Arcade Volleyball

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Arcade Volleyball

Arcade Volleyball - DOS - Screenshot - Title.png

DOS - Screenshot - Title screen.

Developer Rhett Anderson, Randy Thompson
Publisher Compute!
Published 1988-06-??
Platforms Amiga, Commodore 64, DOS
Genres Action, Single-screen, Sports
Themes Sports
Multiplayer Simultaneous versus
Distribution Freeware, Open source

Arcade Volleyball is a single-screen action video game developed by Rhett Anderson and Randy Thompson originally published in COMPUTE!'s Gazette as type-in code for the Commodore 64 in June 1988, and later ported by to Amiga and MS-DOS in 1989 as freeware. The game uses the sport of volleyball as its theme, but is closer to the game Rebound. Only servers can score, scoring occurs when the ball hits the ground to the player opposite the serve, or in a failed attempt to return the ball within three hits.

The original C64 version had two players on each team which moved in tandem as a single unit. The game ended when one team reached 15 points. AI could be hacked on, but it was quite poor. The Amiga release used a single player on each side, a solid net where the ball wouldn't go under it, and a player needed a 2-point margin on their opponent to win after getting 15 points. The DOS port was essentially the same as the Amiga port, only with poorer graphics and sound. A fan game was made in 1995 called Zorlim's Arcade Volleyball which replicated much of the game and added better graphics and sound.

Personal

Own?No. The game was never sold.
Won?Yes. I've beaten the AI of the MS-DOS port.
FinishedLate 1990s.

I found this game among collections of free DOS software somewhere in the late 1990s and thought it was quite charming.

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
4 4 2 1 4

Best Version: Amiga?

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • The player icons, with their giant grinning heads and bulbous noses and eyes, are charming.
  • The game's mechanics are enjoyable to learn.
  • For the DOS port, the AI is pretty darn good.
  • For as primitive as the game is, it offers a wide array of control customizations.

Bad

  • The graphics are terrible across all ports. The DOS port especially needed better coloring.
  • The sound is also terrible across all ports.
  • It doesn't take too long to master the play mechanics, and, after that, there's nothing left to do with the game.
  • The AI in the Commodore 64 port is really bad, and it's very easy to take advantage of it.

Ugly

  • There just isn't much to the game. You'll see everything it has to offer in about a minute.

Media

Videos

Longplay - Commodore 64.
Longplay - MS-DOS.
Game play - Amiga.
Game play - Master System.

Play Online

MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?FailThere are no women.
Bechdel test?FailThere are no women.
Strong person of color character?FailNobody has a specified race.
Queer character?FailThere are no queer characters.

Download

Arcade Volleyball has been released as freeware by the developers.

Links

Link-MobyGames.png  Link-Wikipedia.png