How to play Water Ski online
- Steer the boat: left and right arrow keys
- Speed up / slow down: up / down arrow. The boat gains or loses speed steadily while you hold the key.
- Move the skier left: Z (left button)
- Move the skier right: X (right button)
- Start a new game: F3 (Reset)
AtariAge mentions a two-player co-op mode in which one person drives the boat and the other guides the skier. Here that means sharing the keyboard: arrow keys for one player, Z and X for the other. Only the USA (NTSC) release is on the site.
Gameplay
The setting is the Pharonna River, and the goal is mostly to survive it. Rocks, piers, tree stumps, logs, buoys and runaway speedboats block the way, some rocks lie hidden, and the current pushes you off course. You have to keep both the boat and the skier behind it clear of trouble. The course has three levels:
- Level One: an obstacle slalom with ramps to jump
- Level Two: the main course, with zig-zagging river sharks and big alligators
- Level Three: a high-speed final run
You earn points for speed as you go, 10,000 for each ramp jumped and 50,000 for reaching the next level. An extra boat and skier comes every 200,000 points. You start with four runs, and the game ends when they are all used up or when you cross the finish line.
Tips
- Don’t go flat out at the start. Speed earns points, but hidden rocks and the current punish a boat going too fast.
- Watch the skier, not just the boat. He moves separately, so a gap that fits the boat may not fit him.
- Line up early for ramps. At 10,000 points each, ramps are the quickest way to a big score in Level One.
The story behind Water Ski
Froggo Games, from Sunnyvale, California, began as a controller maker and turned to games for the consoles its controllers worked with. Water Ski was one of only two Froggo cartridges for the 7800; the other was Tank Command. Reviewers have not been kind: AtariAge calls the gameplay tired and the game very hard, though it singles out the co-op mode as its best idea.
