Spins are controlled with the R2 and L2 buttons, and forward and backward flips can be performed by pressing the circle button and pushing the pad up or down, respectively. Spins and flips can be combined with shifties, grabs, and tweaked out grabs. Grabs are controlled with the X button and the control stick, and changing them to the tweaked variety is done by adding the square button to the combination. The manual does a good job of explaining the modes of play and the available options. The game menus are simple and quick to walk through.
Menus switch quickly, and the load time moving to the main event is minimal.
The menu system remembers your last path, so if you quit an event out of frustration, you simply back out. Then, by default, the selected event, course, and rider will be remain the same unless otherwise changed. For the memory budget conscious, Cool Boarders 4 is extremely friendly with memory cards. Records are maintained with only one block, and progress through tournaments is similarly saved on one block. There are two basic types of events - racing and jumping.