![Ballz 3D - Fighting at its Ballziest [Model SNS-ABZE-USA] screenshot](images/game/62746_2.png "Ballz 3D - Fighting at its Ballziest [Model SNS-ABZE-USA]")
Ballz 3D - Fighting at its Ballziest © 1994 Accolade, Incorporated.
Ballz 3D is a fighting game developed by PF. Magic. It is most famous for its unique visual gimmick: all character models are composed entirely of pre-rendered spheres (or ballz), creating a distinct pseudo-3D aesthetic.
Description from the Back cover:
What is Ballz? Ballz is a killer 3-D fighting game. It's an in-your-face, all out fight to the finish with 8 unique characters and 8 bosses that punch, kick, club, slam, humiliate and fart on their opponents. Ballz even has an instant replay that shows you the damage from almost any angle. And with three times more special moves than those flat 2-D games, you're going to be doing lots of damage. Our characters will even morph into other characters whenever you want. Ballz also has a bunch of weird sound effects and a wisecracking scoreboard. It's the coolest *#!#@*#! fighting game on the shelf!
![Goodies for Ballz 3D - Fighting at its Ballziest [Model SNS-ABZE-USA]](images/covermini160/62746_1.jpg)
GAME ID: SNS-ABZE-USA
Released in November 1994 in USA.
Censored Intro:
The game’s original opening featured the line, "To be the champion, you gotta have Ballz!". Due to the obvious double-entendre, Nintendo forced a change for the SNES release, which instead uses the line, "...you gotta play Ballz.".
Technological Origins:
Lead programmer Keith Kirby proposed the sphere-based character design specifically to save processor power. Because the characters were composed of spheres, they retained a consistent appearance regardless of the camera angle, simplifying the rendering requirements for 16-bit hardware.
Marketing Missteps:
The game is frequently cited by industry historians as a classic example of "botched marketing.". Print advertisements for the game were notoriously vague, with some featuring nothing more than a Christmas tree made of spheres and the caption, "Tell your mom you want Ballz for Christmas," leading many potential buyers to mistake it for a Tetris clone.
The Petz Connection:
Although Ballz 3D was not a commercial success, developer PF. Magic successfully repurposed the underlying graphics technology from this game into their highly popular Petz series (including Dogz, Catz, and Oddballz).
