Proto:Antonball Deluxe/Punchball Antonball

This is a sub-page of Proto:Antonball Deluxe.

Punchball Antonball is the half-sequel to Antonball Classic, released on March 19th 2020 and only developed in one day. It copies the gameplay from Punch Ball Mario Bros. with 7 of the same levels, with the only thing changing being the numbers of moles that spawn. While the game itself is a bit lackluster and nothing more than a shitpost (including crashes that happen sometimes when taking damage), it has a somewhat functional prototype of Antonball Deluxe within, as an early build of the game was used as a template for the Punchball mechanics.

The original download page of the game has since been taken down, though you can find an archive of the webpage here and download the game here.

Rooms

rm_test

rm_test is still in this build with its Punchball changes applied. The camera object has been stripped from most of its basic functionality, so you can walk away from the screen. The moles can now also move and kill you.

rm_test1

To do: Video footage.

Comparing to the previous build, this room had some updates, though it doesn't work without some modifications. This is mainly due to the Punchball changes expecting moles to spawn, and since none spawn, the game sees it as an automatic win and crashes trying to go to the next room. Making the necessary changes will let the game continue in a semi-playable game of Antonball. This level has its hole in the wall blocked off by a barrier object, so the ball would bounce back leaving no way to get a game over, thus making this the perfect video game.

fin

A room that shows a full body sprite of Anton. This room still exists in the final game, but the sprite was removed. By booting into this room with no changes, the game will just show a black screen. That's because for some odd reason, the sprite's visibility was turned off and its object (obj_ending) was removed from this room. Readding them shows that the Game Boy font messed up placements and some special characters, and by default the text color is set to black, but it works nonthenless.

Sprites & Backgrounds

Arcade Borders

This build has not one, but three revisions of the arcade border, all ranging in various levels of completion.

The first revision of this border (titled sprite21) can be seen in rm_test. It's lacking of any details or outlines, showing a brick pattern on the bottom. The artwork got some overhauls as well, with Anton's arm extending more to the left while making a fist, Annie looking in a different direction, and the Ballbuster's face getting a complete makeover.

The second revision (titled spr_border) is starting to shape up. Parts of what would make the finalized border are there, showing the finalized character artwork without the contrast change, though it's missing artwork of the 2nd Ballbuster and arrows pointing to the characters' names. Some elements would change or were still missing, such as the placement of the characters and the rims, or the extending shadow with the player coinslots.

The third and final revision (titled spr_border1) is where things get interesting. This border is the same as the border in the final game, but bigger thanks to the higher resolution that was used early on! What sets this apart from the cropped border is its extra animated joysticks, buttons and props that were removed from the final game all together. Their objects exist too, so they function in-game, even if they are bugged a bit.

sprite21 (1st revision)	spr_border (2nd revision)	spr_border1 (3rd revision)

A fully restored third revision of the border can be seen here.

Unfinished Sewer Background (bg_sewerold)

Early version of the old sewer background with no contrast changes or sewer water. A finished version of this background exists in this build as well.

Cropped Sewer Background (bg_sewer)

A sewer background that was probably too small to be used as a substantial background. Compared to the one shown in the SAGE demo, there's some very minor differences in the water flow.

Prototype (Punchball)	Prototype (SAGE)

City Background (bg_placeholdercity)

A city background from Mario vs. Donkey Kong, only used as a placeholder in some deleted test rooms.

Kicked Over Mole (spr_mole_stunned)

Although this sprite was only made just for Punchball Antonball, only the first sprite of the mole being stunned is shown, and the other two frames are unused.

Anton (spr_anton)

An extended set of sprites for Anton are present in this build, and the ones already in the Deluxe Test Build are identical here. Comparing to the final, every sprite got a makeover in one way or another.

Prototype	Final

An exception is spr_anton_skid, which just had a skid sprite of Mario lifted straight from Donkey Kong '94.

Big Chungus

It's the chung himself (titled spr_bigchungus), in Anton form as well (titled spr_anton_chungus). He has an object related to his sprite, but those were taken up by Anton's sprite, leaving these unused anyway.

Annie

Some of Annie's sprites were already finalized. The same can't be said for the crouch and some of her backflip sprites however.

Prototype	Final

"Classic" Anton (spr_classicanton)

"Classic" Anton returns, now with no changes!

Anton's Life Icon (spr_antonlife)

An early version of Anton's life icon. Annie doesn't have one in this build, and they were replaced with heads of the characters in the final game.

Prototype	Final

Colored Switches

Leftover colored block and switch sprites. Their objects were deleted from this build.

Objects

obj_anton

A player object, stripped from most of its code. This object won't move or respond to any button presses.

obj_bigchungus

Another player object, this one being a duplicate of an early version. Some variables aren't set properly and the game will crash trying to spawn or move. Fixing these variables will let you move around, and it'll behave like the regular player object, just with some character moves missing. Despite the name, spr_bigchungus won't show up.

Sounds

snd_anniestep

Walking sounds for Annie. They aren't attached to any object in this build.

mus_bigchungus

A short, compressed version of the Big Chungus Theme Song that would've been used if obj_bigchungus was activated. Sadly, it never does.

mus_fire

The Fireman theme from Game & Watch Gallery, specifically the version from Game & Watch Gallery 4. It's only used as an alternate level placeholder theme.

sfx_scrape

Sound of a rock moving.

Notes

To do: Sort these notes across the page, perhaps as some kind of (unused or changed) functionality tab.

• The player's controls are somewhat restricted. There's code to perform backflips and skids, but it's disabled by default and turning it back on does nothing.
• There's a variable in the player object called backflip_max, suggesting that you only had a limited amount of backflips per level. This was already scrapped in this build.
• This build only gives you 3 lives in total instead of the usual 5.
• The timer is present in this build.
• mus_title and mus_intro are duplicate files, despite both being used.

Differences

To do: Note differences to final game.

Since this is the closest to being an actual game, there's some stuff to compare.