"6 Pins Out Of 10."

When I was young, I did two things extremely frequently: Go bowling and play Nintendo. In fact, I still do these things frequently. My parents, being the kind souls that they are, thought that it would be a good idea to buy me a bowling game for the Nintendo. Since, after all, I am a huge bowler, and I played the NES a lot. Personally, I like this game A LOT, but only because I played it so much when I was young. I'm positive that I wouldn't like this game nearly as much if I didn't have it as a kid. I am going to try to write this review fairly, as if I am just picking up the game for the first time.

At A Glance: Athena, a Japanese company that has released more bowling games than any other company, released their first bowling game on February 8th, 1991 for the NES, and that game was Championship Bowling. Though Athena only released Japanese games, a little known company by the name of Romstar Inc. somehow got the rights of Championship Bowling and turned it into an Arcade game. Shortly after turning Championship Bowling into an arcade game, Romstar Inc. took the same exact game, modified it slightly, and released it on the NES. This is where Championship Bowling for the NES was born.

Game Plot: There isn't any plot whatsoever for this game. Does a bowling game need a plot? Hell no. A bowling game doesn't need a plot any more than a football game needs a plot or a tennis game needs a plot, or any other sports game needs a plot. This game is one of those rare exceptions where it's okay that the game has no plot.

Game play: The game play has been done nicely for an NES bowling game. Everything is smooth and transitional. This is a 4-player game, which always increases the game play value. Since the NES console only has 2 controller ports, you must plug 2 controllers in and swap controllers for 4 people to play. There are 5 different lanes you can play on, each lane with a unique color scheme and oil pattern. In addition, there are four characters you can choose to be, and you can also change the weight of your ball. Like in real life, all of these different things, though you may not think it, drastically affects your game.

When you finally get onto the lane with all the options picked out, there are 3 variable things that you choose to throw the ball. First, you must choose the position on the lane that you will stand to throw the ball, then you must choose how much you want the ball to curve (you can curve left or right, it doesn't matter), then you must choose the power of the shot. The curve and power move up and down, and you must press A to stop them, so it's really hard to choose the same thing every time. After you choose these 3 things, you will throw the ball down the lane. It's pretty hard to get a strike, especially if you're a first time player of this game. However, once you start playing more and more, you will discover sweet spots where you stand and throw the ball to get a strike every time. Though, it's still really hard to throw a strike even after you find a sweet spot. Also, splits are really easy to pick up. I can make the 7-10 split every time. Other nice things about the game play of when you are on the lane is a top-view of the lane and the pins on the right side of the screen, and the fact that you can press B at any time to see what you bowled every frame of the game.

Graphics: The graphics of Championship Bowling have been done nicely. Though I've seen better on the NES, the graphics really have been done nicely. Everything flows smoothly and transitional, and you can't recognize the frameskip. It kind of bothers me that the pins looks more like old milk bottles, but that's really one of the only drawbacks about the graphics.

Sound: The sound of this game has been done very nicely. There is only one background song that plays the entire time when you bowl, and doesn't change no matter what lane you are on. This background song has been composed very nicely, and despite the fact that you hear it all game every game, it will not annoy you. I really wish that more background songs were composed for this game, though. The pins make sounds when you knock them down, the cheerleaders make cheering sounds when you bowl 3 strikes in a row, and a turkey fanfare occurs when you bowl 3 strikes when the turkey walks in the lanes.

Levels: There are not any levels for this bowling game. The only objective in this game if you are playing 1-player mode is to bowl as high as you can. If you bowl a 200 game or higher, you will receive some special award. It doesn't really matter about receiving the award, because it doesn't save your scores when you turn off the game.

Graphics: 9
Game play: 8
Sound: 8
Story: None
Fun: 4
Replayability: Moderate
Overall: 6/10

Final Thought: I really do enjoy this game very much because I played it so long as a kid. Nowadays, there are better and more complex bowling games. If you are looking for a good bowling game, I recommend SPENDING MONEY on a game called "Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling" for the PC/PSX/N64. It's only like $3 on eBay. However, if you don't want to spend the pricey $3, or don't feel like dealing with the hassles of eBay, then this is the next best thing.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/05