Super Dodge Ball

I decided to play my first "sports" game of the year (though to call it a true sports game is a stretch).  The game is Super Dodge Ball: developed and published Technos.  Released in June of 1989, Super Dodge Ball allows you to play dodge ball on an international level.  You play of game of two team game with six man teams, three within the squares and then one man on each side of the opponent's area.  Once the three men in either your or your opponent's area are taken out, the match is over. 

The game itself has no actual story, there are three modes of play: World Cup Play, Versus Play and Bean Ball.  World Cup is the closest thing to a story: you take Team USA through the world to become victorious and win the World Cup.  You start off with the Pro All-Stars and then move across the world (England, India, Iceland, China, Kenya, Japan, and finally USSR) challenging the teams.  I went through the first few matches and will give a slight overview on them.

Before each match, you get a chance to look at the position all of your players are in and switch them if you want.  Your team consists of Sam, John, Mike, Randy, Bill and Steve (really unique names, aren't they).  Each of the players are better at different things but my favorite three have always been Sam (highest throw power), Bill (fastest), and Randy (most ball control).  This usually leaves John (highest defense), Mike (best catch), and Steve (most accurate) as my back court.  So yes, I did take the team built for offense with no mind of defense, but I'll be able to explain that.

So I start the match against Jack, Ben and Paul of the Pro All-Stars on a roof top near the Statue of Liberty.  I give Randy the ball and run forwards with a super throw.  I should probably explain that.  You can regularly just throw the ball at the opponent and try and damage them that way, or you can get a running start.  With a running start and enough space to get a good speed, you're player throws a super throw where the ball glows and changes.  Each player gets two super throws, one while on the ground and another while in the air.

So Randy does his super throw (the ball shrinks and grows before hitting the opponent) and knocks the ever-loving tar out of Paul.  The match goes on with some throws back and forth (I'm not getting too many super throws off, can't get the distance right) but start getting a bit better at my timing for catching: was even able to catch a super throw from Jack when right next to him.  This is part of the reason I take the more offensive team, because defense can be built upon with good playing, but I can't make John or Mike do more damage.

The other reason I like these three are their super throws.  Because of his high agility, Bill is able to get up to super throw speed with a short distance or on ground with high traction (Kenya).  His throws are also very useful, as they both home and are difficult to catch because of a built in lag where they stall just before hitting the target.  Sam, on the other hand, is just awesome.  His base throw is the strongest on the team and his ground super throw is just amazing.  It gets squashed a little and looks like a football, but instead of stopping at the first opponent, it keeps going until one of them catches it or the guy in the back grabs it... so it theoretically (and on a few occasions) hits all three opponents. 

But getting back to the match against the All-Stars, they aren't doing well.  Bill gets one of his super throws to remove the first of their team.  At this point, at three-on-two, it's a lot more over then it should be.  But two super throws later, Sam has made it Ben on Team USA and it's just a matter of choosing how I want to beat him. 


So I've played another game and have been going into NES games this week.  I think I'll continue the trend, maybe something more iconic tomorrow, don't know yet what though.  Adios for today though.