''Rock'n' Ball'', released in Japan as , is a

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

video game that was originally released in 1989. The video game was released in both Japan and North America. In the North American version, fictional human characters are used instead of the licensed Namco characters, four male characters and two female characters are at the player's disposal. Compared to the North American version, the bumpers in the Japanese version are separately further and the players have more room to guide their ball around the playing surface. The Japanese version has a higher overall difficulty compared to the North American version despite the latter having bigger arches.

Summary

There are several gameplay options in the game. Some are; "regular

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

" for up to four players which resembles a game of

Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...

(

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

in the North American version), "nineball" where balls are knocked into a

Bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

pattern, "battle pinball" (which operates more like ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

'' instead of pinball), and "sports pinball" where the pinball game becomes more similar to a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

field. There are three different variations to the "battle pinball" mode; "thunder," "bomber," and the basic "attack" mode. All three of these options uses specialized flippers and a specialized pinball. For example, the "bomber" mode has a pinball that explodes after a certain time limit has been reached and the player's two target switches have been turned into bombs. A switch on the right-hand side of the board activates the special effects in the "attack" mode. Special guest characters in the Japanese version of the game include the Pac-Man character from the video game of the same name,

Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...

from the video game '' Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu'',

Wonder Momo is a 1987 beat 'em up arcade game that was developed and published by Namco exclusively in Japan. It was ported to the PC-Engine in 1989, with both versions of the game later ported to the Wii Virtual Console, and ported to Nintendo Switch and P ...

and Kai from the '' Babylonian Castle Saga'' series.

Reception

Allgame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...

gave ''Rock'n' Ball'' a rating of 3.5 stars out of a possible 5.

References

1989 video games KID games Multiplayer and single-player video games Namco games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Pinball video games Top-down video games Video games developed in Japan {{pinball-videogame-stub