(hello lovely merpeople i'm cl and this is my word vomit about tracks and stuff! sorry for the made-up terminology it's wicked bad)

With next-gen having just fully arrived, we've heard a lot over the last several months about how the new consoles are going to impact gaming, and publishers have been thrilled to show off early titles with two major features: open worlds and an “online, connected experience.”

Sound familiar? It should; we've just “experienced” it firsthand with the SSX reboot's more open mountains and asynchronous online, and Electronic Arts has seemingly successfully predicted the biggest trends of the industry during this transition period. However, even if these concepts aren't going anywhere as far as we know, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're the best fit for our beloved franchise.

In this post, my goal is to establish the importance of the early SSX tracks and their relevance to the identity of the series by examining their staples: overlapping paths and shortcuts.

Overlapping Paths

The structure of SSX's first tracks begins with a main path. This is the widest path and ultimately the bottom line of each track. It can split into two sections, often symmetrical, but it's generally easy to follow and there are very few chances to fall off. It's the safety net, and it holds the rest of the track together. All along the main path you have opportunities to leave and ride over it, usually in the form of shortcuts. These are what I'm going to call overlapping paths.

Elysium Alps is the best example of how this works: Remember that long, icy path midway through the course?



There it is, highlighted in green. Right below in orange, there's the ending of a shortcut that leads back into the main path. At the very bottom, you have another shortcut marked in purple. The green represents our main path, and the purple is our overlapping path.



Continuing down the purple path, you'll come to a gap. Oh, but what's that down below it? Our green line! Clearing the jump will keep you on the purple path, but missing it will land you back onto the main path.



If you've made it, you'll follow the purple path to another jump that, again, goes over the green.





The two paths intersect two times more before joining back together. I think we have the idea by now!

As the series went on, people decided it would be a good idea to open up the tracks a bit more and make it feel like you're riding on an actual mountain. Hovever, this began to make too much space for overlapping paths to be used in the same capacity and made way for divergent paths instead, where the shortcuts and alternate paths weren't on a higher level than the main path and therefore didn't overlap. By SSX 2012, main paths really ceased to exist and were instead replaced by many divergent paths with few overlapping paths.

As an example of the three types, here is a map of SSX 3's Metro City. The main path is marked in green, the overlapping paths in purple, and the divergent paths in orange:



So, what's the problem? Isn't it good to just have a bunch of “equal” options instead of a big, boring path with options on the side? It sounds that way when you phrase it like that, but there is a big difference between overlapping paths and divergent paths. Let's try another question: how do you add difficulty to an SSX track? Sometimes, it's by creating obstacles that can cause the player to crash, but the most difficulty comes from being able to fall off. We've seen what happens when you fall off an OP, but what about a DP? How do you fall off a path that has nothing below it? Death pits, that's how.

Falling off of an OP gives you two options: firstly, you can choose to restart the event and try again, but secondly, you can keep going on the main path. Sometimes you'll have a second chance to get back on the OP. Falling off of a DP or MP, however, gives you slightly different options: you can either restart just like OPs, or you can reset/rewind back onto the same path and repeat (unless you're playing the older games and it's considered a shortcut, then you'll automatically reset onto the MP).

In that sense, non-shortcut DPs are almost easier seeing as you have unlimited chances to try them again. However, it can be extremely frustrating for players to have to keep repeating the same portion over and over again just to finish the track. OPs, on the other hand, allow you to continue onward at the expense of more tries. Basically, MPs and easy DPs offer a painless experience, hard non-shortcut DPs ramp up the difficulty but temper it with the opportunity to keep retrying them which proves frustrating, and OPs give you a challenge while not impeding you by giving you the alternative of returning to the MP.

Therefore, a track structure that focuses on MPs and OPs (but it can still have DPs, of course!) offers the widest variety of difficulty within a single track. This is the most important aspect of this structure, because it means that every track is accessible to players of every skill level. The alternative—this might help those of you who have just joined us with 2012 understand—is what we see in 2012, where you have easier tracks like JT2 and harder tracks like One Step Ahead. With the MP/OP system, we're talking about putting OSA over JT2.

Flow is also a factor, which many players feel is necessary for a good SSX game. Some people enjoy the SSX series for the ability to kick back, listen to some good tunes, and enjoy the scenery. It's a popular and valid way to play, and those who prefer it shouldn't be left out. OPs help to preserve forward momentum by not forcing you to reset/rewind, but tracks with DPs can be significantly less enjoyable for these types of players because of how much they'll have to stop or go backwards.

Bringing it back to 2012 once again, whoozwah actually went through all of the tracks in the game when it first came out in order to find freeride-suitable tracks. He found nine tracks with no hazards, and nine tracks that did have hazards but were relatively safe. That's only eighteen tracks out of sixty-five. Now hazards don't just encompass death pits, but regardless, we've clearly lost the layered system that put the challenges at the top of the tracks and the safety net at the bottom.

Of course, we still have to address the hardcore player in full. After all, do “casual” players really need access to every track, and what does this system do for hardcore players who will restart at any deviation in their line?

Firstly, less-skilled players having access to all tracks is important (more on that later), and it definitely doesn't mean that the tracks would be easier for hardcore players as long as they chose to take higher lines, and they would take higher lines because they're often the best way. In addition, every track would also be suited to more-skilled players as well. As much as this system gives less-skilled players access to every track, more-skilled players can have challenges to master on every track just the same.

Now, for those restart monsters, there is one benefit: flexibility with lines. If a track breaks off into DPs, you can only change up your line when they converge again. If you're above the track, however, and you decide that you'd like to switch to the MP or another OP, you can just fall. This is the most useful in Showoff.

For example, think back to the Elysium Alps shortcut we covered earlier. Say that instead of clearing one of the gaps you'd like to jump off to the side, get more air, and land back on the MP. Then, you want to ride one of the tree trunks on the MP back up to the shortcut you were on. You can do that. Or, with Tricky's Tokyo Megaplex, you can jump off of the rails early to catch a snowflake, then jump into the next fan and blow back up to some more rails, getting some serious airtime and the opportunity for another big jump.

Tricky's TM is full of these possibilities for both Showoff and Race. Since there are so many rails and pipes weaving around each other, it's wicked easy to slide or jump off of one and land on the other. You can put together a really neat line just by messing around.

So now that we've covered why OPs are so important, let's look at some other examples:

Tricky's Snowdream has one of the easier, more iconic OPs. By jumping over a fence and through a blue sign, you land on a long ramp that leads you to this gap:



Looking at this area from the MP, that platform looks super easy to jump onto, but you actually need this shortcut to get to it! The platform will lead you to a series of gaps, sometimes bridged:



See that pipe up there? It's possible to get on the fence via the MP and fly off the end of it and onto the shortcut! Snowdream has many OPs in the form of rails that send you over the MP.

Speaking of rails, most of them are OPs, since all of them are “over” the MP in the sense that you can fall off of them. Smash this sign in Tricky's Aloha Ice Jam, and you can grind a rail, billboard, wire, then a pipe that will send you straight past the sinuous MP:



Tricky's Elysium Alps also has some neat grinds, notably one that lets you ride the billboards past the slalom halfpipe:



Speaking of Elysium Alps, here's another type of OP:



Ledges. They're a lot like the gap jump OPs, but they're far narrower and you have the risk of falling off the side as well. Of course, these are easy peasy compared to the ledges Alaska has:



Yeah, that little thing, all the way over there. Alaska has a set of nine, maybe ten ledges, and few of them are easy to bridge, especially looking at the curvy ones up ahead.

It gets worse (better?) later on in the track:



Yeah, we went from regular paths with gaps to ledges, to ledges with gaps, and now we just have these little islands in the middle of nowhere.



Even better (worse?), taking the rail on the third one leads you to this:



A tiny, icy (i.e. SLIPPERY) path cutting through a cave. Good luck staying on.

Mesablanca has a unique type of OP:



See, that ledge up there isn't the OP, and that ice river in the gap isn't the MP. It's the other way around. Falling into the gap and following it down leads to a jump that gets you into a shortcut you can't reach otherwise:



This is such a creative way to use the MP/OP structure, and it isn't something you'd expect!

Shortcuts

Now, all of the examples I've just given are shortcuts, so this section probably seems redundant right now. However, while all OPs are essentially shortcuts, not all shortcuts are OPs. Some are DPs, and in smaller doses they're wicked cool.

You've also probably noticed that I've avoided shortcut DPs for the most part, and that's because they're a bit messy. With shortcut DPs, there's no way to fall back on the MP like with OPs, but falling or resetting puts you back on the MP anyway. The result is something not nearly as flexible or polished as with OPs: a flashing light and a noise before you're magically transported to the MP.

So, why use shortcut DPs? They allow for far more shortcut concepts than OPs do. For example, OPs can't be underground for obvious reasons, but DPs can. Or, looking at AIJ, the tunnel system going over the track intersects with some rushing water at one point. Even if you're ultimately ending up in the same place by falling on snow or water, the water is more interesting aesthetically and adds to the feeling of danger you get when trying to jump between the tubes. Sometimes, the unique concepts you can get from shortcut DPs outweigh the jarring effect you get if you mess up.

The importance of the reset mechanic to this idea also needs to be mentioned. As explained earlier, the ability to return back to the MP whenever is huge, and that isn't possible with the rewind mechanic. Without reset, shortcut DPs have the same issues as regular DPs, not to mention that rewind undermines the challenge of both OPs and shortcut DPs.

Of course, reset isn't perfect. It opens up the potential for wormholes to be exploited, and select tricks are unavoidable. For example, if you're on the backcountry DP in Garibaldi just before the first set of jumps and you just want that first red snowflake, you can get it, reset, and teleport back to the main track and get all of the snowflakes in that set of jumps. Some would say it's creative. Others would say it's unsatisfying or cheap. Like I said, it's messy, but there isn't a perfect solution at this point. I'd rather have to deal with the jumping around than have shortcuts lose their difficulty and meaning.

Shortcuts have meaning in another sense, as well: they're able to use imagery and themes that might be considered too extreme for the rest of the track. These end up becoming the tracks' secrets or defining characteristics, depending on how prominent they are. The mine tracks in Mesablanca, Garibaldi's backcountry, and AIJ's tunnel and water shortcuts are all examples of shortcuts becoming defining characteristics.

As for secrets, we have AIJ's penguins. Tips in the original SSX specifically stated that if you see penguins, you're going the wrong way. Now why would the devs make a shortcut that's actually a “longcut”, fill it with penguins, then tell you to never use it? Because!



Details like this are what gives the tracks and the game as a whole character and soul. Another example is the secret shortcut in OG Pipedream. First, you have to hit a switch on the backside of a jump, and then go around the bowl to the left of the next checkpoint until you fall into the ground. You'll be in a room with a hole in the center, which is the beginning of a long, long tunnel taking you past most of the course.



There was no guarantee that anyone would find this shortcut. The devs just put it in for fun, to see if anyone actually could.

Alaska is the ruler of shortcuts. We've covered a lot of them already, but here's some more:



Yep, there's three holes in that cliff face and a red sign to the left of it. The middle tunnel and sign lead to the ledges of doom I showed you earlier.



I don't remember where this goes. I never make the jump!



Shortcuts within shortcuts! This is intense!

Here's one of AIJ's famous water tunnels:



No Kaori, you can't take the penguin with you!



Classic SSX Design Exemplified

Wondering where Merqury City went? I saved the best for last! The original Merqury City is the best example of the MP/OP structure, and its brilliant level design has, over time, made it my favorite track in the series. FirebrandX wrote a walkthrough for the fastest line though the track at the time which goes through most of the major shortcuts, making it the fastest, coolest, and hardest! Here's a break down of the elements of the MP/OP structure in just this one line.

The first OP is a shortcut sign at the beginning of the track:



Jumping through this sign sends you over a fence and on a ledge to the left of the MP, which is a bowl with rails and jumps. Taking this shortcut lets you avoid that altogether.

You'll have to hit a jump next, but afterwards there is another OP in the form of a fence dividing the symmetrical MPs. Jump off of it and you'll be able to ride through the skyscraper in behind it and crash out the other end!



This shortcut is so cool because the fence serves another functional purpose, which makes you think it isn't a shortcut. The fact that I could use it to jump through the skyscraper was surprising.

If you manage to jump before you hit the glass, you can fly over another fence and through an alley shortcut:



Coming out of the alley, you can immediately go into a parking garage. This takes advantage of the SSX tracks' perpetual slope, as the entrance to the garage is level with the track, but by the time you reach the end, you're at the tops of skyscrapers. Coming around that corner still awes me!



From here, you're going building-hopping, in and out of skyscrapers, until you reach...



Donut rails! This has to be the strangest SSX shortcut ever. I don't know why someone thought that riding through sugared toruses would be so satisfying, but they were right? They're really a secret, but once you find out about them they're almost a defining characteristic. They're just too neat!

Here's another one! Because donuts!



Next, you bonk off of that pointy building and take another rail that sends you over the track (and blimps!)...



...and into the ice river!



Next is the sewer shortcut. We all know what that is. I didn't even bother to take pics. It's a great example of how DPs can add diversity to shortcuts, since you could never do a sewer OP.

After the exiting the sewer and crossing under the bridge, you can find a hole in the back of the concrete block behind the ramp. Yeah, I don't know how anyone found this one, either.



The tunnel will lead you to a subway track, which is another awesome example of a shortcut DP. Watch out for the trains!



After you exit the tunnel through the gates, you're a stretch away from the finish!

If you couldn't tell, the timing and precision needed to clear these shortcuts is ridiculous. Jump a fraction of a second too late and you'll sink to the ground. Angle yourself slightly off and say goodbye to rails and building tops. In fact, you have to time and angle your skyscraper jumps without even being able to see where you're going through the opaque glass. You need perfect momentum in order to clear the half walls in the sewer shortcut, too. I've never actually nailed this entire line before! There are so many things that could go wrong.

The beauty of it, though, is that when things do go wrong you land back on solid ground. When you plummet down to the main track after falling off a skyscraper you can almost feel your heart drop down into your gut as you realize that the OP's behind you until you try again, but the freedom and the challenge you gain from that is wonderful.

FBX's line requires mastery of six+ shortcuts, depending on how you count because most of them are connected, and they all represent the diversity within classic SSX track design. The sign shortcut, the fence leading into the skyscraper, and the parking garage and subsequent skyscrapers and donut rails are examples of OPs, all of which let you fall onto the main track if missed. The alley, the ice river and sewer, and the subway are all examples of shortcut DPs that take advantage of their path type to bring interesting and ambient shortcuts. While the skyscrapers are a defining characteristic of the track, the donut rails and subway are secrets that could be easily missed if you weren't looking for them. While the sign is easy, the parking garage is wicked hard. While the alley and skyscrapers make sense, the donut rails are as unique and out-there as possible.

Merqury City is difficulty, style, and speed all rolled into one. It's the epitome of the moment-to-moment gameplay the developers wanted to achieve with their tracks, and the result is distinctive. The MP/OP structure in the track is dynamic; it provides a fun ride for players as well as the ultimate challenge, all locked into each other like a jigsaw puzzle. It is really SSX's paragon.

Takeaways

So here's a recap of everything I've covered in this post and a few more conclusions:

• SSX tracks can be divided into three path types: main paths, overlapping paths, and divergent paths.
• MPs are the easier foundations while OPs build on them, adding difficulty and character.
• The interlocking nature of MPs and OPs creates a flexible system in which difficulty is dyanmic and natural.
• Non-shortcut DPs middle MPs and OPs in difficulty, but have an added factor of frustration because of their rigidity.
• Shortcut DPs have similar advantages to OPs, but have poorer presentation in exchange for diversity.
• The success of shortcut DPs, and partially OPs, depends on the reset function.
• The MP/OP structure works well for casual players and incentivizes them to improve.
• The flexibility and range of the MP/OP structure also benefits hardcore players.
• Shortcuts add to a track's distinctiveness and charm.
• The traditional theory of making moments and connecting them to form a track creates consistently interesting and memorable courses.
• Diversity within tracks is as important as diversity between tracks.
• A true MP/OP structure is only possible in tighter-knit tracks where paths can weave in and out of each other.
• Head-to-head multiplayer and player/character based gameplay work best with tighter tracks.

Lastly, don't underestimate the significance of tracks. In an arcade-style game where the controls are relatively simple, the bulk of the gameplay and difficulty relies on them. They're the basis for skill, exploration, and character action. Everything revolves around the tracks. They're the real stars of the show here!

The importance of less-skilled players being able to use every track, by the way, is that it will help them to get better. I came into the series with Tricky and not an ounce of skill. The best thing I could pull off was maybe popping a balloon in Snowdream! I did see those red and blue signs, though, and I was hungry to see what was behind them. Even though I'd never get far, I always attempted the overlapping paths, landed back on the main path, and tried again the next time I rode the track. As time went on, I got further and further along until I was finally able to pull the easier ones off, and then the medium ones, and then the harder ones. Twelve years later, I still haven't seen and done it all yet, and I can't tell you how much track I've covered in researching for this post! I'm a much better SSX player, though, and I owe it to the accessibility and encouragement of the games themselves. I hear a lot of people say that SSX needs to “grow up.” Kaori needs to “grow up.” Fans need to “grow up,” and hey, I do have a lot of “growing up” to do, but still I have to laugh when I hear this sentiment because so far, SSX has “grown up” with me. There aren't many games that, after a dozen years of playing, I still have things left to discover, to master, to reflect on.

So, yes, maybe the aesthetic of the series will need to change to match today's standards of grit and cynicism that we call “maturity.” Maybe we'll need to lose splitscreen forever because no one plays in the same room anymore. Maybe we'll need online everything and microtransactions everywhere since that's what's making money.

But the level design?

That's timeless.



(Sorry if this post sucked, but I've wanted to get this out of my system for a long time! I put this in General Discussion instead of Original Recipe because I was thinking about it more in the context of the future of SSX and was hoping it would encourage series-wide track discussion. If you've actually read this whole thing, thank you!!)

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aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAH YES CITYLIGHTS YAAAAAS

this is the kind of thing I live for and wish MC had more of. the time and effort you put into this is amazing and commendable. your points were totally thought out and explored in an easy to understand way, and I'm blown away that stuff like this still happens in our community. I think it can hit home for so many people like us that grew up on this game.

SSX has so much potential for academic expression and I've had a few things I've been thinking of working on. this is really inspiring and shows so much of what I love about SSX. well done.

i also like being not the only one making huge long posts all the time pfft.

Oh man City. I almost vomited rainbows reading this it was just so perfect! I really wish I had more to contribute but you summed it up all so brilliantly. Thank you so much for putting time into this because it's one of the best things Ive read on the site for a while.

Alaskas shortcuts are amazing but I can never seem to get the shortcut properly at the beginning of the track. I wish so hard I could though.

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Midian: Real authentic stuff is the pizza the Teenage mutant Ninja Turtles eat. Fast, cheap and sloppy
Midian: Like NA
CurryKing: I wanted the title to be: This image is in no way grooming you for Thor's mighty hammer

Ahhh thank you both so much!! I'm so glad to hear that it's being enjoyed because I wasn't sure if it would be hit or miss. The fact that you two liked it makes the whole thing worth doing!

Charmy, you should work on them! And post them! I'd read them, at least. I think it's fun to be able to grow up with a game because you get so many different perspectives on it. When the 2012 dev team was talking about accessibility and "making awesome easy and OMG wicked hard" or something, I didn't think much of it until after the game came out and I remembered that I'd been a kindergartner when I started playing the series. I thought, "Wait, why are they reinventing the wheel again?"

Hahaha NA, it took me 2+ hours to get those Alaska shortcuts! That first Mesablanca one took a while, too. If I hear "THE SUN ALWAYS SETS ON MESABLANCA" one more time, I'm gonna kick myself in the face.

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Lights, you nailed it. This is truly one of the most beautiful chronicle I've ever read about SSX. I've never actually thought about the MP's, OP's and everything before, but it makes alot of sense when I'm thinking back to the countless amount of hours I spent playing the old games.
It really is the structure of the track that defines the track, not the visuals or over-the-top layouts.

That is also probably also why, even though EA made a new SSX game which used the same colorschemes and atmosphere from the old games to shape the tracks, the tracks would still feel boring if they followed the modern SSX 2012 track structure.

Mad props to you for summing this up. I give you 5 stars.

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Also known as the guy that always pisses gondee off with his huge avatars.

i now know how to balance on rails
my life is complete

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well, it's really not tricky if you think about it...

Aww, thank you Joni! I agree completely; structure is key. And congrats KFBF! Were you just taking them straight on before?

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How amazing was this post? Big ups to citylights.

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Thanks so much, gondee!

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CL is The Baddest Female.

I remember when people where very actively competing for best times in races for SSX Tricky and SSX 3. There is where you get all the crazy out of bounds and wormhole glitching as well as; "If you go slightly left after the grind instead of straight, you can save about 0.5 seconds". The track design of Tricky is great in so many ways, I think everyone has there favorite moment/part of a track. Great read, CL.

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Last.FM
Space CQC Jammer Canceler Breaker Eraser Confiner Obstructor Buster Closer

LOVE her. Thanks, fredde! Agreed on the moments, and that's a good reason why the idea of putting a bunch of them together like the devs discussed in the Tricky behind-the-scenes is so cool. No matter who's playing, at least one of them is bound to stick out.

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I wish that SSX and Tricky has more of those loop the loops they had on Mount Eddie. I figured that they were inspired by Garibaldi/Elysium Alps, but thinking about it I can't remember any Loop the Loops in the original game.

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Midian: Real authentic stuff is the pizza the Teenage mutant Ninja Turtles eat. Fast, cheap and sloppy
Midian: Like NA
CurryKing: I wanted the title to be: This image is in no way grooming you for Thor's mighty hammer

Yeah, those are a ton of fun. I was playing Elysium in SSX last night and it does have the loop-the-loops at the end.

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Woah, nicely done City!
Its given me a hankering to play some SSX Tricky

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Funkmammoth: https://soundcloud.com/funkmammoth

Thanks, jjakt!

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SSX3 does have a few loop-the-loop grinds.

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Also known as the guy that always pisses gondee off with his huge avatars.

First of all...wow. Second of all..wow. Third..wow. When reading this (yes, I read the whole thing), I felt like a teacher grading a research paper (in a good way). I agree with every single point you made. Literally, every single point. I always knew that I loved the older games better but wasn't able to fully explain why or how in such an organized and thought producing way. And many of the things you spoke about are things that I've been trying to get across in my many posts about 2012, but I just never knew how to say it in a way that wouldn't come across as bashing the 2012 game. Thank you for making this post. Your Grade- 100

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When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

Thanks so much, marty! I feel like you and I have shared a lot of the same frustrations in trying to express how we feel about the series, so I'm glad I'm able to help!

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