u/Cowboy_God

Because of the niche nature of jet-ski focused sports games, there are typically only four regularly pushed forward when people argue about which is the best of the best. These are:

• Wave Race 64
• Splashdown
• Splashdown Rides Gone Wild
• Riptide GP: Renegade

Wave Race 64: A masterclass in style and flow. One of the most visually and aesthetically pleasing games of all time, still managing to play extremely well despite its age and reliance on wave physics.

Splashdown: Almost as underrated as Blue Storm due to the more popular sequel overshadowing its recognition, Splashdown offers up one of the most interesting handling models of all time for a racing game. Immediately technical, leaning heavily into the idea that the player should use the water physics to their advantage for shortcuts and speed gains, which never gets old for those seeking mastery.

Splashdown Rides Gone Wild: A fan favorite for people who really look into this genre, RGW takes everything from the first game and makes it over the top. Over the top tricks, courses with tons and tons of stuff happening on screen, a very heavy focus on arcade fun and aesthetics. While I find the handling and technical focus to be less interesting than the first game, RGW is the most beginner friendly and immediately fun jet-ski game there is. Its a pick up and have a good time type of experience that is very comparable to the second and third SSX games.

Riptide GP Renegade: I was gonna put Jet Moto here but Riptide has essentially taken its place as the modern fast pace water game. Yeah, you aren't technically on a jet ski, but to not include this game here would practically be criminal. You're fast, you do fun tricks, and you never let go of the throttle. I've always found this series to be quite ugly from a tonal and art directional standpoint, but when talking about gameplay alone, there is a ton of fun to be had.

Now with all this out of the way, what I really really don't get is how Wave Race Blue Storm not only isn't mentioned among these games regularly, but simply isn't considered the best of them all. But to be fair, I've sorta lied, because I sorta DO get why this is the case...

The game is hard as hell. (And also the narrator talks way way too much so if you don't know to turn down the voice audio in settings then this game is actually nightmarish for your mind after an hour of playing).

The Difficulty:

Talk about unforgiving AI and track design. One singular mistake is enough in Blue Storm to lose you an entire race if not an entire championship, championships that you cannot restart unless you're willing to go back to the very first track and start from the beginning. Hours of your life will go by trying to complete the final championship in this game as you watch your rider stumble headfirst into the water for the fiftieth time in a sitting. Sometimes its an unlucky bump off a wave that gets you, or an AI slamming you into a wall. Sometimes its player error, or the game just outright saying fuck you. Regardless, there is no avoiding the time losses, and in turn, there is no avoiding the frustrating championships slipping from your fingers again and again.

Blue Storm is a hard, technical game that doesn't hold back. There are niche mechanics in the handling that will doom you if you don't learn them through the tutorial system. Chaining boosts and diving underwater is just the surface for what you can do to get faster times here. Track mastery is key. Learning how to read the waves and use them to your advantage is key. Not crashing, the hardest damn part, is key,

The Unique Handling:

Goddamn, this game plays like nothing else! There isn't a single racing game out there that gives the player so much and so little simultaneous feeling of controls at the same time. One second you're ripping through waves and feeling each bit of the current carrying you through the water, the next and you're holding on for dear life just hoping that you make it through the next big waves alive. Its like seeing a bull in a china shop, and deciding to hop right on and see how long you can last. I've played many, many racing games in my life, but there are very few that have replicated the sense of havoc I feel when going full speed in Blue Storm.

Often acting as what feels like a tech demo for the gamecube, Blue Storm leans heavily into its water simulation physics, which are core to the actual racing itself. Somebody is in front of you? Well they leave a wake in the water that can improve or lower your odds of making it around a turn. A big object fell in the water? Prepare to ride over massive waves. Wave Race 64 also did this but the scale of Blue Storms water physics interactions is leagues above what was on offer for the N64 title. Sometimes you're between two big boats and the waves that form between them toss you right into a wall. Sometimes you get a huge wave behind you can can ride it like a surfboarder, quickly getting to top speed. There simply isn't anything like it elsewhere.

Tracks:

I have to admit that Blue Storm lacks in three departments. The soundtrack, the characters, and the amount of content. The soundtrack issue can be resolved with some headphones and your own music, the uninteresting characters are only a small problem within a largely pleasing product, but the content?

SEVEN TRACKS. Thats right lads, seven whole tracks in this game. To be fair, the difficulties change some things up on each track, so I think you're technically dealing with 18 different options, but not really...

Yeah, its kind of hard to defend the track content for Blue Storm, which also starts to make the difficulty feel like a playtime lengthener instead of something the developers put some serious thought into. With this in mind however, all of the tracks play and look excellent. Very distinct and fun, with a lot of thought put into the layouts and how different players would approach the routes.

TO SUMMARIZE:

I've really only vaguely expressed my love for this game in this short post, I sorta just wanted to put in front of more eyes while I yap about a genre nobody gives a shit about anymore. It is an excellent game, possibly one of the best racing games of all time and %100 my vote for the best jet ski game despite my complaints. The difficulty brings you back and places you on a loop of constantly trying to get better. The mechanics are ultra unique, and ultra addicting. Don't let this one slip by you.