I, Ball

The player takes the role of the eponymous Ball and gameplay takes the form of a vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up. Terry Ball (terrible, geddit?) has kidnapped Lover Ball, No Ball, Eddy Ball and Glow Ball, and I,Ball must rescue them through 16 stages. The gameplay is shoot 'em up based, with the 16 levels scrolling vertically. They are full of hazards ranging from step-like sequences of blocks and metallic edges, to Terry Ball's unleashed devices including microwave ovens and crabs. The initial weapons is quite puny, but collecting discs allows upgrades to be obtained, including multi-directional fire and turbo boosts. You have four lives, but must complete each level within a time limit. It was also one of the first games to feature a wide range of power-ups (via power discs). I Ball featured some memorable synthesised speech.