This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on November 17th, 2018. It has been edited slightly for formatting and a minor factual correction.
Happy Saturday, it’s time for PlayStation Basement. Like every Saturday, I’ll be reviewing an overlooked or odd game for the original PlayStation. As always, I’ll be using a nine-point scale where 7-9 is Good, 6-4 is Neutral, and 3-1 is Bad.
Happy Saturday, it’s time for PlayStation Basement. Like every Saturday, I’ll be reviewing an overlooked or odd game for the original PlayStation. As always, I’ll be using a nine-point scale where 7-9 is Good, 6-4 is Neutral, and 3-1 is Bad.
Next week is Thanksgiving, and, for whatever reason, you can’t have Thanksgiving without football. It is thought, by probably no one in particular, that the word Thanksgiving refers to an offering to the footballian gods of the ancient Nefler people of Lemuria. As time passed, the Neflers became known as the NFL due to a fluke in language translation. Therefore, today let’s talk about a game that has nothing to do with football but is its own fictional game of the future. This is Pitball.
Pitball was released in North America, Japan, and Europe in 1996. It was developed by Time Warner Interactive and published by Accolade. It was one of the first games that I owned for the PlayStation. Pitball is a violent sport played between many planets in the 23rd Century. It is a bit like dodgeball, basketball, and the Mesoamerican ballgame combined. It is a two-on-two face off for power and glory. Now, “let’s get ready to rumble!”
The three versions of Pitball each utilize a distinctive cover style. The original North American version has a very detailed painting similar to something you would maybe see on a Magic: the Gathering card, in the pages of a tabletop RPG, or perhaps on an action figure or comic book. The cover showcases the brutality of the sport, a large ape centurion on top of a beastly minotaur, the hairy Ancient slamming his fist down on the horned Toron’s head. The ape-man fires the ball towards the viewer as a wild crowd roars in the distance. This cover alone drew me into this game. The Japanese cover goes for sleeker sci-fi over the pulp image on the American cover. Twelve screens, showing each of the teams in in-game graphics, are shown on a simple black background. A glowing, orange title is centered with the words “galaxy sports battle” underneath. It shows the television aspect of sports, the role of the viewer in the high-speed of media. It heavily reminds me of seeing one of those big displays of screens at a store. Finally, the European cover shows the logo for the sport, itself a team logo of the strongest team, with the team logos of the other twelve teams around the edge. Everything is very bulbous and metallic, including the game’s title. Of the three, I like the American cover the best, followed by the Japanese and then the European.
Graphically, Pitball is a little less impressive. The game runs smoothly, very important for a fast-paced, multiplayer sports game, but the characters are small and stiffly animated. The teams and courts all look very unique with a combined aesthetic for each creature and homeworld. The various projectiles that the players shoot look decent, though the powerups to collect that fall on the field are somewhat indistinct. The glowing ball of energy that the teams pass, shoot, and battle over always looked pretty nice. There are also some FMVs in the game that look awesome and help flesh out the alien worlds. It’s a very mixed bag, though graphically Pitball leans towards the better than the worse.
The sound design of Pitball is cheesy. Each match begins with Michael Buffer, the famous boxing and wrestling announcer, belting out his infamous phrase before a little red floaty guy drops the ball onto the field with a smaller, robotic, “play ball!” This is corny pulp stuff. The sound effects for goals and attacks sound tinny and don’t seem to hit hard. The music does get you going with a techno soundtrack as common for games of this era. Though I personally don’t love that genre, the tracks are varied and well-produced.
Alright, now let’s go into the pit itself. Once the ball is dropped to the field, the teams have to scramble to grab it and fight it out to gain control similar to a tamer Mutant League Hockey, a futuristic NFL Blitz, or the legendary NBA Jam, which seems to have inspired much of this game. Players can attack each other with fists and various special projectiles, reducing their health and enticing the ball to float out of their hands. If a player loses too much health they become dizzied (think Street Fighter 2) for a few moments, causing a serious disadvantage. Players score in Pitball by shooting the ball into a small hole on their opponents’ side of the field. The ball can be charged to shoot further, and players can apply aftertouch to control it for a moment after shooting. Each venue has different gravity and friction, affecting jumping and ball physics. Missing the goal with a shot can cause the ball to go wildly out of control, potentially causing a goal on your own team and a point for the opponents. The team with the highest score after three minutes is the winner.
The teams themselves are pretty wild: Jazz & Funk, the Astarians from Aldebaran 4 who resemble the grey aliens of 90s toy vending machines; Blubba & Grunge, the magma-composed Slorillians of Slithmire; Shrapnel & Krush, the Arquons of Zeta Aquarll who are not unlike gillmen or sahuagins; Shanilla & Kareen, insectile Tcharids from the desert world of Lizillia; Ripsaw & Savij, Lykiri wolfmen from the snow-covered Rigel; Blade & Saber, Cyborian knights from the self-replicating and robotic world of Astrocosm 1; Gaius & Julius, gorilla-like Ancients that serve the emperor of Activis IV; Stampede & Rawhide, minotaurean Toron, former slaves of the Ancients, who live in the barren junkland of Toron Minor; Speedstar & Ash, spiritual humanoids with green skin who inhabit Borealis where Pitball originated; Meli & Sara, human marines from post-apocalyptic Earth, hit by an asteroid a half century ago; Kri-Tar & Tri-Ang, the power-suited Kreels, an octopus-like people, from the ruined Famoria, victim to the Kreels on warfare; and Icarus & Thorax, the bird/dragonfly Korpicans from the tranquil and magical Korpicus. Each team has their own strengths and weaknesses including different slams (a special scoring technique) and jumping attacks. There is also one more secret team that acts as the game’s final boss. I really enjoy the vast worlds that come together in sports battle within Pitball. The short write-ups provoke my thoughts to dream up more than what is told.
In addition to the standard arcade mode, Pitball also has an elaborate season league play. The player controls the owner of a team that has to manage money, buy equipment, hire new agents, gain sponsorships, handle bribes, and ultimately win games. The interface isn’t great, but I mostly tried this out when I was much younger. It definitely takes some getting used to, but it adds a lot for people who are really into sports and helps flesh out the world of Pitball.
After all is said and done, Pitball is a creative pulp sci-fi game of fast-acting futuristic athletes and alien worlds that has a few missteps. The gameplay gets a bit repetitive when playing solo, but this game is clearly intended for multiplayer – it even supports the PlayStation Multitap (something I hope to get around to trying out soon). The sound design could be better, though I can hear some of those odd-throbbing basslines in my head. I wish the graphics were more detailed, and, really, I wish there was more to explore with this world. I love the setting of this game and would like to see more done with it. A memorable game for sure, Pitball is great fun with friends, and I do recommend it.
Pitball receives a rating of Good (7).
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