Ball

This article is about the Game & Watch game. For other uses of the term "Ball", see Ball (disambiguation).

Ball's Classic version (left) and Modern version with Light Blue Yoshi (right) in Game & Watch Gallery 2

Ball is the very first game of the Game & Watch series, being released on April 28, 1980. The Super Mario franchise is involved in some of the later releases of Ball, the first instance being Mario the Juggler, a Super Mario-themed variation of the game. In Game & Watch Gallery, Ball is one of the games in the Gallery Corner. Ball also appears in Game & Watch Gallery 2, where only the Classic version is available by default, unlike most Game & Watch games included in the Game & Watch Gallery series, and the Modern version can be unlocked by either obtaining five stars on both modes in the Classic version or possessing a star count of 25 or more. Easy Mode seems to be like Game A, while Hard Mode is Game B. The WarioWare series has a few microgames based on Ball: Game & Watch Toss Up in WarioWare: Touched! and Ball in Game & Wario. In Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., there is a Super Mario-themed variation of Ball different from Mario the Juggler.

Gameplay

Classic version

The player controls a character who has to juggle balls for as long as possible. If one ball breaks, it is Game Over. Game A has two balls to juggle (one point per catch), while Game B has three balls (10 points per catch). This has, unlike the other Game & Watch games, one chance to play, before a Game Over.

Modern version

The player starts out playing as Yoshi (depicted as a Light Blue Yoshi in the Game Boy Color version), but as they collect more stars, they can later play as Mario, then as Wario, and finally as King Koopa (who is represented by a K instead of a B), each more difficult than the last. The first mode has Yoshi juggling Yoshi Eggs. The Mario mode has the player juggling a Star, a Super Mushroom, and a heart, actually just like Mario the Juggler but with the Super Mushroom added. These items have varying arcs of flight as opposed to the fixed patterns of the eggs. The heart is also worth only two points as opposed to three. Wario's mode gives the player the same heart, the same Star, and a Wanderin' Goom to juggle. The objects have varying arcs of flight, and the Goom occasionally flies offscreen. King Koopa's mode features a Koopa Shell, a Boo Buddy, and a Goomba to keep aloft. Like the Wanderin' Goom, the Goomba and shell sometimes fly offscreen. The Boo Buddy also occasionally stops while traveling across its arc. Like the heart, the Goomba and shell are worth only two points apiece.

The Yoshi and King Koopa variants of the Modern version of Ball have Bob-ombs that sometimes fly down from the sky, while the Mario variant has fireballs and the Wario variant has Spiked Balls. If a Bob-omb, fireball, or Spiked Ball hits one of the paddles, it causes a Game Over too. At 100 points for Yoshi, 200 points for Mario, 300 points for Wario, and 400 points for King Koopa, coins rain down from the sky. Touching the coins with the paddles rewards the player with bonus points. By getting all of the coins, the player receives a 20-point bonus as well.

Unlike in the Classic version, music is featured, with the tempo changing depending on the speed of the game.

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  The Modern version of Ball (Mario variant)

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  The Modern version of Ball (Wario variant)

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  The Modern version of Ball (King Koopa variant)

Controls

• (left and right): Move
• : Move left
• : Move right

Gallery

Artwork

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  Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.

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  Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.

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  Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. sleep mode artwork

Sprites

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  Yoshi Egg

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  Coin

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  Bob-omb

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  Mushroom

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  Heart

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  Super Star

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  Wanderin' Goom

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  Koopa Shell

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  Fireball

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  Goomba

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  Spiked Ball

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  Boo Buddy

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  Light Blue Yoshi

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  Mario

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  Wario

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  King Koopa

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  Warp Pipe (Yoshi variant)

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  Warp Pipe (King Koopa variant)

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  Piranha Plant statue

Trivia

• One of the tips for this game is inaccurate; Toad tells the player they have to catch the characters (the characters being Bob-ombs) and avoid the coins, when it is actually the other way around. This may have been an error in translation; the tip is accurate in the Japanese version.
• In Game & Watch Gallery 2, Princess Peach was planned to be one of the playable characters in Modern Mode, with most of her graphical data still intact. In her variation, she was going to juggle cookies like those seen in Yoshi's Cookie.

External links

• Ball info page on In The Attic, a website dedicated to classic videogames (Internet Archive: Wayback Machine)