Review Date: February 27, 2021
Release Date: March 1, 1987
Platform: NES
Publisher: Nintendo, but developed by Rare
Genre: Sports
Anecdotes: I’m playing through a selected group of NES games right now, and it seems like the NES had a lot of sports games. Most of them had basic names and simple gameplay. The creativity was a lot better without trying to rip off pro sports leagues. In Slalom’s case, the only thing they would be able to rip off would be Olympic skiers, but in 1987, the last Olympics was three years prior. Instead, Rare got creative with their locations, but didn’t name the skier.
Description: A skier will make downhill slalom runs on one of three mountains, which the skier chooses at the start. The options are Snowy Hill, an easier set of courses for newer players, like me; Steep Peek, a medium level mountain; and Mt. Nasty, the most challenging of the three. Regardless of which mountain is chosen, the skier will start with a qualifying run. After that, the skier has to complete courses within the allotted time or it’s game over.
Positives: The game offers three choices of skill level, with eight courses on each mountain. I also really like how they animated some snowflakes on the side of the screen.
Negatives: Visually, the game looks like Mach Rider on skis and in the mountains. A lot of the obstacles are laid out similarly, too. For example, the trees may block to path from right to left, then the other way, like the rocks in Mach Rider. Then five will appear on one side. At least they reversed the color scheme from Mach Rider’s icy segments; in Slalom, the path is white while the sides are gray.
The other big problem is that every course looks the same. Unless there is something new mixed in in later courses, it is all the same background. The courses are all the same visually, but with different curves and obstacle placement.
More Screenshots:
Grade: C