0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Backstreet Billiards

       

Backstreet Billiards is a sports game based around pool, developed by Argent also known as Agenda and published by ASCII Entertainment Software. The games music was created by Joe Down Studio the game released in Japan and North America in 1998 and released exclusively on the Playstation. The game would receive a Playstation 3 and PSP release in late 2009.

Notable people who worked on the game Shōji Tomii who was the producer at Joe Down Studio went on to be the Sound Producer for the Final Fantasy Fables games on the Nintendo DS and WII. Musician Makoto Igarashi also worked on the Final Fantasy Fables games as well as lending his trombone skills to games like Sonic Lost World, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 and the Mario And Sonic at the Winter Olympics and Rio Olympics.

Hironobu Yahata who worked as a composer on the game also worked on the music composition of Mario Party 6, the music for Mario Party 7 and Mario Party DS. He worked on the music and sound effects for the 2008 released Bomberman Blast, his latest known work is on the 2010 release Dream Chronicles where he was a member of the Sound Staff.

Backstreet Billiards has a wide variety of Pool and Carom games to choose from, with the more recognisable 8-ball and 9-ball variants, Rotation, Basic Pool, 141 Continuous, Bowlliards, Cutthroat, 5-9 and One Pocket, in addition to these variations you also have 3-Ball, 4-Ball, Free, One Cushion and Three Cushion as well as additional modes like timed and trick shot.

 

When playing the cue ball path is shown to the play as a white line heading in the direction the cue ball will travel, when prepping for a shot the player can change the angle of the cue to to increase the spin of the cue ball. Lowering shot position on the cue ball increase the backspin while positioning the cue towards the top of the cue ball will increase the topspin of the ball, this is done by pressing square or circle and the d-pad for the desired direction.

 
The player can zoom in and out using the L1 or R1 shoulder buttons while L2 displays each of the balls numbers, the game also has a free cam mode which can be activated using R2. Another addition to the game is the ability to listen to your own music while playing. The game also has a multiplayer option for up to 4 players this can be done with or without a multi tap.

What makes Backstreet Billiards stand out head and shoulders above other Pool games is the Story Mode which plays out like an adventure/visual novel/rpg with the main protagonist in search of his fathers famous pool cue. 

The Story mode allows the player to travel around challenging ever increasingly difficult opponents, hidden items and ability upgrades will allow you to better challenge this mode difficult opponents.

Largely above averagely received by critics with the exception on one review score that was highly impressive and one that was as average as you can get, but as usual we will start with the best which comes from Absolute Playstation who were highly impressed with the game scoring it at a 91.

From here the review scores do plummet with the next at a respectable 75 from Gamezilla who called it a good game with plenty of challenge and options, they did have some issues with the visual angles and zooming but overall they recommended the game to pool fans and for non pool fans it may be worth taking a look.

German publication Mega Fun were up next with a 73 rated review who called the game a pool genre elite, the review heaping plenty of praise on the games story mode and easy to pick up controls, they also praised the looks and sound of the game.

Switching to the other end of the review scale we find the lowest review score for Backstreet Billiards is sitting at an average 50 from The Video Game Critic, the reviewer praising the range of features and variations on offer but the game also falls into the same trap as many Pool games, with the overhead camera being the best of the many on offer which defeats having the fancy graphics.

The review did have praise for the challenging story mode that is on offer with the game, allowing the player to take on every increasingly difficult hustlers, concluding the review called the game hardly great but is probably as good as any other Playstation pool game.

 

The second lowest review score which moves back into the above average territory comes form All Game Guide who scored the game at a 60, the reviewer recommending the game to pool fanatics and those who only have a passing interest in the game. They concluded by recommending Backstreet Billiards above any other pool game with its unique graphics, modes of player and overall enjoyment.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude who will give you $4 if you are looking to trade in your copy of Backstreet Billiards, if on the other hand you are looking to buy a copy from Gamedude, you will be looking at a $12 outlay for a copy.

 

Unsurprisingly Retrogames.co.uk don’t stock this North American and Japanese only release so we will quickly move on to eStarland.com. Where we find two copies of the game available, the first a used copy with no manual which is priced up at $11.69.

The second copy on offer is a new copy of the game which can be picked up for $29.50, eStarland.com also offer a trade in for this game with up to $6 paid for a complete used copy of the game, this price will vary depending on the completeness of the copy with a disc only copy worth up to $2.40 when traded in.

Finally we have Amazon.com where we find a limited supply of the game available, while limited the prices are no overly expensive with a like new copes of the game available for $8.99 once the shipping has been added in. A couple of disc only copies are available as well as a good condition complete copy for $12.49 once shipping has been added in.

A couple of new copies of the game are also available on Amazon.com with the cheapest priced at $14.98 which is significantly cheaper than eStarland’s new copy, the second new copy available at Amazon.com is considerably more expensive coming in at $35.38 when the shipping costs have been added in.

Written by

P J Gibbon