Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

aka: Speed Ball II, Speedball 2
Moby ID: 273
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Description official descriptions

Brutal Deluxe doesn't live up to their name - in fact they're the worst team Speedball has ever seen. As their manager, it is your job to transform their fortunes. As well as the league system, which consists of 2 8-team divisions and challenges you to advance to the top, there are also 2 cup tournaments, one of which is played out over 2 'legs' with the aggregate score deciding who progresses.

You can play the matches as well, which is the real meat of the game. They consist of 2 90-second periods, and the gameplay is futuristic, fast, and frantic, with heavy tackling encouraged to retrieve the ball. Power-ups and tokens appear on the pitch, including ones to make your players extra-tough or freeze the opponents.

The sides of the pitch each include a score multiplier, which you can run the ball through to increase the value of your scoring - the opposition can sometimes immediately grab the ball and nullify this. There are also 5 stars which are worth 2 points each if you hit them (more if you have the multiplier activated), but these can also be canceled out by the opposition hitting the same star, and their points values only become set after the half. Next to the stars, there are portals, which throw the ball out the opposite side of the pitch, in the direction it was going.

You get money for the results, and by collecting the silver tokens which appear on the pitch at random intervals. Between each match, you can spend these either on improving your existing players as far as they can go or on buying better ones and fitting them into the team. Your original players can only be improved to a certain extent, so remembering where your signed players are and making use of them is important.

A variety of tokens also appear during the match, some of which boost your team's power for a short period of time, and one freezes the opposition.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Amiga version)

9 People

Design
Additional Design
Code
Additional Code
Graphic Design
Music
  • Nation 12
Music Code and FX
Cover Illustration (UK Release)

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 70 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 185 ratings with 7 reviews)

The #1 future sports game!

The Good
It's fast, brutal and fun! I really can't wait until bitmap brothers get their act together and release speedball 2100. But until then, the speedball 2 map will always have a special place on my desktop.

The Bad
The league is a bit too short...

The Bottom Line
An excellent way to make time fly. Especially when playing against a friend.

DOS · by Vince (2) · 1999

Brutal. Fast. Fun.

The Good
Everything. You have a team of losers (which you can upgrade with money you get after every match) and play against other teams... and then it just gets brutal! This game was the first REALLY good Amiga-to-PC port, and it's fast, action-packed, and fun. One of the games from that time period that I still play on a weekly basis. It was a LOT faster than M.U.D.S. despite being technically inferior, and Bitmap Brothers are awesome when it comes to gameplay. Especially when you play against some of the tougher teams (Steel Fury, etc) the pace picks up so much it's incredible. In a good way. This game is addictive beyond belief (even to me, and I usually disdain any sort of action game or Amiga ports), and it still runs well on a modern machine.

The Bad
Well, M.U.D.S. has a better "campaign" mode (buying and selling players, etc). but that's about it! Oh, and the key selection is awkward (O/P for left/right and Q/A for up/down) and can't be reselected, but you get used to it.

The Bottom Line
Well, I just saw an original boxed Speedball 2 on Disks with manuals etc. on eBay, and I stopped bidding at around $30. Needless to say, there are still many who have fond memories about this game, and rightfully so. Strongest recommendation to hunt this one down, although I doubt you can find it anywhere but illegal abandonware. They really ought to make a compilation CD of all the good Amiga ports from that time (Speedball 2, Xenon 2, Turrican 2, etc).

DOS · by Gothicgene (66) · 2001

Made me purchase an Atari ST

The Good
The imaginative premise of the game whereby you can score by so many means such as the wall targets and wounding opponents.The difficulty curve is what makes this game special. You start off with a really rather bad team and only by performing well whilst collecting the money tokens can you improve. The transfer system makes you yearn to collect those coins to improve your team in preparation for the more difficult games to come.

The Bad
Super Nashwan team are just about unbeatable unless you are lucky. Being able to lob the ball over the keepers head and then clattering him to score.

The Bottom Line
Future sports game where the only rule is put the ball in the goal. Fouling is allowed and in fact essential if you want to progress.

Atari ST · by Neepie Lantern (524) · 2004

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Amiga version of Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Ideas that were scrapped

According to Eric Matthews during development saving a team to disk in order to take it to a friend's house, as well as player-designed home courts were discussed, but both ideas didn't make it in the final game. (Source: Amiga Power #2, 1991/6).

Version differences

The Genesis port is a very quiet port, a lot of sound effects have been left out. The MegaDrive version that went out in Japan had silver and gold teams rather than red and blue.

Awards

  • Amiga Power
    • April 1991 - #3 Best Amiga Game of All Time
    • May 1992 - #3 Best Amiga Game of All Time
    • May 1993 - #4 Best Amiga Game of All Time
    • May 1994 - #3 Best Amiga Game of All Time
  • EMAP Image's Golden Joystick 1991
    • April 1991: Best Soundtrack - 16 Bit
  • Retro Gamer
    • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #43 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
  • ST Format
    • January 1993 (issue #42) - #31 in '50 finest Atari ST games of all time' list

Information also contributed by Graeme Boxall and Martin Smith

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Tomer Gabel.

Antstream added by firefang9212. Amiga added by necronom. Commodore 64, J2ME, Windows Mobile, Xbox 360 added by Kabushi. Atari ST, SEGA Master System, Amiga CD32, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance added by Martin Smith. Genesis added by Roedie. Acorn 32-bit added by Terok Nor. BlackBerry added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Roedie, Jeanne, Apogee IV, kametyken, Martin Smith, formercontrib, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST, FatherJack.

Game added September 15, 1999. Last modified March 26, 2024.