Konami's Ping Pong is a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

created in 1985 by

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

. It is the first

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

to accurately reflect the gameplay of

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, as opposed to earlier simplifications like ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...

''. It was ported to the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary flopp ...

, MSX, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

Gameplay

''Konami's Ping Pong'' can be played singleplayer or multiplayer, using 11 point scoring rules; the first player to attain a score of 11 or higher, leading by two points, wins the game (to a maximum of 14-14, at which point the next point wins). The player must win the best of two out of three games in order to beat the match. The playfield is shown from an isometric perspective with the players shown as disembodied hands; players placed on the far-side of the table will find hitting the ball is much more difficult. However, the player is always positioned on the near side during the

single player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

mode. All the essential moves are represented: forehand, backhand, lob, and smash. The game includes the

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

from Konami's earlier title ''

Antarctic Adventure is a video game developed by Konami in 1983 for the MSX, and later for video game consoles, such as NES and ColecoVision. The player takes the role of an Antarctic penguin, racing to various research stations owned by different countries in Antar ...

'' on the

title screen A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television show, television programmes present their title and key filmmaking, production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a ...

and as a member of the audience in the game. This penguin would be later be known as Penta. In the introductory animation, a pingpong ball bounces along the table, and finally hits Penta on the head, who appears to faint.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Konami's Ping Pong'' on their September 1, 1985 issue as being the nineteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

Ports

In 1985 the game was released by Konami for MSX computers and in 1986 the game was ported to the

and

Imagine Software Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, ...

and

Bernie Duggs Bernie may refer to: Places in the United States * Bernie, Missouri, a city * Griffithsville, West Virginia, also called Bernie People * Bernie (given name) ** Bernie Sanders, United States senator and 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential candid ...

, under the name ''Ping Pong''. Apart from scaled-down graphics and sound due to limited system capabilities, the ports perfectly replicate the arcade gameplay. In 1987 the game was ported to the

as ''Smash Ping Pong'' and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

. Nintendo's character Donkey Kong Jr. replaces Konami's Penta in the crowd.

Diskun The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for ...

, a Famicom Disk System Mascot, also replaces Pentarou in a title screen.

Legacy

The game was re-released on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

in Japan and the PAL region (the latter got this as an import game under the title ''Smash Table Tennis''). ''Konami's Ping Pong'' was made available on

Microsoft's Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washingt ...

Game Room Game Room was a social gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room let players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores. ...

'' service for its

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

console and for Windows-based PCs in June 2010. ''Smash Ping Pong'' was digitally re-released as part of

Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is an online subscription service for the Nintendo Switch video game console. Nintendo Switch Online features include online multiplayer, cloud saving, voice chat via a smartphone app, access to a library of Ninten ...

's library of Famicom games in December 2020.

References

External links

*{{KLOV game, id=8349
Information on ZX Spectrum Conversion
from ''

CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' magazine. 1985 video games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Commodore 64 games Famicom Disk System games Konami games MSX games Video games scored by Martin Galway Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U ZX Spectrum games Table tennis video games Konami arcade games Nintendo Switch Online games Video games developed in Japan