Lately I've been going through several boxes of my old games in storage and have selected a few to keep me going for quite a few future "GTRMOMC" posts, but for this one I'm going to talk about a nice little game I purchased as a re-release for £1.99 - Skate Rock.
Originally released at full price by Bubble Bus software, it was later re-released by Mastertronic on their "Ricochet" label and this is the version I have. The game featured the player riding their skateboard across 10 courses, avoiding the numerous obstacles that appeared on the way. There were 8 flags that needed to be collected along each course - if you missed one, you would need to go back and get it because you couldn't complete the course without them all. You also had a limited amount of time to compete the courses.
Doing a little spin at the end of course 1
Don't forget to collect all the flags, or you won't be able to finish the course
The courses were made up from several areas including a rural street, a town and a bridge/construction area. Obstacles to avoid usually consisted of walking pedestrians, dogs, cars/lorries, workmen, cones and other skateboarders. Occasionally you would need to use a ramp to jump over an obstacle to get further along the course.
"Get outta way!"
Sometimes you need to use ramps to progress further.
Don't fall of the bridge!
The game played horizontally and you used the joystick to control your skateboard. Up made you accelerate, down to slow down, and left and right rotated your board. If you held the fire button and pushed left and right you could also do kick turns that rotated your board quickly for sharp turns.
Those patches slow you down, and makes it harder to move.
Each course got progressively harder to the point where I think it became impossible to complete without cheating but I had great fun trying to get further. The only thing that really got me about this game were the naff, blocky sprites (especially the cars). Come on, the Commodore 64 was capable of so much better. Other than that, it was a great game that came out in the late 80s during a skateboarding craze and when other skateboard games such as 720° and Skate or Die were populating the games charts. Skate Rock also had a nice soundtrack by C64 music legend Ben Daglish.
And this is what you get when you finish all 10 courses. "You've completed all then courses....."
"... You're now a member of the Slime Rat Skaters". Aren't you glad you finished the game for that monumental ending?
The cover. Spot the cock up in the instructions!
The back of the cover. A great space for writing some POKES for cheating perhaps?
The tape!
A nice addition to any C64 gamers collection.
