Super Dodge Ball Advance

"An excellent time killer, and great elementary school nostalgia all in one!"

Dodge ball, the greatest elementary school sport of all time is now available in portable glory! Super Dodge Ball Advance was one of the first game I picked up for the GBA, I was about to go on a vacation with long plane rides so I decided to pick up a game that looked easy to get into. I was surprised when I stumbled upon such an entertaining game, albeit a short game...

Story. 4/10
This game is set in the future where dodge ball is preferred professional sport of choice. Your team is currently in last place and it is up to you and your strangely nose-less manager to bring you team to the top by defeating other teams from around the world and raising you ranking. Doesn't sound interesting to you? Don't worry, people never bought the Madden series for the story.

Graphics. 8/10
The sprites are fairly large and the screen size is a good size for viewing the field, also the camera follows the ball making it much easier to follow the action. The easy to read health bars and characters name make selecting and using your players much simpler. Also the sprites and background are colourful and animated. Although the characters are simplistic, and share the same animations, each characters has a different look and the super throws and the 10 different fields are all unique and interesting.

Sound. 5/10
The sound is nothing spectacular, but nothing incredibly annoying either. Just your run-of-the-mill beeps, whistles and music, although some of the super throws for sound very cool.

Play Time/Replayability. 5/10
The game is very short, the only real goal is to make it to #1 rank and beat all the teams. The replayability is higher, like assembling the ''dream'' team you want (i.e. best stats and super throws). Also you can link up and take on another player.

Control. 9/10
The control are excellent, they are responsive and easy to learn. This is also a problem however, as once you learn the controls, you can block or catch almost any throw, making the game significantly less challenging. Utilizing the different commands such as jumps, passing, throws, dodging, running etc. are easy to use and quite responsive. The thing that prevent the control from getting 10/10 is that many times its hard to judge the amount of steps you need to run for running throws and that sometimes the control switches between different players at awkward times.

Gameplay. 10/10
The gameplay is very fun and original. Each character has a wide array of different stats, affecting such things as how much damage his throws do, how fast he is, and how well he can catch and dodge balls. Different stats are better for players playing different positions. Each team is split into 4 attackers and 3 defenders, players with different stats sets belong in different positions, also you can choose from an assortment of formations each with different boosts to your team. Along with varying stats each player has 2 different super throws, such as the mach throw (a super fast throw) or even the multi-throw (throwing multiple balls). All of these add an element to the depth and overall enjoyability of the game

Overall. 7/10
I feel this game is more worthy of just a rental as it is a tad bit short to pay full price for it. The easy-to-use controls and the quick-to-learn gameplay help to make this game enjoyable and make it the excellent companion for vacation traveling. However, I wouldn't recommend you buy this game without trying it first as it is short and after you have mastered the controls this game become blindingly easy. The real challenge comes against playing another player, so I wouldn't recommend you buy this unless you know someone who has the game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/04