[Endless]

Man, I sure played like five hours of Videoball last night.

The basics
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-Move with the analog stick. Except some slidey-Asteroids style controls (your ship changes its heading real fast, but you're working against your momentum to actually move in that direction)
-Choose any button you like for shooting (NO TRIGGERS)
-Hold the shot button down (almost always) to charge your shot. The longer you charge, the more powerful your shot. Release to shoot.
-Don't touch the ball. Don't touch the shots. (Stun lasts... 5 secs?)
-Get the ball over the line, score them TOUCHDOWNS

The Shots
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Lv 1 Shot - Pretty darn weak (but fast)! Really only good for stunning other players, or reversing a level 3 shot.

Lv 2 Shot - I consider this the pro shot, medium size, medium speed. When you first play Videoball you're gonna love spamming those Lv3s, but they take time to charge and any opponent paying attention will be in a position for a devastating reversal. Lv2s are your midrange kick, pushing the ball up the field so you can follow it up into the goal. Lv2s are also the only shot that sticks around and keeps richocheting even after it hits something (until it hits a player or a block I think?). If you're extremely lucky the triangle-shaped shot will spin so that the flat edge of the triangle basically bulldozes the ball into the goal. Spam these often.

Lv3 Shot - Slow as heck, but gives that big SLAM. If you've got a straight shot on the goal, this shot is a surefire TOUCHDOWN, and can even make a full-court TD if you let go at the last possible moment. After a ball is hit with a Lv3, any size shot can reverse the ball (the ball can be reversed infinitely, which is stuff for the highlight reel). Again, best for wide open shots but also useful for getting a ball off your side of the field.

Lv4 Shot - The Block. If you hold the shot button down long enough, a big square block appears at the nose of your ship, which you can move around with and release anywhere on the field. I see lots of new players thinking that they can litter the field with these and make some sort of wall, but the blocks break apart after two shots and its not too hard for experienced players to manuver the ball past them. The best use I've found for blocks are as last minute efforts to block the goal line, but the jury is still out on the best way to use these guys (most blocks you see are going to be the result of LV3 shots that accidentally got held for a second too long).

PRO TIPS
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1. Chase down that ball. Stay behind it. You aren't going to get work done if you try and fire at it from a distance. Videoball is a lot like soccer in this way, you gotta keep the ball right ahead of your feet before you try and push it over the line.

2. Anticipate the next ball. When a goal is scored, a new ball will enter play (once 3 balls are on the field, you're going to see a lot of newly spawned balls). It can be easy to score a free ace shot if you're paying attention to this. Watch the spawn counter on the center line and try to release a LV3 shot right as the ball comes out. However, if you see an opponent doing the same, you might want to hold your shot and try for a reversal instead.

3. Understand the shot shape. Lots of players try to strike the ball dead on with the pointy end of the shot. Remember, it's a triangle. If you aim slightly to the left or right of the ball, the flat part of the shot will strike the ball and propel it in the ricochet direction.

4. Always be charging. There's really no good reason not to. You don't want to maneuver up to a ball and THEN start charging. Have a LV2 or LV3 ready to go. Master that timing.

5. Be aggressive. Too many players focus entirely on the ball. In a tense situation, with multiple players fighting for the ball, it's often better to direct your fire at the opponent. Stun lasts a good while, and taking out the enemy striker can give you a wide window of time to move that ball up the field.

6. Be aware of your teammate. So often you'll have that Lv3 charged up and let it go, with the stupid hope that your teammate is somehow going to move out of the way of the ball and let you score the TD. 9 times out of 10 you're going to stun your own buddy and give up a point. Similarly, if you and a buddy are chasing the same ball, release your own shot, then back up so he has room for his (though be careful not to hit his shot, as shots can cancel each other out).

7. Reversals. Learn them now. Stop giving up points to those cheap LV3s.

8. Goaltending. Sometimes the best way to stop a shot is to sacrifice your body. Get in front of that ball if you have to, take the stun.

9. Be aware of the balls. Late in the game, you've got three of them. No point in chasing down a single point while the other team scores two. Manage the entire field, just keeping up momentum and pushing the balls towards the enemy is often enough to result in TDs. Once you've got the opponent on D, start chasing down the points.

That's all I've got for now. Hopefully we'll have more pro tips in the future.

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Vito Gesualdi, Videoball Regionals Champ 2013
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[swampfriend]

oh man i am pretty good at VIDEOBALL. at PAX brandon sheffield said i was the best VIDEOBALL player in the world B)

these are all very good tips but what is secretly much, much more important than everyone seems to realize is #6, be aware of your teammates. even tim, who is very good, will constantly fly right up in between you and a ball when you're about to release a shot and just eat it

sounds like you and me need to team up and become unstoppable

the blocks become more prominent and more effective in big board 3v3 mode where you will often have one guy exclusively hanging back on defense. as well, even in 2v2 if you keep a block or two on the center of your own zone it's a decent defense against slam dunks (LV3 slamming the ball from its spawn position into the goal)
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[ArOne]

I can't wait till I can get my hands on it.
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[Iacus]

Yeah the more I see about this game the sweeter it seems. What are the target platforms?

[boojiboy7]

For some reason, every time i see this, i just think of that weird dodgeball game on xbla that i an only like 5 other people ever bought.

[Brooks]

Spoilers itt

[RadRad]

I wish there was a way to release this game on the Vita.
Play it two player by holding the system vertically, each using a joystick and button.
Could work, right?
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http://www.iamthefourth.com/

[Endless]

That would kind of work
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[1CC]

Not Videoball:

[Mikey]

[Brooks]

I don't miss Windjammers because I can play it right now

[Mikey]

On a proper cabinet?

[108]

as i just typed in bleak's superior VIDEOBALL thread in the axe, vito's tips are a bit outdated! well, the one about "chase down the ball", anyway. now that VIDEOBALL has something like twenty different arenas of different shapes and sizes, there is great benefit to shooting from a distance, and playing a zone.

also, re: being aware of your teammate, i would one-up that to "think as much about your teammate as you do about your opponents".

vito only played two-on-two, though now we have three-on-three, so "positions" have developed their way into the strategy of players now. we have two-on-two games where players choose positions on the fly.

you need to not just think about where your teammate(s) is (are) -- you need to think about where they will be if X happens, and where they will be if Y happens, and what they'll likely want to do if X or Y happens. you need to communicate verbally, and with speed and efficiency.

i'm in the middle of recording some hot VIDEOBALL matches in hopes of excerpting some examples of higher-level play -- hopefully i'll also make a trailer! man. VIDEOBALL is so cool. if anyone has any hardcore and/or mainstream VIDEOBALL questions, please ask me. :3

[swampfriend]

[| BLUE | BLACK | PURPLE |]

Is this the official vball thread?

This is super interesting sports science: http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/16/3/033039

Could someone please do the math and then insert a videoball ball into those diagrams?