The Alto Collection exudes an addictive simplicity so simple that you can’t help but play one more run, and one more run, and perhaps just one more run. Later you can also unlock a Wingsuit, which can be activated with Square and adds a bit of complexity to flying down the mountain, being both difficult to use but rewarding to pull off correctly. Holding X will make you spin backwards, and landing backflips counts as a trick which grants speed boosts and brief invulnerability that can break through rocks. Pressing X allows Alto-or whichever unlocked character you are playing as-to jump.

And to navigate it all, you only need a single button: X ( Cross). The endless procedurally generated mountains are just a little bit different each time, through unexpected combinations of hills to ride down, rocks to jump over, and lines of flags to grind. Story, however, is not what you play these games for. While that’s the premise of Adventure, Odyssey has even less story, presumably just Alto getting tired of the cold weather and angry village elders that chase him down the mountain so he changes for sandier scenery. Alto sets off on his snowboard to recapture them. Alto is a llama herder whose llamas have escaped and run down the mountain. Narrative is rather thin in The Alto Collection. Sometimes it’s the games with the simplest visuals that can look the most stunning in big bright high resolution, and The Alto Collection is a gorgeous showcase of color and sound, both relaxing and energizing all at the same time. The visuals don’t require a big 65-inch 4K screen, but they sure look great once they are there.

The sidescrolling snowboarding (sandboarding in Odyssey) games are simple adventures, and on paper, it sure seems like they are a better fit for mobile. The Alto Collection brings Alto’s Adventure and its sequel, Alto’s Odyssey, into a single package. It may sound strange to be excited for the port of a mobile game to console, but the moment I heard The Alto Collection was coming to PS4, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the zen one-button endless runner snowboarder on a huge screen.

Elders altos adventure