Go! Go! Hypergrind

A game released only on Gamecube, Go! Go! Hypergrind is a skateboarding game that was released during the era when games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was all the rage. However, while it has a good cast and gameplay, it is a very difficult game to play if you are unprepared.

The game is made by Atlus in collaboration with SPUMCO, the animation company responsible for cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and The Ripping Friends. In the game's Story Mode, SPUMCO is holding auditions for a new cartoon, Go! Go! Hypergrind, in the Toon World, where the citizens has been losing jobs due to the rising popularity of CGI animation. There you choose from one of nine wacky cartoon characters, which includes from skateboarding wolf Decker, hot model cat Penny, and even Freddy, a robot who is a parody of Frankenstein's monster, and compete to win the role.

While the story is nice, and the characters are a good selection, with each one either being a parody or representing a character trope in animation, but once you get to the gameplay, get ready for something different. Instead of something like in the Tony Hawk series, you are launched into a contest where the object is to score enough points to get your character to become the star. The catch: The character in last place after each round of events is eliminated. The events are basically mixed, like Appeal Champ, which is the game's take on Tony Hawk's high score challenges, Race, where you have to get three stars first (with each star collected inflicting a status disorder on your oppoennts) , Battle Mode, where you fight one of the other competitors and min-games.

The way you play this game is almost like Tony Hawk, but replacing gaps and the usual stuff is negative effects, which are basically gags like being cut in half or getting flattened, the kind of slapstick seen in the classics like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry.

Sadly, the game is far from perfect. The game has no sense of balance, as Appeal Champ and its combo-based variant, Appeal Link, makes it where if you find the right negative effects, you can easily get a winning score, while in Race and Battle, be prepared for inevitable defeat, as in those two matches, the CPU opponents will be relentless, as in Race matches, they will hit you with the worst status disorders, and in Battle Mode, the opponent can easily dodge you attacks while his/hers easily hits you. While the game does have a shop where you can buy upgrades, be aware that they can also decrease some stats.

So, yeah, if you want to beat this game, be prepared to put in a lot of practice for the Race and Battle mode's aggressive A.I. However, it does have some good characters, and some great music.