Way back in 1994 EA dropped Skitchin’ on an unsuspecting Megadrive market. For those that don’t know, skitching is the art of being pulled along by a car when wearing rollerblades or on a skateboard. The game was very much like the Road Rash games in both looks and gameplay, the difference being your on rollerblades and not a motorbike. The game largely slipped under the radar of most gamers at the time, as the concept was not the greatest, but the gameplay was as good as anything Road Rash had to offer.

The aim of the game is to win the races, which vary from 6 -12 competitors over increasing distances. Along the way you can beat your opponents down with a selection of weapons ranging from your fists, to crowbars and chains. Also dotted along the edge of the roads are ramps, hit these for some big air and some hang time to perform tricks in. On a successful landing three judges will award you scores out of 10, these will all add up for some style based bonus cash at the end of the race. You can gain a massive speed boost by skitching along behind a car and then releasing yourself for a quick speed boost, allowing you to move forward up the long lines of cars that sometimes form up.

Of course, it’s not all big jumps and fast cars, there is also the cops to deal with… They don’t look kindly on skitching apparently, and will do their best to arrest you if they catch you doing it. On top of that, there are numerous piles of debris and randomly parked vehicles to avoid, as well as other skaters trying to beat you down.

After each race you have the chance to visit the shop and repair damaged items and upgrade the too. You can change the wheels, skates, arm and knee pads, helmet and more, each effecting your speed, acceleration, strength, etc. This also marks the biggest difference from the Road Rash series, as instead of only being able to buy a new bike, you can upgrade everything slowly, one bit at a time. Sadly, you cannot do anything to customise your skaters look, instead your clothes only change clolour based on level of your gear.

Overall, there was something about Skitchin’ that really grabbed me compared to the Road Rash games, but I couldn’t tell you what. Graphically and gameplay wise the two are almost identical, I’d even go as far as to say they ran on the same game engine, but Skitchin’ was just always that bit more fun. Plus it had a crazy ‘do not try this at home’ warning every time you fired it up!

If your Megadrive still works, and you see a copy of this classic on the cheap, dust it off and fire it up… You’d be surprised how much fun it still is!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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