8-bits of pure stoke
The history of surfing video games was cut short both prematurely and unfairly. Surely, I can’t be the only person disappointed to find that no gaming company has made nor has plans to make a new surf game for the two preeminent systems: Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s Playstation 4.
A new FIFA game is released annually and during the World Cup a special “World Cup Edition” is also designed. Meanwhile, the surf community hasn’t seen a real surf game since 2003. This is a tragedy. Clearly it is an attack on the entire surf community in an blatant effort to curb our stoke. Well, we won’t stand for it. We deserve to be allowed to live out our most audacious athletic pursuits via a technologically constructed world just as much as any one else does.
There is little that can be done to right this wrong outside of individually laboring through computer science and video game design classes. But we must not despair. We must stay strong and act with both hope and resilience.
Thus, we turn to history to revisit and remember the brief, but beautiful, love affair between the surf and gaming worlds.
YouRiding
Sadly, there exist no new surf video games for the popular gaming systems (PlayStation/Xbox). This means, as is the trend in technological innovation, the internet has become the new hub for surf video games by way of YouRiding. Dubbed as “the riders, the gamers and the dreamers,” the creators of YouRiding have taken on the impossible, and show no signs of fear or relent. Use the internet to Surf, bodyboard, free ski and snowboard your fleeting life away, as if you don’t already.
Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer
It’s no surprise that the king of surf games comes from the king himself, Mr. Kelly Slater. Boat trips? Your pick of nine of the world’s coolest surfers? Thirty second barrels at Lowers? Yup. It’s no wonder that Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer has claimed hours, days, weeks? of surf fans’ lives.
Sunny Garcia Surfing
Perhaps overshadowed and left in the wake of Slater’s game, one can not help but wonder why Sunny Garcia Surfing was not more prolific in the surf video game community. Maybe because its designer, Krome Studios, chose to release the game exclusively for PlayStation 2? But it also seems quite dark and austere, especially for a surf game…
Transworld Surf
Released to the holy trinity of gaming systems (Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube) by Angel Studios, the godfather of game design companies, Transworld Surf was a damn good example of production value. The graphics were on par with top sports games of the time, Madden, NCAA, Fifa etc. This is the type of investment that surfing video games need. Please, please bring it back.
SpongeBobs’s Surf & Skate Roadtrip
Surfing in a digitalized, second life is fun and all, but where is the narrative? Where is the story that you can lose yourself in? Halo had one and surfing does too, it’s called SpongeBobs’s Surf & Skate Roadtrip. The game uses the Xbox Kinect, so you can tell all the people who claim video games aren’t physical to suck it. Get active, get gaming.
Town & Country Surf Designs
Little throwback to 1988 and Town & Country Surf Designs. Look at that cover for the game. Just look at it. It’s got Da Boys, sick waves and a classic Town & Country board. It’s no surprise that the game necessitated a sequel in 1991, Town & Country II: Thrilla’s Surfari. Both were made for Nintendo, both lived up to the hype.
California Games
California Games is the OG of surf video games and it was released on the OG of gaming systems: Atari in 1987. Compare these graphics to the ones in Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer and experience firsthand 15 years worth progression in the video game design industry.
