Slalom (video game)

Gameplay

Slalom is a single-player skiing game where the player races downhill through a series of 24 runs, split evenly across three mountains. Before starting, the player picks a mountain based on skill level: Snowy Hill is for beginners, Steep Peak for intermediate players, and Mount Nasty for experts. Each run must be completed before time runs out. Along the way, the player has to avoid obstacles like trees, flags, snowmen, sledders, and other skiers; hitting them causes a tumble and costs time. If the player has enough speed, they can jump over these hazards. Skiing around flags correctly keeps the racer moving fast, but going past a flag on the wrong side forces a snowplow that slows them down. The slopes also have moguls, which launch the racer into the air and slow them slightly upon landing. While airborne, the player can attempt freestyle tricks for bonus points, but a failed trick leads to a tumble and lost time. At the end of each run, the final score combines the time left on the clock with points from tricks. Any points earned in a qualifying run are converted into extra seconds for the next run’s solo segment, where no other skiers appear on screen. High scores for each run stay saved in memory until the console is turned off.

Development

Slalom was the first console game from the Stamper brothers, Tim and Chris, and the first title developed by their newly formed company, Rare. The British studio turned to console development after rampant computer game piracy in the UK. They targeted the NES because of its early popularity, even though no Western developers were working with the system at the time. Rare asked Nintendo for a license but was turned down, so they reverse-engineered the console and built a demo called Slalom to present to the company. Impressed by the effort, Nintendo made Rare its first Western developer, sparking a long partnership with Minoru Arakawa, founder and president of Nintendo of America. The game first appeared in arcades in 1986 as part of the Nintendo VS. System under the title VS. Slalom. That version used an upright cabinet with a joystick, a single jump button, monaural sound, and standard raster graphics. An optional upgrade let players stand on shortened skis with two physical ski poles to control the skier. Nintendo released the NES version in North America in August 1987 and in Europe on 15 October. The music was the first NES composition by Rare’s David Wise. In a December 2010 interview, Wise said he found the NES sound board challenging, as he had to code HEX values for each note by hand before converting them into subroutines with a computer. He recalled thinking his early NES projects sounded like doorbells and was humbled that others continue to remix his tracks.

Reception

When VS. Slalom first hit arcades, Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games praised its innovative ski controls but felt the game lacked staying power, calling it an "above average" title when the ski controls were removed. The NES version got early preview coverage in the first issue of Nintendo Fun Club News in 1987, and later that year a Summer issue offered a brief overview and expert tips. French magazine Tilt liked the graphics and sound but found the animation lacking. German magazine Aktueller Software Markt highly commended the animations, especially the scrolling and perspective, while calling the sound mediocre; they found the game fun but unrealistic. Power Play and Gen4 also praised the animations. Gen4 appreciated the sense of speed and gradual difficulty increase, though they found the game unrealistic and considered the graphics average for Nintendo, with internal disagreement over whether it was fantastical enough. Power Play enjoyed the level and obstacle graphics but thought the game needed more variety and quickly became monotonous.

Years later, AllGame editor Brett Alan Weiss was critical, calling Slalom "a rush job" that failed to capture the spirit of skiing. He found it repetitive, too simple, and not fun for adults, describing the graphics as blocky and insipid and the sound as repetitive and derivative. He argued that even as an early NES release, it was on par with the 1979 Intellivision's capabilities, and recommended Konami's Antarctic Adventure for the ColecoVision instead. UK-based Retro Gamer noted the game received little fanfare. In a December 2010 piece on Rare's 25th anniversary, Stuart Hunt called it "fun but quite simplistic" due to a lack of race variety, though he said it showed how Rare could maximize the NES's system resources. Slalom later appeared in Rare Replay, a compilation of 30 Rare games released on Xbox One in August 2015, after Microsoft Studios acquired the rights through their purchase of Rare.