Toobin'

released on Dec 31, 1988

Toobin' involves Biff and Jet racing their way down the rapids of a river, riding on tires. You rotate your tyre left or right, and drift as the current sends you, making sure to avoid the banks of the river, and the dividing lines in the middle. Hazards include crocodiles, stray logs and branches, and fishermen - you are armed with a limited supply of tin cans to take care of these. There are gates to slide through on the way down - these give you a points bonus. Each level has a strict time limit to adhere to, although there's a kickin' party at the end if you succeed.


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The NES version of Toobin' is cute and fun but, like most NES ports, it makes me want to try out the arcade version more than anything.

The funniest thing to me about this game is that tubing down a river is, as I understand it, supposed to be a fairly relaxing activity. I mean, you just sit in the tube. Even speedboat tubing looks exciting, and it is, but you're ultimately just sitting there. It's awesome. Meanwhile, our Toobin' protagonist is giving it all he's got just to get down the river. Awesome. I wish him the best.

Also, major shoutout to the digital guitarist doing the soundtrack to this game. Racing down the river, and this dude's absolutely just tearing ass on this guitar solo.

(played thru midway arcade treasures: extended play on psp cuz i really just wanted a convenient package of these games but also didn't feel like blowing $20 on arcade origins for xbox)

this one is so unorthodox and tedious in its controls and it's also racist in ways i didn't expect, but also, there's something... satisfying about toobin. the sheer wtf nature of it. the risk and reward system of going under point flags and bumping into the sides to decrease points. the fact that you can just fuck over player 2 or the cpu by throwing cans at them or bumping into them (those last two combine really well - did you miss the point flag? bump into the side and fuck your friend out of a potential 2000 points!). it's unbridled chaos in every sense of the word. secretly needs a beefed-up remake with online multiplayer. i can see this metamorphizing into a new Mario Party: Destroyer of Friendships.

I always enjoyed this one at the local pizza place we visited in Mississippi. The controls are where it gets weird. Kind of complicated but after you get the hang of it a good time chucking cans and avoiding sticks and stuff. The biggest issue I have is my arms get tired from smacking the buttons non-stop so eventually I just fail due to me being physically weak.

Another NES game, pretty meh.

Graphics look like shit, looks more like Atari than NES. Music is ok I guess, nothing special.

Level design is ok I think, there's a wide range of unique levels that look interesting while bad at the same time lol.

The controls are kinda bad, like it feels like you're fighting the controls the entire time, rather than being on a river it feels like you're on ice. Everything is slippery and difficult to do.

For an unlicensed game, it's not half bad. It's got a lot of interesting things going for it, and I think it was made with some care. Still, just kinda bad controls and overall not all that fun. I think it's worth a look into, you may like it more than me.

Fun 2-player game where you race down the river visiting many different places, civilizations and fantasy lands, e.g., The Nile, Amazon, The Wild West, The Underworld, and even Jurassic period.