Bouncers Review (Sega CD, 1994)

Bouncers is one of the most unusual games on one of the most unusual platforms. This Sega CD release was published by Sega, and developed by a Western company called Dynamix. The title is very literal where gameplay is concerned. You play as an anthropomorphic basketball that, well, bounces. There’s no deeper meaning behind it. This was a part of Sega’s big push to try and create as many new franchises during this era as possible. Unfortunately it rarely worked out for them, and Bouncers is no different. This one is still stuck on the archaic add-on hardware. Today we’re taking Bouncers for a spin to see if it’s worth playing. It’s a unique release, that’s for sure. Let’s take a look.

There’s no real story to speak of here. You start out a game by selecting your character. There are eight choices, and they’re all either basketballs or at least shaped like balls. They have hands, feet, and most are wearing a silly hat of some kind. There’s no backstory behind them, but you can watch a short full motion video for each of them. It’s kind of an interesting diversion, but the game’s sense of humor is more aimed toward juveniles. It’s reminiscent of what you’d find in something like Earthworm Jim or ClayFighter. There’s something extremely 90s about this game, and I’m here for it. Unfortunately the ‘in your face’ style is the high point of the experience here.

Bouncers is a difficult game to describe. It’s not exactly a sports game. Yes, I realize you play as basketballs and your ultimate goal is to score hoops. That’s where the similarities end. Bouncers plays kind of like a hybrid between a puzzle game and fighter. It sounds weird, and it is. The stages are entirely two dimensional and feature anywhere from one to three different hoops. Your goal is to score points by jumping into the baskets. Unfortunately by default you don’t go high enough to reach them. You have to bounce off of your opponent to gain enough elevation. This is easier said than done because they too are in perpetual motion.

When I say it isn’t easy what I really mean is that it’s downright difficult to score any points. This is partially because of the controls. The only time you can change direction is as you hit the ground. The game accounts for your momentum as well though so you can’t just turn around on a dime. Unfortunately this makes the game extremely awkward to play. It’s impossible to move around with even a modicum of precision. Unless of course you’re walking around, but you cannot score points doing so. Every single match is hectic to the point of being a total crapshoot here. It’s hard to enjoy a game where it feels like you’re scoring points entirely at random. It’s nearly impossible to formulate any kind of strategy or even get better with practice. Gameplay here is entirely too sloppy.

By default each match is divided into four quarters each of which takes two minutes apiece. The winner is declared at the end of the fourth quarter, and it’s based on the points you have. Simple enough, right? Generally each basket nets you two points, but if you bounce from far enough away you’ll get three. At least some of the real rules from basketball are retained here. What’s interesting is that it doesn’t matter which basket you score in. You get points regardless. This is good because sometimes you’ll have so much momentum you’ll be sent flying across the entire court. One of the most perplexing parts of the game is that your characters can punch or otherwise strike each other. You don’t have life bars, and so the only effect of attacking is to send your foe flying. Unfortunately it helps more than it hurts them.

Bouncers is an extremely difficult game. It took me a while before I was able to win a single match. Even then it felt like it was by sheer luck that I was able to succeed, and only ever by a few points at best. Meanwhile the computer opponent seems like they can line up their shots perfectly, and always rebounds off the player with precision. Single player is just too unbalanced to be fun. What’s worse is that the power-ups don’t always activate. To use these you press the C button, but in some cases it felt like I had to hold it down or press multiple times for any kind of effect. Maybe it’s just that I still don’t understand the game well enough (even after putting a few hours into it) but either way the game isn’t particularly well designed.

To the game’s credit it does have a few interesting things going on. First of all are the power-ups. From the options menu you can select how often these appear which is nice. The power-ups give you temporary abilities and are super helpful. One of these allows you to spring high enough to reach the net in one jump. Another lets you use a parachute mid-air to aim your fall. There are a few others and all are at least a little helpful. The stages also have their own unique themes and items. There’s a traditional basketball court, and then everything from an aquatic stage with mermaids holding their arms out for the hoops, and even a haunted house. Like I mentioned earlier some have three baskets, and others have elements such as water that affect the trajectory of your bounce. The exclusive items make them feel distinct.

Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of content included here. You have eight different characters to choose from but outside of appearance there isn’t a lot separating them. Sure, their basic attack is different but the effect is always the same. You also have the same number of courts. As I’ve already mentioned they have different obstacles and items, but it’s not enough to change how the game is played. Unfortunately there are only two modes of play; single player and multi-player. Sure, the full motion video is pretty impressive for the platform and each character has their own animation, but that’ll only distract you for a few minutes. For a disc based game this one really should have had more content. Why not just cut out the video and release this on the plain old Sega Genesis? It doesn’t make a lot of sense in my opinion.

It’s a shame that Bouncers isn’t more fun to play, because the graphics are surprisingly good. The basketball characters are pre-rendered with digitized models. These look fantastic, and they animate really well too. The courts are hand drawn but look fantastic. The two styles don’t even clash that badly. I really love the diverse themes for the stages that this game uses. Some of the ideas like using the rib cages of skeletons in the haunted house level is clever. Or the aquatic stage with its moving water and mermaids holding their arms out. It’s a pretty good looking game overall. The soundtrack is also decent. It uses redbook audio and each track is bouncy (pun intended) and fun. The only drawback is that there’s an announcer who loves to shout out short phrases based on how you’re playing. The audio takes great advantage of the CD format.