T
H
E
M
AKIN
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FWe strap on some skates and grab onto the tail-end of Dave Warfield’s
car to ask him about the creation of this cult Mega Drive racing game
that is drenched in Ninteties attitude
Words by Adam Barnesome games are timeless classics. Boot
them up and it might as well be that the
decades since their release never even
happened. Sonic The Hedgehog remains
as excellent now as it ever did. Streets Of Rage
is still as fun as it ever was, even with its clear
Nineties vibe. Even the into-the-screen, kinda-sorta
3D of Road Rash still conjures up the same sense
of speed as it did the very day it released back in- Then there are games like Skitchin’, games
that are so of their time that it’s hard not to be
amused when seen through a modern lens. That’s
not to say there isn’t a great game underneath all
that radical dialogue and the graffiti-based menus
that typify the attitude of the era, but if there’s ever
a game that is firmly rooted in the Nineties, it’s
definitely Skitchin’.
“Early on I worked for a company called
Distinctive Software,” says Dave Warfield, the
designer of Skitchin’, about how he came to work
on the game. “They were purchased by EA and
became EA Canada and at that time we were
working on NHL Hockey, some NBA stuff, and
we were looking to create some new titles.” Dave
goes on to explain that he and the team took part
in ‘roundtables’ to flesh out some potential ideas
for new games. “I was seeing these articles about
people rollerblading in New York City, grabbing
onto the back of taxis and buses and getting
around the city that way. The skating/hitching part
of the article kind of leapt out at me and I said,
‘There’s a game in that.’ So we just kind of put it
together as ‘skitchin’ and started brainstorming
what that game might be, and kind of pitched it.”» [Mega Drive] Skitching is illegal, so don’t
act surprised when the police cruisers
show up to kill your speed.» [Mega Drive] Skitching is illegal, so don’t
act surprised when the police cruisers
show up to kill your speed.70 | RETRO GAMER
attitude
ca