''Cool Boarders'' is a

snowboarding video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

developed by

UEP Systems was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1985. They were best known for their PlayStation-era snowboarding games, though they also released titles for PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Neo Geo Pocket, and arcade. History UEP Systems' most crit ...

for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. The game consists of three main courses (plus two additional unlockables) in which the player attempts to gain the fastest time, most points from performing tricks, and also total points, a combination of the two previous disciplines. This early game, while simple, led the way for the development of much more popular,

extreme sport Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

games.

Release

''Cool Boarders'' was first released in Japan in August 1996. At this time Sony Computer Entertainment officials stated that, though snowboarding was not yet as popular in the West as in Japan, they were "seriously considering" localizing the game to North America. An emulated release for the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

as a PS one Classic was released in North America on December 4, 2006, in Europe on November 8, 2007 in Japan on October 26, 2011.

Reception

Reviews for ''Cool Boarders'' were mixed. The game received an average score of 74% at

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 ...

, based on an aggregate of 6 reviews. Critics praised the selection of boards which offer differing gameplay and the thrills in the experience, but criticized the lack of a two-player mode or AI competitors to race against and the bizarre physics, such as how the player character tends to get caught between closely placed barriers, ricocheting back and forth between them, and how hitting certain objects can make them slide uphill. Kraig Kujawa and Dean Hager of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' found that the game, while reasonably fun overall, could only be recommended to fans of snowboarding and other "extreme" sports. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' commented: "The controls allow for tight handling and make performing tricks a breeze. Although the graphics show minor breakup, they're still well animated in the popular polygonal style". '' Next Generation'' summarized: "Surprisingly, the first dedicated snowboarding game for PlayStation is a great deal of fun to play and offers a challenge like nothing else on the system. However, too many goofy flaws keep it from being a total success". ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' found the physics and limited ability to go off-course frustrating, and like ''Next Generation'' expressed hope that a sequel would fix the problems that kept the game from being great.

References

External links

* {{Cool Boarders 1996 video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Portable games Single-player video games Snowboarding video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games UEP Systems games Video games developed in Japan