Original Release: Data East, Arcade, 1986
Other Releases: NES (1987), Game Boy (1990), Genesis (1992), SNES (1993), Game Gear (1994), WonderSwan (1999)
A very basic 2D billiards simulator, but the first to bring together a fairly satisfying package of atmosphere, animations and physics
Side Pocket (Arcade, Data East, 1986)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Just like snakes don’t belong in Alaska, billiards games really don’t belong in arcade cabinets. Especially in the 1980s. The genre is judged by its fidelity to the real world experience, primarily the physics, and it hinges on the ability to carefully line up a shot using all your powers and skills. That latter part is especially bad for arcades, where a machine’s value is essentially judged on how fast it can get you or someone else to put another quarter in it.
So Side Pocket was kinda a doomed enterprise from the start, but someone was bound to try billiards in the arcade in the 80s just for the novelty if nothing else, and I guess this is about as good as you could have hoped for under the circumstances. The physics aren’t exactly realistic or precise, but they’re passable, and paired with the nice animation of the balls rolling this is better aesthetically and in terms of satisfying gameplay feel than anything you could get on home computers or consoles at the time.
The game deals with the unique demands of the arcade by keeping things very simple. You have two buttons, one to shoot, the other to cycle through a few types of english to put on the ball. Beyond that all you do is line up the shot (supported by a basic trajectory predictor that shows where the cue ball will go, but not whatever it hits) and stop the power meter at the appropriate time. You go through five levels that vary the amount of balls on the table; you can knock them in any order, but you get extra points for going in numerical order (though you’ll need to have the colors memorized as the numbers are not shown). Between levels, the affection levels of two bunny girls are determined by how well you performed.
It deals with the profit needs of arcade owners by setting all this to a timer. Each level only gives you about 100 seconds total to clear it, with the timer running just while you’re doing the interactive shot stuff. Also, you have three “lives” that are expended on any turn that you don’t sink a ball (or manage to sink one but also scratch). You get occasional opportunities to restore a life when a star randomly appears above one particular hole, by knocking a ball into it on the next shot.
The wonky physics are kinda what sinks it; it seems like they’re intentionally a little iffy, to pad out what’s really a very small amount of gameplay content and suck those quarters out. They’re especially weird around the pockets. So ultimately this is kinda like most 2D golf games, where you just have to mess around with it a lot to get a sense of how its internal physics logic works. Also feels like it’s taunting you with the Leisure Suit Larry/Colonel’s Bequest ragtime-y jazz whenever a shot goes unexpectedly off the rails.
There isn’t much reason to come back to this particular entry; the game’s legacy is really in the more elaborate ports for consoles and computers, also in the Gal Pocket stripshow branch that built off this engine (though that one’s a tale for Plumflower).
Links
Videos
Side Pocket (SNES, Data East, 1994)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: SNES Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
The SNES port retains the somewhat-questionable physics engine and completely unforgiving pockets of the arcade original, but spiffs everything up with aesthetic polish and a few new play modes and options.
There are a couple new options for two-players games, a series of trick shots for single players to try to pull off, and some quality of life improvements added to the main quest mode (and overall gameplay). Your guy now has a little animation between levels showing he’s driving to different cities to uh … play pool by himself. More importantly, the arcade timer is gone, and you can get some more precision on your shots by tapping the shoulder buttons to move just one “unit” (it’s still not precise degrees) at a time. And you can press a button at any time to toggle the balls to their assigned number instead of color, plus there’s a little preview pane along the top now that shows the next one in sequence to aim for.
The rules are also very slightly different. You start out with 16 “lives” now, but have to nurse them through all of the game’s levels (no continues). Strategy in deploying these to position balls better is more important as the points bonuses for sequential pots and for knocking everything in numerical order are bigger, and there’s also a minimum “target score” to get to the next level. Between levels you get a bonus shot that gives you the opportunity to restore three lives, and if you score high enough there’s an additional “trick shot” that requires knocking multiple balls into pockets with one shot that can shower you with even more if you can manage to pull it off.
The soundtrack has also been revamped, still jazzy but better quality stuff, a bigger selection, and no longer sounds like it’s trolling you. It’s really a better sound font away from being a true classic, the low synth quality is a little baffling here as this came out in 1993 well after the SNES sound chip had been thoroughly Wrangled by developers. In terms of aesthetics Data East also added a little touch of its Gals Pocket branch of the series with detailed images of ladies makin the eyes at you all over the place; all classy stuff though, nothing salacious on the ol’ Nintendo, and your score doesn’t seem to impact their affection level as it did in the arcade.
This version of the game is definitely deeper, and a little more polished and pleasant, but it’s still kinda a primitive pool game that has physics that will drive you nuts sometimes and requires just messing around with a lot to get its unique quirks down. 1993 was still a couple of years ahead of the first really good 3D pool games on computers, though, so I guess this still had a market. This is likely the best version of the original game (haven’t tried ’em all yet), but future sequels would move to the Sega Saturn for some more horsepower.
Links
Videos
Side Pocket (Wonderswan, Data East, 1999)
Where to Buy: Play-Asia
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Based on other early ports for the Wonderswan, I was expecting this to be a simple retread of the arcade or NES versions. Instead it seems to be a unique product, maybe patterned more after the Side Pocket 2/Minnesota Fats branch on the Sega systems that was more recent when this was released.
Whatever the case, Side Pocket always had two things going for it: solid 2D physics and overall “feel” when most other pool games of the time couldn’t pull that off, and some panache. The panache is kinda gone here, with minimal unremarkable music and irritating Atari 2600 sound effects when you line your shot up. Does manage to retain the most non-generous pockets in video game billiards history, however.
It’s also all in moon runes, but seems to have minimal modes of play, and they all require you to hit the balls in sequence or it’s a penalty and the opponent gets a free shot. That’s different from the earlier titles, where you got bonus points for sinking balls in sequence but it wasn’t required.
Videos