''Speedball'' is a 1988

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

action video game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...

developed by

The Bitmap Brothers The Bitmap Brothers is a British video game developer founded in 1987 by Mike Montgomery, Eric Matthews, and Steve Kelly. The company released its first title, the scrolling shooter ''Xenon (video game), Xenon'', in 1988. Shortly thereafter, i ...

and published by

Image Works Image Works was a British video game publisher that served as a publishing label for Mirrorsoft between 1988 and 1992, when the parent company went bankrupt. History The first two games published under the Image Works label were '' Fernandez ...

. The game is based on a violent futuristic sport that draws on elements of

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, and rewards violent play as well as goals. ''Speedball'' was released in November 1988 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 ...

and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

and later

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

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 ...

, and the

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

. SOFEL released a port for the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

in 1991, as ''KlashBall''. It was re-released in 2004 as one of the 30 games on the

C64 Direct-to-TV The C64 Direct-to-TV, called C64DTV for short, is a single-chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer, contained in a joystick (modeled after the mid-1980s Competition Pro joystick), with 30 built-in games. The design is similar to the At ...

Gameplay

The game is played by two teams on an enclosed court with a goal at each end, similar to that of ice hockey or

five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four Outfield#In association football, outfield players and a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper). Other differences from association football ...

. The court contains fixed bounce domes that modify the trajectory and speed of the ball, as well as one hole in the middle at each side where upon entering the ball will appear at the opposite side, keeping its

momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...

. The layout of the domes on the court changes as the player faces a different team, up to a maximum of 10 variations. A player has control of only one outfield player on a team at any one time. The game may be played by one or two players; two player games are played competitively. Two game modes are supported: knockout (face increasingly tougher teams controlled by the computer in best of three matches) and league. The game starts with the player(s) selecting a captain among three available choices, each starting with significantly more points than the other two in one of three stats: stamina, power and skill. All the members in a team start the game with the same stats. During the actual game, as team members hit opponents, the opponent loses a part of his stamina; when stamina drops low enough, that individual player will move slower than the rest. The more powerful a team member is, the more damage he will deliver with a direct hit. Extra skill on the other hand promotes aggression from any team member controlled by the computer towards the opposite team, and improves chances of a successful hit. While in possession of the ball, the player can either press and immediately release the fire button to do a direct throw, or keep the button pressed to make the ball go higher. Players can then jump to try and catch it, but this makes them more vulnerable to being hit by the opposite team. As the game progresses, coins and several

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

s appear randomly which can be collected. Power-ups include making the ball become electrified (the opposite team cannot pick it up and will be harmed if they try), and make it teleport to the player's team member. Coins can be traded at the end of each game for different bonuses, such as extra time or several enhancements for all members in the player's team, including a permanent increase to any of their stats. Computer-controlled players (either on the player or the computer's side) cannot collect coins, but the active player controlled by the computer can collect power-ups. The team that has amassed the most goals at the end of the game is the winner.

Reception

''Speedball'' received scores of 862 (MS-DOS) and 834 (Atari ST) out of 1000 from

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

, 79% from

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game journalism, video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. History In the late 1980s ''Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generatio ...

and 57% from Power Play. The game won the 1989

Golden Joystick The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

Game Of The Year award. ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' gave the game a positive review, praising its graphics and long-lasting gameplay. It was also voted Best 16-bit Game of the Year at the

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

. The game's Master System port was given a 90% by French magazine ''Joypad''. '' The One'' magazine in 1991 rated the game five out of five stars for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC.

Reviews

* '' Jeux & Stratégie'' #56

Sequels

''Speedball'' was succeeded by '' Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe''. ''Speedball 2'' had a greater and more lasting popularity than ''Speedball'', and has been remade and republished a number of times.

References

External links