Nerdicus NES Review #150: Cyberball

Title : Cyberball

Publisher : Jaleco

Developer : Atari Games

Genre : Sports

Players : 1/2/4 Players

Release Date : 1988

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-$10

What better way to spark my interest in sport games than by adding some damn robots to 'em! After all, I was suckered in into enjoying Base Wars, but that was probably because they included that battle system into the game. Nothing better than breaking up the monotony of a baseball game than by having two robots duke it out.

Now we get to experience the glory of robotic football! What ho!! Perhaps I can find a team as bad as the Jets in here....ohhhhhh.....yeah.....

On a side note, does anyone remember the arcade cabinets for this thing? I remember seeing one in Great Adventure WAAAAAY back in the day. If my memory serves me right, I played this a few times with a family friend who was obsessed with football games (literally owned every madden known to man) , and could vividly picture him getting pissed off after his robotic players exploded on the screen.

Football and explosions are quite satisfying. Time to see what else can blow up in this game.

I'm sure you know the rules of football. Well, throw those rules out the window! There are no first downs in this game! You've got to work with a football bomb that's about to explode. Talk about nail-biting! The only way you can defuse this bomb is by crossing over the fifty yard line, or when possession changes. Still, it's highly entertaining to watch your players blow up on the field.

But if waiting for the ball to blow up isn't your thing, you can always force your robotic players to take major damage over time. First they'll start smoking, then they'll be set on fire, and eventually they just explode which usually causes them to drop the ball, hence resulting in a fumble.

If you wanted to though, you can always upgrade your robots with cash you'll acquire after you make each successful play. They'll survive longer that way, and at least adds a bit of strategy element to the football play making section.

You know, I played this game with the hopes of fast-paced robotic fighting football. I felt like the only thing I got here was regular football, with sub-standard rules, and players that sporadically "blow up" to replace injuries. I have to say, I wasn't impressed.

The game is slow. And when I say slow, I mean slow. It just drags across the field while you're making plays. Maybe they were just trying to portray robots as big, slow, metal objects, but what's the fun in that?

Visually, the game is also incredibly unappealing. Check out those graphics. Am I supposed to be impressed with that? At least Base Wars made the robots look damn cool, and not like these pitiful sprites.

Well, that's about it for this game. Pretty short and to the point review, but you know what this game has nothing to offer. It's not fun. Maybe the arcade version was better, but as a NES port, it fails miserably.

This game is the equivalent of the 2014 Jets. (wow two jets jabs in one review)

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!