''3D Pocket Pool'' is a 2001 pool game for the

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

, developed by Aardvark Software and published by

Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

Gameplay

''3D Pocket Pool'' allows players to

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

on a simulated 3D table. The game contains four modes: Practice, Tournament, Two-Player, and Killer, and features several variations of

rules. "Two-Player" mode allows two human players to play a game with the same

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

by alternating turns. "Killer" mode pits the player against two opponents with custom rules that require the player to sink a ball every turn. The game features a selectable range of characters to add variety to the tournament play.

Development

''3D Pocket Pool'' was developed by developers

Nick Pelling Nick Pelling is a British people, British-born computer programmer and Investigative journalism, investigative writer best known as the creator of the 1984 game ''Frak!''."Desert Island Disks: Nick Pelling". ''Retro Gamer'' 26, pp. 82–85. Ga ...

and Jeff Ferguson. Aardvark Software was the company

had used in the 1980s to develop software for

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s, such as ''

Frak! ''Frak!'' is a scrolling platform video game programmed by Nick Pelling for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and published by his own Aardvark Software in 1984. It was ported to the Commodore 64 the following year by "The B Team" (Jason Perki ...

'' and ''

Firetrack ''Firetrack'' is a vertically-scrolling shooter programmed by Nick Pelling and released for the BBC Micro and Commodore 64 platforms in 1987 by Electric Dreams Software. It was also ported to the Acorn Electron by Superior Software in 1989 ...

''. ''3D Pocket Pool'' bears similarities to ''3D Pool'', a 1990 title developed for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

by Aardvark Software. The game experienced an unorthodox production due to a lack of interest and marketing of the game. Requested by publisher

to handle the

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

in-house, Pelling had "tried everything else to get the game some attention", and decided to pitch a redesign of the game to

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

as ''Wario Pool'', going so far as to develop an introductory sequence for the game featuring

Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...

. This pitch failed to come to fruition, and ''3D Pocket Pool'' was released as originally planned."

Reception

''3D Pocket Pool'' received positive reviews. ''Total Game Boy'' stated "with zany characters and everything in 3D, ''Pocket Pool'' is worth the entrance fee...this is quite simply the best pool game available for (the)

at the moment, and with plenty of options you could be playing for quite a while". Similarly, ''Game Boy Xtreme'' praised ''3D Pocket Pool'' as "the best ball-n-baize game on the

yet - bar none." Developer

spoke fondly of the game, stating "it was a decent little game with brilliant music that made the

sound better than it had any right to."

References

External links

*{{MobyGames, id=/gameboy-color/3d-pocket-pool, name=3D Pocket Pool Cue sports video games Game Boy Color games 2001 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Game Boy Color-only games Aardvark Software games