Description
A playthrough of LJN's 1992 license-based action game for the NES, Town & Country Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Surfari.
Thrilla's Surfari is the direct sequel to Atlus's https://youtu.be/QxmngfKrQUk, a hit 1988 NES extreme sports game starring T&C's goofy line-up of anthropomorphic mascots.
At first glance, this North American exclusive sequel appears to share a lot in common with Wood & Water Rage. Both games are comprised of levels based on surfing and skateboarding, and both feature a gorilla in sunglasses as the main character.
But the folks at Sculptured Software, recognizing that what had worked for a 1988 release would not fly four years later, created a more substantive take around the original's core design. W&WR's skateboarding obstacle course has been transformed into a series of large, multi-directional platforming gauntlets that take place in deserts, volcanos, and jungles. The surfing stages see the single wave of the first game replaced with a series of downhill river courses that resemble the slalom event in https://youtu.be/XhJmHkfJVGY.
It's a very different game, but like the W&WR, Thrilla's Surfari pays its dues to the image of the brand. Though you only get to play as the gorilla, the tuxedo cat, the masked native, and the cool guy all make appearances in the cutscenes that play between stages, and there are all sorts of gnarly boss dudes to fight. I'm a fan of the "hyper nasty rhino" with his wings, talons, and a second head for a butt.
The action moves smoothly, the graphics are bright and stylish, and though it's not nearly as catchy as W&WR's, the background music is suitably peppy. The controls are solid, which is appreciated given how difficult some of these stages can get, but they're more nuanced and less snappy than they were in the first game. I suppose that's a necessary consequence of having deeper mechanics, but it results in a game that demands a lot of memorization if you hope to make progress. That's not a bad thing, but I didn't find the gameplay as fun or endlessly replayable as Wood & Water Rage's.
I think its predecessor is a good lesson in how less can be more, but Thrilla's Surfari is a game that's satisfying to beat. I enjoyed it.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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