This game is one of the early games brought to Amiga users by the Bitmap Brothers, the creators of games such as Xenon, Chaos Engine and Cadaver. The follow up sequel, Speedball 2, only reinforced what a remarkable success the original Speedball had been in bringing a revolutionary “future sport” to Amiga users. The brief story behind the game is that the Earth’s atmosphere is filled with noxious substances, which in effect has led to all outdoor sports to be a thing off the past.
This game is one of the early games brought to Amiga users by the Bitmap Brothers, the creators of games such as Xenon, Chaos Engine and Cadaver. The follow up sequel, Speedball 2, only reinforced what a remarkable success the original Speedball had been in bringing a revolutionary “future sport” to Amiga users. The brief story behind the game is that the Earth’s atmosphere is filled with noxious substances, which in effect has led to all outdoor sports to be a thing off the past. In place of these prehistoric sports a new type of game has been brought forward; Speedball – the sport of the future. A game played within a metal arena, where two teams of five players are pitted against each
other to claim the ultimate Speedball crown. The rules are simple; two teams play against each other, each team consists of 5 players, there is a goal at each end of the arena, the winner? The team that is able to “throw” (e.g. score) the most goals in the given time period. Players are encouraged to throw the ball to other members of their team in order to score a goal. There are a range of things to help you score a goal, the most obvious being that you can knock your opponents in order to obtain the ball. Today’s footballers would not be able to adapt to this sport as there is no such things as fouls... Performing clever tricks such as bouncing the ball off the wall to pass it to another player whilst the
player who threw it is knocked out by the opposition is probably the only clever, and most effective way of getting the ball around the arena quickly. From what I can remember of the game, pickups are scattered throughout the arena. Picking one up either helps or hinders your players in the quest for winning the game. Bribes can be used to corrupt officials and judges in the quest for winning the Speedball league. Gone are the days of purchasing the best players to win things fairly! There are three different modes: solo league, knockout tournament or simply against another player. The game play at first seems “sluggish” and slow, but once you get used to how to “handle” the ball, so to speak, you are able to enter a sport that is fast paced and at times frantic.
The graphics are simple yet effective, gameplay is viewed from a birds’ eye point of view. The music and sound effects of the game were standard for the time the game was released (1988), yet it heralded a new way of recording sound effects for sports games. This game is simple yet effective. It led to a number of imitators, the most notable being Brutal Blood Sports. But with Speedball being the original, game players were introduced to a new type of sport where beating the opponent up whilst scoring goals is the way to play the game!
