OlliOlli : Switch Stance
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : Roll7
Published By : Gambitious
Category : Arcade, Sports, Action
Release : Feb 14, 2019

OlliOlli : Switch Stance on the Nintendo Switch is not just one, but rather two games in the one-hit and you’re done platformer genre. Including both games in the series, this double bagger takes the skateboarding genre to an extreme place that will both draw you in, and drive you crazy wanting more.

Now, this title is a re-release, so there’s a chance you’ve encountered Roll7’s smash hit before. It originally came out back in 2014 on the handheld Playstation Vita, and received such a hot response that it was ported virtually everywhere at the time, and saw a sequel released in 2015. Five years later, here we are with this game still seeing some action as both titles make it onto the Switch, and there couldn’t be a more perfect place for these games to land.

If you’ve yet to encounter these games, OlliOlli is a skateboarding game that takes on a side-view, auto-scrolling approach. Your job is to navigate the levels and their tricky ledges, rails and obstacles. You’ll utilize twitch movements with the left joystick to dictate which tricks you’d like to perform out of the games self-proclaimed Tricktionary that comes with over a hundred different moves to master.

However, simply completing the levels won’t be enough. Each Amateur stage comes with five challenge, and there are five of these per area (the game’s worlds). If you complete all five challenges within a certain level, it will unlock a Pro version which brings you a harder level, with more difficult challenges. Finish all the challenges on all Pro levels in an area and you’ll unlock a RAD variation to step things up even more by only allowing Perfect Landings and Grinds.

But, OlliOlli doesn’t stop there. Anybody can flick a joystick and spam some tricks. The real skill comes in landing those tricks, though. A lot of games will just make sure you’re finished moving your body or your sporting equipment (in this it’s obviously your skateboard). In this game, you actually have to time your landing, pressing B just before you hit the ground. Time it right and you’ll get a Perfect grade, but press it too soon and you’ll get lesser scores, or wait too long and you’ll get a Sloppy. Landing scores also acts as sort of multiplier on top of the base score you’ve racked up through your combo, while a Sloppy landing will stun you for a few seconds and risk you bailing out completely.

In the first game, you’ll have tons of flip tricks and grinds to pull off. The difficulty of the flip tricks is rated by the rotation you apply to the joystick before releasing it. A simple flick in one direction will pull simple ollie/nollie’s, and basic kick/heelflips. Making a quarter, half, or three-quarter rotation beforehand will ramp up the trick into something more serious, netting you some higher scores.

Once you’ve soaked up every ounce of trick-ability from the first game, you’ll easily want to slide into the sequel, OlliOlli 2 : Welcome to Olliwood. In my opinion, one of the greatest things about the sequel is it really doesn’t change anything. Everything that’s great about the original comes soaring back in, with some new fancy features such as the addition of a new trick group : Manuals. This single thing makes it possible to chain one super long massive combo through an entire level. Oh, and there are challenges that ask you to do just that so…get practicing!

Other new moves in OlliOlli2 include reverts, revert manuals, and grind switching which lets you transition through all grind positions on a single rail (if you have the time to do so). All the new additions into the second game feel right at home and finds the few minute gaps that were in the first, and fills them up with new life.

Outside of the career modes, both games offer two additional ways to play the game : Spots Mode, and Daily Grind. Spots are unlocked by beating each level, and is essentially a way for the game to force you into pulling a giant chained combo to reach the end. Each Spot tags into it’s own respective leaderboard so you can see how you shape up against the community. Speaking of the community, Daily Grind pits you against them on the same level which rotates out (as you could assume) daily. For these levels, you get access to as many practice runs as you want to try and nail the best combo, but you only get one actual attempt at the run itself.

No matter how you slice it, this is one hell of a deal. Two games for the price of one, and you’ll be playing both endlessly. I personally have been playing OlliOlli2 for years on the Vita and I’ve never once gotten bored of this game. I honestly can’t count how many times I’ve reset my file just to start over and grind through all the challenges once again. Don’t hesitate, snatch this one up from the eShop today!