Rocketball

Last updated

Rocketball
RocketballC64CoverArt.jpg
Developer(s) IJK Software
Publisher(s) IJK Software
Platform(s) Commodore 64
Release 1985
Genre(s) Sports
Mode(s) Single player, two player [1]

Rocketball is a sports-action Commodore 64 computer game released by IJK Software in 1985. [2] Rocketball was coded by John Sinclair and has music by L Pilling. [3] Rocketball is based on the futuristic sports movie Rollerball , released in 1975, starring James Caan. Rocketball's taglines were, "The rules are, there are no rules", and "This was never meant to be a game."[ citation needed ]

Contents

Gameplay

Rocketball is set in the year 2010 AD, where worldwide disputes are no longer settled through wars, but through a circular Rocket Ball arena.

The game is similar to Roller Derby in that two teams on roller skates travel counter-clockwise around a banked, circular track. The object of the game is to score points by throwing a softball-sized metal ball into a cone-shaped goal target inset into the wall of the arena. Balls are fired into play, in the same direction players skate, by cannons when play begins and to restart play after the ball rolls out of play or a goal is scored. Players can use fists, elbows and knees to disable their opponents.

Each Rocketball team has five active players on roller skates. Unlike the film, there are no players riding motorcycles. The four Rocketball teams are Houston (wearing blue), Tokyo (yellow), Moscow (burgundy) and Madrid (Green), which correspond to futuristic city states. [4] (The teams Houston, Tokyo and Madrid also featured in the Rollerball film.)

Games have a duration of ten minutes.

Packaging

Rocketball came in a Single Cassette Case. [5] It boasted super-smooth scrolling, being written in 100% machine code, and a shadow on the ball. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandy</span> Ballgame on ice

Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hockey</span> Sports played with hockey sticks

Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers of players, apparel, and playing surface, they share broad characteristics of two opposing teams using a stick to propel a ball or disk into a goal.

Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 countries worldwide.

<i>Speedball</i> (video game) 1988 video game

Speedball is a 1988 video game based on a violent futuristic cyberpunk sport that draws on elements of handball and ice hockey, and rewards violent play as well as goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goal (sports)</span> Method of scoring in many sports

In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is placed at or near each end of the playing field for each team to defend. For many sports, each goal structure usually consists of two vertical posts, called goal posts, supporting a horizontal crossbar. A goal line marked on the playing surface between the goal posts demarcates the goal area. Thus, the objective is to send the ball or puck between the goal posts, under or over the crossbar, and across the goal line. Other sports may have other types of structures or areas where the ball or puck must pass through, such as the basketball hoop. Sports which feature goal scoring are also commonly known as invasion games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gridiron football</span> Team sport primarily played in North America

Gridiron football, also known as North American football, or in North America as simply football, is a family of football team sports primarily played in the United States and Canada. American football, which uses 11 players, is the form played in the United States and the best known form of gridiron football worldwide, while Canadian football, which uses 12 players, predominates in Canada. Other derivative varieties include arena football, flag football and amateur games such as touch and street football. Football is played at professional, collegiate, high school, semi-professional, and amateur levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floor hockey</span> Group of sports

Floor hockey is a broad term for several indoor floor game codes which involve two teams using a stick and type of ball or disk. Disks are either open or closed but both designs are usually referred to as "pucks". These games are played either on foot or with wheeled skates. Variants typically reflect the style of ice hockey, field hockey, bandy or some other combination of sport. Games are commonly known by various names including cosom hockey, ball hockey, floorball, or simply floor hockey.

<i>Rollerball</i> (1975 film) 1975 film by Norman Jewison

Rollerball is a 1975 dystopian science fiction sports film directed and produced by Norman Jewison. It stars James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, John Beck, Moses Gunn and Ralph Richardson. The screenplay, written by William Harrison, adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which had first appeared in the September 1973 issue of Esquire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller in-line hockey</span> Sport discipline

Roller in-line hockey, American roller hockey or inline hockey, is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game and is considered a contact sport, but body checking is prohibited. There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players. There are professional leagues, one of which is the National Roller Hockey League (NRHL). While it is not a contact sport, there are exceptions, i.e. the NRHL involves fighting.

<i>HyperBlade</i> 1996 video game

HyperBlade is an action video game, depicting a futuristic sport in a futuristic world. The sport is a mutated version of hockey, played in an egg-shaped arena rather than on a flat field or rink, which is loaded with weapons and deadly traps.

<i>Ballblazer</i> 1985 video game

Ballblazer is a futuristic sports game created by Lucasfilm Games and published in 1985 by Epyx. Along with Rescue on Fractalus!, it was one of the initial pair of releases from Lucasfilm Games, Ballblazer was developed and first published for the Atari 8-bit family. The principal creator and programmer was David Levine. The game was called Ballblaster during development; some pirated versions bear this name.

<i>Arcade Volleyball</i> 1988 video game

Arcade Volleyball is a sports video game written by Rhett Anderson for the Commodore 64 and published as a type-in program in the June 1988 issue of COMPUTE!'s Gazette. It was ported to Amiga and MS-DOS by different programmers and was included in a 12-game collection called Best Gazette Games. The author released the game later into the public domain.

<i>Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe</i> 1990 video game

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe is a 1990 video game based on a violent futuristic cyberpunk sport that draws on elements of handball and ice hockey, and rewards violent play as well as goals. The concept of the game is very reminiscent of the 1975 film Rollerball. The original game was developed by Bitmap Brothers, with various remakes for many platforms since being published. It is a sequel to the 1988 game Speedball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller hockey (quad)</span> Variation of hockey

Roller hockey, rink hockey or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is a quad-skate team sport where two teams face-off against one another, trying to drive a hard ball with their sticks into the opposing teams' goalnet. Each team has five players on the rink at a time, four of whom are skaters and one who is the goalkeeper. The ball can only be put in motion by a stick, not the skate, otherwise a foul will be stated. The game has two 25-minute halves, with 15-minute halftime intermission, plus up to two 5-minute golden goal periods to settle ties with the clock stopping when the ball becomes dead. If the tie persists, a penalty shootout will determine the winner. Players – including the goalie – use quad skates, whereas inline skates are used in inline hockey. The sticks are similar to those in bandy and shinty. Excessive contact between players is forbidden in rink hockey, unlike inline hockey.

<i>Skateball</i> 1989 video game

Skateball is a video game developed by Ubi Soft. It features a violent futuristic sports game part ice skating, part soccer. It was released in 1989 for the Amstrad CPC and GX4000, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.

<i>Killerball</i> 1989 video game

Killerball is a video game about a futuristic sport published by Microïds in 1989 which blends American football with roller-skating, similar to the 1975 film Rollerball. This violent game is played in a circular rink where each 5-man team tries to score by putting the ball into the hole of the opposing team on the opposite sides of the track. Taking the ball from an opponent can only be done by knocking him down.

<i>Ballblazer Champions</i> 1997 video game

Ballblazer Champions is an action/sports video game released for Sony's PlayStation console. It was developed by Factor 5 and published by LucasArts in North America, and by CTO SpA in Europe. It is a remake of the 1985 video game Ballblazer that was released for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family computers.

<i>League of Pain</i> 1997 video game

League of Pain, also known as Professional Underground League of Pain, and known as Riot in the UK, is a futuristic, violent sports video game developed by British studio Beyond Reality and published by Psygnosis for the PlayStation, MS-DOS, and Windows in 1997.

<i>Roller Champions</i> 2022 video game

Roller Champions is a free-to-play sports video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on May 25, 2022 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and for Nintendo Switch on June 21, 2022.

References

  1. "Lemon64 - Rocket Ball".
  2. Commodore 64 – Rocket Ball Page
  3. Rocket Ball – Play the Commodore 64 sports game Rocket Ball online (released 1988)
  4. Rocket Ball
  5. C64 games – game
  6. STADIUM 64 – Game Infos: Rocket Ball