Like “Kid Icarus,” “Super Dodge Ball” is another NES game that I aggressively ignored back in the day, mostly because the concept seemed completely ridiculous to me.
What is this, The Ocho?
If I had been paying better attention, I might have realized this came from the Technos “Kunio-kun” series of games, which included things like “Double Dragon” and “River City Ransom,” which are of course badass.
Technos also developed “Super Spike V’Ball,” which, stupid name aside, was a quite competent representation of beach volleyball. It had super moves and so forth and was basically a good weekend rental.
Dodge Ball works the same way, relying on the usage of special moves to achieve success. Like its “V’Ball” cousin, the appeal of doing this starts out with you feeling like a supreme dominator of peasants, but this wanes, meaning you’ll want to engage in some player vs player action to get any sort of longevity out of it.
“Windjammers” outdid both of these games, but you can see the bones of that title here.
As a curiosity on Switch Online, Dodge Ball is good for a bit. And that’s all it needs to be.