Sanrio World Smash Ball!

Sanrio World Smash Ball!
Developer(s)	Tomcat System/Ape
Publisher(s)	Character Soft
Director(s)	Tsunekazu Ishihara, Takashi Watanabe
Producer(s)	Executive Producer: Shintaro Tsuji (Sanrio), Hozumi Yoshida, Shuuji Akimoto, Kouichi Ikeda, Hiroaki Azumi (Character Soft)
Release date(s)	July 16, 1993 (Super Famicom)
Genre	Sports
Platform(s)	Super Famicom
Serial code(s)	SHVC-S7

Sanrio World Smash Ball! (Japanese: サンリオワールド　スマッシュボール！) is a Japan-exclusive Super Famicom Sanrio video game.

Gameplay

This is a sports game similar to table tennis/air hockey. The aim of the game is to fire a puck to the opposite side of the playing field and score it in the opponent's goal. This is achieved over a number of rounds. Clearing the round advances the player to another 'level' where the player may face off the same or different character.

The player can smash the puck with a right throw using the B-Button, the Y-Button for a left throw, or the X-Button if the Smash gauge is fully charged after down B or X. There may be obstacles in the playing field such as breakable blocks or bumpers that block the puck or cause it to bounce.

The player can choose from Keroppi, Tābō, Pokopon or Hangyodon and face off against other Sanrio characters, eventually facing off a pig-like character known as Everlybū.

There are also Bonus Games featuring a decoy Everlybū with a Hello Kitty and Mimmy design.

Characters

• Kerokerokeroppi
• Minna no Tābō
• Ponpoko Pokopon
• Hangyodon
• Hello Kitty (narrator, not playable)
• Mimmy (bonus level cameo only)
• Everlybū ('boss' character, normally cannot be played except with the cursor glitch)

Obstacles

• Dice Block
• Bumper
• Bamboo
• Banned Passage
• Electric Fan
• Large Balloon
• Small Balloon

Items

• ? Block
• Shoot Panel
• Dash Panel
• Power Panel
• Break Panel

Other objects

• Puck
• Goal

Staff

• Executive Producer: The Strawberry King (Sanrio)
• Producer: Hozumi Yoshida, Shuuji Akimoto, Kouichi Ikeda, Hiroaki Azumi (Character Soft)
• Special Thanks: Shinichi Isobe (Character Soft)
• Test Play: Hiroshi Miyagi, Mitsuharu Takatori, Atsushi Tomita, Takumi Inoue, Hiroko Inoue (Character Soft)
• Director: Tsunekazu Ishihara, Takashi Watanabe (Ape)
• Game Design: Yukio Takashi, Ryouichi Ookubo (Tomcat System)
• Program: Ryouichi Ookubo (Tomcat System)
• Graphics: Ken Kasahara, Yukio Takahashi, Yasunobu Saitou (Tomcat System)
• Sound Program: Kazunari Mimura (Tomcat System)
• Cooperation: Kouji Higuchi, Kaoru Kobayashi (Tomcat System)
• Music: Takane Ookubo (Tomcat System)

Cursor glitch

There is a possible glitch in the game, where while on a menu, pressing up or down on the d-pad immediately after pressing A will still move the cursor, allowing the player to run the next (out of bounds) option, including playing as Everlybū (from the character selection screen), or running the Staff Credits (from the new game/continue/multiplayer menu).

Development

Sanrio World Smash Ball! is a spiritual successor to Namco's cancelled 1987 arcade game Steranian, but with the addition of the Sanrio theme/Sanrio characters. It involved the staff Ryoichi Okubo and Yukio Takahashi who later worked for Tomcat System; a company spun-off from former Namco staff.

The involvement of Ape and Character Soft came at a later point for the finalised Sanrio World Smash Ball! game.

References

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