Beach Spikers

Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball, released for arcade as Beach Spikers, is a beach volleyball video game released in Japanese arcades in 2001 followed by home ports in all regions for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. The game was published by Sega and developed in-house by Sega AM2.

Beach Spikers
North American cover art
Developer(s)Sega AM2
Publisher(s)Sega
Director(s)Eigo Kasahara
Designer(s)Tatsuya Sato
Programmer(s)Hideya Shibazaki
Composer(s)Tatsutoshi Narita
Sachio Ogawa
Shinichi Goto
Fumio Ito
Megumi Takano
Platform(s)Arcade, GameCube
ReleaseArcade
GameCube
  • JP: July 19, 2002
  • NA: August 12, 2002
  • EU: September 27, 2002
  • AU: October 4, 2002
Genre(s)Sports (beach volleyball)
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemSega NAOMI 2

Gameplay

Based on the sport of beach volleyball, the game revolves around two-on-two matches where a volleyball is hit back and forth over a net until one side allows the ball to touch the ground. Similar to Sega's Virtua sports games, most of the gameplay in Beach Spikers is based around the concept of "charging" the strength of moves, judged by how long the button is held prior to release at the point of which the move is executed. There is a button for setting (passing) and a button for rallying (sending the ball over the net) which, combined with how long the button is held to determine strength, is the basis for the way the entire game is played.

There are two modes to choose from: Arcade Mode and World Tour mode. Arcade mode is a basic progression through a series of AI opponents, and in the multiplayer portion of Arcade Mode, it is head-to-head matches for up to four human players. In World Tour mode, the player take a user-created team through a tournament, earning points as you go that allow you to increase the stats of your players and also unlock special teams and players, including one based on the character Ulala from Sega's Space Channel 5 series. You have the option to customize your own players or choose a team from a specific country, such as the United States, Jamaica, Italy, and France, to name a few.

Reception
Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings77.20%[1]
Metacritic76/100[2]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[3]
Edge6/10[4]
EGM8/10[5]
Eurogamer7/10[6]
Famitsu30/40[7]
Game Informer5/10[8]
GamePro[9]
GameRevolutionB[10]
GameSpot8.1/10[11]
GameSpy[12]
GameZone7.7/10[13]
IGN8.2/10[14]
Nintendo Power4.1/5[15]
Maxim7/10[16]

In Japan, Game Machine listed Beach Spikers on their September 1, 2001 issue as being the fifth most-successful arcade game of the year.[17]

The game was met with some positive reception, as GameRankings gave the GameCube version a score of 77.20%,[1] while Metacritic gave it 76 out of 100.[2]

gollark: I really ought to figure out why the sound quality is so bad though.
gollark: Ah, 3:45, actually.
gollark: Yes, it ended, after running for 3 minutes and 42-ish seconds.
gollark: The Soviet national anthem only lasts 3 minutes anyway.
gollark: I don't actually *listen* to voice chat.

See also

References
  1. "Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  2. "Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  3. Marriott, Scott Alan. "Beach Spikers (GC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  4. Edge staff (October 2002). "Beach Spikers". Edge (115).
  5. Johnston, Chris (October 2002). "Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball". Electronic Gaming Monthly (160): 194. Archived from the original on January 23, 2004. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  6. Bramwell, Tom (October 12, 2002). "Beach Spikers". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  7. "ニンテンドーゲームキューブ - ビーチ スパイカーズ". Famitsu. 915: 102. June 30, 2006.
  8. Helgeson, Matt (September 2002). "Beach Spikers". Game Informer (113): 85. Archived from the original on March 12, 2005. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  9. Tokyo Drifter (August 14, 2002). "Beach Spikers Review for GameCube on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 4, 2005. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  10. Liu, Johnny (September 2002). "Beach Spikers Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  11. Davis, Ryan (August 15, 2002). "Beach Spikers Review". GameSpot. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  12. Pavlacka, Adam (September 11, 2002). "GameSpy: Beach Spikers". GameSpy.
  13. Bedigian, Louis (August 31, 2002). "Beach Spikers Review - GameCube". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  14. Casamassina, Matt (August 12, 2002). "Beach Spikers (GCN)". IGN. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  15. "Beach Spikers: Virtua Beach Volleyball". Nintendo Power. 159: 143. August 2002.
  16. Boyce, Ryan (August 23, 2002). "Beach Spikers". Maxim. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  17. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - TVゲーム機ーソフトウェア (Video Game Software)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 641. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 September 2001. p. 17.
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