In case you were wondering what happened to Flippin’ Kirby, Nintendo dropped the Kirby license and removed all Kirby elements from the game. The game was present as either a standalone GCN or GBA game, but the real beauty is when the game is link with the GCN Link Cable. The game itself consists of moving a ball around a map, performing various tasks, such as moving billiard balls to a pre-marked territory and the ultimate difficulty of moving a LOT of objects with you through a treacherous maze full of bumpers and narrow pathways. Controlling the game is all really simple, thanks to Nintendo’s Motion sensor technology, which is very responsive. The A button makes to rolling ball dash, while the B button makes the ball enlarge. The game is very, VERY fun and it was such a shame that it seems I was to only person that wanted to play it.

The game had many interesting scenarios. There are balloons you must pop and you can only do so with a cannon, although you must have something to fire with the cannon, some ammunition. The ammunitions are these little tin toys that are walking around. You must touch them, absorb them into your ball, and move onto the cannon, and fire with the A button. There are also many other things you can absorb into the ball, and while some are just aesthetic (a Gamecube), there are some that increase the speed of the ball. The ball bearings, when absorbed, make the ball just cruise along really quickly. Power-ups are gained when you bash into presents. Should you fall off the board, you must frantically try to catch the ball as it appears on the GBA, and then jettison it back up onto the GCN Screen.

Graphically, Roll-o-Rama is very simple. The graphics would better be described as functional instead of “WOW” graphics. The boards are laid out very nicely and it is very easy to determine what you are doing.

This game was on the main floor of Nintendo’s, and yet there was not a lot of attention paid to it. This may be the sleeper hit of E3.