#393

A playthrough of the boss team D. Maou Team in the Neo Geo version of Technos' Super Dodge Ball.
Thanks to Alvaro Gomez for reminding me about this game.
D. Maou's moves:
Arcing shot : qcf + A
Dragon punch shot: f, d, df + A
Super move: f, hcf + A
Boo and Daa's move:
Powered shot: f, d, df + A
Charge super meter: hold A+B together
Super Dodge Ball for the Neo Geo was a sort of remake of the original arcade game from about 10 year prior. It was released in 1996, and so I thought I'd cover it.
After choosing a team, players fight against six other teams before fighting the boss of the game, D. Maou. D. Maou also has exclusive demonic cohorts, who apart from their palette swap play much like their counterparts on other teams.
The game is an odd dodgeball-fighting hybrid game. Player can use regular moves such as a running throw or an aerial throw, but each main character and their cohorts can use special moves, done in a street fighter quarter-circle fashion. D.Maou's moves are relatively useless however; his projectile special move constantly misses the enemy, while his dragon punch special move doesn't deal much damage, and is usually blocked. I generally try to keep him alive just so he can use the team's super move when able.
Boo and Daa are actually significantly more useful as characters. Their dragon punch motion move deals significant damage against opponents when it hits, and if the opponent's players can lined up it will hit them consecutively, potentially taking out all three opponents on the team at once. Their running throw (f, f + A) acts similarly, though doesn't penetrate through the opponent's team members.
There's also a second form of D. Maou, seen in the video, where he regains his health and can do aerial shots, but I wasn't able to access that form. I suspect the CPU Maou has a flag which makes it transform into it when its low on health.
D. Maou is a decent, appropriate boss for something as off-beat as a dodgeball fighting game. I love the dramatic, anime-esque ending for D. Maou in particular, which shows the developers knew not to take this concept too seriously. As a game, Super Dodge Ball is somewhat decent, but it's main fault are the zooming camera angles. I personally found this extremely distracting, and it was difficult to focus on the gameplay when knocked out enemy players were attempting to throw shots at me. It's extremely disorientating, and nearly ruins which is otherwise a good game. It goes to show that sometimes innovation can be hubristic.

[@alvarogomezortega1941]

The second form of D. Maou is unplayable for now. I hope that we find a completed boss hack someday

[@angelriverasantana7755]

This guy is voiced by Daisuke Gori of all people Man, it makes me sad to think about his suicide, he was having a hard time with his diabetes, and he was going blind

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Damn, somehow I didn't realise that it was him. In hindsight I really should have done, considering he sounds pretty similar to Heihachi here. A talented guy, and certainly gone too soon. It'll be nice to pay tribute to him again when I get to the SoulCalibur series; I didn't realise he voiced Edge Master in SC1 until I looked that up as well.

[@dragonstormx]

I could tell the developers weren't taken the concept seriously when our villain talked about how he was going to destroy dodge ball. And his ending explaining his goal, that was hilarious. This is one of the dumbest plans ever, and i love it.

[@AdmiralMcFish]

It's a parody through and through, which is what makes it so great. I hadn't played through the game before and so laughed my arse off when I finished it during this playthrough.

[@HectorPerez-zj8je]

Hey there, i'm a big fan of using bosses in all manner of games. Wanted to share a thought of mine. I've been testing D. Maou and it seems that there's either a code to use him (lurking in some unknown magazine out there) or they've programmed him to be playable and forgot the code. Why do i say this? Well, as you can see in the below video i've made, the guy has not one 1, but 4!!! colors (only availabe if you select D. Maou with cheats) and 4 unique artwork for the "Win Screen" which you'll only see if you use him via cheats. What probably has me doubting the most is the last part of my video. He has an unique pre-battle animation (which also appears in the beginning of this video) that you'll only see if you use him (his CPU version has the other one, where he's meditating in the background) so i don't know 'bout you but he's actually playable and the code was never found (there are games to this day that had codes found for things previously unknown hidden for like 20 years, like Shadowrun for the SNES) So anyways, here's the video = kzbin.info/www/bejne/baHTYaCceb6YatU (useless annotations available)

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Nicely done! Great video. I suspect you're right, and I've had the same suspicions for a while now. What really infers that that he was meant to be playable is the fact that, when played as, he doesn't transform into his second form. This implies that the CPU version of him has something called a boss flag; a piece of coding which activates when he's controlled specifically by the CPU, and gives him additional powers. Given the fact that he's incredibly playable when played as (with next to no flaws or glitches), coupled with those alternate colours and that intro, it's highly likely that he was either meant to be playable, or indeed is playable using some sort of code we simply don't know of. There's a similar thing with the boss Galen Kor in Avengers in Galactic Storm, where he's not only fully playable when hacking, but also has an alternate colour you'd never see otherwise. I suspect it's the same for both games; there probably are codes to play as said characters, but we just never got to know what they were. It'd be nice to see the game datamined at some point, as that might provide the information needed in order to learn that.

[@kristianbarrenechea]

Hola, aun funciona? Osea, sirve la página online donde descargar las cheats de este juego en mame? O Neo geo? Porfa necesito ayuda D: este juego era mi infancia en la PC antigua que tenía

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Si, aqui: cheat.retrogames.com/mame_downloads.htm

[@nanakirei]

Hello, can you do a tutorial on making the special power, please, I want to do it.

[@AdmiralMcFish]

I don't quite know what you're asking mate, sorry.

[@AdmiralMcFish]

I don't fully follow.

[@maazazhar432]

how to do super move using keyboard?

[@funworld3125]

Maaz Azhar to do a super move if u are player 1 then try combination of right+left+down+right and suddenly press the a (throw and catch) if u would be quick enough u can super move of any character

[@funworld3125]

Maaz Azhar be sure to make the power full first 😉

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Funworld's right. All super moves in the game are done with a f, hcf + A command. On a keyboard this means pressing the right key first, then pressing the left key and then quickly pressing the left key, down key, and right key and then the A button after that, but as he said it must be done in a few quick, fluid motion. You want to roll your fingers over the keys so it's one fluid motion, the same with most fighting games.

[@royaljipi4800]

im play in android and i dont know how use superpower via android

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Are you used to playing fighting games? If you are then it's easy to explain, if not then it's a bit more difficult. What you need to do is hold the directional pad in the forward position, then the backwards position, and then while holding your finger on the backwards position you move it in a half-circle, going from the back, moving your thumb down and then swinging that around to the forwards position, and then pressing the A button as soon as you hit the forwards direction again. You also have to have a full super meter in order to use a super move I hope that help somewhat, I'm not really sure how to explain it otherwise.

[@royaljipi4800]

AdmiralMcFish - Bosses and Hidden Characters tq for explain.. but how u use the power in minute 0.35 when power meter not full??

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Those are special moves. They are done with the commands qcf + A (hold down, then move your finger around to forward and press A) and f, d, df +A (Press forward, then press down, then move your finger from down to the mid-point between down and forward). Hope that helps you.

[@josepers4243]

Hoye bro el jefe final como se transforma

[@AdmiralMcFish]

I just don't know, unfortunately. I think it's to do with "flags", which are internal coding within the game which can't be activated easily except by hacking the game in order to trigger them.

[@funworld3125]

How to play as D. Maou ?? How to select ??

[@AdmiralMcFish]

You need to download the latest cheat pack from the mamecheats website. Once downloaded, place the zip folder into the same directory as your mameui application. Open Mameui and go to Options, then Default Game Options. Go to the miscellaneous tab and click the option "Enable Cheats". Then, start the game, press tab, and go to cheats.

[@AdmiralMcFish]

Sorry, that's the best I can explain it. I don't know how to explain it any better.