Nester's Funky Bowling

Nester's Funky Bowling for the Virtual Boy is a very fun game with a great level of difficulty. There are 3 different modes that one can play: Bowl, Practice, and Challenge.In Bowl mode, one plays a standard game of bowling by oneself, where there are 10 frames consisting of 10 pins each and where one has 2 chances in each frame to knock down all 10 pins (with the possible exception of the 10th frame, where one is awarded a 3rd chance if one marks during the first two throws) and where a perfect game consisting of all strikes gets one a score of 300. In Practice mode, one can select from a list of just about any pin setup that one might come across in the other modes and can practice knocking down all of the pins in the particular setup. This is a good mode to use to practice picking up those tough splits. In Challenge mode, one is faced with 10 frames of various pin setups, and in each frame, one only gets a single chance to knock down all of the pins, in order to get any score at all. So it's all or nothing for each frame. The scoring in this mode is pretty unique. The following are the points that are awarded for knocking down all of the pins in each particular frame: 1st frame: 10 points, 2nd frame: 10 points, 3rd frame: 20 points, 4th frame: 20 points, 5th frame: 20 points, 6th frame: 30 points, 7th frame: 30 points, 8th frame: 50 points, 9th frame: 50 points, 10th frame: 60 points. The pin setups get harder as the game progresses, and they are different each time that one plays the mode, which makes for a different experience each time, but one can always count on the 10th frame being the 7-10 split, so practice getting it in the Practice mode if you want to score high in the Challenge mode.For each of the modes, one can choose between two people: Nester and his twin sister Hester. One can also choose the weight of the bowling ball, ranging from 8 to 16 pounds, which does have an effect on how the ball will react with the pins, and one can choose whether the bowler will be right- or left-handed.As far as controlling the game goes, like with most bowling games, one begins by sliding his or her character to the left or to the right, to the particular spot where one wants to begin his or her approach. Some bowling games next allow the player to choose the angle at which the ball will be thrown towards the pins, before selecting the spin that will be put on the ball. Nester's Funky Bowling does not have the angle option, so if one wants the ball to approach the pins at an angle, which is often necessary for picking up many pin setups, it all must be done through the amount of spin that is put on the ball. Also like with most bowling games, after one decides where one wants to begin his or her approach and pushes the A or B button, a spin meter appears with a line moving back and forth across it, and one must press the A or B button again to stop the moving line on the desired location on the spin meter. If one times it so that the line is stopped right in the middle of the spin meter, no spin will be put on the ball and the ball will go straight down the lane from the point where one chose to begin the approach. If one stops the line to the left of the middle of the meter, left spin will be put on the ball, and if one stops the line to the right of the middle, right spin will be put on the ball. The further the line is stopped to the left of the middle of the meter, the more the ball will go to the left after its release and vice versa. After the line on the spin meter is stopped, one then has a limited time to press the button again, in order to stop the power meter that is quickly filling and emptying. If one stops the power meter when it is completely filled, maximum power will be put on the ball and it will go down the lane as fast as possible; thus, stopping the meter when it is completely empty makes the ball go down the lane as slow as possible. The percentage that the meter is filled determines the percentage of speed between the minimum and maximum that the ball will be thrown. During this brief time, one does still have a chance to move one's character to the left or to the right, in order to adjust for any missed timings on either the spin or power meter, but this amount of time is, indeed, very little.The physics in the game are pretty good. While the pins do not act exactly as they would in real life, they nevertheless act in a logical, consistent, and predictable manner. So if one knows an approach position, level of spin, and level of power that will pick up a particular pin setup and one can time it so that the level of spin and power are stopped where one wants them to be stopped, one will always knock down the pins. The only thing is, the speed of the moving line on the spin meter and the speed at which the power meter fills and empties are both fairly fast, so always timing the stopping points in this game is pretty tough to do, which offers a good level of challenge that I think gives this game good replayability. I had a bowling game for the Super Nintendo where the speeds of the meters were slower than they are in this game, and once I found the particular approach spot, angle, level of spin, and level of power that would give me a strike, I could always time it very easily, so every time I played a normal game of bowling, I almost always got a perfect score of 300, which made the normal bowling mode pretty boring. So far, I have yet to get a perfect score of 300 in Bowl mode of Nester's Funky Bowling, and I've been trying for quite a while. Even if I get it, it will be hard to get it again, so there will always be a good reason to go back and play Bowl mode. Challenge mode is also so much fun to play again and again because, as I mentioned before, the pin setups for the first 9 frames are different each time one plays, so there's always a unique game to be had. I also haven't gotten a perfect score of 300 in this mode yet. The last 3 frames are usually tough splits. Picking up 3 tough splits in a row is, of course, hard to do even with easy timings of meters. The fact that the timing of meters in this game is hard makes it all the more difficult, which I think is good, since bowling should be tough, as it is in real life.The reason why I only gave this game a rating of 4 stars out of 5 is because I do think that it would be a lot better if there were a couple more game modes. One of the funnest things about bowling is going head to head with another. It would have been nice if one could go head to head with a computer player in this game, which other bowling games do offer. It would have especially been nice if there was a tournament mode, where one could go against many different computer players and try to rise up to the top. As it stands, though, one feels that one is simply playing bowling by oneself in an empty bowling alley, with no motivation to play other than getting personal bests. There is, however, a high score list in Bowl Mode, consisting of preprogrammed high scores, which one can try to beat. The top score to beat is always 263; the second highest score is always 250, and the third highest score is always 231, and it continues to decline after that. Thus, one can pretend that these are the scores of computer players, against which one is playing, and one can decide which of the players one wants to try to beat. Getting a score of over 263 is, indeed, very hard to do in this game, so being on the top does provide a sense of accomplishment.Despite the fact that Nester's Funky Bowling is missing some good modes that could have made it much better, what it does have is still very enjoyable. Those who like bowling in general should love this game and should love the level of challenge that it provides. The 3D effects, which other bowling games on other systems do not provide, are also nice and help to immerse the player into the game, as most Virtual Boy owners already know. I think that of the few games that have been released for the Virtual Boy, this is up there among the better ones. I know that I will be finding myself returning to this game frequently in the future because it is just so much fun. A Virtual Boy owner desiring to add a fun game, which will actually be played again and again, to his or her library should not regret buying this one!