc YES
There's still a community for ssx. Look up streamers like daggy and rithek on youtube and twitch. That's just 2 of the top level players and they are very welcoming to new viewers.
A combo of all the action sports games influenced us! Mirra fbmx 2, ssx 3, ssx on tour, Sean Palmer, the THPS series, and other games such as DDR, Guitar Hero, and one of the top rated soundtracks of all time Burnout 3 Takedown! These got us into real music at a great time with a well rounded ear
Yes, thank your for this. It reminded me that there was a time where I absolutely loved these kinds of snowboarding games. I remember liking the aesthetic and controls of On Tour, but also that I preferred SSX3 as the better game overall. What happened to this genre? For me, after On Tour flopped it was around the time I got an iPod Touch and in the early mobile gaming days before free2play existed, there were a lot of decent mobile arcade-ish snowboarding games that were on the iOS app store (including a port of the DS SBK Snowboard Kids game) that were generally pretty fun. Sadly, almost all of them have been delisted. I guess there isn't much to fill the void nowadays huh?
Guess I'll just go emulate Snowboard Kids 2, the greatest video game ever made in human history, yet again.
I'm gonna go into hot take land and say that SSX 2012 is one of the most underrated games I've ever played. Even with the death pits (that I agree are absolutely soul sucking) and the annoying deadly decent stuff, 2012, with a few tweaks could and should be the future of the series. Forget the uber cold and jagged rocks, but definitely keep the wingsuit, improve the track design and you could keep virtually everything else about 2012 the same and I'd still be playing it.
It's approach to multiplayer works for me, though I can understand people wanting actual opponents during a race. I also like the characters being somewhat toned down. Grown up Griff is such a cool payoff for longtime fans of the series. I would want a new SSX to be closer to the last one than anything: I know I"m in the minority on that.
Will there be a Design Doc on Snowboard Kids?
Nailed it to a T, say it with me now
FUCK.THOSE.DEATH.PITS
Once I played the latest SSX and kept falling into those pits I was instantly turned off and didn't play it anymore. I love how you respected 3 (my favorite of the series) and I completely agree that it's a good game but they couldn't be as creative with the tracks like in Tricky. I alsp want to point out that the customization in 3 was so great too, since different characters had different special accessories you could unlock. Great video!!
The death pits and survival challenges killed the game for me too. The whole thing felt off, characters had no personality, it was too grey/colourless etc.
The death pits and survival challenges were the only reasons why I played SSX 2012 in the past lol. I would go to the Rockies descent with the slowest possible board and no armor to see how many times I could go down, while my brother would go to the Alps and play a run that was literally nothing but ridges and death pits. We would crush the leaderboards. The gameplay was fun, but the challenges were honestly quite tedious, so we never completed the game.
SSX 3 is by far my favorite videogame of all time. I’m a sucker for ambience, so the natural track designs, terrific sound designs, and perfect controls cemented 3 as a legendary game for me. I haven’t played tricky yet, so I would really like to see how it feels once I get the controller in my hand.
3 is easily my favorite of the series played the ever living daylights out of it, ps I always played as moby
Know who was a good measure for the downfall of the series? Kaori. As a weeb I was impressed by her in SSX Tricky and 3 where they actually had a Japanese voice actress speaking Japanese for her. But then in On Tour she looked waaaaaaaaaaaay older and spoke English in an almost racist accent (I also remember Psymon suddenly becoming friendly and British). In Blur she turned into Ma-Ti from Captain Planet. Then in SSX 2012 she was indistinguishable from Zoe!
It's frustrating! SSX is like the ONE EA game with actual CHARACTERS AND PERSONALITY! Buuut they completely forgot who the characters were and they lost all their personality.
Also, yeah, Snowboard Kids is the best.
i adoooored kaori in tricky and 3 and practically refused to use any other character, and i actually really liked the 2012 design and thought it did a good job of "maturing" the character without falling into the pit of awfulness that was her On Tour look (and even worse, voice). in general i thought 2012 was a pretty good reboot (which seems to be an unpopular opinion?).
Thanks for reminding me of the EA Sports BIG era, and Freekstyle by extension. And thanks for acknowledging that Snowboard Kids is the best snowboarding game ever made. You should talk about both of them some time.
Trust me, we both really REALLY want to and likely will sometime next year.
I loved the free roam aspect of SSX 3. They could just do a from the ground up remaster of that game and I would be happy as hell. Maybe with a couple new additions. Also I didn't mind how they organically started events at all.
I loved SSX 3, thats up there for me in terms of the best feeling movement in a video game
SSX Deadly was great imo those "dead pits" made you check your time on a jump or go through the course simple before you went full on tricky with it
Aye I really think it worked well. That’s why the trucks are sped up. The combo and boost system is the best it ever was as well, plus the revised control mapping was perfect.
And I loved SSX3, but my older self fully got the 2012 game.
I might try steep now since its free on ps+ now
Yeah, I saw that deal this morning. I heard some really mixed reactions to that game on release so I never really gave it a chance. Now's the time to see if it improved.
I would say its definitely worth a try if its free, the game was a blast when I still had stuff to do in it and a while after that. but if you are not the type of person to set your own goals or wants to get gold most of the time there won't be that much to do.
I'm nowhere near the Plat trophy but I have Legend(?) rank on some of the styles. It was a ton of fun. If you want something between SSX arcadey and true to life realism it's a great game.
It's very fun, but it's not arcadey like SSX. It's more about exploration and finding descents to challenge yourself on your own terms. If SSX was Tony Hawk's, STEEP is more like Skate.
ive started playing steep just 2 weeks ago. havent played too much yet but it's been pretty fun, though the controls on PC can be annoying sometimes ,, hard to describe why
Decent review but how could you not do justice you the freestyle levels in SSX 2012?! Set pieces were unique with clean lines and big jumps. NO DEATHPITS EITHER. Some of the most fluent and amazing tricking the series has to offer imo.
This! I think 2012 has all the makings of an amazing SSX game, but it's hampered by bloat. If you take out the leveling system and survival gimmicks (except KEEP THE WINGSUIT), add an option to respawn mid-run (instead of having to rewind), and pare the game down to just its best content, it's a breathtaking kinesthetic treat. Once I finished the single-player mode, I spent hours upon hours doing Himalaya, Patagonia, and Alaska runs in multiplayer.
Also, the ability to play your own music and have the game remix it on the fly was key. I remember a lot of late nights, where I would zone out to the sound of my personal music collection combined with the drop-dead gorgeous views and insane sense of speed. Maybe SSX doesn't actually need to make a comeback - if a developer was able to make a game like SSX 2012, with all of the aforementioned changes AND a new cast of characters AND a focus on the, like, "high-speed relaxation" aesthetic, I'd be the first in line. At its worst, SSX 2012 was frustrating, but at its best? I've never played anything else that even comes close to the specific feelings it gave me.
I totally get the polarized reaction towards SSX 2012, but I do think it's a solid entry into the series. I actually really liked the deadly descents (minus the avalanche one that reversed the camera for some reason, that was a weird one), it put a spin on traversing the tracks where it forced you to slow down and figure them out rather than mindlessly score big air or going real fast. After a while I knew the tracks inside and out and avoided those death pits unless I legitimately screwed up.
But yeah, it did lose a lot of the personality of the previous games, and pulling of crazy amounts of tricks was way too easy. In a perfect world, we'd have Tricky's style/personality, SSX3's connected world, and 2012's graphics and online play. I just started playing Steep from the PS+ free games this month, and it's interesting but way more realistic than SSX which is a bit of a bummer, but still neat.
The worst part about On Tour for me is that it's 30FPS. After playing through Tricky and 3 it just feels so sloggy. I wish these games would get a full remaster treatment that sold well enough to get a new game made, but I know good things don't happen in this timeline :(
RIP SSX, Burnout, and NBA Street.
Elise: “This is going to be very, very interesting…”
Me: *“IT’S TRIC-TRI-TRI-TRI-HERE WE GO!!”*
Ansem: Darkness darkness
Xemnas: Duality duality
Brodi: Yeah bro, yinyang is cool
I disagree with your opinion about SSX '12. I reeeeally enjoyed it and I played Tricky back in the day. I'd be playing SSX now if I didn't ditch my gaming habits! I liked the survival element. You may see it as a gimmick, I see it as an attempt at gripping realism. While yes, the death pits were annoying, it's a good challenge to lock down the run! Search of perfection is enticing to me.
The move to open world killed this. The original design with tracks and taking turns with friends to set times and high scores was what people loved about SSX. The open world ironically made everything bland and the same.
oh wow ssx tricky is hands down one of my favourite games ever, its honestly such a shame that this cool of a series basically just faded away.. what made tricky stand out so much were the really distinct exaggerated characters (that are basically all kinda crazy and i love them for it), and the distinct exaggerated courses, they are all so different from eachother and ive spent so much time just memorizing all the fastest ways to go, the best places to jump, where the shortcut signs lead-- combine that with a cool ass soundtrack and a super vibrant colour palette and thats a great game right there
We just need a Tricky, 3, and On Tour remake.
Just rebuild them all from the ground up with modern graphics and a trophy/achievement system... not just a simple remaster.
Backwards compat Xbox program already remastered 3
I'd argue that modern gaming elements would make the game worse
I learned about SSX from the Sims 2 or 3 as the sims would play the game on their consoles and computers. Which felt like false advertising to me since in the real world there was no PC version of SSX and I wouldn't mind if there were.
Also; Could you Imagine SSX 3 coming out now? It would have so much microtransactions.
Not giving the first SSX the proper attention is unacceptable.... SS3 and SSX 1 were the best. Dislike form me
Am I the only one who Loves and still plays the 2012 game??
Not to mention how in SSX(2012) the wing suit was heavily exploited. Making competing in the online stuff almost pointless since the best times would always be from guys who skipped half the track by gliding over it. Where's the fun if the only way to win is to not actually ride the course and do tricks?
Sad thing is due to how many of the tracks are setup, wing-suiting is usually the only viable option as there are so many death pits it's hard to even stay on the track anyway. Sentinel and One Step Ahead are two specific tracks that come to mind. However, I do remember seeing restricted global events (specific level gear, no wing-suits, etc.).
Who else would donate money for a new ssx game. Just like ssx3 with fun gameplay and one huge mountain to beat
The SSX 2012 Global mode was a mess and really hurt the online part.
There were events you couldn't participate in but could see because it required high level gear which could only be unlocked after nearly beating the game, required enough global points in the game you were stuck doing the same 1-2 daily events for hours which is ALOT of runs down the same hill, and all the while the event is sitting right there in front tonting you ticking down. Not to mention your point reset / dropped each day you didn't play. And no voice chat and the stuff for community building.
I liked the deadly decent levels and the rewind mechanic was cool but the way the challenges and levels were setup you never really wanted to use it.
When you said it felt like a watered down SSX game you were right, but all the same i hope it comes back and does what SSX Tricky did as far as MORE CONTENT and personality.
Im really enjoying these full series dives. As well as all the snowboard kids music sprinkled it... Very good.
I really liked this video, it's a good analysis of the series, and you mentionnned the flaws of SSX 2012 in a good way while mentionning its qualities too, the game had problems, but it was still a really good game in my opinion, and a lot of people just go the "it was a shitty game" road, which feels extremely exagerrated.
I'm surprised that not many others has done similar retroperspectives on the series. I think that you did a great video and I agree with your opinions.
I think that the series peaked with 3 - yes, I do agree that it's a bit toned down compared to Tricky, but the level design from a gameplay perspective is great, the exploration bits add a nice sense of downtime and I love the progression system where you can choose your own way to play - doing either trick or racing events or just getting enough collectibles and you'll unlock all the tracks in the game, and from there you can yourself decide where you want to go. I also love the audio mixing - the dynamic soundtrack is awesome and the way that music gets muted as you reach the peak of a jump and then goes back to full blast as you hit the ground just makes you want to do more cool tricks.
I don't "hate" many games, but the SSX reboot is one of them. The death pits, the annoying rewind feature, the ultra barren tracks, the stupid gimmicks that control really badly, the annoying grind for better gear because of microtransactions, the multiplayer system and so much more just makes me angry to think about even today - this if anything is a prime example that trying to add too many new mechanics to a game just for the sake is a really bad idea. I hope that one day somebody does an SSX like game like we've seen other series have gotten.
What I want most of all is a up to date, modern SSX Tricky. Doesn't have to be all fancy, just memorable like the origianal! Please can we at least just get that? I was never a big Tony fan, nor a fan of any other snowboarding game other than SSX. So here's to bringing something great back!
i would prefer if SSX 3 got an update personally but Trciky would be cool too.
I wish the aspect of SSX's music was touched upon. SSX 3 had an amazing early 2000's rock and alternative soundtrack that matched with the game. I feel like that, and On Tours soundtrack, were vital parts to the series. SSX 2012 didn't have memorable music imo
Kinda turned into a long SSX 2012 rant sorry TL;DR I liked the game for what was attempted and started with (even with the flaws), but it quickly became bloated and inaccessible without fixing the issues that it came with and instead of smoothing the game out, the problems just piled up due to chasing money and microtransactions.
To me bunch of stuff detracted from SSX 2012 like annoying multiplayer, annoying game systems but one big thing for me that detracted from SSX 2012 was the gear system, or more specifically leveling and and stat boosts, which even as a young'n in 2012 really annoyed me. I guess you couldn't linger too long on SSX 2012 or it would just be a video on that but as someone who really enjoyed the SSX franchise and actually really love SSX2012 despite its flaws, it really felt steeped in EAs bullshit. Even if the Deadly Descents were gimmicky, I actually enjoyed them and most of the mountains, although they probably should have separated the game elements more and dialed back the hazards.
If I had to hazard a guess, SSX2012 was like a last ditch effort so they had to bend the knee to all the leveling, in-game currency, and DLC stuff that were popular at the time and that EA loved but it really really bit them back and made the game almost inaccessible to people who didn't want to put in the time (and honestly time that wasn't really worth it). To even be in competition with some of the events you had to get a max level boarder, get the fucking most boosted stats boards and gear, and then put some extra bonus boosts for whatever event (trick or race) and getting this shit was all random chance from what I remember. This all that meant you got stuck with one boarder and by the time the classic character DLC came around and the level cap got doubled, you either had to invest another chunk of time in or stick to one boarder and you just couldn't penetrate the game after a couple of weeks. Not to mention none of the events really felt like an "event", moreso you just got the best score you could hope for and see what happens. Couldn't properly play with friends, no real interaction with other players, everything felt like it was just grinding at a point and for nothing but to do more trick runs by yourself.
Sorry for the long rant, again I loved SSX 2012 despite its flaws and probably put more time than I should have but the game came in with baggage and then they just kept filling the bag up till it burst.
Just got snowboard kids reintroduced to my brain, thank you, I thought it was lost forever
I'd give up both kidneys for a new Snowboard Kids.
But you wouldn't live to play it lol
I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves Snowboard Kids!
Tricky and 3 was the shit. I'd buy a remake for them.
Ssx3 was my childhood
I liked the original SSX the most. I feel like the graphics were better and less cluttery on the screen, and one thing that is only touched on is the music change. In 2000 when SSX came out electronic music was in it's heyday in America. Trance was taking over Europe as the go-to pop format. America was being taken over as well but the style of EDM over here was more beat driven and gritty just like... SSX. I think the soundtrack on SSX was very good and fit the game style nicely. SSX Tricky came out and they had to hip-hop it all up and what was SSX lost it's soul. Also the characters while funny looked a bit too unrealistic to relate to and IMO the graphics looked like they went back to Playstation 1. I lost interest after that and didn't bother checking the sequels much which changed out the music even more with the switch over to punk. Sorry but punk with a beat isn't EDM.
13:32 But this is good thing, i hate repawns i prefer limited rewinds.
I have few memories of SSX 3 but that’s how I got into the series after that I hadn’t played any until SSX 2012 and I really loved it , the instant deaths were frustrating, some of the deadly descent were atrocious but I did like the gameplay and mechanics.
The soundtrack could’ve been a lot better since I kept 3 tracks on replay . I still play it every now and then it’s a great time killer .
When you asked what Snow Boarding game we all remember, I shoutes out Kids Snowboarding just before you answer.
Someone on the SSX 2012 design team didn't like the death pits either, since they put in the option to skip a course if you couldn't beat it in a few tries. Rewind seemed like another concession too, but it didn't really work because it only rewound your character and not the event. Kind of useless in a race when you go backwards and everyone else keeps going forwards.
I didn't like the survival events. Who wants to freeze to death or suffocate in a snowboarding game?
The series will probably come back at some point. They could release it as budget title to gauge the interest. Knowing EA, they'd probably remaster one of the old games instead of making a new one.
Randomly suggested to me.
This is a well made video
This video hit me in my nostalgia nuts so hard...
I used to play the first 3 games with my brother and my dad so much when I was like 4... Tricky in particular...
I hope I'll be able to relive those moments with them somehow sometime, now that I'm away from home to study...
I remember playing The Sims 2. You can make the character play SSX3 on his computer. X)
i loved ssx and trick so much, two of my all time favorites, and i was so disappointed in where the series ended up. for me at least i loved the first two because at the core they were great race games. i wasn't really a snow board fan (i live in the south) and never got into the tony hawk games so the racing was the big draw. that being said, the tricks were so cool that i got into them and really enjoyed how they worked in ssx tricky. as the series went on the straight forward racing became less and less emphasized and they just complicated the experience too much. for example in ssx3 i would've much rather there been one or two more tracks instead of linking the existing tracks together as if they were on all on a mountain. i don't think anyone's ever thought to themselves that mario cart would be improved by linking all the tracks together for "greater realism," have they?
also does anyone remember the first 1080 snowboarding? that was the first snowboarding game i remember and was a really great race game too.
I was in love with the first game and thought Tricky was too over the top. SSX 3's mountain structure swung the pendulum too far towards bland realism and that was the last one I played.
In some ways I prefer the original SSX to Tricky, I think the track designs were a lot better and not as cramped as Tricky's were. The original versions of Elysium Alps, Tokyo Megaplex and Aloha Ice Jam were much better.
Ssx 3 is my favorite in the series. Moby was the guy I always played as.
It's my favourite game as well on the Xbox One. They need to remake that to Switch.
I think my biggest disappointment with the 2012 verson was the lack of a direct competitive race and local play. You couldnt actually race people in it just their ghosts which stole some of the life out of it. In ssx3 you could bumb into, punch, and watch the enemy ride down the mountain with you which gave the races some real competition. That along with with local play with friends made everything really feel like im fighting for first
What do you mean by "direct competitive race?"
I literally would invite the players who had the Daily/Weekly Score/Speed records and run the course with them essentially every single day.
I only played Tricky, but all the others sound like they're completely missing what SSX is about. I like the over-the-top characture of Tricky, -that's what makes it good. Without that, it's just another snowboarding game. Toning down the character would be like adding penalties to NFL Blitz.
"From EA" yup, its dead...
On Tour feels like THAW but on snow, including how the gameplay is a bit off from their previous instalments (thug2 and ssx3)
I prefer the original SSX over Tricky. Even though it's basically the same, but with less content, I like the UI, menus and characters from the 1st one better. It was my 1st PS2 game and I like it a lot.
Too bad the 2012 reboot ditched split-screen and other features that made the classics great
There's something about the first ssx that I just kinda prefer. I can't quite put my finger on it, maybe it just felt more focused and streamlined to me? Also the megaplex is alot better in the first.
@@ColorMeDoubleZ yeah, probably that, and also I liked the art direction way more
SSX 3 and SSX 2012 are the best imo. Im thinking about buying tricky to try it out. And i have the first SSX but i can't play it because the disc is blue. And my PS2 can't run blue discs sadly.
God. Why is it so hard to make something and creative and fun. No one asked for a “realistic” ssx reboot with a boring ass visually unappealing map and characters. Let’s bring back trance DnB music and why might have ourselves a good SSX game lol
I like this game I play everyday this game..my higher score is 33lak in ssx tricky the Garibaldi place
Haha was that a Woolie reference with Moby?
This is gonna sound dumb but I’d say the reason is because time have changed. Aesthetic particularly of the late 90s/early 00s played a big part in this series. Unfortunately everything that made up those aesthetics are no longer as popular as they were but that’s no excuse. Make it popular again. Or choose good music. Make the characters fun again. Make the maps fun again. Make the game visually interesting to look all the way down to the menu/character selection.
almost 10 years now and still no more blips.
Wow thanks 🙏 what a wayback trip!
SSX 1 + 2 was go-to with my 1st Beloved over like...6-7 years?? We used to relax with it when we weren’t up for storyline games (we beat those as 1 player-he did fight/platform/fast-reflex etc parts; I solved puzzles/did dialogue trees/searched environments pixel by pixel etc...& 2gthr we were a mediocre gamer).
Hadn’t thought about Tricky in ages but this made it all came back like a Proust madeleine. I played Brodi (who I apparently totally thought was “Bodhi” or “Bohdi” or “Bhodi” & just now found out he’s “Brodi” wtf??? in my own personal Mandela Effect Moment when I googled for spelling) or Kaori the most, I remember everything Brodi used to say & I loved Kaori’s vibe + jpop interstitial. My Ex played as Zoe or Mac; he had a crush on Bif & Mac looked/sounded/behaved/dressed just like our friendly neighbourhood dealer/DJ, they even shared background character beats, it was eerie. We both dug Luthor, more bc character actor performance; Luthor controls awkward AF but he was ridiculous & while I mostly kept my other characters sweet snowboard paladins, Luthor was absolute fun playing as aggro-mayhem-chaoslord so we used to do “Luthor runs” on bad days, to decompress-ignoring usual course goals to concentrate on knocking out everything & everyone possible in our path tumbling down a mountain, until we alienated the other characters & were laughing in real life.
In retrospect, it’s funny how much of the game language leaked into our couple-shorthand...like we’d say we had a “Luthor Day” or needed “Luthor time” to signal a rough day, eventually just drawling a Luthorism meant something was pissing my Ex off or it was time to leave a party. We used other phrases from the game, esp from fav characters, to mean all sorts of things. Even alone!-I remember self-soothing or bolstering for stressful events with Brodi or Kaori phrases bc they were OTT positivity personalities, which I lack, so their catchphrases + verbal tics became in-jokes-so-in-only-I-got-them stuff. Absolutely wild 2 goofball games got so woven into my life for 6-7yrs then I totally mindwiped til this video.
Was so striking when you said 3- onwards Tricky felt lacklustre, grindy, repetitive. That says so much to me about how the series must’ve done away with elements that made the first 2 SSXs truly charming bc those games were 4evr playable. Our 3rd Xmas, I gave my Ex his 1st console-I was super poor so it was a big big big surprise, planned my whole year around that thing lol worth it tho just to see his face plus he became a lifelong gamer. Anyways, the store I got it at had this deal where if you paid x amount extra you could pick 3 games from a bin. If I remember correctly the console only came with a demo disc so it seemed like a good idea, it’s a bit sad to get a present you can’t just play with no matter how old you are. Can’t remember the other 2 but Tricky was under the tree with the console that year. We beat the game over holidays, maxxing out all the characters within a few weeks, kept playing the original with the same maxxed characters, then with SSXt2, played both while beating dozens of other games/series, despite getting newer consoles/PC gaming, we held onto old setups & kept playing Tricky 1 & 2 for at least 6 more years. Those games never bored us, we probably discovered all secrets within our initial months playing then ran likely thousands (!!!) of the same courses with the same characters. Even tho I’m sure that compared to SSXt3-onwards, SSXt1+2’s models/sounds were simpler/rougher, gameplay less sophisticated, content thinner, & stories more gestured-towards via worldbuilding + design rather than explicitly existing as arcs/plotlines, it really speaks to the series losing its core spark or soulfulness or something if followups felt grindy + repetitive. Makes me wonder what the original magic was.
Tho I could NOT wrap my head around no Rahzel. 🙀There it is! Mystery solved; no Rahzel, no Tricky😹
I'm a little too young to have grown up with ssx, but I lovedddd we ski & snowboard on the wii as a kid. Playing ssx 3 right now and it has me totally hooked! it's amazing how well it holds up today, and there really arent any modern games like it
Lol I hated the almost post apocalyptic realist aesthetic of SSX 2012 as well as the trick system. It was so insanely easy, no risk, just a flick of my joystick. So boring
I played Tricky, 3 and On Tour. Loved Tricky and 3 is by far my favorite... but honestly... I don't remember a single damn thing about On Tour except that "God Killed The Queen" song.
Edit: The 2012 version had a wing suit?? LOL
SNOWBOARD KIDS! OOOOOOOOOOHH THE NOSTALGIA IS OVERFLOWING!