The madcap prequel to Thrilla’s Surfari.
PLAYERS: 1-2 alternating
PUBLISHER: LJN
DEVELOPER: Atlus
GENRE: Sports
RELEASE DATE: February 1988
Before Thrilla Gorilla embarked on his personal “Surfari,” he was competing against Kool Kat (a large feline in a five-figure business suit) for the title of “Most Fashionable Anthropomorphic Surfer” in Wood & Water Rage. Tiki Man and Joe Cool round out the eclectic ensemble, while competing for “Most Disturbing Stereotype” in the “Street Skate Session” portion of the game. These fellows aren’t from any Town or Country you’ve ever been to, but they can ride a mean board.
Skating or surfing: pick your metaphorical rage. In each round of surfing, you’re supposed to ride the wave until you see the pier. Once you see the pier, ride towards it and the round is over. Sounds reasonable enough for any large mammal, but keeping the board on the waves is impossible. You’ll either blast your animal forward onto the beach and off the screen or backwards into the deep ocean. Consult the manual, consult an FAQ, memorize the controls, it doesn’t matter. The waves are stronger than the control input. Skating is far more reasonable. Thrash as fast as you can in each round while performing tricks from your limited repertoire. Jumping with your skateboard is your most valuable move. You can grind on fences, hop over obstacles and pits, or launch off of ramps – all for sweet, nourishing points.
In this humble reviewer dude’s opinion, there isn’t enough content in T&C Surf Designs. Thrilla’s Surfari may have been a suck-fari (two can play at the pun game, LJN), but at least there were twenty-eight stages for you to hate. Wood & Water Rage limits you to too-similar rounds of skating and surfing. Since the latter is a stone-cold drag, be down with land boarding or bust. Totes uncool, brah.
D+
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10 replies on “#636 – T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage”
Fuck this game…and that is all…
this game deserves this rating. the surfing is a joke, its impossible to win or if you do win you can get but the minimum amount of points. This game also has a horrible time with depth.
After all these years, I was beaten to the punch on reviewing this game by one day! It is, indeed, a D+ game at best.
Oddly enough, in taking screenpictures for this game, I accidentally cleared the surf level for the first time. I think your point about the wave being stronger than your controls is spot-on; its as if there's an incredibly strong “conveyor belt” effect in the wave that's completely hidden from the player, AND changes direction at different times/parts of the wave
Just checked out your site. I dig! Thanks for commenting.
Wasnt this game just a cash in for clothing brands?
Pretty much.
Wow this game was like blah…. Once I kicked ass at the skate boarding (after realizing it was the same stage only bits longer each time) I tried my hand at surfing…. And then I tried my hand at back slapping the cartridge. Why the hell is that crap so hard? Are they surfing on a tsunami??? I felt like pulling a moses, part the seas and just hoof it dude seriously….
I loathe product games (McDonalds, Spot, other's I can't & don't want to remember).
This game has no end. It just keeps going on and on and on…
I think I was sick as a kid when we rented this, now I get sick whenever I think about it.