Luigi Mario

Super Dodge Ball Neo Geo

Developer: Technos Japan Corp.   Publisher: Technos Japan Corp/SNK

Introduction:

Let me start off by saying this...I was never a huge fan of SNK's Neo Geo. Most of their games were just ripoffs of Capcom's (Street Fighter is the very first to come to mind. And yes I know the story about SFII and Art of Fighters being developed at the same time! But that doesn't mean they still didn't ripoff of Capcom in later games). But that being said, I did love their Technos NG games they made for the hardware! And this is no exception! The characters in this game are from the River City Rasom franchise (aka Renegade), so that means that Kunio (or Alex based on the U.S. RCR manual) is the main character...and will take on other people from his school in a no holds barred dodge ball game!

Reviewed By: Legend

Graphics: A

Simply beautful! Technos did their best coloring ever with this game! The characters are very bright and colorful and move at a very fluid pace! It's basically Japanese animation at it's finest! You have to see it to believe it! So why am I giving this game a better graphic score than Double Dragon for the NG? Simple. Well because, eventhough DDNG was more realistic, the coloring was somewhat bland...especially compared to this game! The characters also have Technos' trademark big heads...which has always been very cool and interesting to look at! Even the fire effects among others will just leave you in awe! Eventhough this is a 1996 game...the graphics still look great by even today's standrads!

Sound: B

The music is fair at best. Some of the songs have some catchy memorable tunes, but the rest are just kind of...well bleh. Whisch is kind of a shame because it was composed by the legendary Kazunaka Yamane, who also composed the music for the Double Dragon series. My personal favorite is the night club level. It has a nice techno beat to it and will have you humming it sometimes. The characters sound hilarious when they talk! Especially when Kamekichi yells for his mamma when he gets eliminated, lol! Actually, Kunio is voiced by Ryo Horikawa, who is best known to be the ultra cool voices of Vegeta in the Dragon Ball Z series and Captain Falcon in the F-Zero/Super Smash Bros series! You won't be able to tell though! I sure didn't! The sound effects sound very realistic too! The dodge ball actually sounds like someone's picking  it up as it makes that "fling" noise of most rubber balls! Overall, the sound is very good, but it could've been better!

Control: B

The controlling is decent to say the least. You'll catch on to the basic commands immediately. The one gripe I had about it though, were the ridiculous button commands that you had to do to perform certain moves! What's up with the hcf, hcf, a+b commands you have to do?? This is another reason I was never really a huge fan of the SNK games...because stuff like this is just downright stupid and retarded! It's a FREAKING dodge ball game...not The King of Fighters for God's sake! And I would also strongly suggest that you go to gamefaqs.com to look up on how to do the specials for the characters once you get your power bar up because you sure as hell won't know the command inputs by heart. Well not unless you play this game religiously...

Gameplay: B

This has mixed feelings. I was half tempted to give it a C...but thought about how fun the 2-player is. Let me say another reason why I wasn't a big fan of SNK games....the CHEAPNESS of them! This game is a perfect example of this! First of all, the game is very easy at first. Sounds fair right? NO. As you progress to say, the third or fourth level, the AI will be cheap as hell! By that I mean the damn thing will catch all of your throws at it which will just result in a game of "Hot Potato" until you get some lucky shots in and hit it...or even worse, just reverse your moves and hit the ball right back to you without giving you the warning or time to react! That's just stupid beyond words! Also, the AI will sometimes "wrestle" you for the ball...in which you have to quickly push the buttons to win this dumb tug-o-war contest! But here's the thing...you will RARELY win! Another stupid thing about the game. Hmm...oh yea! Sometimes when you get hit with the ball, you'll be unconscious for little more than awhile (which again is another dumb part of this game). And for that, it will leave you open to multiple shots from the AI...which will lead to you getting eliminated because you can't recover! I also hated the fact that sometimes your character will take fooooreeeeeeeveeeer to turn around if the ball is being thrown at them from behind!! Whatever. You also have a power meter...which is pretty cool. You can charge it by doing what most SNK fighters do in which you hold two buttons at the same time to charge up. Or you can also just do nice moves that'll make it go up. But good luck having it work on the computer though...it'll just reverse the ball right back at you doing twice the damage! Speaking of which, you can reverse the ball back to your opponent by hitting a certain command at the right time before the ball hits you! It's great for two player...but not so much the computer though. Another cool thing I thought was nice was that after you defeat the AI's team, you have the choice to add the team's captain to yours! So now you can add someone else to get anhilihated by the AI! Swell! You can also taunt, which drains you opponent's power bar in the process. Eh, it's cool, but useless.

Now onto the good things! The two player vs game is just plain fun! Pure and simple! Not only does it get rid of the retarded AI, but it'll just provide hours upon hours of fantastic gameplay!  This is where you let your true skills shine and not worry about everything being reversed on you! If anything, I highly recommend that you get a friend to join you! You'll end up loving Technos and SNK for this!

Overall: B

I've got to be honest...the only real saving grace for this game is the fun and addictive versus mode! The AI sucks to the point that you wish you could reach into the game and strangle the chracters. That or go to SNK's headquaters and blow up their building. I'm a huge fan of the Kunio kun no Kekketsu (River City Ransom) franchise and grew up loving the unique characters! And this game is a welcome addition! It might not be as memorable as the NES version, but come on...this is TECHNOS! You've got to love it (or at least most of it)! You know what the sad thing is though? This was Technos' final game to be released before the sun finally set on them (well don't forget, they did revive recently though as Million) :(. So for that reason, cherish this game very much...if anything for the versus stuff! You'll be glad you did!