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 American
Technos is a company that made very few NES games but is well known and loved
by true NES gamers. It makes sense
when you take a quick look at some of their titles: Double Dragon I & II, River City
Ransom, Renegade and Super
Dodge Ball. Every one of those
games has some big fans and all but the Double Dragon titles feature the
same main character – at least they did in Japan. Technos had a strange infatuation with
a character named Kunio throughout the run of the NES. He is the star of a string of beat ‘em
up titles and is also the star of a string of sports titles. I can’t think of another character on
the NES who fits as diverse a bill as that! Unfortunately for Kunio, in the
localizations of Technos’ many titles he always seems to get his name
changed to something more American and it seems to be a different name
every time. Because of this not
many American fans were aware that all of the Technos games are actually
related. Three of the sports
titles made it overseas to the U.S. with Super Dodge Ball being the first
game in the trilogy. It was
followed by Nintendo World Cup and
Crash ‘N’ the Boys Street Challenge.
In Super Dodge Ball you
control the American dodge ball team.
You have to lead your team through an eight game tournament to
become the world champions of dodge ball.
If you are able to execute a perfect championship match you will
then face a clone version of your team to see if you are truly a dodge
ball champion. Each team consists
of six players with three participating on the court and three who stand
on the sidelines and grab loose balls.
Before each match you can decide where you want each member of
your team to stand, they all have different strengths and weaknesses so
there is a certain amount of strategy in determining their positions. Once the game begins, the strategy is
simple: whale on the three members of the other team until their health
bars all go to zero. Once they are
out of health they become angels and fly to heaven (no joke!). Once you have killed all three members
of the opposing team, you move on to the next match. Every player has two power shots that
can be executed, one while running and one while jumping in the air. The power shots are much harder to
catch and cause a lot more damage upon impact. When you are on defense you can jump,
dodge or catch a ball that is coming towards you.
Super Dodge Ball has become
a cult classic over the years. It
is spoken of reverently and has received two sequels in the United States,
one for the Game Boy Advance and one for the Nintendo DS. Much more intriguingly the game was given
a Super Famicom sequel that offered up more teams, shops where you could
purchase new power shots and the ability to create and save  custom
teams.
Positives:
I like that you have a whole
roster of players to choose from, they have different stats and special
abilities, which gives this game a modicum of replay value. Obviously, it is also a major positive
that the game is dodge ball. Who
doesn’t think dodge ball sounds fun!
The graphics are solid and I like how the game connects to the
whole Kunio series.
Glaring
Negatives:
There’s just one major problem
with this game. It is way too
easy. I beat the game the first
time I ever played it. I don’t
even know how you could lose to the computer. Since you can just press the “B” button
to catch the ball it is very hard for the computer to ever hit you. Once you learn the special throws, the
computer doesn’t stand a chance.
Graphics
and Sound: Solid
There’s nothing to complain about
with the graphics or sound. You
get the typical Technos look of square headed guys and each match has its
own particular background based on the country that you are visiting. There are some funny sight gags in the
game, when you knock someone out of the game they literally die since
their angel ascends to heaven. The
music is tight and intense just like it should be in a good dodge ball
match.
Gameplay
and Controls: OK
Making your way through the
tournament is fun but they could have thrown in some more wrinkles to the
game to make it more interesting. It
should have been harder to catch the ball causing you to actually have to
dodge it instead.
Features:
Two Modes
You can either play the World
Cup tournament or a Bean Ball match where you go up against the other
members of your team in a six man free for all (it sounds more fun than
it is). Of course, you can also
play a match against your friend.
There are also three skill levels, although none of them are
particularly challenging.
Fun?:
Somewhat
Super Dodge Ball is
a really fun game for about 10 minutes.
After that you will have mastered how to throw power shots and how
to catch the ball when the other team throws  it.
Then the game becomes too easy to be very fun.
Challenge:
Low
As I said above, once you
master how to throw power shots you will destroy your opponents. Then once you master how to catch the
ball, the other team can’t hurt you.
This makes two player games especially boring since it just
becomes a game of catch, with the rare screw up causing some damage.
Replay:
Sure
It is a fun game so if you
bust it out every once in a while it will be genuinely fun. But it is only fun in small doses.
2
Player: Yes
The two-player mode should
have been a ton of fun, instead it is worse than the one-player mode
because it is too easy to catch the ball that the other teams throws at
you (even when they use power shots).
In Japan Super Dodge Ball was Four Score
compatible, man I wish this game hadn’t been released before that became
an option in the U.S.!
Online
Manual?: Yes
You can find ‘em all at www.nintendoage.com
Bottom Line:
Another Near Miss
I thought this one was going
to be amazing, instead it is only decent.
I would love to talk to people who love this one to see what they
do to keep it fun. For me, it is
just too easy to be fun for more than a few minutes.
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