The sequel to the fantastic (but marginally inferior)
Speedball by the
Bitmap Brothers. A classic, top down, fast and furious
Amiga game, also ported to
PC and
Megadrive/
Genesis.
The theme of the game is the future sport of the title: imagine Rollerball minus skates and sticks or Basketball with a metal ball and armour plated players. No, even better, Air Hockey with real people on the pitch.
In one player mode you guide your team - Brutal Deluxe - through a cup or league competition, collecting coins in the game to spend on transfers to try to buy the best players. The players you buy are far tougher than the starting team, so this part is essential.
This was one of the first games where you could injure the opponent's players, and you got bonus points for doing so! This meant that the two player game often got quite vicious (see the film Swingers when they're playing NHL Hockey). My favourite moments were when the robot physio therapists came on to take away your opponent's bleeding player, and the all time best use of a sample when the cry of:
"Ice Cream! Ice Cream!"
could be heard during the replays. If you've never played it,
download an emulator or try to find it in the
budget software section of your local games emporium. It's ten years old, but
you won't regret it.