One of the few quality games released by the now defunct LJN, was this
innovative '88 release. Taking to the sea and streets, T&C offered
two limited, but punishingly hard modes of play: skate and surf. Well,
there's also a third mode, but it's basically the combo of team skating
and surfing.
I remember when I was younger playing this game, and actually being
better at the skating than I am now. I also had no clue how to surf in
this game, and well, I still don't. Multiple playthroughs come down to
pure memorization. There's no dynamic levels or too many different
looking streets and oceans, this is the NES after all.
The skating part of the game is a simple formula. 2D, scrolling to the
right. You control up, down, left slows you down, and right speeds you
up, with your main objective pretty much being don't crash into
anything, unless you want your strange looking character to go soaring
through the air, face first into asphault. You can also collect coins
to boost your Hi-Point score, being the main objective of the game.
The surfing part of the game is a confusing, frustrating formula. It's
some sort of wacky balancing game, where seemingly up, down, left, and
right do little to actually balance you at all. Throughout my life,
I've never understood the surfing. The sound of failing this mode is
pure nostalgia.
This could be considered a forefather to the X-Treme sport boom of the
late 90's. All in all, this game delivered a solid idea to the gaming
world.
