really cool with a trackball, but an analog stick is fine too. fun time trial racing thing. hard as fuck

I was born on the same day this game was first released!


Too bad I really hate it though!

• Design Document

cool on trackball, awful on pad. your mileage may vary.

A difficult marble-based game that is very light on content, but somehow remains addicting to try again and again. The game can be beaten in less than 5 minutes easily and maybe the controls are not the tightest with a d-pad. But this game is still classic and fun, its that simple.

lol balls

This always felt very underrated to me. An update with motion controls would be a super cool minigame in some collection or something.

This game pissed me off so much in my youth. Also the trackball hurts your hands because it's not perfectly set up so you pinch yourself all the time with it. Other than that it's a solid game. Very fucking short though. Also laughably easy for an Arcade game.

It's fun but it's goddamn nigh impossible to win. Rad tunes though.

3.5 on arcade, I'm sure much worse on everything else

No nostalgia (I am twelve years younger than the NES) but I really like this game. Feels like one of the few NES games I enjoy not despite its limitations, but almost because of them.

Fun, but so damn hard.

confusing to understand whats happening, a blast when u figure it out though

Played this for my action spot for the Retro Achievement challenge. Always loved Marble Madness. It just a fun little race against the clock game. I looked over the Achievements and went to Master it! Always a great time if you have 20 minutes to kick around.

Convincing 3D graphics coupled with varied levels, decent sound effects, and solid controls made this a refreshing and unique entry in the puzzle genre at its time of release.

I loved the tactile feeling of the heavy trackball the upright arcade machine used. The music and sound effects were awesome as well, and kept me coming back. In fact, if it weren't for this machine and the Star Wars vector arcade game, I'd have made 95% fewer trips to Wal-Mart, where the games hung out in the foyer. Those were the days, for sure.

I fucking hate this game, is awful and I broke my friend's NES controller because of it and had to buy him a new one. Whoever made this game is evil.

Cool pseudo-3D visuals but MAN I hate the controls. Also I heard that there are only 6 levels, damn.

The game is tense, the game is hard, the game is also kinda slippery, and the levels are fairly labrynthian, but I can't help but be fond of this one.

Blame nostalgia for making me lose my marbles a little.

The game is pretty basic but Blockbuster video still managed to get tens of dollars out of me since this was one of my go to rentals whenever I couldnt find a game I wanted. You move a marble around a basic 3d environment while things try to break it. It's a little clumsy and difficult in many spots but for some reason, it can be fun.

This game makes me wanna shove marbles up other peoples noses.

sometimes I feel like just a little marble

must be played with a trackball - feels like nothing else of its time or since

Who knew game about marbles could have this much charm?

Very short but difficult, classic NES title 6/10

Fun but infuriating game.

Trackball games rule, this is a complete and unavoidable fact, and it's very sad that it's so hard to recreate them. Mobile's done a decent job but you only get the acceleration of the push and not the satisfaction of the stop and realign motion. Anyways this game is gorgeous art and sound on top of being brilliantly controlled.

As if said by a late 2000's YouTube AVGN clone, this game sure as hell made me lose my marbles.

I never played it like it was intended with a trackball but at least I can confirm that it translates very well to the D-pad. A classic.

Occasionally frustrating, but a fun concept