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2008's Biggest Blips: Super Dodgeball Brawlers
Developer: MillionPublisher: Aksys GamesRelease: April 2008 Parents:You've seen the news. Our children are rapidly falling under the sway of insidious video games, spending hours upon hours watching and even taking part in the most brutal acts of violence imaginable. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt 2 are designed with nothing in mind but a devious plot to corrupt our children and disrupt our society. Not only that, but many of these games expose our youth to graphic sexuality. Case in point: Mass Effect, which is a pornographic game targeted at preschoolers and (reportedly) given away with boxes of cereal.The latest threat to our children's sensitive minds comes from Super Dodgeball Brawlers, a game of such stark brutality that it should be banned. And yet, it's going to be released on the Nintendo DS, a game system for children. This shocking violence simulator allows children to play a game called "dodge ball," in which characters break up into teams and attempt to murder each other with thrown projectiles. Disgustingly, this "dodge ball" is presented as a sport, suggesting that it's an acceptable activity for children to engage in on the schoolyard or in the park. Publisher Aksys Games should be held accountable when this deadly game begins claiming young lives. It's bad enough that children will be taught to use harmless playground balls as weapons, but Super Dodgeball Brawlers takes the corruption a step farther. It satisfies murderous fantasies by giving the players super powers, allowing them to electrify the ball, multiply it in the air or throw it at super-speed. These attacks will even turn our harmless pizzas, cacti, panda bears, and Eiffel Towers into brutal weapons. Kids will even be able to drop the pretenses of sportsmanship and batter each other directly. Worst yet, Super Dodgeball Brawlers will allow children to connect their DS units wirelessly and perform the simulated violence in groups of eight. Even if you can keep this out of your own home, your children are in imminent danger of having the offending software forced onto their DSes. We must put a stop to this! If you don't complain to your congressman and do your best to block sale of this disgusting game, it will be on you when children, too addled by flashing lights and cartoons to understand the difference between fantasy and reality, begin acting out this "dodge ball" with their friends.%Gallery-14440% Ninja Gaiden Back EXTREME INVADING
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Ich bin ein Dodgeballer'
Aksys' latest Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos take us to Germany, the land of Deutsches. Boasting a six-man squad of supermen, Team Germany has its own array of power throws to show off.Those of you who've been following Aksys' updates should already know what to expect from this new set -- clips without sound or any lasting entertaining value. Also, while each of the eight special attacks shown varies in its style of dodgeball delivery, the result is always the same -- dudes getting beaned in the face. Not very exciting, but it's Super Dodgeball Brawlers!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Cor blimey, guvna!'
Like the blinking dodgeball traveling two miles per hour in this short clip, Super Dodgeball Brawlers' release this coming spring continues its slow approach. Before you know it, the game will crash right into your face, leaving an imprint of your surprised expression on its box before sending you flying out of the arena.Aksys has eight new videos in its latest Super Dodgeball Brawlers update, this time demonstrating the "super throws" from the "super tossers" of Team England. Once again, the clips are soundless and, in our opinion, not too exciting, but we'll take what we can get; we're just happy that the game is being localized at all!
Hide behind a big kid: Super Dodgeball Brawlers official site
What better way to ring in the new year than with Super Dodgeball Brawlers? Japanese publisher Arc System Works has set up an official site for the Kunio-kun game for its release in Japan this February 21st, providing the requisite wallpapers and tiny screenshots.Other than that, you won't find much media that we haven't already foisted upon you, but there are some interesting remarks about its "Create a Dream Team" mode and using punch or kick attacks during a regular match. The site also mentions the burst gauge, a new feature with which your team can charge up and execute special moves capable of changing the tide of the game!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'USA! USA!'
"Pow! Right in the kisser!"Aksys Games has put out another round of Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos, this time showcasing the special throws available with Team USA's roster (last week's clips were from the Nekketsu Highschool team). Once again, the movies are extremely short and without sound, but you still get to see some dudes get their blocks knocked off, thrown off the screen and across town from the force of a connected power shot.Super Dodgeball Brawlers is scheduled to smack North America in the back of its head this Spring 2008 (without online support, unfortunately). The next set of videos Aksys plans to release will feature Team England and arrive on January 4th. Head past the break for the rest of this week's seconds-long clips -- you might want to take your glasses off first, though.
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!'
We ran here with a quickness unforeseen to deliver these Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos to you, jumping over the chalked line and spiking these clips with all our might right into your face. Sure, they're each only a few seconds long, demonstrating some of the special shots in place of an actual match, but beggars can't be choosers, and, like TLC, we ain't too proud to beg, especially when it's for our first look at one of 2008's most anticipated games in motion.If you haven't marked it on your calendar yet, Aksys Games plans to bring the Kunio-kun title to the states next spring, so go ahead and draw smiley faces across that entire season. Guard your grill and zig-zag past the post break for seven more of these short, soundless videos from Super Dodgeball Brawlers.
Super Dodgeball Brawlers: the first American Kunio game
When Siliconera's Spencer Yip interviewed Aksys's Gail Salamanca about Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles, he also submitted a battery of questions about Super Dodgeball Brawlers, many of which were submitted by readers. One reader asked if Aksys would keep the Kunio series characters for the game, rather than making them more generic and American. Salamanca responded with "Yes, we will be keeping the Kunio names for the US version."This may only be significant to us and to the person asking the question (who was, we admit, also us), but that means that Super Dodgeball Brawlers will be the first Kunio game in the U.S. Renegade, River City Ransom, Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge, Super Spike V'Ball, Nintendo World Cup, and every previous version of Super Dodge Ball were all part of the Kunio-kun series from Technos, starring two rude high-school kids named Kunio and Riki. And without exception, the original characters were excised from the localization.Another reader asked if more Kunio games were upcoming, and Salamanca replied "We hope so." Not much news there, but if Aksys wants to continue publishing upcoming Kunio games, we're happy to hear it. What a great day for Technos nerds.
VC Tuesday: Things of Thunder
Two games this week involve things being thundery, at least in terms of title. Of course, neither Gate of Thunder nor Rolling Thunder 2 has much to do with actual thunder -- Rolling Thunder 2 is about dudes shooting guns at each other, and Gate of Thunder is about spaceships shooting space guns at each other. Pokémon Snap we've already discussed. It's really easy, but surprisingly fun for a Nintendo 64 game Pokémon spinoff game, and with added functionality that will let you bug the hell out of your Wii friends with annoying spam.What should have been the biggest news on the list -- a Kunio game -- is instead not. When Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari came out, we feared we were mistaken and that it was actually Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai, a street-Olympics game that predated the game known as Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge. Well, this week, it actually is Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai. So, uh, yeah. Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku Daiundokai (Famicom, 1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) Pokemon Snap (Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1000 Wii Points) Rolling Thunder 2 (Mega Drive, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points) Gate of Thunder (PC Engine Super CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
Spring 2008: American balls get dodged
We don't know how today could get any better, unless we suddenly found a copy of Contra 4 in our Boo Berry (checking ... nope). Siliconera just reported that Aksys Games (also known as heroes of game publishing) will be bringing Chou Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-Kun Dodge Ball Bu to the U.S. under the excellent name of Super Dodgeball Brawlers. Because they play dodge ball, and also get into fights.Even if you don't like Super Dodge Ball, buy it. Buy a couple of copies so Million gets the idea that they need to continue making more new Kunio games. In the meantime, we're going to start ordering decorations and (of course) dodge balls for the Super Dodgeball Brawlers welcoming party. Spring 2008 is just around the corner!
Super Everything-But-Dodgeball DS screenshots
Even without the Cold War propaganda, we're still crazy excited about Super Dodgeball DS, setting our budgets, vacation time, and gods of worship around its release. These latest screenshots from the Kunio-themed sports title have us licking our lips, partly out of lust, partly due to chapped lips.If you thought Super Dodgeball DS's screwiness peaked with its "Panda Shoot" power shot, just look at the screenshot above. One player has crossed the line separating the two teams, a barrel hoisted over his head. His teammate below, encased in ice, is being punched back to the other side of the arena. One of their opponents has curled up into a morph ball while another lies on the ground, unconscious or maybe dead. Complicating matters, the Snowman spectators have even begun to wander into the match. The dodgeball sits to the side, completely forgotten.We've got more wild images past the post break -- Eiffel Tower summoning! A thrown mackerel! A small, yapper-type dog!
Promotional Consideration: Beaning the Red Army
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.With Arc System Works and Milliom [sic] laboring together on a return for the Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club, we finally have an excuse to bring out our favorite ads for the Super Dodgeball series. Put on your gym clothes, tighten your shoelaces, and run past the break to see what we've been waiting to hit you with.
It's time to look at Super Dodge Ball DS again
We had almost settled down a little from the last time we saw screens of Super Dodge Ball DS. Then Jeux-France threw these screens directly into our faces, and our blood is boiling hot once again. The very idea that it will be possible to play a new Super Dodge Ball game in the near future trumps just about all gaming news. Uh, that is, except for all the other great gaming news on DS Fanboy. That's all totally worthwhile.Today's Dodge Ball update comes in the form of a page from Nintendo Dream magazine, with two precious new screens included. We love that in one of the screens, the game has broken down into an 8-person brawl with some dodge ball happening on the side. Check after the break for the full scan!
Dodge Ball DS adds Dodge Fist, Dodge Kick and Dodge Panda
Million, the developer of Super Dodge Ball Advance and River City Ransom EX, is made up of former Technos employees, including founder Kunio Taki. It's as close to real Technos as anyone can get. That's why it's so great to see their name (misspelled as "Milliom" though it may be) in the copyright information on the Famitsu story about Cho Nekketsu Koukou Dodge Ball.We're happy to see a return to Kunio and gang after the bizarre character designs in Super Dodge Ball Advance. We're also happy to see insane new power shots, like the "Panda Shoot" seen here, as well as "Cactus Shoot." We're slightly troubled by what appears to be a touch-screen menu for power shot activation.The other big news in this iteration of Dodge Ball is the integration of River City Ransom-style fighting. In addition to beaning each other in the face, you can now just kick some dudes.
Super Dodge Ball DS beans you in the face
Oh, Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club, how we've missed you! If there's one thing that the Nintendo DS has been missing, it's more Kunio-kun. The latest issue of Famitsu reveals that the hot-blooded gang will be returning with another entry to the beloved Super Dodge Ball series, bouncing the game off the back of our heads and onto the DS. Though online support hasn't been revealed -- and we don't expect it, however perfect the idea might be -- developer Arc System Works will include an eight-player free-for-all battle mode, via local download-play. We don't even know eight people! According to initial translations, Cho Nekketukoukou Kuniokun Dodge Ball DS will also feature customization options for players and even teams. We can only hope that a publisher will eventually pick up this title for North America, much like Atlus did with River City Ransom Ex and Super Dodge Ball Advance, both for the GBA. Guard your eyeglasses and scurry past the post break for the magazine scans of this gym class favorite.
Virtually Overlooked: River City Ransom EX
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.Talking about the execrable Renegade last week put us in a Technos kind of mood. It's not really fair to Technos or to you to focus only on their one terrible NES game. Let's cleanse our palates together with a good Kunio game. River City Ransom EX is a Game Boy Advance remake of the NES River City Ransom, which is significantly improved in almost every respect-- except boxart, unfortunately.
Virtually Overlooked: Renegade
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.We often feature bad games on Virtually Overlooked. A lot of bad games are historically notable or weird enough to enjoy. Sometimes they're just funny.Today's bad game, Renegade, is one of the historically important ones. It's also kind of funny, if you don't have to play it for long. It's the first beat-em-up from Technos, who we'd say we'd follow to the grave if they weren't already there. And, yeah, it's got some tuff boxart.
