Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is a fantasy dodgeball

Dodgeball

Dodgeball is any of a variety of games in which players try to hit other players on the opposing team with balls while avoiding being hit themselves. This article is about a well-known form of team sport with modified rules that is often played in physical education classes and has been featured...

 sports game developed by Blazing Lizard and published by Gamecock

Gamecock Media Group

Gamecock Media Group was a video game publisher based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2007 by video game industry veterans Mike Wilson, Harry Miller, and Rick Stults, original founders of Gathering of Developers. They used a more hands-off approach and allowed developers creative freedom with...

 for Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...

 and SouthPeak Games for the Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

. The game was released on September 3, 2008 for Xbox Live Arcade, while the Wii version was released on May 12, 2009.

Overview

The game is inspired by the popular internet meme

Internet meme

The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...

 Pirates versus Ninjas

Pirates versus Ninjas

Pirates vs. Ninjas is a comedic Internet and gaming meme regarding a theoretical conflict between pirates and ninjas, generally including arbitrary "debate" over which side would win in a fight. The meme is sometimes referred to as PvN and has a long history on the Internet...

. It is played between various oddball groups, including the eponymous Pirate and Ninja teams, as well as other teams like the zombie

Zombie

Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

s and robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

s. Players on each team behave stereotypically, e.g., zombies are slow and defensive.

Gameplay

Players have a limited reserve of energy to use when playing, and all activity drains energy, including running and throwing. Each group has a unique set of powers, such as cloaking, which drains energy even faster. Players can regain energy by various actions, such as successfully catching a thrown ball.

The ball can be thrown in several ways. Throwing the ball while running causes the ball to move in the direction faced. Throwing the ball while standing still allows a 360 degree aim, with better tracking. Throwing the ball while jumping increases the force at which the ball hits.