GOTD 5/14/2016: Rollerball (NES)
Rollerball from Hal is one of many pinball games for the NES, but it's also one of the best. With a main table called Skyscraper that's four screens tall, a two player vs mode, and four player alternating competitive mode, it offers a quality realistic pinball sim accompanied by some fun multi player shenanigans. So, for starters, Skyscraper.
The main table is as mentioned four screens tall. You fire from the bottom screen up to the third, and each screen has two main flippers in the center with the occasional small auxiliary flipper on a side. These, coupled with kickout holes, create paths to send the ball upward toward the top of the skyscraper. If you manage to get to the top bonus screen, which features a blimp flying over the building, this is where you can maximize your score by spelling out "Sky High" by rolling over flashing letters. Do so and hit the kickout hole at the top to turn the letters into bumpers that score big points and blow up after several hits. Clear them for an enormous bonus and a chance to start again. You also have several other pinball devices such as bumper panels, gates to spell things like "HAL," numerous kickout holes, and spinning gates that unlock score multipliers, defensive blockers, free balls, and multi-ball. It's a well-designed and realized table that can be played strategically, and scoring over a million points will give you ending credits after your last ball to offer a sense of completion.
The versus mode is pretty simplistic, with player one on the left and two on the right, represented by an elephant and a donkey respectively, so I suppose Americans should decide which player they are by their political affiliation? Anyway, each player has a life bar that goes down from balls lost through his or her flippers and points scored on their side of the table. There are bonus problems that can be triggered by hitting the panels at the top of the screen such as causing your opponent to lose a flipper or extra points. These matches are quick and novel, but comparatively unsatisfying when played next to the excellent main table.
The music is okay, and the sound effects are pretty simple. The graphics are serviceable for a 1988 game, but the feel of the ball and good table design are what makes Rollerball a fun game. It may lack the interesting modes of a Pinball Quest or the license of High Speed or Pinbot, but what it has is a table that works very well as a video game, and a feel not unlike the excellent Alien Crush on Turbografx. I like it.
Played it?
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Originally Posted by celerystalker
So much fun.
