The title of the most widely recognized symbol of retro gaming quite possibly belongs to the classic paddles and ball of Pong. It only makes sense for the bit Generations series to pay homage to one of the earliest entries of video games with Boundish. Of course, it adds a bit more to the formula that was concocted over thirty years ago, but the core gameplay still stands at knocking a ball back and forth.

Boundish is actually broken up into five separate games: Pool Flower, Box Juggling, Power Slider, Human League, and Wild Go Round. All but Box Juggling are two-player games, either with an adjustable CPU opponent or a friend (thankfully, there is a download-play option for the Boundish-less). They all follow the basic Pong rules and matches can be set to a certain amount of points or gameplay time.

Pong is Pong is Pong

The only true solitaire game, Box Juggling, simply has an oddly shaped stick figure moving around and, like the title says, involves juggling boxes. Having the boxes simply touch the figure is enough to juggle them, though one striking the head leaves him paralyzed for a second (it’s not recommended to juggle boxes with your head in real life, too). Pressing the A button will have the person jump and stretch his arms upwards. Time the jump correctly to send the boxes flying out of the screen, though they will fall back down faster and more unpredictably. Eventually, bonus boxes will appear, containing extra points and power-ups, such as a helmet to protect the person’s noggin or a shadow figure for more coverage. Multiple boxes will also spawn, which makes the game progressively harder.

Pool Flower incorporates an odd mechanic where various sized circular blobs float and drift into the “pool� arena. Running into a circle severely hampers the paddle speed. Also, sending a ball through a circle causes it to change into the color of your paddle. If a ball hits a circle of an opposite color, it will bounce off, rather than shooting straight through. The chaos rises considerably when the playfield starts to get full of blobs. Pool Flower’s quite different mechanics and “physics� make it stand out from the other Pong-clones in the bunch.

Power Slider feels a little bit less inspired, though the new mechanic has the ball “bouncing� off the floor. Hitting the ball with more spin causes it to bounce more unpredictably. A little more oomph can also be added to the shots by holding the A button and letting go when the ball makes contact with the paddle.

Human League is a four-paddle game, with players controlling an extra “goalkeeper� paddle simultaneously with their main paddle. Though the goalie moves slower than the main paddle, a dive can be executed by holding either Up or Down and pressing A, though the dive will temporarily freeze the goalie. As the name would suggest, this game is the best one to try with a friend.

Finally, Wild Go Round is probably the weakest game in Boundish. Two paddles move around a spinning record player, which causes the music to distort as the paddles move around. The spinning vinyl also causes the ball to move around very strangely, which makes it unusually frustrating and the least enjoyable.

All substance, not much else

Just like with the other bit Generation games, Boundish incorporates very simplistic graphics and sounds, though they’re just as polished. The animation quality is surprisingly very smooth, especially in Pool Flower when the blobs stretch and react to the ball. The music uses minimalist instruments, but they’re all very well composed. Though it’s not as upbeat as the chiptunes in another bit Generations title, dotstream, most of the songs are nicely ambient and pleasant.

Unfortunately, Boundish is not one of the better bit Generations titles. Unless if you’re a Pong fanatic, the games quickly wear thin, though it’s considerably better to play with a friend when possible. Though it might be easy to get interested enough to fall almost into a trance-like state for the first several times, there’s just not much substance to be uncovered in the end. Pong might be a classic game, but it’s not a very engrossing one either. Unfortunately, Boundish is the latter. If you’re looking for some bit Generation games to fill your library, don’t really bother to put much priority on Boundish.