Antonball Deluxe (Switch eShop) Review

The simplest and smallest games live or die on the force of their core trick, an idea to grab the player and force them to pay attention. Unfortunately, Antonball Deluxe’s the grand design doesn’t live up to its WarioWare-esque presentation.

So what is the problem? You have a pretty strong central idea in Antonball; to think Arkanoid, but with you controlling a little platformer character instead of a bat. That’s a fun concept, we think, but on execution we find it singularly frustrating. Both the ball and Anton himself seem too small, with too much reach for, well, lose. Yes, get it right, we listen to you, but in practice, the most efficient way to “improve” is simply to find a place from which you can always reach the ball on your return trips, and then indeed, just stand there, falling or jumping. up to hit the ball when it travels low or high. It is less than exciting.

The tragedy is that it really should be a lot of fun; there are no other weak elements here, really. Visually it’s perfectly clear and crisp, the music and sound effects are a bop, and the controls are responsive. It’s just that the gameplay here it’s not particularly funny. It’s also tainted by some weird decisions – you have a Wario-style dash / lunge attack, but it only works with the ball rather than enemies falling onto the field, which is surprisingly unintuitive. You can get a gun, which helps you clear the last few bricks, but it’s such a gross thing that even shooting is not pleasant.

Nevertheless! Antonball Deluxe has an ace up its sleeve, which is its multiplayer ability. And we say it loudly, because in multiplayer this game is quite fun. It’s also ridiculously easy if you can basically cover the entire screen, but this feels like the way Antonball should be played and worth it seriously considering if you are looking for a new couch co-op title to enjoy. There’s also Vs. Antonball, a variant that sees two teams trying to break each other’s bricks on either side of the screen, but it seemed like a touch too manic to be worth more than a handful of games.

We cannot fault the presentation, here, as there are much to see and do. In addition to abundant unlockable characters and scenarios (through a Smash Bros. Melee-that lottery), we haven’t even mentioned the other included game, Punchball. This is essentially the Nintendo original. Mario Bros. (as popularized by Super mario bros 3 battle games or packaged with each Super Mario Advance title), except you throw a ball at enemies to knock them down instead of hitting the bricks they’re walking on. It’s as much fun as Mario Bros. I mean … well … there’s a reason the plumber went Super.

Antonball Deluxe is, in general, a difficult game to review. As a solo game, it is an easy pass, but in multiplayer we can see it by clicking on the correct group. It didn’t light up our world, but its simple charms can work for you and your friends.