Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. It is hot outside. We are neck deep into the dog days of summer, and the humidity and rainless days are just tiring me out. Though maybe instead of just spending my time coagulating in my chair as the heat takes me out, I should engage in a fun summer activity. Maybe get some exercise and feel good about myself as well. Maybe I should engage in a fun beach activity… right from the comfort of my own living room. Yeah, screw real social activity, it’s time to play some 8-Bit volleyball with this week’s game, Super Spike V’Ball.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1989
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
GENRE: Sports/Volleyball
Super Spike V’Ball does have a little bit of history behind its release. It originally saw a release in the arcades in 1988 as U.S Championship V’Ball created by Technos Japan and distributed by Taito. I haven’t had much of a chance to talk about Technos Japan, and some of the games they’ve created for the console, namely the Kunio Kun games, but we have plenty of time and plenty of future reviews to get into their history.
The arcade game was enough of a success that Nintendo would quickly acquire the rights to an 8-bit port for their console, now going under the name Super Spike V’Ball. It fixed several issues with the original version, including giving players the ability to select their teams. The game would be a decent hit for Nintendo, enough of a hit that it would later be bundled with Nintendo World Cup (another Tecnos game) shortly after.
There weren’t too many volleyball games on the NES, the other well known ones being Nintendo’s Volleyball (A Black Box title), and Kings of the Beach from Ultra. But this one usually is considered the best by many. Has that feeling still held up? Let’s find out.
COVER STORY
It’s a decent cover. the characters are all well drawn, and it does an okay job of supplying the action. I like that the box tells you that “It’s Real Pro Volleyball Action”. Good, because I was worried I was getting real bocce ball action. Still, kudos on a decent cover.
GAMEPLAY
Super Spike V’Ball is a 1-4 player volleyball game. You play as the team of your choosing, as you take on other players, or computer teams to an all out battle on the beach. You move your player with the D-Pad, catch and spike the ball with the A button, and jump with the B button.
You have a number of options to choose from. You can go for a singles or doubles tournament, singles being one player, and doubles being two players simultaneously. In these tournament modes, you can choose to play American Tournament, or world cup. Both with a differing amount of matches, and each increasing in difficulty with the teams you’ll face.
There’s also Exhibition mode, with is a great place to start when trying to hone your volleying skills. You can set the options early on. You can set the number of points, the rules (Rally-Point or Normal), auto set, and if you want music to play. You can also choose the state you want your team to represent. Go Wyoming!
There are four teams you can choose from as well. You have the basic normal stat team of George and Murphy, there’s the Duke Nukem looking cool dudes Al and John, There’s Ed and Michael the speedy duo, and finally Billy and Jimmy the… Double Dragons?
No you aren’t misreading that, Billy and Jimmy Lee are playable characters in this game, since the characters belong to Technos Japan. this isn’t their first technical cameo, since they do make a supposed appearance in River City Ransom. This alone makes for a really cool intended Easter Egg the game gives us.
Now on to the basic controls of a Volleyball game. You have two teams of two competing on the court. First to the number of points chosen wins. When in control of the ball to serve it, you press A. then you’ll see a cursor as the ball rises and falls. When it is in perfect position, hit A again to spike the ball. Again, the defending team has to make it to the falling cursor, and hit A at the right time.
Then the other player catches it, serves it up, as the other player has to spike it over by jumping and hitting the ball at the exact right moment, while holding the D-Pad in the direction you want to spike the ball. you can defend the same way bypressing B at the right time. if the ball lands on the opposing side of the court, it’s a point for you, as shown by the cute 8-Bit scorekeeper.
The biggest part of this is the Super Spike, when in the air, and about to catch the ball for a spike over the net, press B three times, and hit the ball. This will make the ball hit harder and faster, and if it hits the enemy just right, it will cause a giant kaboom, knocking them out. This can be tricky to master, but it’s just so satisfying to knock the speedo-wearing crap out of your opponent.
Controls in the game work superb, and after plenty of practice, you can get the hang of things quite easily. Difficulty ramps up the longer you play in tournaments, which can be tough, and sadly there are no passwords in the game that will continue you further if you want to stop mid-way. One more interesting thing is that there were plans for a playable female team, but for whatever reason was scrapped. However, they are playable in the game through use of a game genie.
GRAPHICS
The game has decent graphics, the characters themselves do look a little bland and forgettable, especially the dragons, but the level designs are all great, each with their own different feel depending on the state you’re in. The caricatures for the characters are well done, and the pointkeeper is cute for an 8-bit character. So, par for the course for what you’d expect from a Volleyball game.
MUSIC
Technos delivers with some okay songs. Nothing that you’ll want to put on a playlist, but some peppy and fun music that fits with the beach feel of the game. So everything more than works on this end.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Super Spike V’Ball is a pretty fun little volleyball game. It controls well, it looks and sounds fine, and it’s a great use of the NES 4-Player adaptor. There wasn’t too many major choices in the market of volleyball games on the console, but this one is definitely one of, if not THE best. I have to personally try Kings of the Beach to prove if that’s true or not. If you can find it, give it a shot, and serve up some fun with friends.
RATING: Thumbs Up
So yeah, a pretty short Playing With Power. But next week is the 50th review, and I promise something big. Find out next week.