1080° Snowboarding

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.

• Developer — Nintendo EAD • Publisher — Nintendo • Director — Masamichi Abe Mitsuhiro Takano • Producer — Shigeru Miyamoto • Programmer — * Giles Goddard • Colin Reed • Artist — Yoshitaka Nishikawa • Composer — Kenta Nagata • Platforms — Nintendo 64 • Genre — Snowboarding • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Series — 1080° Snowboarding

• Illustration — A screenshot from a match race in 1080° Snowboarding 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. The two categories of tricks are grab tricks, where the snowboarder grabs the board in a specific manner, and spin tricks, where the snowboarder spins the board a certain number of degrees. The 1080° spin, the game's most complex trick, requires nine distinct actions to perform. 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. In Match Race mode, the player competes in a series of races against AI-controlled snowboarders. 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. If the player fails to defeat an AI competitor, they must retire. The player is given three chances to beat the AI before the game ends. 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. Players also start with eight snowboards available for every character, with one additional snowboard unlockable later in the game. Each snowboard is tailored to different situations, as they offer varying strengths in areas such as balance and edge control.

1080° release was announced on 21 November 1997 at Nintendo's Space World trade show, with its working title previously being Vertical Edge Snowboarding. 1080° was one of several snowboarding games released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, alongside titles like Big Mountain 2000 and Snowboard Kids. Before its official release, journalists were able to play 1080° at the January 1998 Nintendo Gamers' Summit. 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|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. Tommy Hilfiger outfits and Lamar snowboards appear in 1080° as part of its product placement. The game's soundtrack, composed by Kenta Nagata, features a mix of "techno and rappy beats" with "thrashy, foozed-out vocals." Development for 1080° started around April or May 1997 and continued into early 1998. 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. The European release was delayed to align with the winter season, hoping to boost sales. 1080° was eventually released on 9 October 1998 in Europe and the PAL regions.

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.