Original Release: 505 Game Street, PlayStation 2, 2004
A “Simple Series” simple knockoff of the Technos dodgeball games, but with at least a couple interesting qualities (and that coincidentally came out the same year as the Dodgeball movie)
The Dodgeball (PS2, 505 Game Street, 2004)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: PlayStation 2 Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
D3 Publisher ranged far and wide with their genres and knockoffs for the Simple games series … in this outing they cloned the Technos dodgeball games, though not to great effect. The game isn’t without its qualities, but it’s definitely slower and clunkier and lacking the charm of something like Super Dodgeball.
The best bit is that each of the national teams is composed of random historical figures, like Japan has Nobunaga and a bunch of warlords, Germany is headed up by Bach and a bunch of composers like Wagner are in the trenches for him. They also have appropriate super moves, with Bach conducting a magical note around that pounds the enemies and Wyatt Earp (for the USA of course) throwing a bottle before doing a quick draw throw.
That, and the range of options for game rules (which are so extensive they’re almost annoying) are the high points. The downside is that it’s basically Super Dodgeball, but a little slower and clumsier. I was never clear on how you’re supposed to catch the ball, I take it there’s an assigned button but I could never figure out which one (no documentation online either). One button does make you do a little shadow-step dodge but I could never get that to actually work either. The CPU also seems to catch an inordinate amount of your throws, even the heavy and special ones, making games a slog.
In the end it just made me want to play one of the Technos dodgeball games.
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