Arcade Archives: Power Spikes

 

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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Power Spikes (Video System, 1991)

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Only the Japanese ROM (Super Volley '91) is included, despite the Power Spikes name on the Western storefronts. Preference Settings allow players to display their score (the points like you get in other arcade games, not the score of the actual match, yes it's confusing) during their run. Surprisingly, the fake company banners in the background- including Hitacki and NEG, the most obvious of parodies- have not been edited, they're still here!

Spike! Set! Serve! All the volleyball action you can slam a ball into! The follow-up to the original Super Volleyball / Super Volley (also available on Arcade Archives), this keeps the same unusual side-on perspective (no isometric view here, it's purely from the sidelines) that works quite well for volleyball but changes the controls by, surprisingly, reducing the number of buttons! The second button in the original game was used for a few different spike types, but it's done with combinations of the stick and single button now, plus (if I have this right, not a volleyball expert) receiving is a little more automated this time. Other changes include an entire game mode for women's volleyball (not in the International versions which aren't included here anyway) and nicer presentation, so it's a pretty decent follow-up for an arcade sports game, certainly not just a roster update! This rerelease also comes with a rather helpful manual to explain the various volleyball techniques in case you're a newcomer to the sport, which is really useful.

Although they're probably best known for the Aero Fighters / Sonic Wings series (which is getting a new entry after several decades, developed by Success), Video System has a surprising lineage in volleyball games- there's the original Super Volleyball / Super Volley, this game, Hyper V-Ball / Super Volley 2 on the SNES and Power Spikes II on the Neo Geo which included the future-sports-style Hyper League mode from the SNES game. Now, sports aren't my area at all really (what a surprise) but this series of games have some nice presentation and the purely-side-on perspective is a good fit for volleyball, so you only have to worry about a 2D plane rather than judging for height from an isometric view. There's not a lot of arcade volleyball games out there (you're more likely to find that ruffian Kunio playing dodgeball instead) and, well, Power Spikes II which has a lot more going on with its Hyper League mode is already available via ACA Neo Geo, but it's good to have the whole Video System volleyball line-up available now. That said, there's still a few interesting games Hamster have yet to rerelease from the company- I'm personally hoping they get to Spinbal Breakers or Lethal Crash Race in the future!