Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball

Wow is all I can say. I didn't know that this was the missing piece in my gaming library. If you're like me and have been yearning for something to play that can instantly transport you back to that nostalgic era where REAL competition occurred with two friends on a couch elbow to elbow, battling for supremacy, and probably drinking all their mom's soda.. This is for you. It's got that classic era of video game feel. I just played a couple rounds with my wife and we were both leaning towards the TV and furiously tapping our controllers. Somehow this game managers to perfectly tap into that fun competitive part of your brain without demanding too much from you. This is the perfect option if you want to have a party and give your friends something to do that will get them laughing and having fun, without ending in a bloody nose. The music is too good. Like it doesn't have a right to be that good. Also, if you look closely.. the game is hilarious. Seriously, it's worth it just to read the advertisements. Who comes up with that? Gameplay is simple yet there is a clear strategy to it. You have to time your shots and out think your competition, whether that be a bot (challenging kicks my butt) or a friend. I really liked how the different venues and powerups change the flow of the game and affect strategy.. do you go for a closer Dudeling and try to smash the ball in, or do you set yourself up way back and play defense? It's a bit like fencing, as the Wu-Tang clan says, you must think before you move. So if you're looking for a genuinely FUN game to pick up and enjoy, something that will get your competitive juices flowing, something funny, that sounds good, and doesn't make you hate humanity... DUDELINGS ARCADE SPORTSBALL scratches all the itch. Plus it's inexpensive. 5/5 would sportsball again. No cap.

The gameplay is very fun and has a nice learning curve. I enjoyed the music and the in game ads were pretty funny. My one ask would be the ability to jump to the dudelings on the ends while scrolling through them. If I press RB/LB while I'm using the stick/dpad, it eats the input without jumping to the ends. Overall it was very fun! I heard about it from the Nerd Nest podcast this morning. PS One other thing that would be really cool in the future would be online gameplay against steam friends.

Disclaimer: I used to write for ViewSink, Heavy Element's gaming/linux news site. I did not work on this game, nor was it given to me. I paid for it with my own funds. Imagine Pong and Foosball had a baby, and you’ll probably not be far off from what Dudelings is. Very fast pick up and play with games lasting not more than 10 minutes. It’s an easy to learn, hard to master type of game like Lethal League. For $5, I recommend picking it up for a party game night with friends or if you need something for quick arcade sessions against the AI. The AI can put up quite a fight at higher levels. The game’s natural home is on the Steam Deck, so if you have one, give it a shot. Pro tip: I naturally tried to use the D-pad to control my Dudelings, but found the analog stick to be faster.

Played for an hour with my 7 year old and had a blast! Trying to convince my wife to play but that is a uphill battle :)! Highly recommend!

gg

Back in the arcade golden age, the old Atari adage was: easy to play, hard to master. This game fits that philosophy perfectly and with graphics recalling the classics of the 8/16 console era, there is clear appeal to retro enthusiasts. The soundtrack is excellent, as billed. Dudelings is a steal at the price, and the fun/cost ratio is hard to beat.

This is the game that I would have left running on my Vic-20 so I wouldn't have to wait 45 minutes for the casette-drive to load it in, while at the same time having a (more than 8-bit) soundtrack that rivals the Interstate-76 soundtrack. I haven't checked yet how it runs on my steamdeck but I'm looking forward to wearing out my finger-muscles from aggressive Dudelings competition. The only disappointment so far is that the soundtrack is currently unavailable to purchase. There are a few control / menu quirks that are a little cumbersome, but all in all, a great little game that is surprisingly fun. edit: The soundtrack is now available and there have since been some updates to the game. Oh yeah, this also plays like a dream on the steamdeck.

A great multiplayer game for my pc and my steamdeck. It's a modern take on the old school pong game but it's as if it was mixed with foosball, with both you and your opponent controlling all available units. The music slaps! Happy I heard about it on the Nerdnest Podcast.

I find it hard to write a review for something like this as it's like a small mini-game you'd normally find in a larger mini-game collection title. That is to say, I find this sort of approach atypical in the modern gaming sphere where content is seemingly king; there aren't dozens of game modes and configurations and there's no form of progression (although there are some settings that can modify the game slightly, but not all of them practical) This game is like you bought a virtual foosball table, and then you just use it to play foosball. But that's fine actually, as it is well designed and the minimalism is reflected in its price. And similar to foosball it is, except you have a row of individual "dudelings" you can cycle through to then make them jump upwards and direct the floaty ball towards the enemy's goal. Even though you can only jump straight up, your "dudeling" will also exert a force on the ball in the direction of the enemy's side. There are some power-ups and other intricacies I won't detail, but that is essentially the whole game. However what you get is really fun and doesn't get boring fast, and while the AI does a decent job to keep you on your toes, needless to say this game is best payed with friends.

Even if you don't dig the retro-style graphics, stay for the game itself. The gameplay is pretty solid, and you will end up spending hours playing the game just to beat the CPU on any difficulty higher than Medium. Punching your nearby opponent to temporarily stun them adds more variety to the game, as opposed to just jumping to hit the ball and keeping your opponent from scoring. The game is sort of lacking though as far as describing what each ball/pickup does. You'll only know what they end up doing [i]after[/i], well, picking them up. I'm also a little disappointed there's no online multiplayer, as even though you can hook up with one of your friends on Steam, or play with the buddy that's sitting right next to you on the couch, I'm kind of lacking in the...uh, "friends" department, and would rather just play with anyone. Overall though it's a pretty great game, it's available natively on Linux, is Steam Deck Verified, and free updates get added over time. I do recommend giving this game a shot!