ROUNDUP: Shufflepuck Cafe (Air Hockey) clones on the Pocket PC

Menneisyys · 07-18-06, 12:59 PM

Now that a new version of the free 3D Air Hockey has been released, I’ve decided to review all the current Air Hockey games on the platform.

Brøderbund's/Ubi Soft's Shufflepuck Cafe (also see this Wiki entry) was a big hit on major computing / home computer platforms (Amiga, Atari ST, Apple IIGS, Macintosh, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS) back in 1989. I’ve spent quite some time playing it on my PC back in 1991 – it was a real gem and really entertaining.

To get a feeling of the game, I recommend the freeware Windows build of TuxPuck. (Note that the original author’s website seems to have problems; therefore, download the game here, from the above-linked Caiman website. You’ll most probably need to put the DLL file (SDL.dll) in this archive into the same directory where you decompress tuxpuck.exe to). (The Amiga version is here; the Apple IIgs version here.

Note that the Windows build is pretty unreliable and the mouse-based control is pretty bad (the commercial MS-DOS PC version 15-16 years ago was FAR better in this respect); I haven’t tested it under Linux, where it’s hopefully more stable.) If you too find it useless and don’t mind playing the original MS-DOS game (now: abandonware and, therefore, freely accessible / distributable), you can download it from here (if you can’t find it/download it - the-underdogs.info is often unaccessible -, it’s also available here). It works flawlessly under Windows XP (SP2) without any additional setting and is much better, controllability-wise, on my PC than the above-linked TuxPuck.

There are three Air Hockey games for the Pocket PC. None of them support high-resolution VGA screens (I’ve made all the screenshots on VGA devices so you can see this for yourself) or have in-game/menu music. They are, however, all compatible with VGA devices and WM5.

The most important of them is

Paul Ellams’ Air Hockey 3D

(current, tested version: 1.0)
Price: $8

Supports all Pocket PC’s (even SH3/MIPS ones) and is by far the best Air Hockey implementation. Even has a level editor (see this screenshot).

(Also see this thread; it has also been quickly reviewed in the Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I)

Then follows

Sister Software’s Revolution Air Hockey

(current, tested version: 1.2)
Price: $4.99

The EXE file must be transferred to the PPC and executed there.

It’s much simpler than the above-reviewed Paul Ellams’ Air Hockey 3D.

The bat (mallet) must be constantly dragged – you just can’t tap the field somewhere to instantly position the bat to. This wasn’t of a problem if dragging always worked. Unfortunately, that’s not the case: sometimes, it just stops moving and you’ll notice this too late. This makes this title really annoying to play.

Finally,

Raysoft’s 3D Air Hockey

(direct download here; current, tested version: 0.5 Pre-release)
Price: $FREE

This WM2003+ only, free, just-released title is next to useless – everything (including the mallow) moves at a snail’s speed even on faster devices. There is just no comparison to Paul Ellams’ Air Hockey 3D – or, for that matter, not even to Sister Software’s Revolution Air Hockey. The two other titles are much-much faster and easier to control.

Unfortunately, “there is no free lunch” is really true when speaking of this title. You really don’t want to give it a try. (It also complains about missing textures when started.)

The mallow can’t be dragged – you’ll need to tap the screen to position it (not the best way to control it, I say...)

Verdict

If you want to have the best Air Hockey game on the Pocket PC, go for Paul Ellams’ Air Hockey 3D.

Also, if you’re a programmer, you may want to consider porting TuxPuck to the Pocket PC ;)

Remark/compatibility comparison chart

Sorry, the forum engine doesn’t support in-line tables. You can find it at the bottom of the original blog version of this article.

netsyd · 07-18-06, 01:16 PM

Since you are the game man ... (well and everything else PPC for that matter) what is out there for actual hockey type games?

I've been trying to find anything halfway worth while, even a port of the old Nintendo Ice Hockey would make me happy.

Thx for another great review!

Menneisyys · 07-19-06, 03:42 PM

Will also write a roundup of Hockey games some day.

Menneisyys · 09-24-06, 03:48 AM

UPDATE (09/23/2006): 4Pockets has just released Air Hockey Challenge, with even multiplayer capabilities and a lot of other niceties. It's much better than any of the titles reviewed in the above roundup; make sure you read the review HERE.