Konami's Ping Pong
1985 · Sports · Arcade
Overview
Konami's Ping Pong (1985) is an arcade table tennis game, described as the first to play like the real sport, with players shown as floating hands.
Deep Dive
Games go to 11 points with a two-point lead needed, capped at 14–14 when the next point wins, and matches are best of three. The table is seen from an isometric angle, and the player can play forehand, backhand, lob and smash. Hitting from the far side is harder, so the single player always stands on the near side.
Developer Story
Konami released it in Japan in May 1985, with an MSX version the same year. Imagine Software brought it to the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1986 as Ping Pong, and Crash gave it a Smash award.
Did You Know?
- The penguin from Antarctic Adventure, later known as Penta, appears on the title screen and in the crowd.
- Nintendo published it on the Famicom Disk System in 1987 as Smash Ping Pong.
Sources & further reading
- Konami's Ping Pong — Wikipedia
