''Beach Spikers'' is a

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released in Japanese arcades in 2001. The game was developed in-house by

Sega AM2 previously known as is a video game development team within the Japanese multinational video game developer Sega. Yu Suzuki, who had previously developed arcade games for Sega including ''Hang-On'' and ''Out Run'', was the first manager of th ...

and published by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

. A

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

port, renamed ''Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball'', was released in 2002 for all regions.

Gameplay

Based on the sport of

, the game revolves around two-on-two matches where a volleyball is hit back and forth over a net until one side allows the ball to touch the ground. Similar to

's ''Virtua'' sports games, most of the gameplay in ''Beach Spikers'' is based around the concept of "charging" the strength of moves, judged by how long the button is held prior to release at the point of which the move is executed. There is a button for setting (passing) and a button for rallying (sending the ball over the net) which, combined with how long the button is held to determine strength, is the basis for the way the entire game is played. There are two modes to choose from: Arcade Mode and World Tour mode. Arcade mode is a basic progression through a series of AI opponents, and in the multiplayer portion of Arcade Mode, it is head-to-head matches for up to four human players. In World Tour mode, the player takes a user-created team through a tournament, earning points as they go that allow them to increase the stats of their players and unlock player customization items, including some based on other Sega titles like ''

Fighting Vipers ''Fighting Vipers'' is a 1995 fighting video game developed by Sega AM2. A 3D fighter, it uses the same game engine as AM2's ''Virtua Fighter 2'' (1994) but features enclosed arenas and an armor mechanic, and was targeted more towards Western au ...

'' and ''

Space Channel 5 ''Space Channel 5'' is a rhythm video game developed and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. It was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. Following space-faring reporter Ulala as she investigates an alien invasion, players e ...

''. The player has the option to customize their own characters or choose a team from a specific country, such as the United States, Jamaica, Italy, and France, to name a few.

Reception

The GameCube version received "generally favorable reviews" according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' said of the game, "Simple controls a la ''

Virtua Tennis ''Virtua Tennis'' (''Power Smash'' in Japan) is a series of tennis simulation video games started in 1999 by Sega AM3. The player competes through tennis tournaments and various arcade modes. While originally released for arcades, all games in th ...

'' could have made ''Beach Spikers'' a classic, but its appeal is just relegated to those with enough patience and determination to unlock the myriad hidden bikinis." In Japan, ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' gave it a score of 30 out of 40. Also in Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed the arcade version in their September 1, 2001 issue as the fifth most-successful arcade game of the year. The same GameCube version was nominated for "Best Game No One Played on GameCube" and "Best Alternative Sports Game on GameCube" at ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

''s Best and Worst of 2002 Awards, both of which went to ''

Sega Soccer Slam ''Sega Soccer Slam'', also known as simply ''Soccer Slam'', is a sports game released for GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 in 2002. Gameplay ''Sega Soccer Slam'' is different from traditional sports games in its exaggerated interpretation of s ...

'' and ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a 2002 skateboarding game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under their Activision O2 label. The game was ported by different developers to various systems. It is the fourth installment in the ' ...

'', respectively.

Notes

References

External links

* (arcade) * (GameCube) * *{{moby game, id=/7105/beach-spikers-virtua-beach-volleyball/ 2001 video games Arcade video games Beach volleyball video games GameCube games Multiplayer and single-player video games Sega arcade games Sega-AM2 games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games produced by Yu Suzuki

Gameplay

Reception

See also

Notes

References

External links