Its hard to believe that the Bitmap Brothers weren’t sitting around in their pajamas eating cereal on a Sunday morning back in the 70s whilst watching Rollerball, thinking, “one day, we will make computer games based on this film on a computer that has yet to be invented”
Obviously, none of that happened. The Bitmap Brothers aren’t brothers, they didn’t sit around together in the 70s watching films hoping one day to turn them into a games franchise. But they did make some amazing games.
In this weeks Spectrum Days podcast, available in all the usual podcast streaming places and on our YouTube channel, we try to remember Speedball and Speedball 2, and then we put ourselves through the misery of playing it, did it live up to our memories?
No, it didn’t, but that’s because we are old and grumpy and dont have friends. All of us loved Speedball or perhaps more so Speedball 2 – Brutal Deluxe, we played it on the Amiga, the micro made home by the Bitmaps, the place where they weaved their shiny graphics madness on us, we loved them for it. They were Gods.
In football games you were punished by a ref if you hacked the legs of your opponent too often, shame, it was often the most fun you could have in the early days of computer sport simulations. But in Speedball, its the only way to win, dont let your opponents get up, weaponize the ball and throw it at them, dig the spikes that adorn your suit intro their eyes so they cant see, OK, you cant actually do that last bit, but that shows how this game makes you feel, brutal, angry, that’s mainly because the goal keeper is an arse. Like a quite a few games back then, the goal keeper, in single player, being controlled by the computer, follows your every move making it so hard to score, yet when they computer gets down your end they score every time.
Back in the day we played this 2 player, I think that’s why I have such fond memories of it, its why I added Speedball to my Master System collection, I love both these games, I love how they look, how they sound, that instant Bitmap Brothers vibe, quality. I just dont feel in one player, now that I am old and grumpy, that I found it that good, I am willing to try again when I can find someone to play it it with. What do you think, do you still play it with friends or do you still play on your own, let us know?
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