Game: "T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage"
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Genre: Sports
Published by: Other

Reviewer: -RoG-
Posted: 3/3/2008

Review: This classic NES surfing 'n skating game is based on the well known surfboard company "Town & Country Surf Designs" and their mascots (aka: "Da' Boys"). Most people had a love/hate relationship with it, and those feelings were completely understandable.

One one hand, you had a fantastic skateboarding game which rewarded you for making good time and pulling off tricks without sending your character (Joe Cool or Tiki Man) flying off his skateboard because you hit an obstacle (such as a turtle or an oil drum) or fell down a hole. On the other hand, you had a surfing game which had controls that were fairly frustrating to most players, and had many of them refusing to even play that portion of T&C.

In all honesty though, the surfing part really was a fun game. The object was to last long enough on the waves, while performing tricks and eventually make it all the way to the end of the level at the pier. The problem is, it was difficult to control your surfer because the programmers saw fit to make it feel like you really were surfing, thus they put a lot of natural resistance against you in addition to some pesky seagulls and guys relaxing on inflatable tubes. While it was admirable that they'd try to recreate the surfing experience more accurately for the game, it definitely made most players lean towards the skating portion of the game.

But come on, the surfing mode had a cat ("Kool Kat") surfing in the water in a full body suit! Madness, I say... MADNESS! You could also play as T&C's most recognizable mascot, Thrilla Gorilla, but I was all about the cat.

In the end, it's a fairly basic 2-mode game, but whether you're a fan of the Street Skate Session or Big Wave Encounter or both, it's definitely worth playing against a friend to see who can make the best time. It's one of the earliest games I ever owned for the NES (mainly because I was really into skating at the time) and it still holds up well even today. Besides, who could pass up the opportunity to play as a surfing cat or a skateboarding tiki man? Just try not to throw your controller across the room when you accidentally fall into a screen-sized ditch on the skating level, or one of those damned seagulls causes you to wipeout.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)