Extropia’s Retro-Gaming: ‘Skate Crazy’

EXTROPIA’S RETRO-GAMING

‘SKATE CRAZY’

‘Skate Crazy’ was a multi-platform 8-bit computer game that was released by Gremlin in the late 80s. I think it was the first videogame based on roller-skating, a genre which does not seem to have attracted as much attention from the industry as skateboarding. Whereas that sport could boast titles like ‘720’, ‘Skate Or Die’, the Tony Hawks franchise and others, I cannot think of many games based on roller skating. I think there was a section devoted to it in ‘California Games’ and maybe Jet-Set Radio featured a roller skater but other than that I would be at a loss to reference any other such game. Remembering Skate Crazy, that seems kind of odd, because this was a good game.

Skate Crazy was not one game but two. You could either play in a multidirectional scrolling arena or choose to tackle a side-scrolling obstacle course. It was possible to swap between both options but if you wanted to do that you had to put up with multiloading, and in the days of cassette tapes as storage medium that required a real test of patience.

So what were the two play styles like? Well, the multi-directional arena was set in a multi-story car park, and the objective was to negotiate your way around an obstacle course, passing through checkpoints and executing fancy moves with which to impress a panel of judges. You also had to keep an eye out for wayward footballs or radio-controlled cars, all seemingly out to knock into you and spoil a perfect run. There were some neat physics in this part of the game. Different surfaces affected your player-character, in that sand would bring you to a stop, oil would send you spinning out of control, and insufficient speed up a slope would have you rolling back down it. All features you would take for granted on modern machines of course, but baring in mind how limited the hardware was at the time, this attention to detail was impressive.

There was also something of a positive environmental message to this part of the game, because as well as trying to pass the checkpoints within the time limit and perform tricks to impress the judges with, your character could also pick up litter and gain extra points in doing so. After your time was up, the judges awarded points and if you failed to score highly enough to qualify for the next round, you had to complete a simpler level where you just had to pick up the litter within the time limit.

The other play style was a side-scrolling race across what looked like a building site. There was all this scaffolding and holes in the road that you had to land on or jump over on your way to the finish line. Because this level was restricted to running from left to right the game was able to adopt a game mechanic that was not possible in the previous multi-directional play style. That option was to have you move the joystick back and forth, with each movement represented on screen by a push of the player-character’s legs.

The graphics were great for the time, with big, nicely defined sprites. All in all this was a very decent game that squeezed all you could out of a mere 64K of memory (less on some platforms!). It makes me wonder why more games based on roller skating haven’t been made.

Thanks to Gremlin for the images