Finding Lost and Unknown Information
Super Dodge Ball is one of my favorite NES titles. So when I was rummaging through old boxes, I was surprised to find that I still had the instruction booklet for Super Dodge Ball even though I sold my NES and all my games a long time ago. Briefly glancing through, I found some information about this game that I never knew existed: the backstory and each character actually has a first AND a last name.
Now I am sure no one really cares about this useless information but after spending hours tossing power shots at the faces of players from around the globe I couldn’t help but be a little enamored by this information.
According to the instruction manual (page 3 of the booklet) the story is as follows: The newly formed U.S. Dodgeball Team must face a highly experienced group of teams from around the world in order to gain the title of World Cup Champions. The greatest opponent is the powerful Soviet Team who has dominated the sport for the last decade. The U.S. Team must pull together to meet the challenge to become the best in the world !
Super D Ball actually had a story line
So there you have it, the Soviet Union always being labeled as the global super power. And the space between the word “world” and the exclamation point at the end of the paragraph is probably a typo due to translation.
Besides the story, I never knew that these big headed players actually had full names, as in a first and a last name. Sam, John, Mike, Randy, Bill, and Steve are the heroes of the U.S. team but the instruction manual not only lists their last names but also displays their full stats.
Scan – check out these stats and names!
It is kind of funny because everyone who has played Super Dodge Ball knows that Sam is the powerhouse but this instruction manual actually confirms this. As it turns out, each player on the team ranks first in a specific category. For example, Sam Powers has the most damaging Throw Power, John Stone has the best Defense, and Steve has the highest Throw Technique. Each character is defined by a total of seven difference categories: Energy, Throw Power, Throw Tech., Ball Break, Agility, Catch Tech., and Damage Cap.
After all these years it is pretty cool to learn just how in depth this game really goes. Now if the developers could have only done something about the horrendous sprite flicker.
