is a snowboarding video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. In the game, players control one of five snowboarders from a third-person perspective, using a combination of buttons to jump and perform tricks across eight levels.

1080° was announced in November 1997 and developed over nine months. It received critical acclaim and won an Interactive Achievement Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. The game sold over two million units. A sequel, 1080° Avalanche, was released for the GameCube in November 2003. The game was re-released for the Wii in 2008 and for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2016. It was also re-released on the Nintendo Classics service in 2023.

Gameplay

thumb|left|A screenshot from a match race in 1080° Snowboarding|alt=

Players control snowboarders in various modes. 1080° features two trick modes (Trick Attack and Contest), three race modes (Race, Time Attack, and 2 Players), a Training mode, and an Options mode. The objective of the game is either to reach a level's finish line as quickly as possible or to achieve the highest score by executing trick combinations.

In 1080°s two trick modes, Trick Attack and Contest, players earn points by completing tricks. In Contest mode, players perform tricks and snowboard past flags to gain points. In Trick Attack mode, players must perform a series of tricks throughout a designated level. The game includes 24 tricks and 5 secret tricks, all executed through combinations of circular movements of the control stick, along with the R, Z, and B buttons. Points are awarded based on the complexity of the tricks, combos, and the time required.

1080° features three race modes. In these modes, players can achieve victory by selecting alternate routes within a course and balancing the snowboarder after jumps to avoid losing speed. Although tricks are scored in race modes, they do not contribute to winning. The game tracks the player’s time throughout the level, and the player is assigned a damage meter that fills if the snowboarder falls or is knocked over. The difficulty level in Match Races can be set to normal, hard, or expert, affecting both the complexity and the number of races.

Players can initially choose from five snowboarders: two from Japan, and one each from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Each snowboarder has unique abilities and is suited for different levels and modes, as they vary in statistics such as technique, speed, and weight.

Three additional snowboarders can be unlocked by completing certain game levels and modes. 1080° was one of several snowboarding games released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, alongside titles like Big Mountain 2000 and Snowboard Kids.

1080° was directed by Masamichi Abe and Misthuro Tanako, programmed by English developers Giles Goddard and Colin Reed, and developed and published by Nintendo. The game was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. Abe had previously directed Tekken 3 for Namco, while Goddard had programmed the Mario face in Super Mario 64, which was released two years earlier to critical and commercial success. Reed had previously programmed Stunt Race FX. According to Miyamoto, the game "came about because I like skiing. I was thinking about making a skiing game after completing Wave Race [64]. However, the current trend seems to be toward snowboarding. With snowboarding, it seems that you can go places that you can't with skis; for example, in between trees."

Development for 1080° took place at Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. During development, programmers Goddard and Reed used a technique called "skinning" to eliminate joints between the polygons that made up the characters. They combined standard animation with inverse kinematics to create characters whose responses during collisions varied depending on the object hit, the direction of the collision, and the speed of impact. All of the characters' movements were created using motion capture. The game was released in Japan on 28 February 1998 and in North America on 1 April. Nintendo prioritized releasing 1080° in Japan while there was still snow on the ground. 1080° was eventually released on 9 October 1998 in Europe and the PAL regions.

Reception

1080° Snowboarding received "generally favorable reviews," according to Metacritic, falling just two points short of "universal acclaim". Edge described it as the "most convincing video game emulation of the snowboarding experience so far," noting its serious tone, which contrasted with other Nintendo games.

Many critics commented that the control scheme is very difficult to learn. Computer and Video Games reviewer Alex Huhtala agreed, praising the controls and dismissing the notion of difficulty, stating they were so well-implemented that "you're able to play perfectly well with just one hand on the stick and Z button."

In a 2006 retrospective, Official Nintendo Magazine hailed 1080° Snowboarding for having the best video game representation of snow at the time and commended its sound effects and handling. Steve Jarratt described it as a "stunt-free but fast and fun" experience, highlighting its multiplayer quality. The magazine ranked it as the 87th best game available on Nintendo platforms, noting its realism as a snowboarding game.

The game earned critical accolades, winning the AIAS' Console Sports Game of the Year award at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. It was also nominated for Best Nintendo 64 Game at the 1998 CNET Gamecenter Awards, but lost to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Commercially, 1080° Snowboarding was a significant success in the United States. According to PC Data, the game sold 817,529 units and generated $40.9 million in revenue by the end of 1998, making it the seventh-best-selling Nintendo 64 game of the year. Over its lifetime, the game sold 1,230,000 units in the U.S. and over 23,000 in Japan. However, it did not surpass the commercial success of the developers' previous game, Wave Race 64, which sold 1,950,000 units in the U.S. and 154,000 in Japan. It was also made available on the Nintendo Classics service on December 7, 2023.

Sequel

1080° Avalanche, the sequel to 1080° Snowboarding, was released for the GameCube in 2003. Unlike its predecessor, the sequel received mixed reviews. Greg Kasavin of GameSpot provided a more critical assessment, citing "frame rate issues and limited gameplay" as major drawbacks that detracted from the experience. Despite its graphical improvements and new features, 1080° Avalanche was unable to match the critical success of the original 1080° Snowboarding.

References

Notes

  • 1080° Snowboarding at Nintendo.com (archives of the original at the Internet Archive)