Quickie rundown of the snowboarding games (and some snow based/winter themed games as well):
Cool Boarders 2 (PS1) - Total mess of a game. Control is sluggish and unresponsive. Jumps and tricks are not fluid. Announcer likes to shit on you whenever you crash or fail to do a big trick off of a jump. Graphics are ugly, music is just generic rock music. "Races" are those kind of events where you start in the back and you have to race to catch up with people in front of you, kinda like Daytona USA or Virtua Racing. Not fun. I like that they have a feature that allows you basically create your own snowboard art work.
Cool Boarders 3 (PS1) - Different developer. Different play style and vibe. Much easier to get off tricks, though the trick system is still bland. Rotation requires hitting L2 or R2. I was using a PS3 controller, not a PS1 controller, so it didn't work as well, so I need to play the game with a PS1 controller. Movement feels better. Sound is kinda muffled for whatever reason. Music feels like a poor man's Road Rash. This is a PS1 game, mind you, not a Genesis game... As much as I disliked the previous game's announcer, the lack of one in this game makes the game feel completely lifeless. Same goes for the level design. Game feels like a budget game with decent controls. Unlike, the previous game(s), races have you start with three other riders at the start and you can pummel each other (like SSX lets you do).
Rippin' Riders (DC) - This was developed by the same company that did Cool Boarders 1 and 2. As such, the control feel is practically the same, but it's MUCH more polished of a game. Control is more responsive, but jumps and tricks still kinda blow. There's a considerable amount of trial and error on the tracks. There are no racers, but the tracks a pain in the ass after the first couple tracks. Because modders have made it so that you can import and export saves to the VMU using a program saved to a CD-R, I was able to import a save that had everything unlocked. Holy fuck, those later tracks are terribad. Music is much improved from previous CB games. Could use more songs but what is there is fine. I haven't played any other Cool Boarders game. Probably won't either. These three are considered the best of the series from what I've seen, which does not bode well for the others.
MTV Sports Snowboarding (PS1) - This was developed by Radical Entertainment, the company that brought us Simpsons Hit and Run and the Prototype games. Supposedly, some of the personnel that worked on this went on to work on other games like Skate. This is the best snowboarding game of the late 90s (that I've played so far). Everything feels mostly right. There's still some weirdness with jumping and spinning, but the game [mostly] plays like an early SSX game. Biggest issue I had was the camera. It's too close to you, IMO, and sometimes gives you a view that does not help you know where to go. Grinding controls are meh, but they work (mostly). Lots of solid music, it's an MTV game from the 90s, it should have solid music. There's not much content, but I'm not really looking for a massive amount of content on a PS1 extreme sports game. There is a course creator, though. There's a sequel called "MTV Sports Pure Ride", so I'll be looking out for that. Supposedly, it's just about as good if not better.
1080 Avalanche (GCN) - Great sense of speed but the game falls apart when you're required to engage with the trick system. Jumping requires precise timing and tricks are needlessly complex for an arcade game. I despise the balancing mechanic they implemented to keep you from crashing if you land wonky. I hate when games make me spin the thumbstick. Music tracks are fine, but there isn't much variety. Graphics are really good. Game has progressive scan, but no widescreen. I'm not a fan of the camera shake in the Avalanche levels, but it is what it is. Haven't tried 1080 for the N64 yet.
Shaun Palmer Pro Snowboarder (PS2) - This is what happens when you try to take the Tony Hawk formula and implement it into a snowboarding game. The trick system seems very light. Like Tony Hawk, one button does grabs, one does flips. You cannot do both at the same time from what I can tell. You can only spin in grabs, I'm not 100% sure you can spin while doing flips. Grinds and manuals work exactly like Tony Hawk. Like Tony Hawk, grinding rails is as easy as getting near a rail and pressing triangle. You can also do handplants, but I didn't get the opportunity to do so during my short play time. The game works. I've seen reviews complain about the challenges in the career mode because snowboarding doesn't let go back up the hill, but this game has snowmobiles and ski lifts that take you up a portion of the course (or even to the top) in order to let you keep playing for whatever challenges you're attempting to get, so I don't get the complaining. I'll have to look into this more.
Dark Summit (GC) - Snowboarding game with a plot. You are tasked with stopping some organization to doing evil stuff. Controls are janky, but it mostly works. I need more play time. I've given this game numerous attempts. I like the concept and the game works fine enough for me to not completely give up on the game. The graphics are fine, I guess. The game doesn't have progressive scan nor widescreen support... but I found that the display is scrunched up, so I set my TV to 16:9 and it looks normal. I think this was supposed to be a game made for widescreen, but they bailed on fully implementing it.
Sled Storm (PS2) - SSX but on snowmobiles. Um... the camera is awful. There are 3 camera options and none of them are good. It is impossible for me to properly judge this game because the camera just ruins everything. I will say, that I'm glad you can use the directional pad in this game, because the Playstation analog stick placement makes me want to kill baby goats. Literally the only series of systems that make me actively want to use the d-pad... this is not the game's problem, though, but the analog stick made it overly difficult to steer in the game. Used cheat to unlock everything. Unlikely that I'll play this much. Edit: There's a PS1 game with the same name and developed by the same team. Based on the footage, the camera makes it look actually playable. I'll keep an eye for it.
Motorstorm Arctic Edge (PS2) - This is a port of the PSP game based on the PS3 Motorstorm series. The game is easy. Probably too easy. Motorstorm on the PS3 felt obnoxiously difficult, but this game, not so much. It doesn't matter which line I take, I don't notice much of a difference in control. It's super easy to avoid overheating. AI aren't nearly as aggressive. But it's functional, and it's a game filled with snow/winter themed levels, which was the only reason I got it in the first place.
I'm trying to find copies of SSX for the PS2, SSX Tricky for the Gamecube, and some other snowboarding games. I snagged the two Shaun White games for the Wii and will play them... at some point. I have the Japanese copy of Snowboarding Kids on the N64 and will play it at some point, along with 1080 on the N64.
I'll provide thoughts on the SSX and Amped series, as well as Stoked later on. Same with Tommy Moes for the SNES and Val D'Isere for the Jaguar (though I've got a "review" of Val D'Isere in my Jaguar thread).
I'm also intending to get SSX3 for the Xbox as it's the only SSX game that is playable on the Xbox One and Series X/S consoles, and from what I've seen, it looks fucking clean as hell.
