Videogame Review, Tech Deck Skateboarding for the Gameboy Color (w/ Gameboy Advance and Worm Light)

Videogame Review, Tech Deck Skateboarding for the Gameboy Color (w/ Gameboy Advance and Worm Light)

Artists sometimes believe that their fingers are the works for creation.  This Gameboy Color game is representing those old finger-boards they used to sell in marketplaces across parts of the United States; you’d pick a board up and use your thumb for performing skateboard tricks and such a gimmick existed for some time until shoppers took notice of other products in the marketplace.  Does this skateboarding videogame hold up?  I’m not actually sure if it was even good to begin with.  First of all, the music which plays throughout the game doesn’t sound like anything my big brother Evan would want to listen to and he had been a skateboarding guy for real without merely using thumbs on toys.  A lot of the game is just a giant beat in a loop: ding, dong, the witch is dead.  Collision detection against walls, ramps, and assorted dishes becomes a thing of the past.  It’s like, “Man!  I want my mommy.”  My poor little finger guy on his board just keeps on having problems in the game’s mechanical structure since he’s either going entirely through the Tech Deck items completely or he’s grabbing them from the air when he’s still on the ground.  Just… such a mess.  At least the Finger Guy is doing tricks my own thumb couldn’t handle except by gameplay for the Gameboy Advance or some other high tech gadget from Nintendo’s manufacturing process.  In general Tech Deck Skateboarding is practically a button-masher.  My instruction manual does give pointers here and there but I’ve found ways of “cheating” by just mashing buttons a lot; sure, I still have to collect the Tech Decks in order on the playing field in the campaign mode, but I’m still just pretty much steering and jumping at will seemingly in random format.  Grinding doesn’t always seem to work well.  At times I’ve also noticed that one button combination can result in different moves because of the poor collision detection and my skateboard’s locating physics.  My finger guy does make some pointless facial expressions as the skateboard picks up little steam under his feet and I’m wondering if he even has the right shoes on.  So, actually what Activision could’ve improved on after this game’s release was the variety of shoes, skateboards, and courses, since my Finger Guy can’t even leap on baseballs or tea cups.  (Damn it!)  Passwords are provided although I beat the game in one seating; however, if you were to decide to quit the campaign mode early on, there’d be no skateboard selections available in the Free Style mode other than your original, boring red skateboard.  You’ll see some familiar skateboard icons if you’ve played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for the Sega Dreamcast or N64 or something; nonetheless, it’s a better idea to play with that old Tony Hawk game instead because of the music, gameplay, and fun to be had. 


Note: Photo editing done with Fotor.