''Rocketball'' is a sports-action
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
computer game released by IJK Software in 1985. Rocketball was coded by John Sinclair and has music by L Pilling. ''Rocketball'' is based on the futuristic sports movie ''
Rollerball'', released in 1975, starring
James Caan
James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...
. ''Rocketballs taglines were, "The rules are, there are no rules", and "This was never meant to be a game."
Gameplay
''Rocketball'' is set in the year 2010 AD, where worldwide disputes are no longer settled through wars, but through a circular Rocket Ball arena.
The game is similar to
Roller Derby
Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...
in that two teams on roller skates travel counter-clockwise around a banked, circular track. The object of the game is to score points by throwing a softball-sized metal ball into a cone-shaped goal target inset into the wall of the arena. Balls are fired into play, in the same direction players skate, by cannons when play begins and to restart play after the ball rolls out of play or a goal is scored. Players can use fists, elbows and knees to disable their opponents.
Each Rocketball team has five active players on roller skates. Unlike the film, there are no players riding
motorcycles
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
. The four Rocketball teams are
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
(wearing blue),
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
(yellow),
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
(burgundy) and
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
(Green), which correspond to futuristic city states. (The teams Houston, Tokyo and Madrid also featured in the ''Rollerball'' film.)
Games have a duration of ten minutes.
Packaging
''Rocketball'' came in a Single Cassette Case. It boasted super-smooth scrolling, being written in 100%
machine code
In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers, machine code is the binaryOn nonb ...
, and a shadow on the ball.
STADIUM 64 – Game Infos: Rocket Ball
/ref>
See also
*'' Killerball''
References
{{reflist
1985 video games
Alternate history video games
Commodore 64 games
Commodore 64-only games
Fantasy sports video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Roller derby mass media
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games set in 2010