Kings of the Beach
Encyclopedia
Kings of the Beach is a beach volleyball
computer game released by Electronic Arts
in 1988
for the Commodore 64
and DOS
. A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System
was produced by Konami
(under the Ultra Games
label) in .
The player can play as Sinjin Smith
and Randy Stoklos
. The game features three modes of play; practice, match play and tournament. In the latter, you progress through five beaches (San Diego, Chicago
, Waikiki
, Rio de Janeiro
, and Australia
) filled with increasingly challenging opponents as you attempt to win it all. While Smith and Stoklos are joined by Ron Von Hagen, Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd
as the only 'real' volleyball players featured in the game, EA spiced up the competition with some notorious characters from other games, including Hard Hat Mack
and Lester from Skate or Die and Ski or Die
.
The gameplay controls for the console version are fairly simplistic, with the directional pad and two buttons doing all the work. In the PC version, players control three actions, bump, set, block/spike. Diving for the ball occurs automatically. The only 'advanced' moves in the game are the ability to dink or perform a one-handed Kong block (Stoklos' trademark).
Another endearing feature of the game is the ability to 'argue' calls with the referee, which occasionally allows players to get a point overturned. However, if players argue too much, the referee may penalize them with a red card and deduct a point.
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
computer game released by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
in 1988
1988 in video gaming
-Events:*June — Nintendo releases the last issue of "Nintendo fun club news";*July — Nintendo releases the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.-Notable releases:*January 8, Konami releases Super Contra....
for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
. A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
was produced by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
(under the Ultra Games
Ultra Games
Ultra Software Corporation was a spinoff company created in 1988 as a subsidiary of Konami of America, in an effort to get around Nintendo of America's strict licensing rules for the North American Konami release games for Nintendo consoles. One of these rules was that a third-party company could...
label) in .
Gameplay
Sinjin Smith
Christopher St. John Smith is a professional Beach Volleyball player. He won one U.S. championship and two World championships with Randy Stoklos....
and Randy Stoklos
Randy Stoklos
Randy Stoklos is the first player to earn $1,000,000 in beach volleyball. He won one U.S. championship and two World championships with Sinjin Smith...
. The game features three modes of play; practice, match play and tournament. In the latter, you progress through five beaches (San Diego, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) filled with increasingly challenging opponents as you attempt to win it all. While Smith and Stoklos are joined by Ron Von Hagen, Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd
Mike Dodd
Michael Dodd is a well-known retired professional beach volleyball player from the United States who attended San Diego State University. With his partner Mike Whitmarsh he won the silver medal in the men's inaugural beach volleyball tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics...
as the only 'real' volleyball players featured in the game, EA spiced up the competition with some notorious characters from other games, including Hard Hat Mack
Hard Hat Mack
Hard Hat Mack is a 1983 Apple II game developed by Michael Abbot and Matthew Alexander. It was the first game published by Electronic Arts...
and Lester from Skate or Die and Ski or Die
Ski or Die
Ski or Die is a 1990 winter sports game by Electronic Arts for the Amiga, NES, MS-DOS and Commodore 64. It consisted of 5 minigames which could be played individually or in a set sequentially...
.
The gameplay controls for the console version are fairly simplistic, with the directional pad and two buttons doing all the work. In the PC version, players control three actions, bump, set, block/spike. Diving for the ball occurs automatically. The only 'advanced' moves in the game are the ability to dink or perform a one-handed Kong block (Stoklos' trademark).
Another endearing feature of the game is the ability to 'argue' calls with the referee, which occasionally allows players to get a point overturned. However, if players argue too much, the referee may penalize them with a red card and deduct a point.
External links
- GameFAQs.com provides a fairly complete overview of the game