Andy Marsolais

Game: Kings of the Beach
Music: 6/10
Difficulty: 7/10
Pre-Internet Rating: 8/10
Post-Internet Rating: 9/10 (Learned special moves)
Fun Factor: 10/10 Super Mario 3 Bear Suits (Perfect Score)
Price: $5

Here is a game that wasn’t in the plans but it’s something that I actually discovered for myself and wasn’t even aware existed until I started looking for what the next game was going to be. Kings of the Beach has just shattered my belief that the only NES sports games worth playing besides Blades of Steel where the River City Ransom looking games such as DodgeBall. I played this game alone for the review but with the 4 player capability in a 2vs2 beach volleyball game with decent controls it is easy to imagine how great of a party game Kings of the Beach has the potential to be. Maybe it’s just the coincidence of finding this game just after being bombarded by Olympic fever but this is quickly beginning to dominate the video game TV in my living room and last Saturday was the guest of honour at my apts. post Roller Derby festivities.

Kings of the Beach sticks out from the rest of the pack for a few reasons such as simplicity, controls, 4 players, real names, and the ability to train in different disciplines to lessen the learning curve. You have 3 basic moves like bump, set and spike but there are other more advance subtleties to be learned such as dig, block and hitting left, right, forward and back that you will need as the tournaments gets tougher. There are 2 specialty moves that you will want to practice.

Kong Block - Stoklos has a one-handed Kong Block that spikes the ball back into the other court. Press the A and B Button together while directing the ball towards your opponent.

The Feint - You can use this move when making either a block or spike. Press the A and B Buttons together, while pressing the Control Pad toward the back of your side.

The Tournament is made up out of five stages. You'll move from one stage to the next by winning three 15 point games consecutively. Each time you win three in a row a password is displayed. Write this baby down that way if you want to take a break to wipe off the sweat, you can return to the action later by entering the password on the tournament password screen.
You can even run over to the ref to argue a call but make sure you’re right because if you’re not the ref will give you a yellow card as a warning followed by a red card and dock you a point if you make a second mistake. I’m not going to act as if I knew who the players where but giving us real names is a nice touch and the reason this game gets a perfect fun factor score is because I literally had to force myself to stop playing every person who challenged me. When playing the computer, the first match is pretty easy but you will want to learn how to block for the second because that becomes your go to move as the computer players will start to set each other up at the net. Blocking the computer and seeing the ball land back on their side of the sand is satisfying but in the 3rd match you will notice the computer is fast enough to bump it back up which can make a rally drag on and become repetitive.

Something I thought was interesting and stood out was that since it’s 2vs2 you get to see your computer teammate make mistakes and during the later matches you will start to get frustrated as your teammate starts to make errors on simple returns. If I was going to pick anything to dislike about this game it would be when the they automatically move you to where you need to be, it doesn’t happen through the whole game but when the ball is being set back and forth near the net you will find yourself frozen in place getting ready to bump it. The trick here is to not attempt any spikes when the ball first comes over the net because I learned the hard way that you will always be just a few inches short of the ball. Another tip I should give you is to practice the jump serve in your first match because it’s tricky and if you try to learn it after the first match you will lose much needed points. So far this game has turned out to be a refreshing discovery and the most fun I have had doing these reviews. For the super low price of $5, it’s a steal if you have any nostalgic friends wo would be willing to play against you or co-op. Definitely pick this gem up. Andy Approved, UP TOP!

"There are no rules here, we're trying to accomplish something"- Thomas Edison

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