Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

   Developer: Electronic Arts

   Publisher: Electronic Arts

   Release Date: 1990

   Genre: Action/Adventure

   Nerd Rating: 6 out of 10

   Reviewed by: bbpower

Are you looking for a totally mondo skateboarding adventure where you can pop people with a paintball gun? Well, my fellow gamers, feast your NES appetite on Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble. This major skateboarding game is based around a nameless dude who must fight for his right to skate in his beloved town of Elwood. This game is tough to get the hang of, but once you do, it’s a worthy play.

Skate or Die 2 is split up into two different games in one. There is the main story and just a section of the game with a halfpipe similar to the first installment, Skate or Die. The halfpipe is two screens wide and has a center ramp. Kick it on there for awhile and check it out, but the story mode is much better and more amusing. The music throughout the levels is catchy and the sound effects are good too. 

While out for a leisure skate, a bonehead loser, who goes by the name Icepick, distracts you and you run over the mayor’s wife’s poodle. In retaliation of her dog getting rocked by your board, the mayor bans skateboarding in the entire town! Total bummer, right? You are upset, but luckily you have a smoking hot girlfriend, CJ, who looks a lot like Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. You must go out to battle for your passion.

 The game starts off with you and a paintball gun on the streets with other skaters. They immediately try and drop you to the cement. Your main goal is to collect as many items as possible to trade up for better skateboards and learn better moves. You will run across paintball refills, tasty tacos, tapes, cds, extra health points, eggs, dynamite, and french fries to haggle for better equipment and moves.

There are two characters who will skate by randomly throughout the first and third levels. You must look out for these dudes while playing! A green haired skater named Rodney is your ticket for new primo boards. He owns the local skate shop and is your only way of upgrading to boards that can jump higher. There are five boards total and each board is better than the next. See him riding by munching a taco and run into him to get better merchandise, but be sure to have enough goods to haggle his ride at the time. If you miss him, or don’t have the goods he is wanting, you will have another chance, as he turns around and heads back the other way. You can upgrade several times a level, so go for him until you cannot upgrade any longer. 

His dear boy, Lester, is a moves expert and can teach you new maneuvers to bust other skaters out of commission. His moves will cost you some goods, so nab the items around to buy his wisdom to better successfully handle this gnarly game. He will also give you tips on what’s happening on the level and advice. These learned moves can be assigned to a spot on your controls. The buttons are hard to get used to, but it is a creative way to give players an arsenal of different moves to better handle this game. I found it hard at first to get the moves down. In fact, every time I pop this game in it takes me a bit to get going again.

Each level is different in this game with it’s own setup to test your skills. The game takes you through the streets, malls, beach side, and an abandoned warehouse. The first level is mainly for busting other skaters, getting new boards, moves and inventory. Go into each door to find items or enemies to blast with your gun. Many enemies will drop items upon defeat. Search the end part of the level for your first boss. There are some parts of the levels which I found too technical for the game and the jumping is not precise. As a result, you fall and lose health… no bueno.

The second level is a sprint through a mall. It’s a timed level and hard for the first several times you play. You must run errands back and forth between shops to earn cash. There is a bogus security guard walking the mall. If he busts you twice, he automatically takes you to the nearest exit and you usually are far away from your destination. Also, there are other skaters going through the mall who are more than willing to shoot you and shoppers carrying goods. Run into a shopper and your life drops down a few points. Running into other boarders and the security guard do not impact health.

The third level is on the beach. You must navigate through steroid-indulged meat heads sporting speedos and babes on roller skates to gather documents lost in the wind. Get all the documents and beat the level, but if you lose even one in the wind, then it’s all over and you must start again. Be sure not to get close to the sand, or it will knock you on your ass and you will lose health. Also, watch out for pesky wildlife. I found the birds highly annoying, but they can be capped with your paintball gun, as can everything else.

The last level is the massive warehouse I mentioned earlier. This level is a hard maze filled with Icepick’s loser friends. It took me forever to get through it, because I refused to look up a guide. Try getting through it a few times before you look up a map. Once you learn the path, it’s great, but it will take you a little bit to get the directions down. It’s colored by floor and there are goods on each level that you must find a document in the building before you face your mortal enemy, Icepick, on the roof.  Drop the scumbag fool and you win the game saving your bodacious girlfriend, CJ. In summary, this level pissed me off to no end.

Skate or Die 2 was always a fun and challenging game. The first time I played it was back in 1993 when my older cousin traded it for a copy of P.O.W. (another fantastic NES game to check out). My other cousin and brother were furious about the trade. We ended up playing this game for hours never to have beaten it. Well, about seven years ago, I acquired a copy at a garage sale for 50 cents and sat down to tame the beast, after cleaning up the game. It took me a few months playing in small doses, but it’s definitely a beatable game. I give it a Nerd Rating of 6 out of 10 for its cutting age digitally composed music, with vocals and guitars, and the unique game play. The opening theme to this game is a rare style for the NES console and gets players excited to jam! You will see when you fire it up.

If you are in the mood to get a true bargain of a game and want a challenge, nab this nasty little bugger and give it a try. You cannot go wrong with Skate or Die 2, especially for well under five bucks! So, skip on the Slurpee, or Taco Bell, and throw your dough towards this fun game.