Super Glove Ball
System: NES
Release Date: October 1990
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Mattel
Genre: Puzzle
Learn why the glove is so bad in Super Glove Ball! You’re trapped in a space station intent on killing you. It’s up to you to find your way through this three dimensional Arkanoid by clearing walls and searching for the exit. Do you have what it takes to find your way to freedom? I remember getting Super Glove Ball with my Power Glove when I was a kid. I thought how fun it was going to be actually punching my opponents in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Of course, anyone who actually used the Power Glove knows that it was a pile of hot garbage in practice, but at least it looked super cool.
The first thing you have to learn is how to navigate the three dimensions. The d-pad takes care of the X and Y axis. To go forward and back on the Z axis, you hold and release the A Button. You release a ball into the room by pressing the B Button. You have to use the glove like a paddle and ricochet it into squares on the wall to make them disappear. You can also grab and release the ball with the B Button. Once all the squares on a wall have been hit, you may be able to move into an adjacent room, if it exists by moving against it and pressing the Select Button.
The glove has a health bar that depletes as you hit enemies. It replenishes as you move to a new room. You begin with several balls and several lives. Losing all of your balls will take away one life. You can shoot fireballs out of the finger tip by pressing the Select Button. This is an easy way to take enemies out in the level, but there’s a limited supply of bullets. Your ammo is replenished frequently when hitting question mark blocks.
In fact, there are a lot of different powerups that you come across. One ball is split into three with the Tri-Ball. Super speeds the ball up and automatically bounces it around the room without your help. Row clears an entire row or column of squares when it hits. The manual says Ice slows the movement of enemies, but I didn’t see any difference. Bomb exists and is probably a more powerful hit. I like when Super combines with Tri-Ball to quickly clear a stage. I wish that Super could be paired with Row, but alas, Rare did not want to give me that super power.
Puzzle room offended me by making it so difficult to aim for the squares I wanted. Why can’t I grab the ball in this room? Trying to aim by just tapping the ball with the glove is an exercise in frustration. You may think they’re going to be something special to help you, but holes are death traps There are occasional warps if you hit a specific square. I got warped back ta couple times, but when I got warped back to level 1 twice in a row, I rage quit and vowed not to play this game ever again.
Graphics: 1.0
Everything looks poor overall and all the sprite flickering doesn’t help in the least.
Sound: 2.5
Rare is good at making interesting music and sounds. The different instruments are very neat, but the ball bouncing sound is atrocious.
Gameplay: 2.0
The controls work, even with the Power Glove, but it doesn’t make them very good.
Difficulty: 1.5
You get a lot of balls and lives, but I feel like there’s a lot of chance at play, unless you are cool with playing each room over and over and over again.
Fun Factor: 1.0
There’s not enough depth for this game to be enjoyable.
Overall Rating: 1.6
Super Glove Ball earns a C-. It’s alright for a tech demo, but it’s not a great game by any means.