Slalom and Volleyball Bring the Boys to the Yard

NES Catalog #039-40

Nintendo is Great is a Substack devoted to playing and exploring every game ever released for a Nintendo console/handheld in chronological order.

Some posts are free. Some, like this one, are for paid subscribers only. Don’t forget to sign up below. Thanks for reading!

---

---

Slalom

---

PUBLISHER: Nintendo

DEVELOPER: Rare

RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1987 (US), Oct. 15th, 1987 (EU)

ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade

---

The skiers in Slalom have large behinds. Now, when you’re traveling fast downhill on a mountain, you will likely be looking at the course, not the skier’s butts. But if you have any friends and they’re watching you play the game, the butts will draw all their attention and you will hear about it repeatedly while you’re trying to concentrate. You have been warned.

In Slalom, you race the clock downhill on one of three different mountains, Snowy Hill, Mt. Nasty, and Steep Peak. Each mountain has eight courses, a set time limit for you to complete the course, and a variety of crap for you to avoid. Other skiers get in your way, as do sledders, snowmen, and trees, all arranged in a variety of suspicious patterns. Should you hit any of these obstacles, your skier will twirl in the air, and either crash into the snow or land upright on his feet. Either way, it’s a sight.

---

The prime skiing position, apparently.

---

Sets of two flags also occupy a significant amount of real estate on each course. Ski in between the arranged flag poles and you’ll receive a slight boost, but fail to ski through them, and you’ll slow down a bit. Sometimes these poles are spaced out nicely, but other times, you’ll have to decrease your speed, avoid the pretty boy skiers in your way, and squeeze through the narrowly spaced poles.