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[Shikamaru Ninja]

Battle of Nintendo's extreme sport franchises. Take into account, both original N64 versions were developed by Nintendo of Japan, and both GameCube sequels by Nintendo of America.

I absolutely love Wave Rave: Blue Storm, i played that game to death. The original was great too (music and graphics alone!!), but I don't think I played the original N64 version anywhere close to the GameCube version.

1080 Snowboarding is my franchise of choice here. Both N64 and GameCube versions were fantastic. I know the GameCube version gets slept on here, and deemed average by many reviewers, but I can't help but think they are out of their mind. It is such a fantastic game from the music, to the avalanche challenges.

I am in fear that these may be the last incarnations of the series due to struggling sales of the genre on the GameCube.

But my vote goes to 1080 !!!

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

I agree. Both are excellent, and highly underrated IMO. The edge goes to Wave Race for me, due to the water physics.

 

[FortNinety]

I LOVED WaveRace of N64, but hated the Cube version. It just seemed the water was just simply too much to handle in the sequel, and the track designs left a lot to be desired. And the music for the first one simply ROCKED.

 

[jett]

Wave Race destroys 1080.

 

[Red Dolphin]

Overall I think I got a lot more playtime out of the N64 versions. Really loved those games. Wave Race: BS was quite good but 1080: Avalaunche wasn't anywhere near as good due to the way it felt to control. If there were more avalaunche stages I would have liked the game a lot more. I think its also due to the fact that I was an N64 gamer only back in the day so I replayed a lot of games..

 

[seismologist]

I'd go with 1080. Waverace plays better but I didn't really find much in terms of replay.

1080 spent many hours on the half pipe runs going for high scores and trying to pull 1080's.

 

[Error Macro]

I love both. Way too hard to decide which one is better. I wish that the same development team would make an Excite Bike sequel for the Cube before it's too late. Way to drop the ball on a great franchise, Nintendo.

 

[drohne]

waverace had its exceptional wave mechanics. and the sequel coasted on these, which made for an excellent game in spite of its lack of progression.

1080...honestly i don't think it was ever that special. a competent but unexceptional snowboarding game that had the benefit of nintendo cachet. i found the comparisons to waverace totally inane. and the sequel is just horribly dated.

 

[SolidSnakex]

1080...honestly i don't think it was ever that special. a competent but unexceptional snowboarding game that had the benefit of nintendo cachet. i found the comparisons to waverace totally inane. and the sequel is just horribly dated.

I thought the racing aspect of 1080 was amazing. It had extremely good controls. While most snowboarding games had focused on the trick aspect of snowboarding it focused more on the race aspect. The racing in most other snowboarding games kinda felt like and after thought for the trick system. Ofcourse the opposite ended up happening with 1080, you got an excellant racing game with a pretty terrible trick system.

 

[clipunderground]

I love both. I don't understand what people are smoking when they say they're average. I think reviewers must be feeling some heat and going a little hard on Nintendo these days or something. Anyway, If I had to pick. I'd give the edge to waverace, simply because the water physics kick so much ass. I want to see how far they're gonna take it in the next one.

Don't get me wrong though... 1080 is also a gem. SOOOOOOO underrated it's ridiculous. and the racing is top notch.

 

[Minotauro]

I'm going to disregard both their Cube incarnations seeing as how I hated Blue Storm and have yet to play 1080.

That said, I'm going to have to give the edge to Wave Race. 1080 just hasn't aged as well. It's still pretty good but the controls just don't feel as fluid as Wave Race's. Plus, Wave Race's courses are better. With it, each one is fun and well-designed. With 1080, there are really only like 3 courses that are worth playing.

 

[axxxj]

I've played both the N64 versions and the Cube versions and imho i prefer the n64 versions. I feel they have better handling and they are far more subtle in their approach and in each case it just feels amazing. I spent years with waverace mastering the complex handling and even after a year i was still slowly lowering my times on each fantastic course.

 

[Dice]

Waverace 64 - I played this once, I remember being VERY fond of it, there was something very special in it's controls. I rememvber playing it a lot trying to get better, and slowly yet steadily getting better. The feeling reminded me of Pilowings on SNES in racing form. I should buy it sometime.

Waverace: BS - It had a lot of potential, the control was different but still very good, the courses and how you played them dynamically changed depending on a lot of stuff. My complaint is that it got really freakin hard, and not in the "ooh this is challenging but I can get better" way. You essentially had to race perfection to win because if you messed up you'd get thrown off your craft and lose 4 seconds that you'd never get back. That makes for very intense racing and I've played other racers like that, but the problem lies in the random weather. Having to play through several courses just to reach that track again and then have it be completely different than what you played due to weather is disheartening.

1080 Snowboarding - I liked this even more than Waverace 64, but then I did also buy it so maybe thats why. Overall it doesn't have the fancy stuff a lot of other snowboarding games has, but it had a greater depth to what is there. Like Sega Rally 2 vs Mario Kart 64, it's fancy stuff is in the basics and it's really fun. I think the courses had more variety than Waverace, and I enjoyed figuring out the best way to go about them.

Havent played the new 1080, but unless I don't like it even more than Blue Storm my vote goes to 1080.

 

[SA-X]

Meh, I was never really a fan of either. Excitebike owns them both.

 

[Baron Aloha]

WaveRace, without question. Too bad WR:BS sucked in the graphics department. It's not terrible mind you, but it could, and should have looked better. I hope that when they release a third game for the Revolution that they make everything more realistic looking to attract a wider audience. The series is quite good, imo. It deserves the attention.

 

[Gek54]

Sold all my N64 games except Conker and WaveRace64. Everything about WaveRace was quality; graphics, controls and sound.

 

[The Main Event]

Wave Race 64 > 1080 > Wave Race: BS > 1080: Avalanche

 

[Red Dolphin]

Wave Race 64 > 1080 > Wave Race: BS > 1080: Avalanche

IAWTP

 

[Semjaza Azazel]

I've gone back to 1080 on the N64 and it hasn't aged well at all. It moves so slowly that I practically want to fall asleep at the controller. 1080 obviously had more of an impact, but I'd much rather play Avalanche and currently have far more fun with it.

Avalanche is flawed though. There were quite a few things I didn't like about it and the single player game is insanely easy, even later on. I rented it and managed to finish it in a few days. I couldn't justify buying it for more than like $15 new.

I love Blue Storm though. I still play it regularly. Most of the complaints I read about against it are things that can be completely adjusted by choosing different characters or adjusting their stats.

 

[Lathentar]

Wave Race 64 > 1080 > Wave Race: BS > 1080: Avalanche

IAWTP

 

[DrM]

Can't waitto see a new Wave Race on Revolution

I liked Blue Storm and first Wave race...

 

[ravingloon]

Wave Race 64 > 1080 > Wave Race: BS > 1080: Avalanche

IAWTP

As much as I wanted a WaveRace sequel after WaveRace 64, I really could care less anymore. Now if it was a Revolution title developed by EAD and had online play, I would have visions of greatest racer ever made (Substitute Amusement Vision and the statement still stands). But NST really needs to be junked. BS isn't horrible, but it's a shell of WR64.

 

[Kevyn]

I haven't played the new 1080, so judging just on the N64 versions, I've gotta go with Wave Race. That game was awesome.

Excitebike 64 shits all over both of them though.

 

[Kudie]

I don't understand the people who complain about WaveRace: Blue Storm's difficult handling. True, the game is a little more difficult to handle than the N64 counterpart, but it is not that tough. I really enjoyed Blue Storm.

However, I also like 1080 as well (although I have yet to play the GC installment). Both games offer slightly different experiences in racing; WR has it's water physics, while 1080 has it's weather element and managing of mountain slopes.