203. Perfect Bowling (Aisystem Tokyo, Famicom, 1989)

Perfect Bowling is a futuristic-themed bowling simulator. I say futuristic, but the only furturistic thing is that the the pins are beamed in by some kind of energy field, otherwise it's all regular bowling.

I've taken a look at a couple other bowling games on this blog, though none of them have been particularly interesting, and Perfect Bowling is no exception. It has a similar control setup to game #14, Championship Bowling, in that you select your position and angle and then have a shot meter that you have to time perfectly in order to throw the ball straight. Though here, the power and angle controls have been lumped together in a single meter.

The weight of the ball and pins feel a bit off, and there is very little animation when your ball hits the pins, making it feel unfair at time. The power meter is a little confusing initially, but after a few frames it's simple to grasp.

I played through the training mode, which is really just a single game with no opponents, there is no actual training that goes on. I eventually found a combination of position, spin and power that I was able to get three strikes towards the end of my game. I felt ready for the main game mode, which has you select an AI opponent to bowl against. But Perfect Bowling's AI is way too powerful, getting spares or strikes in pretty much every frame. I also didn't love that you have to watch the opponent bowl, but that's mostly because they were destroying me.

2/5, a straightforward, clunky bowling simulator