Ignored DSiWare gem: AlphaBounce
AlphaBounce, a Breakout-themed RPG for DSiWare. I neglected to mention this game when it released last week, a lapse in judgment I hope to correct with this post.
Years ago, when I had the time to indulge in these starry-eyes ideas, I dreamt of a story-driven, outer space Breakout game for the Nintendo DS, something I hoped to see evolved from Warashi’s Break’Em All/Simple DS Series Vol. 4: The Block Kuzushi:
“I imagine a lone soul setting out to dismantle the bricks of an oppresive, alien empire. Against all odds, the one-paddle army sweeps through the extraterrestrial command’s defenses, one colored block at a time. Your struggles build up towards an epic battle against The Architect, an ancient god whose hands laid the very walls that imprisoned your people.”
Someone went ahead and made the damn thing: a DSiWare adaptation of free-to-play MMORPG AlphaBounce.
Priced at only 500 Points, the game promises hundreds of paddle upgrades (the paddle is your ship), 40 different bricks to break with unique effects, three difficulty levels with different heroes and universes, dozens of bonuses/planets/ships, and over 25 million levels.
“The player becomes a prisoner of the powerful ESCorp, a space mining corporation which exploits the mineral resources of the entire galaxy. With the help of his envelope (the ship), the prisoner must drill through the mass of rocks which blocks the game area in order to clear the zone and to make progress. His ultimate objective is to escape and find the way back to Earth!”
NintendoLife posted a review for AlphaBounce, calling it “the best Arkanoid-esque game ever made”. IGN also gave it a thumbs up in its weekly DSiWare capsule reviews, but I don’t see many other outlets talking at length about the game. That’s no surprise considering how often most sites ignore the DSiWare platform, especially when it comes to releases from indie devs like Mad Monkey Studios.
Buy: Nintendo DSi XL (Burgundy and Bronze), Standard Nintendo DSi (White, Pink, Black and Blue) See also: More DSiWare releases no one cares about
