Skate or Die!
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NES_Skate_or_Die.png
Skate or Die! was a skateboarding game released by Electronic Arts in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and Apple IIgs and ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Ultra Games and Konami.
Skate or Die!, whose title is likely inspired by a catch phrase from Atari's popular arcade game 720°, was a multi-event game, in the style of the popular Epyx "Games" series of the time, where players could compete in five different skateboarding events, either individually or sequentially. When the events were challeneged sequentially, up to eight players could sign up to participate.
The game featured two ramp events, the freestyle ramp and the high jump, two downhill events, the downhill race (in a park setting) and the downhill jam (in a street setting), and the pool joust. The pool joust, downhill jam, and the downhill race (in two player mode only) were all head to head, while the ramp events were single player. Except for the joust, which was a mono-a-mono knockout competition (literally and figuratively), all of the event winners were decided by a point system.
Two popular characters were featured in Skate or Die!: "Rodney", a wild man with a purple mohawk and a USMC tattoo who runs a skate shop in the game, and his son "Lester", an even wilder kid with a green flattop, who you were able to take on in the joust and the downhill jam.
The game was well liked with players on both the computer and console sides, and inspired a winterized sequel in Ski or Die in 1989 for the C64 and NES, and a true sequel, Skate or Die 2 in 1990, an NES-only game. Ski or Die retained the multi-event format while Skate or Die 2 veered into "adventure" territory; both games featured Rodney and Lester as key players.
The C64 version of Skate or Die! was also well liked for its introductory music, a highly catchy rock-flavored tune with digital samples that took full advantage of all of the SID chip's capabilities. Composed by Rob Hubbard, one of the world's foremost game music composers, it has become a popular tune among modern fans of SID music and remixers of such tunes.
External link
- The MobyGames' entry for the Skate or Die series (http://www.mobygames.com/game_group/sheet/gameGroupId,71/)