''Hey there,Sports fans!''
Super Sportmatchen is a competitive sports game developed by Kaj Forell Video Game Brand and published by Dangen Entertainment. Play as one of six characters from multiple regions of the globe as you compete your way through 10 different sporting events in order to become the #1 champion in the entire world! Do you have what it takes to be a winner?
This is the part of the review where I usually explain the story to the readers so that they get the idea of what to expect once they themselves get to play the game,however not this time. Super Sportmatchen has no story mode and instead goes for the ''move from event to event'' format like the classic NES games of old. Who really needs a story anyways? not me!
There are two modes in this game: Sportmatch and Super Sportmatch. The two differ from each other,but only just slightly. Regular Sportmatch mode allows you to pick 5 of the 10 sports that you wish to play consecutively,along with being able to pick how many competitive AI you wish to go up against,which can be up to 3 other competitors to compete with. It also gives you the option to be able to split up into teams of two and make all 5 events a matter of 2v2 and the team with the highest score after all 5 events will be crowned the winners.
Super Sportmatch mode you can pretty much do the same thing,but instead of just picking 5 specific events to play,this time you have to play all 10 sporting events in a row to determine who the real champion is. You may also once again pick how many AI you wish to compete against and also put people on teams once more. So really its just a marathon run of all the events in order and is the only change between the two modes.
Now I'm sure you're all thinking ''Ok,that's nice and all,but what are the actual events to choose from and play, you loser''. Well first off that's not nice calling me a loser and secondly the choices you have to pick from include 10 different sporting events that are a mix of both real life sporting events and fake made up events for comedic sake. The comedic ones usually ended up as my favorite events. I will name all 10 below,along with short descriptions,for you,the lovely reader.
*100m Dash:
There's really not much to explain with this sport. You alternate the taps on your face buttons on your controller between A and B to make your player run as fast as they can in a 100m dash race. If you mess up your rhythm though, your character will fall flat on his face and get momentarily stunned. So make sure you tap in a good beat or you will be a loser, like me! ...wait that's not right...
*Boll Toss:
This event requires you to toss a ball across a mini field with a wall in the back. Your goal is to hold down the throw button and then wait for a meter to show which degree of height and angle you wish to throw it. Get the right amount of height/angle and power behind your throw to try to get it into a specific point of the field you want it to go in. For instance there's a 10 point,30 point and all the way in the back near the wall is a small 40 point marker. It will take a bit of trial and error to figure out how exactly you need to throw the ball though,so keep practicing!
*Hoops:
The Hoops event is probably my favorite event of the game. This game plays a bit like if you mixed rugby with basketball. At the start of each game and after each point is scored, a buzzard will take the ball away from you and your opponent and drop it from the sky. It is then down to you and your opponent to jump and hop towards it,while also literally punching each other in your face to momentarily knock them out. Once you have an opening, you can either jump and hold down your power button to shoot(easiest way) or try your luck without jumping from long distance. This event is super fast paced and every match is different! 4 player Hoops just gets chaotic as hell though.
*Capy Throw:
Capy throw has to be one of the weirdest damn events I've ever played in a game. Not since Caveman Games on NES have I laughed so hard at the lunacy of a ''sporting event''. In this event you must take a fat dog by his leash and spin him round and round as fast as you can using the leftstick of your controller until you let go and throw him as far as you can over a large field. Once he's airborne going down the field, it is then your responsibility to open his parachute so he can have a safe landing, this is also how you can score some points. I hope PETA doesn't see this game because they'd have a fit. I however,loved it. For real dawg (that was horrible,sorry)
*180m Hopp-Boll:
I think this event will ring true to a lot of people who grew up with medicine balls or the old bouncy balls we jumped on when we were kids. In Hopp Boll you sit on top of a giant inflated ball and you must bounce all the way to the end of stage. You can alternate how fast,how high and how far you jump by holding down the jump button. Think of ducking down and holding that position from Super Mario Bros 2 on NES and you'll get the idea of what I'm talking about here. Just avoid obstacles like sand,otherwise you will be completely slowed down and have to regain all momentum all over again.
*River Dodge:
River Dodge is actually one of the more basic sporting events in the game besides the meter dashes. In this event you play in a top down view as you move left and right in a canoe dodging tons of obstacles. The further down the river you get,the harder it gets to dodge items in your way,items that consist of logs,boulders,whirlpools,the actual ref in the water and many other hazards. Sounds easy at first,but once it starts speeding up, you have very little time to react, so make sure you're 100% paying attention at all times!
*Animal Feed:
Basically me at the park. I'm not joking. Animal Feed event is exactly what it sounds like, you must move back and forth and throw food to flying animals like seagulls,bees,birds,dogs and ufo's. Wait what? dogs and ufo's? That can't be right,can it? Well yes it is. You must throw food as fast as possible into the flying animals mouths in order to get the max amount of points needed to beat your opponents. Get multiple animals fed consecutively in order to earn bonus points. It's so damn wacky and straight forward, but so damn fun at the same time. Oh yeah, you can feed the ref too for extra points!
*Wall Climb:
Wall climbing in this game is actually the event I did the worst in and just couldn't get right. I literally lost this event every single time I attempted to play it,never even making it halfway up the platform. In this event it requires you to press the coordinating button on each rock, each color representing a facial button on your controller. It's your job to pull down on your joystick to shoot yourself in the right direction and then press the correct button shown on each rock platform in order to grab it. If it shows A, you must hold down A to grab on or else you will take the plunge and die. Once you figured out how to do that and got the hang of it, you still aren't done,nope,they're assholes, the game then starts dropping objects down at you in order to knock you away! So not nice!
*Pillow Push:
What do you get when you mix a slumber party and sumo wrestling together? Pillow Push. In this event you must take on your opponent in a rousing round of pillow fighting. It is your objective to hit them in the face with a pillow with the hopes of trying to knock them out of bounds. If you do not knock them out of bounds, then the winner is decided by how far you've moved your opponent behind his/her own line. This event is so fun that from now on whenever me and my girlfriends have slumber parties,this will not only be a mandatory event,but also an annual tradition. Thanks developers, you've made our world a better place.
*250m Plint-Spring:
This is another straight forward event like the meter dashes. You again must tap A and B to get a rhythm to your running,but this time you have big hurdles to jump. If timed correctly,by pressing Y,you will do a huge leap over the incoming obstacle and if you press A and B upon a perfect landing, you will keep running in stride. Like I said,it's straight forward,but going against 3 other people in this event can get pretty damn intense.
Lastly I wish to talk Feats and Co Op/multiplayer. These are the last two remaining things on the list that this game has to offer. Feats in the game are basically in game achievements. There are a total of 29 different achievements you can earn by completing in game tasks such as: winning a tournament,crying during an award ceremony,local WR on leaderboards,winning team tournaments,etc etc. Play through all events multiple times in order to get them all. Definitely worth the time.
Co op is exactly what it sounds like. In Sportmatchen you're able to play with up to 4 people at a time,that means up to 3 friends may play locally with you at any time. You may compete against them or team up with them vs 2 other AI computers and kick them into the stone age! The choice is yours,not mine, because I don't have friends to play with.... I only have computers to play with.... no one likes me :( *sniff*
My only real negative I can say right now is the lack of online play. Missed opportunity, but hey,can't win them all I guess.
Final thoughts:
At the end of the day Super Sportmatchen is meant for the people who grew up with the NES wackiness and for those who love straight forward games with no fluff. Playing Super Sportmatchen brought me back to the days of Caveman Games and thinking about how original and funny that game was at the time and that made me really happy.
Sure there's no story mode and the game isn't really that long at all,but with the amount of originality,charm and humor that's put in the game by the developers,it really doesn't need those. This is the type of game that you can play for 30 minutes to an hour in short spurts to get your fix and then come back to it months later and still have the same enjoyment that you felt the first time you played it.
If you have some time to spare and you feel the same way about NES sports games as I do, then I say this is definitely something to pick up for you,your family and friends to enjoy together.
Super Sportmatchen is out now on Nintendo Switch and Steam
*Review code for Super Sportmatchen provided by Dangen Entertainment
