SSX

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
How is he not dying?!

IT'S TRICKY TO ROCK A RHYME TO ROCK A RHYME THAT'S RIGHT ON TIME IT'S TRICKY! IT'S TRICKY!''

A series of snowboarding games by made by Electronic Arts. It shares some similarities in style and mentality with the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, but places the action and snowboards (and later skis) and takes even more liberties in realistically portraying the actual sport in favor of a more arcade, over-the-top experience.

The series is inspired by the Real Life sport of "boardercross", a mix of snowboarding and motocross. In reality, though, it's about a bunch of outrageous characters riding down a series of outrageous tracks doing outrageous tricks at outrageous speed. As you might have guessed from the overuse of the adjective "outrageous", the series is at the arcade end of the Sliding Scale of Simulation vs. Arcade.

Now with a Character Sheet under construction.

  • SSX (2000): The first game in the series, and one of the launch games for the Playstation 2, being hailed by many critics and gamers alike as the best in the bunch. It started the series tradition of earning boost by doing tricks, thereby requiring a balanced play-style (in the races a least) and included some of the craziest track concepts ever seen in a snowboarding game, like a melting iceberg that's been towed to the Hawaiian coast, or a Tokyo course resembling a pinball machine.
  • SSX Tricky (2001): The second game, Tricky was arguably the high point for the series. It took its still somewhat modest predecessor and turned the craziness Up to Eleven by Flanderizing the entire cast and including so-called Übertricks, in which boarders pull their board off their feet and use them in suicidal acrobatic maneuvers, ranging form break-dancing to faking an execution.
  • SSX 3 (2003): Took the basic gameplay features of Tricky and set all racing events on the creatively-named Big Mountain, thereby introducing a Wide Open Sandbox mechanic. As a result, the track diversity suffered somewhat and the general quirkiness of Tricky was played down a notch. However, some fans consider it to be the best game in the series.
  • SSX On Tour (2005): Reduced most of the crazy cast to simple cameos and instead included a pretty restrictive Create-a-Boarder mode. Plus, the game added skiers(!) of all things, changing one of the basic concepts of the series. The fanbase was not all that pleased.
  • SSX Blur (2007): A Wii-exclusive title, the general consensus is that this game, while not bad (it still received very positive reviews), is worse than its predecessors due to rehashed tracks and somewhat inaccurate motion controls.
  • SSX (2012): Originally called SSX: Deadly Descents, an "extreme" reboot of the franchise for next-gen consoles, the game plays more like a Spiritual Successor to SSX Tricky. The World Tour mode focuses around rival teams of snowboarders competing to be the first to board on the world's most inhospitable places such as the Himalayas and Antarctica. In addition to the new Deadly Decent peaks, the game features traditional Trick and Race modes with online leaderboards and events.
Tropes used in the SSX series include:

"Bronze those thumbs!"
"Call your mama in the room and show her how great you are."

  • Canon Foreigner: Marty was a character who replaced Mac in the games released for the European market. According to canon, Marty is Mac's cousin who lives in Germany.
  • Cap:
    • In Tricky
      • The speedometer tops out at 74 MPH (120 KPH)
      • Normally, your stunts are printed out in detail after performing them. However, performing more than five full spins (1,800 degrees) or more than three flips (in any direction for both cases) will result in the stunt labeled as "???".
  • Cowboy: Nate worked as a ranch hand before becoming a snowboarder, and most of his costume options are Wild West themed. Cowboy hats, lassos, a sheriff's badge, a bandit mask, spurs...
  • Crazy Awesome: The majority of Tricky.
    • In-universe, Psymon. Legend has it he went nuts after trying to do a motocross jump over some power lines and not quite making it. In SSX 3, he prefers riding on the outside of the gondola.
  • Curse Cut Short: Brodi in Tricky.

"You bast...!"

  • Darker and Edgier: The 2012 game was going to be this, but the final result is less so.
  • Disco Dan: Eddie in the second and third games.
  • Don't Try This At Home: One of Psymon's quotes from Tricky.
  • Fan Service: Promotional art drawn by Adam Warren. Yikes!
  • Fat Bastard: Luther.
  • French Jerk: Jean-Paul.
  • Funny Afro: Eddie's giant orange afro.
  • Genki Girl: Kaori, Marisol, and Seeiah.
  • Gonk: Luther.
  • Gratuitous English: Averted mostly by Kaori, who only speaks Japanese except for on the character select screen.
  • Guest Fighter: Stretch from EA's NBA Street games is playable in 3.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Not literally, but by his own account Moby is "Half man, half amazing, all Moby!" In a more literal sense, some of his costume options paint him as a werewolf. Seriously.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Much of the cast in Tricky, but most are exclusive to that particular game.
    • David Arquette (Eddie)
    • Macy Gray (Seeiah)
    • Lucy Liu (Elise)
    • Bif Naked (Zoe) -- the only member of Tricky's all-star cast to reprise her role in a later game (SSX 3)
    • Oliver Platt (Luther)
    • Billy Zane (Brodi)
  • Hotter and Sexier: The third game's artwork. In particular the special art by cheesecake master Adam Warren.
  • Hurricane of Puns: Mac in SSX 2012 is full of them, usually involving his name. "I'm a rocket Mac!" "It's raining Mac, baby!" "I'll have to call this one Mac and cheese!"
  • I Can See My House From Here: Nate can see first place from every angle when he's racing, and when Psymon catches a huge air he can see Jupiter. Seeiah also emphatically shouts that she can see Venus.
    • Eddie in Tricky says the exact thing, and sometimes adds "London" or throws us "I can see the earth ROTATING!"
      • Back in SSX 2012, adding, "It's so small..."
    • In SSX 2012, on a big jump Zoe sometimes says "I can see...ah forget it."
      • Zoe also says, "Height check. I am really high" or "But I don't want to go down yet."
  • Idol Singer: Kaori Nishidake's regular job.
  • Ink Suit Actor: Psymon's voice actor Jim Rose claims to be the real-life version of Psymon.
  • Institutional Apparel: A staple of Psymon's alternate costumes.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover: DJ Atomika would eventually show up in Burnout Paradise. Unfortunately, he did so with 80% less entertaining dialog.
  • It's the Best Whatever Ever!: Zoe Payne defines the creation, management and running of SSX as the best job ever...while jumping off a hundred foot vertical drop and performing gravity defying stunts.
  • Jerkass: Luther. He is so much so that only JP is willing to be friends with him.
  • Jiggle Physics: As applied to Eddie's afro.
  • Joke Character: 3 is rife with jokey secret characters, though they aren't inferior to other riders. But they include Churchill, a steam-powered robot, and Canhuck, a giant beaver.
  • Keet: Griff Simmons.
  • Lampshade Hanging: In SSX (2012) characters will audibly wonder how snow got so deep in the games many tunnels.
  • Lemony Narrator: DJ Atomika.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Luther and Nate are both extremely large and powerful, and due to their size and weight have a distinct advantage in the downhill races.
  • Noodle Incident: Several in 3, courtesy of DJ Atomika from EA RADIO BIG, including the "orange cat incident", the "dreaded snow snakes", and various Big Mountain events from before the game.
  • Gimmick Level: Each of the Deadly Descents in SSX 2012 are focused around a particular hazard that serves as the stage's name: Avalanche, Ice, Rock, Trees, Cold, Thin Air, Gravity, Darkness, Whiteout.
  • Oddball in the Series: SSX on Tour is a good game in its own right, but most hardcore fans really do not like due to the bare bones Character Customization feature taking precedent over the original characters. And the way-too-long races and bad voice acting. Not to mention it was developed by an entirely different team.
  • One Hundred Percent Completion: In SSX 3, getting gold on all the races, getting gold on all the freestyle events, finishing all the "Big Challenges", buying all the outfits and everything else from the stores, and finding all of the hidden snowflakes.
    • And all you get is a Yeti.
  • Patriotic Fervor: In addition to his love of his country's flag, Moby has unlockable costume options in 3 that add up to a suit of medieval armor.
    • Canadian Psymon Stark often says "SASKATOON!" while hitting a particularly big air.
    • Elise: "Canadian girls kick butt!"
  • Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Griff in SSX 2012, coupled with Took a Level in Jerkass.
  • Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Mac, the white DJ character.
  • Psycho Electro: Psymon doesn't have electric powers, but his erratic mental condition is the result of being electrocuted by powerlines during an ill-advised BMX stunt.
  • Put on a Bus: Hiro, Jurgen, Eddie, Luther, Seeiah, Marisol, Brodi, Viggo, Tyson, and Sid only appeared in one game. JP and Griff would have also fit this trope, but they were brought back for the most-recent game, which seems to miss Allegra who was the cover girl for the third game and portrayed as one of the main characters.
  • Real Song Theme Tune: A remixed version of Run-DMC's "It's Tricky" for SSX Tricky. See also Crowning Music of Awesome.
  • Rule of Cool: They built a fucking city on the side of a fucking mountain so you could snowboard through it in SSX Tricky.
    • Hell, it took event organizers two whole years to set up Big Mountain as the ultimate SSX circuit.
    • Try detaching yourself while snowboarding. Probably...not easy. BUT WHO CARES?! KICKFLIP YOUR SNOWBOARD!
  • Rewarding Vandalism: In the SSX 2012, you get tricks for running over flares marking the path along the track.
  • Sassy Black Woman: Seeiah in the second game.
  • Sequel Escalation: How big can the Übertricks get? How over-the-top can the courses get?
  • Ship Sinking: In SSX On Tour, the developers decided to push Mac and Kaori away from each other.
  • Shout-Out: One of the legendary boards avalible...an N7 design done up in red and black.
  • Spelling Bonus:
    • In Tricky: Successfully completing six Übertricks spells out T-R-I-C-K-Y, which grants unlimited boost until the end of the current event.
  • Spicy Latina: Marisol.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Elise, who is 5'11" (180 cm) and has plenty of midriff-exposing outfits to choose from.
  • Stripperiffic: Some of the outfits for the female characters are, shall we say, not suited for cold weather.
    • The female riders? Pssh. The male riders get the worst of it. Moby has costumes in SSX 3 that feature him shirtless or wearing metal armor in the frozen tundra of Alaska. Psymon has several sleeveless shirts and tank tops, too.
    • In Tour, your character can go out in nothing but their underwear.
    • SSX3 has one female option where, if it wasn't for a tattoo-thing, is otherwise topless.
  • Talkative Loon: Most of the things Psymon says make no real sense. His battle cries when catching big air make him a Breathless Non-Sequitur factory, including Patriotic Fervor (see above) and the infamous "FRENCH TOAST AND SYRUP!!!" shout in Tricky.
    • Seriously. "Roll over, Rover!", "Aw, I'm totally spellbound!", "Supersonic, Stereophonic!", "SUPERHEAVY BUT LIGHTER THAN AIR!", I could go on.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: JP and Luther, the Jerkass duo of Tricky.
  • Totally Radical
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: In Tricky, Psymon and Moby couldn't stand each other. In 3, Moby's mellowed out enough to become this with Psymon.
  • Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Moby has the Union Jack tattooed on his entire upper body, his default shirt in 3 is a shirt with a discolored Union Jack pattern, and one of his pants options bears the Union Jack as well. He's also got a helmet displaying the Jolly Roger.
  • Wide Open Sandbox: In the third and fourth games.
    • Also present in SSX 2012. Ridiculously high cliffs on the edges of the tracks are meant to keep you somewhat on them, but if you get enough air-time and send yourself in the right direction...
      • This actually appears to be nixed. While the game offers an "Exploration" mode, it's nothing more than the way you play each of the courses on any character you want, as opposed to the Story mode which dictates the character you play. Really, nothing wide-open or sandbox-y at all.
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