1080 has returned for a 128-bit update after proving itself as the best snowboarding game with its first incarnation. Its competitive advantage against the likes of SSX and Amped is in its segregation of racing and trick time and the depth therein. It's still arcade fun, and the single-player modes are right up there with the extended multiplayer options.

It's been six years already (thanks to our Southern Hemisphere location, NZ got the game several months before Europe, though other titles such as Excitebike 64 also had bizarrely early local releases of up to a year ahead. This time we had to wait while Europe got it first) and in this time a couple of great alternatives have established themselves across the current consoles. SSX was the gem of the PS2's launch, marked by over-the-top tricks and kind controls that have been extended more than improved for subsequent versions. Amped and its sequel had a similar focus on tricks, although the system is deeper than the SSX series.

With neither title trying to imitate 1080's unique focus on racing and its demanding trick system, the game has prevailed as an N64 favourite almost to the point where Avalanche is not the highly anticipated title it might have been had it released as early in the GameCube's life as it did in the previous generation.

So many of Nintendo's great GameCube titles have even better predecessors on the old console, and with sister title Wave Race among the examples the reaction to 1080 Avalanche's delays and eventual release has been understandable.

The good news is that Avalanche is in no way inferior. Of course it looks better, though it's in the details - especially the camera shake and other speed effects that are only lost in splitscreen modes - rather than the shine.

All the tracks are new, and the range is consistently broad and course design truly impressive. In LAN mode, which supports up to eight consoles or players through any combination of split- and single-screen setups, some courses prove too short but the wonderfully quick loading of the GameCube means having several goes at the same courses before moving along the range helps everyone get better and get revenge.

In single-player the match race, broken down into difficulty levels according to opponent and course, can be completed in a single sitting down to the race against time in the final descent as you battle to avoid being swept under an avalanche. But it's the gate challenge and time trial (and less so the tick challenge mode) that provide the best opportunuties for indefinitely play. It's also here that the intricacies of the courses and as the choice of rider and board are best demonstrated and appreciated.

The Air Make and half pipes provide a break from course events and a chance to explore the trick system, which as with all controls, follows the template of 1080 Snowboarding on the Nintendo 64 with the odd change here and there. Probably the most interesting change is the off-balance system, which requires rotation of the left thumbstick till a meter is reduced to zero and can make or break a race as it creates a realistic situation where you are unable to lean to avoid obstacles.

Music in all modes is fresh and upbeat, spanning a range of pop artists you can browse through before setting off on your run. Coupled with the sound of fibreglass sweeping powder or cutting ice, and the unique visual representation of speed on the mountain with shaking camera and distorted lens, 1080 Avalanche delivers an absorbing arcade-style experience that seems destined to become one of the great GameCube titles in the same way the original was for the N64.