Arcade Specifications

Battle Flip Shot (バトルフリップショット?) (sometimes also referred to as Flip Shot) is an arcade game combining the genres of Breakout, Spitball Sparky of the Game & Watch series and ball-and-paddle (see Pong) games. It was released by Visco in 1998.

Contents

Gameplay

Although the game is largely a Pong clone, it does introduce several twists to the gameplay. Players are depicted as humans wielding large shields rather than the "paddles" alone. The setting consists of various futuristic arenas; the game takes place in the first half of the 22nd century. The ball cannot leave the play area upon reaching the left or right edge of the screen, as those are also limited by walls, in addition to the typical upper and lower wall. Instead, there are single columns of targets located along both the side walls. Whenever the ball hits a target, it is eliminated and points are scored by the opponent of the targets' owner. In order to win a round, the player must direct the ball by deflecting it with his/her shield so that all of his opponents' targets are eliminated while retaining at least one of his own targets. The duration of rounds is also limited by time; in the event that time expires before one of the sides manages to achieve victory, the side with the most targets left in play is declared the winner of the round; should this result in a draw (when both players have an equal amount of targets left), both sides are awarded a win.

Another addition to the classic Pong gameplay is that not only are the players able to move sideways in addition to moving vertically (although neither can move into his/hers opponents' half of the arena), they are also able to "slide" in order to provide the player with a burst of speed to counter sudden threats.

The game allows to choose between five different ingame characters to play. Aside from different visuals on both the targets and the contestant, all characters are identical in regard to gameplay, with one exception. All characters are able to perform a "Special Attack" by pressing the A button while deflecting the ball. While for the majority of characters this translates only into an additional visual effect, Bloody Wolf's Special Attack allows to slightly curve the path of the ball. This gives her a certain tactical advantage, but not large enough to unbalance gameplay.

Note that, while Saimon's Special Attack makes the ball seemingly disappear for a certain part of its next flight, it only makes it invisible and can still be deflected.

Playable characters

Chinta Nemoto

Special attack: Quick Shot

Siren

Special attack: Rising Shot ; this shot makes the ball speed up after it first hits anything other than a target

Saimon

Special attack: Trick Shot

Bloody Wolf

Special attack: Tornado Shot

Mr. Justice

Special attack: Hard Shot ; this shot sometimes makes the opponent spin uncontrollably for a short time after deflecting it