3D SAN JIGEN KAKUTŌ BARUZU
( 3D BallZ )
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3次元格闘ボールズ
©1994 Accolade Inc.
©1995 Media Rings Corporation.
Created by PF.Magic
Release: 1995-04-28 (¥9800)
Cartridge SHVC-ABZJ-JPN
Fighting game
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Released in America as
3D BALLZ - FIGHTING AT ITS BALLZIEST
( SNS-ABZE-USA )
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3D Ballz is an unusual fighting game developed by PF.Magic and
published in Japan by Media Rings (by Accolade in America).
Like any fighting game ought to, a list of playable fighters are available for
the player to take control over - however, unlike most fighting games, they range from a
a Caveman, a Ballerina to a Mad Clown and
a Rhinoceros. All in all, the game features a grand total of
eight characters and four different bosses. Interestingly, each character is built out of
a set of colored balls (or, I should say, "Ballz") that give an unusual
3D feel to the game. Each fighter can punch and kick or use special moves
directly related to their personality - for instance, the rhinoceros can charge
right into his opponent and spear him with his horn, and the caveman can roll
his opponent into a ball and hit him with his club as he would do with a baseball bat.
Other special moves can be unleashed by pressing both shoulder buttons, or when two fighters
enter close range combat. 3D Ballz also features a traditional versus mode
where two players can fight head to head.
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Ballz was originally developed by PF Magic and published by Accolade
for the Sega Genesis (1994). As a side note, the game was called BallZ 3D : Fighting At Its
Ballziest in the US, but was interestingly called BallZ 3D : Fighting Of The BallZ
is the UK (I wonder how this title actually made it to the shelves).
It then later came out for the Super Famicom (1995).
Interestingly, a 3DO version was also released in 1995 as a director's cut.
As a side note, PF Magic was of course responsible for other games and would
usually mark their titles with the characteristic letter 'Z' :
Catz & Dogz (1995), Oddballz(1996), Babyz (1999) etc...
most of their games also use the ball technique featured in Ballz and
all the virtual pets from Catz and Dogz are clearly made out of disc/sphere primitives.
PF Magic later became part of Ubisoft Entertainment.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
O
V
s
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3D Ballz is sadly the kind of title that feels more like a
technical demo than a game. It nevertheless displays some
amazing technical candies and the pseudo-3D is made out of cleverly
designed sprite scaling that leads to some incredible Mode-7 moments.
The music tracks are also technically amazing
but the tunes and melodies are sadly forgettable. The rest of
the game, and especially the gameplay, is sadly poorly designed. The
worst offender is probably the terrible and unfair way how the
CPU controlled characters behave - because of this unfortunate flaw, the one player
versus mode often becomes a frustrating and cheap experience. 3D Ballz
is unique and very original, no doubt about it,
but the gameplay and controls are terrible and the overall design tasteless.
This is a real shame and the game had a lot of potential... unfortunately it just
leaves you craving for more...
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