Balls nasty: Super Dodge Ball | NES Works 128
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Weird sequels were kind of the NES's thing. Just look at how different Zelda II and Super Mario Bros. 2 were from the games that preceded (and followed!) them. But Super Dodge Ball may just take the prize. Whatever you might have expected from the true follow-up to Renegade... it wasn't this.
Production notes:
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NES footage captured from Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 4K with RetroTink 4X and 720p with xRGB Mini Framemeister. "Before the Storm" courtesy of Jacob Le.
It's a bit off topic, but I've been growing an appreciation of how your channel is direct and to the point with its premise. You waste nobody's time on things they don't need to hear, you don't demand likes or subscribes, and the only ads you run in the video are silent and only a couple seconds long, and more of the same content. This channel is one of the last vestiges of a time where youtube was a much more enjoyable place to binge watch.
My guess is that Jeremy only monetizes his channel through Patreon and his book sales. Support him if you're able--he does lots of Patreon-only content.
My guess is that Jeremy only monetizes his channel through Patreon and his book sales. Support him if you're able--he does lots of Patreon-only content.
While I agree you the reason other creators do those things it’s not for fun, some people need to do it if you wanna keep getting those high-quality videos you really enjoy.
YES thank you for saying it! Jeremy Parish's videos are terrific for many reasons, but that is definitely among them!
Calm when most are too shrill or too casual. Articulate when most barely read. Immaculate presentation in both videos and books. It's like prestige RUclips.
Oh man, this was THE ONE. My lil bro and i were born in 81 and 80, respectively, and we sunk HUNDREDS of hours into this. This was THE definitive PvP game on the NES: i'm 44, now, and i still stand by it. We even attempted an IRL version, with a deflated soccer ball. Blades of Steel was lovely, too, but this was #1 for us.
Same! My brother and I would literally use PvP in this game to settle arguments. This, River City Ransom, and Double Dragon II were our go-to multiplayer games of choice when we didn't know what we wanted to play. :D
@@Areala21 hell yes! Double Dragon- we played a lot of that. But we MOSTLY wanted to hit each OTHER. lol.
@@Areala21 this was the ultimate PvP game for brothers. We certainly played DD and such, but... did you two ever hit one another with the controller? lol But, MAN. Before SF2 at home, it was all about SDB.
@@XANAX-Pilled No, we were on pretty good terms with not going at one another. I never wanted to start anything, and if he did, mom would just tell him, "Stop hitting your sister." :)
@@Areala21 i feel you. with us, i think it was just sibling rivalry.
That was pretty fun as a video essay but darn, that video went everywhere haha. Kunio sequels → issues of modern Wikipedia → true origins of Dodgeball → veiled criticism of US academic institutions → social stigma of game enthusiasts in the 80s → Sony’s early video game history → …
It's not truly dodgeball if it's not an exercise in barely contained chaos
Parish is the James Burke of old video games.
Kunio-Kun is like that. All of society connects to that franchise somehow or other.
Only what the topic required! I thought I knew everything about this game; I did not.
idk. i dug it.
I love that the England theme in Super Dodge Ball sounds like a mash-up of the Beatles' "Get Back" and "A Hard Day's Night".
For the curious, the key to the super moves is the distance you run. It depends on the arena with most being around ten steps, but arenas like Kenya that restrict your speed require more. Once you realize this, the game opens up for you.
sure enough!
This wasn't a sleeper in my home. never owned it but rented it a lot. Also played the arcade version one time while in "the city". Great game.
Screech on SAVED BY THE BELL canonically had the birth name Samuel Powers. The lead in this game's America release was Sam Powers. In this essay, I will...
Jeremy finally put in words the academics behind dodgeball in a way our grade school coaches never could.
I remember asking how to play only to be told "everyone knows how to play dodgeball"??
"Avoid missing balls for high score"
@@JeremyParish The patriarchy in a ballshell as they say.
One weird thing about Super Dodge Ball is how often it was copied in the early 90s. Besides the other ports of the game, Bandai really loved throwing licensed characters into the game format. If you've ever wanted to see a gundam pelt Ultraman with a dodgeball, there's an entire series out there.
There's a WHAT?? Well, that got me googling... and you didn't even mention that Mazinger and Kamen Rider are in there too! OK, now I gotta go grab some roms. (For anyone wondering, it's "Battle Dodge Ball.")
The original producer of Battle Dodgeball at Banpresto made enough money from the series to open his own bar in Kanda, near Akihabara.
My dude. How does it way your comment is 2 weeks ago when the video came out 6 days ago? Patreaon seeing the video before the rest? Curious.
@@rezterralico4369 Exactly. Patreon supporters get the link early.
I often wondered what the deal was with all the games with Nintendo World Cup sprites. Now I know about Kunio-kun!
C.A. Moss has some great maxims, as does T. Anderson. I always liked his line:
"I know kung fu."
Indeed... either you know, or you don't.
Thinking back on playing Super Dodge Ball, it gave a glimpse of what fighting games would become. There were seemingly cryptic moves and cool flourishes wrapped around some visually unique characters. Only playing Super Dodge Ball at a cousin's house there was never quite enough time to fully grasp it.
This game is so much fun. I remember discovering that Paul, from the Pro All-Stars team could throw a super shot from a sideline position and it was just so fun to blast people from off the field. One of my favorites.
This was a great rental.
"Thick-necked bros" - 😂 On point, on point! This is one of your best episodes. I wonder when video games lost their stigma--I got crap for liking Star Trek, but never for playing Zelda.
PlayStation won the bros’ favor.
This game was a perennial weekend rental at my household: multiplayer crowd pleaser, easy to pick up and play, great for sleepover tournaments. Also the "nerds hate dodgeball" trope: I'm not sure I 100% agree. For me, dodge ball was a chance to fight back, as the bigger jocks would often be cocky and try to use brute force to show off; meanwhile, a well-timed sneak attack by the nerd (me) could often get them out.
Same here brother! I hated gym class, was made to hate all sports (especially volleyball), but dodgeball was somewhere I could compete, and exercise my pent up nerd rage
The fact that so many Kunio games ended up being about teens playing sports is a weird quirk of game history.
I remember getting this for Christmas one year alongside Blaster Master and the original Mega Man. Given the reputation of those two games, it's surprising that Super Dodge Ball ended up being my favorite, and probably the game I've beaten more than any other. I can rip through the entire game on hard mode these days without taking a single hit, and somehow it's no less fun than it was 35 years ago.
What a Christmas.
Literally my favorite game on the NES! I still play it!
This game was such a hidden gem. Used to borrow it from my neighbor all the time.
This game holds a special place in my heart. A friend fished a broken copy out of the garbage of a local game store, took it home and fixed it. That battered game, held together with duct tape (that made it a very tight squeeze in the NES) became a party favorite and saw years of (ab)use afterwards. I also recall borrowing it and painstakingly cataloging the special throws for every character in the game. Like most of us at the time we didn't realize the Kunio-kun connection, but when I discovered River City Ransom I put two and two together. I've been a fan of Kunio games ever since.
I always find it fascinating to hear the accepted majority opinion of dodgeball since my own experience was so different. Even growing up in the '80s where bullying was otherwise the same as typically depicted in media, dodgeball was always played with soft, coated foam balls, not rubber ones. Not quite Nerf level soft, but it would be quite a struggle to injure anyone with them. Not to mention being easier to pick up since even the smallest kid could get a good grip by squeezing. Instead what we played tended to have complex rules based around multiple colors of balls, rescuing players who were declared out, and non-player targets like basketball backboards. The upside is that even as a nerdy kid everyone _loved_ dodgeball, and it was by far the most popular activity.
"Looks like Technos is releasing a sports game to follow up their brawler games"
"That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for them."
Jeremy.. I’m sensing some personal trauma here.
I'm starting to think his glasses got broken by a dodgeball...
I started to wonder if I'm the only nerd who relatively enjoyed dodgeball as a kid lol
I loved dodgeball! But I also didn't really have a bully problem, and was mildly athletic. Our dodgeballs were also foam wrapped in thin rubber. I can completely understand why one might dread the game.
I was quite nerdy and not athletic and me and my friends always looked forward to dodge ball, almost as much as parachute day@@ValkyrieTiara
His experience was mine it seems and i think it's probably a common one. Those who enjoyed dodgeball the most in my grade school were definitely the bullies. It was played in the front yard every recess between grade 4 to 6. Tried it once and realised it was a game made for sadists. They'd use a slightly deflated red rubber ball that hurt like a motherfucker, when it hit it was like a very hard slap Like your parents spankings hurt much less than this. Like, how about using a foam ball!? I'd have played with a foam ball. But not `a ball specifically designed to hurt as much as possible.
I just wanna use this space to recommend the "Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle" for Switch/PS4, which includes every single Famicom Kunio-kun game with fresh, new translations. They also cut down the flickering in Super Dodge Ball and reinstated the 4-player mode. It's a nice package.
You think maybe this game's resurgence might have something to do with people retrospectively realizing that it was connected to River City Ransom? I could see that going overlooked in the late 80s when the game was up for sale, but getting attention with emulation later.
One of my all-time favorite games. ❤
I wish someone would make a modern dodgeball game. it seems so simple.
also, i'm finally early enough to say i dig your work, here, man. I appreciate it. I really like reliving these old games.
I cant stress how much I completely relate to what you said about being a gamer in the 80s. That really hits hard and part of the reason why I love this channel and all that you do. Cheers buddy.
Yes, we were nerds.
My best friend and next door neighbor owned Super Dodge Ball and we spent many hours beaning the crap out of both the computer and each other. It was always so satisfying to pull off a super move that would absolutely level the opposing team players. Oddly cathartic as well!
Some days I feel like the guy on the cover of Super Dodgeball
Congratulations on episode 128. Here's hoping you have at least 128 more episodes so you can get to the next number that matters
Super Dodge Ball is my #2 all-time favorite NES game and in my top 10 overall. I absolutely adore this game. I wish we could get an update with more precise controls. I know there are others dodge ball games in a similar spirit but they are all lacking the magic this one had.
Absolutely loved Dodgeball.
Played a ton of the Gameboy version of Super Dodgeball. Hitting enemies with the special moves felt so good!
This one was a common rental in my neighborhood, whoever happened to pick it up for any given weekend was where we all would hang out. Definitely got the Kunio vibes at the time as River City Ransom was another beloved title of my childhood but didn't fully understand it til I was older.
I played the hell out of Super Dodgeball. Those animations when they get hit are the best ever.
My friend and I played this a ton growing up, alongside River City Ransom. CSG Imagesoft was a name I saw at the start but didn't know anything about until this video. Still, I can now say that there is a direct line between Super Dodge Ball and, of all things, Solstice.
As always, thanks for the vid! :)
This was my game growing up, and it was all about the versus play! I remember renting this game and beating the single player on the first few tries. However, my neighbor had this game and we continued to play against each other because it was so fun!
At 11:09 you misspoke and said volleyball instead of dodgeball. Haha.
I'm surprised Nintendo Power was so quiet about it. Back in the day this was one of those games that all the boys at school knew about, we all thought it was hilarious. I always just thought it was one of those touchstone games that everyone knew.
I love your entire output, well done.
I never really gave this game a chance when it was out when i was super young. In the last 3 years, i learned to play this game right, and i love it
13:29 There exists a ROM hack that restores the four-player version of Super Dodge Ball.
P.S. In Renegade, walk into a stunned opponent to grab them. Then you can lay in more punches, or throw them over your shoulder at another attacker.
I was obsessed with this game as kid, that and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! just had an addictive quality to them.
I remember renting this game, and thinking it was so fun. I later bought their soccer game, and River City Ransom, which is my favorite NES game.
I LOVED this game when I was a kid.
Goddamn, here we are, 1989! I love NES games of this era!! Some neighbors had this game back in the day, and I loved the shit out of it! They didn't like me at all, but somehow I convinced them to let me borrow the game, and I played it to no end. And come fourth grade, it got me stoked on real-life gym class dodge ball!
I probably played a fair amount of this one back in the day, I mean it was fun. more recently I played it on NSO and had the most amazing highlight happen (thank goodness for the switch's clip capture feature!) I hit the opposing player with a super shot and it hit him so hard he wrapped around the screen! good times, haha.
I first found this bad boy at the rental store in the late 80s or 1990. I decided to give it a go, since it was new there, and I was blown away by the high quality on display. Absolutely brilliant, once you got to grips with the controls.
Nice work.I cant wait for the Super Spike Vball works
One of my favorite NES games.
One of my favorite games on the NES! Super Dodge Ball kicks ass! great review :)
Still have my original NES Dodge Ball from when I was a kid-and it still gets played.
While I resembled the kind of kid that lost a lot at Dodgeball, I was actually kinda decent at it. Good hands, lol.
Anyway, for those who, well... weren't, I could see this game being their chance to take out frustrations on digital representations of those big mean bullies that would land shots directly to their face, knocking them loopy...
...I mean, yeah, it happened to me a few times, lol.
Never played this one back in the day, but love watching the "speedruns" of it.
It should be noted that, in Japan, Super Dodge Ball kind of became a minor pop culture institution in the 90s. Technos' very last game was a Neo Geo update of Super Dodge Ball (though I don't think it's known whether or not it ever actually saw release, even in Japan, despite it being readily available today via emulation), and there was even Honou no Tokyuuji Dodge Danpei in the 90s, which can simply be described as "Super Dodge Ball: The Manga & Anime", just without any actual association with the Kunio-kun Series, though the various video game adaptations are pretty much just Super Dodge Ball games, mechanically. At least Jeremy can look forward the Game Boy & Game Gear games... eventually.
The Dodge Danpei manga ran for six years (1989 to 1995) & 18 volumes, the 1991 anime ran for 47 episodes (& even recently got an SD-BD re-release in Japan), and the creator even returned to it recently with a sequel web manga, Honou no Tokyuuko Dodge Danko, that stars Danpei's daughter!
A former Technos dev posted a development board with the game on Twitter recently, and they seemed to think it was only released overseas.
I dunno, I feel like the NES was a time before "gamer" culture even really existed. Almost everyone I knew had a NES, boys and girls alike, and no one really thought about it. It was a bit later into the 16-bit era where game enthusiasts were branded as nerds. Though I suppose computer gaming, or using a computer at all, was branded as nerdy. I loved (real life) dodgeball then, even though we played with those fairly beefy rubber balls that could hurt pretty bad if you got hit in the face. In the schools I've worked at as an adult, those balls aren't used for dodgeball anymore and the dodgeballs are much lighter and softer compressed foam balls.
Yeah, for sure. If you were over the age of 12 and played video games, it was open season for bully abuse. Not that they needed a lot of excuses!
It's so fun to watch the opponents guys when they are stunned! Those goofy faces LMAO! That's a good time to let them have another shot from the back. cheap but funny!
As the old saying goes,
"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."
Sony skipping S.I.S. to manage the thrust of early PSX software development was the epitome of foresight.
Not that they couldn't do good work, but that 3rd parties will be 100x more important to PSX sales than internal creative studios.
Sony Image Soft was a very early wrench lobbed at Ken Kutaragi, and he dodged it just fine.
When I was a kid, the local skate rink had the arcade version of this, and I absolutely loved it.
The kunio-kun connection is pretty awesome. I loved this game and all the related games to it without ever onowing they were related other than art styles. Thanks!
Christmas 1989. I was 7. I got a TV. A huffy mountain bike. A Nintendo and super Dodge ball for Christmas. What a Christmas that was!
Nobody wanted me to have me on their team in Dodgeball, which worked out for me because I never wanted to play. I'd always intentionally step in front of tosses to get myself eliminated. I just could not care.
I would have never of thought this game had anything to do with Renegade
I’d love to see a successor to this game
The GBA sequel was a launch title and very good.
Well I'll admit you got with last week's teaser. I was for sure thinking this was going to be Taxon's GI Joe. I should have realized Super Dodge Ball was still yet to get its due!
G.I. Joe didn’t hit until 1990, I’m afraid.
If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball - Patches O' Houlihan.
C.A. Moss "Dodge this." Hah. Nice Matrix ref.
The egg came first because of how evolution works. The first ever chicken egg had to have been laid by a different species that was the immediate ancestor of a chicken.
I just want to note that I reflexively tried to brush away the bug on my screen when I saw your avatar. You're a monster.
@@JeremyParish Thanks. I made it diagonal to really sell the effect.
I was a geeky kid that was an easy target of bullies but I actually enjoyed real life dodgeball quite a lot. One thing I liked about it was that it was a rare sport that I immediately understood the objectives and strategy of. One of my biggest disadvantages in school was that my parents were not interested in sports so I had no experience or familiarity with them beyond what you might see in a movie, and in general the other kids just expected you to know how to play and not suck. I knew how to play dodgeball and didn't suck at it. Regarding the sales appeal of an NES dodgeball game I think the biggest obstacle it would have had for me is that I would assume it was dull, as sports games typically were. Super Dodge Ball is not dull at all but it would need to emphasize it's arcade gameplay and goofy personality to attract my attention. Personally I don't think I had heard of it until emulation came along.
I adore the Kunio-Kun series, and they hold up surprisingly well even today. I honestly can't think of other games from the era which can create genuinely funny cartoon chaos - especially in later games, as their engine became more complex. If anyone's interested, there's a great Kunio-Kun collection on Switch and PS4 which is *the* definitive way to play the Fami/NES games.
This game got so much playtime in our house. and yes we wondered why it didn't have the 4-player option cause it would've been perfect for it.
I own and have played a copy of Nintendo World Cup, and strangely never realized that it's from the same series as River City Ransom, despite the similar art style.
Great video. Excellent and interesting, as always. Though you refer to the game as Volleyball at a little after 11 minutes into the video.
Which search engine are you rocking these days?
I loved this game as a kid.
I actually enjoyed playing dodgeball (the irl "sport") as a kid. I couldn't throw for shit but I was really good at dodging (the trick is to be willing to throw yourself into the ground), usually always ended at the end of the match.
There was this one time I was the last man standing against one of the class' jerks, and it was so amusing how increasingly pissed he became because he _just couldn't him me!_ Hahahaha (I didn't win tho, the ball eventually touched my foot)
Im a nerd ... have always been one ... but I LOVED dodge ball as a kid, and loved this game almost as much,
Kunio-kun would also get a bunch of Famicom Sports games that wouldn't be localized until the Kunio-kun collection on the Switch. Nice to see us just the first of those localized for the US. And of course Sony would go on to bigger and better things in time, but it's nice to see their beginnings in the Works series.
Great game. It does have a lot of sprit flicker though.
Just subscribed! You are a gifted journalist=)
I assume the title was a reference to the Dark Knight Returns. I approve.
Jeremy don’t shiv.
@@theFlyingSwami I want a hoodie that reads "MY NAME IS ROB"
Always appreciate a Dark Knight Returns reference
Did any 4 player Dodge Ball games come out for the NES in the West?
I'm a bad at sports dweeb. I always loved Dodgeball.
Super Dodgeball on GBA is easily top 5 favorite games all time.
wonderful
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:19 🎮 *Evolution from Renegade to Super Dodge Ball*
- Evolution of brawler games from Renegade to Double Dragon.
- Influence of developer Yoshihisa Kishimoto's past on Renegade's theme.
- Introduction of Super Dodge Ball as a sequel to Renegade.
03:29 🏐 *Super Dodge Ball: A Sports Twist*
- Transition from brawler to sports game in Super Dodge Ball.
- Origins and history of dodgeball.
- Unique features of Super Dodge Ball gameplay, including character attributes and mechanics.
08:08 🕹️ *Super Dodge Ball: Enhanced Gameplay*
- Improvement in graphics and gameplay in Super Dodge Ball compared to Renegade.
- Impact of advanced memory management chips on NES game quality.
- Detailed gameplay mechanics and character differentiation in Super Dodge Ball.
10:15 ⚔️ *Intense Competition in Super Dodge Ball*
- Gameplay dynamics and objectives in Super Dodge Ball.
- Implementation of team-based strategy and tactics.
- Introduction of special moves and character-specific abilities.
13:30 🎮 *Multiplayer and Localization*
- Availability of multiplayer modes in Super Dodge Ball.
- Localization changes for the international release, including renaming characters and teams.
- Impact of localization on the game's narrative and setting.
15:08 🌟 *Legacy and Reception*
- Impact of Super Dodge Ball on gaming culture and emulation.
- Rediscovery of Super Dodge Ball as a sleeper hit in the NES library.
- Cultural phenomenon surrounding dodgeball and its influence on media and sports.
Made with HARPA AI
Fantastic intro - 10/10 would recommend
I first saw Super Dodge Ball at a bowling alley in Layton. It was standing right next to the original Street Fighter.
Playing to the death in any sport WAS an official schoolyard rule in the 80's.
7:37 Aah... I'm sorry, Jeremy, but I think you might need to censor that guy's... Face...
Never played this, not even sure it released here in Sweden, but I didn't know this is where Sony games got it's start. Nekketsu's wild history, that I knew, but not Sony's. Nice to have another piece of the puzzle.
My brother and I loved this game. I had high hopes that River City Melee Mach would be just as fun, but was a bit let down.
Sports is my favorite after sports activity
Jeremy really is a master at tickling that awkward-elder-millenial-nerdy-kid nerve, while simultaneously performing subtle take downs of late-stage capitalist enshittification.
I'm not sure a two-minute digression to complain about the uselessness of Google Search is especially subtle!
'burn ball' was one of the more fun things we had in school. but in our country you played it with like a foam ball.