''Big Mountain 2000'', known in Japan as , is a skiing/snowboarding video game for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

Gameplay

''Big Mountain 2000'' puts the player in control of one of six racers of varying abilities using either snowboard or skis. There are three different modes to choose from: a single-player Championship, a 2-player Multiplayer mode, and Time Attack. The player can edit their selected racer's loadout of snowboard/skis and clothing to compliment or detriment their various stats. There are three race types: Free Ride,

Slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

and

Giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

. On top of trying to beat their own personal record, the player also has a countdown timer which will disqualify them from the race if it reaches zero. Time can be added by passing through one of the two Checkpoints on their selected stage during Free Ride or passing through the flags on the slalom courses. Players can perform tricks by moving the control stick and pressing the B button in mid-air. The player also has a stamina meter that decreases after wiping out, collision with another racer, or uneven landings from a jump, with longer time intervals between falling and getting up each time the racer falls over. As the player progresses through the game, their Speed, Cornering, and Cool stat will increase. Once a certain level of Speed and Cornering is achieved (which vary on the racer's base skills), the Racer will rank up from Amateur to Semi-Pro, Professional, and Snow Speeder, unlocking six more pieces of gear per rank (one item for each racer that can be worn by any character excluding the unlockable characters). After completing all race types using skis and snowboards in each of the four stages, a mirror mode Championship is unlocked. Upon completion of all 24 races again in the mirror mode, three bonus characters are unlocked (which are alluded to in the game's instruction manual).

Development

The game was showcased at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

held on September 5-7, 1997.

Release

The game was released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

under the title ''Snow Speeder'' in 1998 almost two years before its North American release.

Reception

The game received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/n64/big-mountain-2000 1998 video games Cancelled 64DD games Imagineer games Multiplayer and single-player video games Natsume (company) games Nintendo 64 games Nintendo 64-only games Skiing video games Snowboarding video games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Iku Mizutani Video games scored by Kinuyo Yamashita SouthPeak Games