Super Dodge Ball
System:
Nitnendo Entertainment System
Publisher & Developer: Technos
Released: 1989
Genre: Action/Sports
Capabilities: 2 Players
The Above images
show my favorite NES past time, Super Dodge Ball in Action.
It had where you can play on a standard Dodge Ball Court, or even
a shool yard
play ground as seen above in the "Bean Ball" mode.
Picture Credit: All Game Guide(allgame.com)
Review Written: May 31, 2001
The Game
Who can forget Super Dodge Ball? The game where you get to nail kids with a ball and not get in trouble for it, and to make it even more fun, let’s make it into a sport. From the makers of River City Ransom, Technos delivers another NES hit where you live the glory days of Dodge Ball on a court, and duke it out against several other teams on your quest to become world champions.
Graphics
Right away this game will remind you of River City Ransom. All the characters looked like they came exactly right from there, and all they are edited with are little green and white jerseys. But, that doesn’t matter because this is Super Dodge Ball! The game has 12 characters on screen at all time in the standard Dodge Ball mode, with 6 characters inside the main court(3 on each side) and 6 on the outside of the court(again, 3 on each side). And even though the game moves at a fluid rate, the game does have some noticeable flickering occasionally. The game menus are conveniently laid out, where all you have to do is pick a mode, and jump right in the game.
Sound
Well, it’s the NES, so sound is pretty poor. You got some dinky little background tune going, and even though it doesn’t sound the greatest, it gets the job done. The same goes for the sound effects as well, there’s nothing terribly special with just little beeps for getting pounded with the dodge ball and so on, but you really don’t even pay attention to them because this is Super Dodge Ball!!!
Game play
The games controls are simple. Duck from getting nailed from a thrown Dodge Ball with the A button, and Catch one with the B button. If you catch it, the player who throws it is eliminated. If you nail somebody with the Dodge Ball, they’ll lose some energy, after a few hits, they’ll hilariously turn into an angel and float off the screen. By pressing certain button combinations you can do special power up moves for extra damage. Also the team mates standing outside of the court can catch the ball if it goes out of bounds, and once per round, they can run to the other side and nail one of the other players with it. The side who eliminates the other sides players first, wins! Why? Because this is Super Dodge Ball!!
The game has a couple of modes of play. First, there’s just a standard match where you can practice your skills against the other teams. Then there’s the World Cup mode, where you are automatically team USA (too bad you can’t select from any other teams, but that doesn’t matter because this is Super Dodge Ball!!!) and fight against several other teams around the world, before beating the final team to become world champions. The last mode is a nice little bonus, which is Bean Ball. Where up to 6 kids fight in a school yard playground in a free for all. There are no boundaries and you can hurl the ball at anyone. This is a great bonus.
Replay Value
Up to two players can go against each other for hours of fun. The World Cup mode and extra Bean Ball mode will keep the solo player occupied for a great amount of time. So either way you see it, you will be playing this game forever!
In Brief
+: World Cup is great for the lonely player, multi player is loads of fun, and so is Bean Ball!
-: There is a little bit of flickering, and you can only be Team USA, but that doesn’t matter because this is Super Dodge Ball!!!
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 8.1
Sound: 3.7
Game play: 9.8
Replay Value: 9.2
Overall: 7.7
Rounded to fit GameFAQs Score: 8
(It should get a 10 because this is Super Dodge Ball!!)
Comments
Anybody who own an NES isn’t an anybody unless they have Super Dodge Ball in their collection. It is THE best game to play with friends. Not only is it a blast to play with friends, it will bring back the glory days of elementary, middle, and high school that you forgotten for so long. And just because this game is Super Dodge Ball alone is more than enough for you to get it. Now if you can’t find this rare game now 11 years after it’s release(released in 1989, it’s now 2001), you should go get Super Dodge Ball Advance for Game Boy Advance. It’ll be the exact same game, but with better graphics and new game mechanics.
And if anyone is wondering why I’m going “Because this is Super Dodge Ball” throughout the whole review, it is because it’s revenge of the dumb announcers who called the 49ers/Broncos game in the last game of the 2000 NFL season, and the dumb refs were letting all the penalties the Broncos were doing slide because it was the last game being played in Miles High Stadium. And the announcers were going, “They may have been holding, but this is Mile High Stadium.” And that was no reason to treat Jerry Rice in his last game for the 49ers. There, I got my revenge!