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1080° Snowboarding
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
Designer	Shigeru Miyamoto (producer)[1] Hiroshi Yamauchi (executive producer) [1] Giles Goddard (main programmer)[1] Colin Reed (programmer)[1]
Released	JAP February 28, 1998[2] NA April 1, 1998[3] EU November 30, 1998[3]
Genre	Racing/Extreme sports
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Media	96 Mbit Nintendo 64 cartridge
Input methods	Nintendo 64 controller

1080° Snowboarding (テン・エイティ　スノーボーディング, Ten Eiti Sunōbōdingu^?) is a one-on-one or single player snowboard racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 and first released in Japan on February 22, 1998.^[3] The game plays by controlling a snowboarder from the third-person perspective, and uses a combination of buttons to jump and to perform tricks.

The game features five playable snowboarders representing four countries and contains eight levels. 1080° was announced on November 21, 1997, and developed over nine months; it garnered critical acclaim and won an Interactive Achievement Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.^[4][5] The game spawned the sequel 1080° Avalanche.^[6]

The player controls a snowboarder in one of six modes. 1080° has two trick modes (trick attack and contest), three race modes (race, time attack, and multiplayer), a training mode, and an options mode. The objective of the game is either to arrive quickly at a level's finish line or to receive maximum points for trick combinations.

In 1080°'s two trick modes, trick attack and contest, players accrue points from completed tricks.^[7] In contest mode, players perform tricks and snowboard past flags for points. Trick attack mode requires players to perform a series of tricks throughout a designated level. The game features 25 tricks, all of which are performed by using a combination of circular positions of the control stick, the R button, and the B button; point values are allocated based on complexity and required time.^[7] The two types of tricks are grab tricks, in which the board is grabbed in a specific way, or spin tricks, in which the snowboarder spins the board a certain number of degrees.^[8] The 1080° spin requires nine actions, the most of any trick in the game.^[9]

A screenshot from a match race in 1080° Snowboarding.

1080° has three race modes; in these modes, victory can be achieved by taking separate routes within a course and balancing the snowboarder after a jump to avoid speed loss.^[8][10] Tricks are scored race modes, but do not count toward victory.^[10]

In match race mode, the player competes in a series of races against AI-controlled snowboarders. The game times the player throughout the level, and players receive a life meter which fills if the snowboarder falls down or is knocked over. The difficulty level in match races can be set to easy, medium, or hard, adjusting the complexity and number of races. If the player fails at defeating an AI competitor, they must retire. The player is given three chances to beat the computer before the game is over. The time attack mode involves beating a par time set in the game, with available ghosts demonstrating the fastest time of a certain track.^[7] The final race mode, multiplayer, features a two-player horizontal split-screen race.^[10]

The characters of 1080° from left to right: Rob Haywood, Akari Hayami, Ricky Winterborn, Kensuke Kimachi, and Dion Blaster.^[11]

Players may initially choose from five snowboarding characters: one from Canada, one from United States, one from the United Kingdom, and two from Japan. Each snowboarder has different abilities and is suited for different levels and modes.^[12] Three additional snowboarders are unlocked by completing certain game levels and modes. Eight snowboards are initially available for every character, and one additional snowboard may be unlocked later in the game. Each board also excels in different situations.^[13]

1080°'s release was announced on November 21, 1997 at Nintendo's SpaceWorld trade show; the game's working title was then Vertical Edge Snowboarding.^[14] 1080° was one of several snowboarding games released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, others being Big Mountain 2000 and Snowboard Kids.^[14] Before the game's release, journalists were able to play 1080° at the January 1998 Nintendo Gamers' Summit.^[15]

1080° was programmed by Englishmen Giles Goddard and Colin Reed, developed and published by Nintendo, and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto.^[1] Goddard and Reed had previously programmed Wave Race 64,^[16] which sold over a million copies and was a huge commercial success. Its sequel, Wave Race: Blue Storm, would feature characters from 1080°.^[17]

When developing 1080°, Goddard and Reed used a technique called "skinning" to eliminate joints between the polygons composing the characters. Their programming used a combination of standard animation and inverse kinematics, creating characters whose appearance during collisions is affected what object is hit, what direction the collision occurs in, and the speed at which the collision takes place.^[18] Tommy Hilfiger outfits and Lamar snowboards appear throughout 1080° as product placement.^[8][19]

1080°'s development took place from April or May 1997 to March 1998.^[18] The game was released on February 28, 1998 in Japan^[2] and on April 1, 1998 in North America.^[3] Nintendo delayed the game's European release because they hoped to boost sales with a winter release;^[20] 1080° was eventually released on November 30, 1998 in Europe and the PAL region.^[3]

1080°'s soundtrack of "techno and rappy beats" with "thrashy, foozed-out vocals" was composed by Kenta Nagata,^[1][8] who also composed soundtracks for Mario Kart 64 and other Nintendo games.^[21]

Critics generally praised 1080°, which had an average score of 88/100 on Metacritic and 90% on Game Rankings.^[4][28] It won the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 1999 Console Sports Game of the Year award^[5] and was called "one of the best values in both sports and racing gaming" by Gamespot.^[27] 1080° was the clear leader among snowboarding titles of the era and was "so good...that it took publishing giant Electronic Arts several years and a far more powerful console to give it solid competition" in the form of the PlayStation 2's SSX franchise.^[29]

The game's graphics were of the highest quality for the Nintendo 64 at the time.^[8] Critics praised general aspects of the game's graphics such as their crispness, detail, smoothness, and lack of polygon dropout.^[8][25][27] More specifically, critics praised the game's camera use, the game's "very solid" physics model,^[27] the impression of racers' speed, and the game's snow effects (sun reflected in the snow as appropriate, and fluffy snow and packed snow appeared and behaved differently).^[8][25] Graphical faults identified by critics included occasional pop-up, misplaced shadows, and lag when racers passed through on-track trees;^[8][27] these problems were generally identified as minor.^[8][27]

Critics considered the "highly technical" control scheme of 1080° one of the game's strengths despite its initial difficulty.^[22] GameSpot called the game's control "thoroughly involving" and said that "[t]he crouch move alone - which makes for supertight turns - makes this fun to play."^[27] The music was also generally praised, with IGN calling it "a shining example of what can be achieved on the format"^[8] and All Game Guide calling it "one of the best N64 soundtracks to date."^[22] Gamebits, however, criticized the soundtrack as "minimal" and insufficient.^[25] 1080°'s sound effects were also critically praised.^[8][22][25]

In a retrospective review by Nintendo Magazine in 2006, Steve Jarratt commented that 1080° "boasted the best videogame representation of snow," and was complimented by "swooshy" sound effects."^[30] Positive comments were also made about handling and the quality of the multiplayer, despite its age.^[30] In summary, Jarrett believed "this was a straight-up snowboarder, stunt-free but fast and fun."

1080° sold 1,230,000 units in the United States,^[31] and over 23,000 in Japan.^[32] However, it sold fewer copies than its programmers' first game, Wave Race 64, with 1,950,000 units in North America and 154,000 in Japan.^[31][32] 1080° Avalanche, a sequel to 1080°, was released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. Avalanche received a harsher critical reception, averaging 73/100 on Metacritic,^[33] due to "frame rate issues and limited gameplay".^[6] Additionally, one of 1080°'s snowboarders, Kensuke Kimachi, appeared on a trophy in the 2001 game Super Smash Bros. Melee.^[34]

• Official Nintendo game entry for 1080° Snowboarding
• (Japanese) Official Japanese website
• 1080° Snowboarding at MobyGames