Super Ball!

A ball rolling down a track and you control it. Simple and clear. Super Ball! stands on a simple rule that people could spend entire afternoons with in the nineties.

It's a physics puzzle-action where a ball the color of a frog works its way through obstacles and you guide it to the goal using the keyboard. It's not pinball, it's not Breakout, it's not even really Marble Madness — it's something between a test of dexterity and a well-solved puzzle. Each level is one long series of obstacles, ramps, tunnels and rotating gates, where a mistake sends you into a pit or takes away time.

Controls are maximally simple: left and right movement, and that's it. No jumping, no acceleration, no special tricks. What's interesting is precisely that cruelty — when you don't pull it off, it's not the game's fault, it's yours. The ball behaves convincingly, friction and gravity work as they should. Playing is all about reflexes and track memory, not about mindless button sequences.

Graphics are restrained, flat without unnecessary shine, but that's exactly right — you see where you're going. Music would be nice so your brain doesn't fall asleep during attempts at the third level, but details didn't get much attention here. The sound of the falling ball is more of an alert than entertainment.

Super Ball! is the kind of game that would come out as a mobile app today and everyone would download it, try it for a minute, and delete it. In the nineties it was simply a computer game you played when strategy games and shoot-em-ups bored you. Even today it's not bad, it just takes patience and willingness to wrestle with your own incompetence.

Try it in your browser if you want to remember how games were played without sound, without story, and without decorations. The winner isn't the one who has fun, but the one who reaches the end.