Skate or Die. Yay or Nay?

[vintagegamecrazy]

I was going to write a review for this game, I may be biased but I can't stand it. Even back then I had little fun with it. What are your opinions on this old game. Also has anyone played the IBM version and know how it plays compared to the NES.

[namzep]

Man, I always loved the game as a kid but haven't played it in something like 15 years. Not sure how well I'd like to play it now.

[le geek]

The original C64 version is Awesome.

[Little Samson]

I remember thinking it was cool when I was kid (but not being very good at it). Replaying it as an adult, I didn't like it very much.

[ryborg]

Skate or Die was one of my favorite games as a kid. Today, it's basically unplayable as modern skaters like the Tony Hawk series are 1000 times better in every aspect. It has not aged well.

[norkusa]

Kind of tough to say. I played Skate Or Die a ton on the NES but I would only practice on the half pipe. I HATED all the other events.

[Kid Ice]

Loved Skate or Die for the C64. I did the trash can alley race about a million times (hopefully I am thinking of the right game and not something else).

[cyberfluxor]

HAha. I recall playing it at Funcoland and wasn't too bad. I've passed up on it every time in the wild because I have no attachment to it and it's a really old skating game now. Like what was stated earlier, Tony Hawk pretty much owns most other skating games with its gameplay.

[Greg2600]

Skate or Die was a cool game. There wasn't a hole lot you could do in it, only 5 different mini-games. It was fun for 2 players though, but the controls were a little strange.

[bangtango]

I enjoyed Skate or Die as a kid. The Jam (in the alley Kid Ice mentioned) and Downhill Race were my two favorite events. Joust was fun and at least had three difficulty levels. High Jump was nearly unplayable without a turbo controller like the NES Advantage. The half pipe tricks event was decent but again, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater allows you to do all of that and more in a much bigger area.

Today, though, the best part of the game is roaming around inside of Rodney's Skate Shop and looking at all the crap on the walls and in the store until a random caption comes up.

[Blitzwing256]

I was never a skating game fan at all (can't fucking stand the tony hawk games with all the aerial button mashing "skill" nonsnese) but as a kid for some reason I loved skate or die (bought it the same day I bought ultima exodus ,if you can guess what type of games I normally like) I liked how you had the high score lists for each event (wish it had a save feature) all of the events were pretty fun to play and try to beat top scores, especially the two downhill races/jam. lots and lots of little secrets to find, shortcuts and bonus points. the high jump and the pool joust were fairly lame, but overall I thought it was an amaznig game and easily the pinacle of skating games to ever come out.

[Sothy]

I wish someone would make a hack of 720 with the godamned bees removed.

wait...where am I?

[p_b]

I played it on an IBM, at least I'm quite sure I did. IIRC, it was quite ok graphics wise...Oh, and the playability didn't strike me as being completely off compared to the other versions.

[RASTAN]

Hated the game back then (though it was much better than 720), and it plays like crap in 2007. But I guess the genre had to start somewhere. I always thought the skate shop was cool though.

[DigitalSpace]

The NES game had a nice concept, but the controls ruin it.

[Little Samson]

The NES game had a nice concept, but the controls ruin it.

Yeah, that's right -- don't you have to hold "up" to skate straight forward, even though straight forward is usually down/left or down/right? And I seem to recall that to turn right, you have to push left, and vice-versa. Unless you want to skate "goofy foot", in which case everything's backwards. Does this really add realism to the game? Why not just design the game with one sensible set of controls instead of two confusing ones?

Anydangway, it's probably not that bad once you get used to it, but when you have four ravenous friends taking turns on the game, you never get much of a chance to figure it out. At least that was my experience.

[shoes23]

Wow, not a whole lotta love for Skate or Die. I personally still enjoy it quite a bit, but maybe it is an aquired taste. The Joust is still my favorite event, followed by the alley race. After you master the events there really isn't much to go back to, but I usually fire it up once a year and compete with some friends.

Skate or Die 2 is really much much better though, because of the halfpipe level and the digitilized voice on the title screen. "Ska..Ska..Ska..Skate or DIE!"

[Flack]

I think Skate or Die is like a lot of games ... if you grew up with it (like I did) you probably think it's awesome or at least have fond memories of it.

If you have never played the Commodore 64 version, check out this recording of the opening music. I can remember loading up this game simply to listen to this song at the time. The C64 version blows the NES version out of the water with the PC version in a distant third.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqRXxPl6bXA

To give you an idea on how far skating games have come, on the freestyle halfpipe event in Skate or Die you can only perform four basic moves (spins, grinds, handplants and eggplants).

[GrandAmChandler]

Skate or Die 2 for NES has one of the best sounds ever heard on an NES system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8TmIxHSBcU

-GAC-

[kainemaxwell]

Loved it when I was younger, but it didn't age well.