Posted by boyo on Dec 3, 2010 21:15 (Dec 3, 2010 21:15)
Becoming a British folk hero is no small task. We're tremendously picky about whom we pour our meagre adoration upon; our fickle natures constantly moving the goal posts in an effort to make lime light seekers jump through as many hoops as possible to win our capricious affections. In the case of Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, this was literally the case, and although he might have weighed in as technically the worst ski jumper ever, the British public made sure he knew he was also the best loved.
No other ski jumpers got their name on an 8-bit game, that's for sure. Does anyone even remember the name of any skiers The Eagle went up against (please don't answer that question if you do know - I'm just being condescending)? To top off his un-illustrious piste career, the small skiing game Eddie lent his name to turned out to be pretty damn good - proving once and for all that in Britain, a loser can be the biggest winner.
Consisting of but four quick games (three of which are almost identical) - the slalom, the giant slalom, the downhill race and, of course, the ski jump - Eddie's Super Ski was a surprising winter treasure trove of powder blasting delights. Essentially a racing game, rather than a sports sim, players had remarkable control over their on-screen, on-skies hero as be throttled down the high speed trail.
Slick, manoeuvrable gameplay and decent - if sparse - graphics made Eddie's game one of the hot, 8-bit sleeper titles of Q3 1989, and still plays well today (reminiscent, I find, of those old handheld LCD single title games). Whether by design or bad management, a wonderfully poignant touch is added at the end of every race - it seems the only way The Eagle can actually stop is by crashing through a barrier and becoming a one man avalanche.
Marvelously British in its celebration of mediocrity and veneration of the eternal loser, Eddie Edwards' name live on in glorious 8-bit commemoration.
Dec 4, 2010 22:25:55 (
Dec 4, 2010 22:25
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