Original Release: Konami, 1985, Arcade
Other Releases: Assorted computers (1986), Famicom Disk (1987)
This arcade title from Konami was the first to seriously attempt to replicate table tennis; it’s hard to say how successful it was, as even basic info on those cabinets is hard to come by, but the home ports require some wrestling with
Smash Ping Pong (NES, Konami, 1987)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
I can’t find a picture of a Konami Ping Pong arcade cabinet anywhere on the internet, but I strongly suspect it was like other Pong knockoff cabinets of the 80s in that it used a dial rather than a joystick. Whatever the case, in porting it to the Famicom, Konami implemented a bizarre control system that is utterly unintuitive and hard to even understand without written instructions.
You don’t actually move the paddle directly; pressing left or right makes you swing to those sides instead, and the game is about swinging to the correct side as you’re automatically positioned. That by itself would probably be pretty simple, but you ALSO have to alternate the A and B buttons to switch between forehand and backhand swings as the situation calls for it, or you’ll either whiff or knock the ball into the net.
It’s just too weird and unfamiliar and extra. Maybe if you did a Rocky training montage with it you could come to grips with its weird style and get some entertainment out of it, but why bother? Since it’s a 1985 title, there’s no depth to it but the computer ramping up through five difficulty levels.
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