Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there existed a game called Super Dodgeball that inhabited the arcades and the NES, and it was good. Very good. Super Dodgeball was probably one of the finer examples of taking an extremely simple concept and not botching it up, unlike other games that have crossed our paths in the past. The game boils down to hitting your opponent harder and faster than they can hit you. It's a game that all of us have played in elementary school at one point or another, and it's something that (well, for me anyways) I'll always wish to relive. Until that day comes, Atlus has decided to brush off the old title, and let the gamers of the next generation experience what so many of us seasoned veterans have already done with Super Dodgeball Advance for the Game Boy Advance.

As with all remakes, the graphic engine gets a significant facelift, although I do miss the pudgy athletes that Technos pioneered with games such as River City Ransom and Nintendo World Cup Soccer. Instead, we're given a bunch of teenagers who want to make it to the big leagues and challenge the top teams of the world...(sounds like an episode of Pokémon, doesn't it?) The team rosters are a little different now, with teams spread over the major countries of the world, instead of the little odd countries that were present in the first game. Now we're given teams such as the England Knights or the Japan Bombers...or my favourite, the Canada Foxes! It sure is a far cry from the mean streets of Kenya and Iceland though. Obviously the graphics are a step up from the old 8-bit days, featuring some great backgrounds and well animated sprites. 2D graphics don't get much better than this on the GBA.

As far as gameplay goes, there is little added to the formula that made Super Dodgeball so great, but as far as I'm concerned, that may be a good thing. There are now a bunch of new super throws, such as the Gravity Hit or the Pause Shot, and old favourites such as the Mach Throw (now called Accel Shot) return. A couple of new features show up right from the start; by pressing the L button on the top of the GBA, you will initiate the Dashing Attack, which will make your teammates jump over to the opponents side of the court. You can actually make your entire team jump onto one side of the court, which provides some great opportunities both offensively and defensively. By using a Dashing Attack, you can execute one of your teammates' super throws while in the air, or you can use it to call on one of your partners to intercept a pass from the other team if they are also doing a Dashing Attack. The other new feature is the ability to allow your outside partners to execute their super throws by dashing and then passing off to them. This will cause the ball to glow, indicating that the next throw will be a super throw. Otherwise, the game is essentially the same as it was 20 some odd years ago, you press B to throw the ball, A to pass it, and both buttons at the same time to jump. R allows you to select your target, and L does the above mentioned Dashing Attack. One thing that I really wish was in Super Dodgeball Advance was the different types of terrain for each court, which was present in the first game. I mean, Iceland had its slippery ice court, Kenya had its hard-to-run gravel court, but in SDA, they're all the same.

Super Dodgeball Advance offers up three major types of modes; Season, Exhibition and Versus. Versus and Exhibition are kind of self-explanatory, but Season is where all the action really is. With Season, you take a rag tag bunch of dodgeballers called the Heroes to the top of the league. There are 10 teams you need to take out, although you can challenge any team you wish to, even if you're dead last! At the end of the Season mode, you must face one of the 5 hidden teams in the game, who have super strength and are a hell of a lot tougher than any other teams you've faced before. If you're lucky, you'll even face Atlus' dream team! Other than that, there aren't too many things to find in the game, although it can be a chore if you want to see all 50 of the super throws in the game. While playing SDA on Versus mode is fun, there are some little annoyances with it. If you play with only one cartridge, the game has a tendency to lag behind at times, making it real difficult to play the game well. But add in another cartridge in there and man, I don't think I can imagine a gaming utopia that would be as sweet as smacking my friend in the head with huge rubber ball.

To sum it up nicely, Super Dodgeball Advance is one of those games that old school gamers who miss the days of the NES will bow down to, and for good reason too. The game is extremely good; it handles like a dream, you can never get bored of it, and damn, is it ever fun to play with a friend. SDA is a homage to the days of old, but it's also gift to the newer gamers of today, to remind them where gaming came from, and arguably, where it should stay forever.

· · · Reno