"Finally, a breakout game where you control the ball... er, cube."

Bal Cube is an odd arcade game that, until the days of MAME, have remained a mystery to most arcade goers. The game is not known to have a release anywhere outside of Japan, and its existence remained unknown to many for several years.

Bal Cube plays similarly to other Breakout games, but there are many elements that help it stand out. Instead of controlling the paddle, you must control the ball, which in this game is in the form of a spinning blue cube. There is no paddle in this game, but you are given a variety of platforms to bounce on. When your cube hits a platform, it disappears, and if one is already gone, the missing platform returns.

The goal of Bal Cube is to clear every block on the screen. As your cube hits the platforms, the blocks advance; when you have fewer or no blocks remaining, the blocks advance much further than if there are a significant populace remaining. By clearing blocks of the same color multiple times, you are given 1000 point bonuses until you hit a different color of block. Blocks come in many shapes, such as diamonds and circles, which bounce the cube in a different direction depending on how they are hit. There are even the obligatory steel blocks, which take more hits to destroy. What post-Arkanoid breakout game would be complete without enemies, even if the only ones are large, transparent cubes that do nothing more than get in the way? The real enemy, however, is the blazing speed that your cube travels after extended play. There are two ways to die: falling into the hole or allowing even one block to cross the line.

Luckily for you, there are items trapped inside specially marked blocks that help make your life easier. The Point item gives you bonuses that increase the more consecutive times you collect it, the Option allows you to break steel blocks in one hit, the Arrow allows you to break through multiple blocks as if they were made of thin cracker, the Change will shrink your cube at first and restore you to original size if collected again (both sizes are equally strong, but the smaller one is easier to control), the Twin sets up a spark that assists you in breaking blocks, the Vanish destroys every block on screen, and the helpful and self-explanatory Slow and 1up items.

Bal Cube itself is not only innovative for a breakout game, but also enjoyable and addictive. The challenge and speed build up as you progress throughout the levels. The controls are quite responsive and smooth, even though the larger cube is hard to control in faster areas.

Graphically, Bal Cube is simple. The shapes and objects are simplistic, and the backgrounds are merely random photographs of various locations. On the plus side, the frame rate runs smoothly.

The soundtrack of the game is of a happy, bouncy tune. While the music is tolerable, it is not truly memorable. The sound effects mainly consist of appropriate clangs, bounces, and pops. The voice samples consist of nothing more than a man screaming when you die and some awful sounding voices saying the title's name.

Overall, Bal Cube is an incredible game that should not be missed. It is one of those games that, despite innovation and fun, unfortunately sailed into obscurity.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/07

Game Release: Bal Cube (JP, 1996)