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Red Ball 4

Red Ball 4 is the fourth game in the Red Ball series, once again featuring a set of platforming levels in which you have to guide the Red Ball to the end without getting killed by obstacles or hazards along the way Compared to the past three entries, Red Ball 4 is more involved than its predecessors as it has a deeper plot and features actual enemies alongside level obstacles and a even greater emphasis on puzzles.

It also has the unique distinction of having multiple chapters released one by one as separate games, unlike the previous three titles which each were smaller in size but released as full games. In 2014, all three chapters that had been published on the internet were re-released together in a single app called Red Ball 4, along with two extra chapters developed exclusively for the app version of the game. The app itself has two different versions: one that's free to download but has ads and a life cap, and one that costs $4.99 but has unlimited lives and no ads.

Links[]

Controls[]

  • Left/Right Arrow Keys: Move left/right
  • Up Arrow Key or Space Bar: Jump

Plot[]

Each chapter of the game is part of an overarching plot in which Red Ball has to save his friends and his home from an army of Gray Cubes that want to turn everything square!

Chapter 1 - Green Hills (Flash and Mobile Versions)[]

Red Ball and his friends are out enjoying the day when they come across another red ball who's shaped like a cube. The former ball explains that an army of Gray Cubes has been rounding up all the balls on the planet and taking them to a factory where the balls are being forcibly changed into cubes by the factory's machinery. Realizing that the balls' way of life could be ended forever if the Gray Cubes keep doing this, Red Ball takes it upon himself to take the world back from the Gray Cubes! He rolls across the grasslands, squashing Gray Cubes along the way, until he comes across the boss Cube, the Monocle Cube, who's been leading the invasion on the grasslands. After a quick battle, Red Ball defeats the Monocle Cube and sends the Gray Cubes running. But his adventure isn't over yet...

Chapter 2 - Deep Forest (Flash and Mobile Versions)[]

Now that the Gray Cubes are on the retreat, Red Ball decides to start searching for their factory so he can save his friends and stop the Gray Cubes' plan to deprive the world of roundness. He sets his sights on a nearby forest under attack from the Gray Cubes, and finds that they have a logging operation going on there. After making his way through the forest, squashing more Gray Cubes, and dodging their deforesting machinery, Red Ball finds the boss Cube supervising the logging operation - the Sumo Cube. The Sumo Cube fights hard but Red Ball manages to beat him, putting an end to the logging operation. Red Ball then reaches the end of the forest and finds the Gray Cubes' factory dead ahead, much to his delight.

Chapter 3 - Box Factory (Flash and Mobile Versions)[]

Having finally found the Gray Cubes' base of operations, Red Ball storms the factory and traverses the dangerous industrial territory, fighting his way through the Gray Cubes and evading the deadly factory machinery. At the heart of the factory he encounters the Mecha Cube, a giant robotic boss Cube created to guard the factory. After a long, grueling battle, Red Ball destroys the Mecha Cube and breaks all his friends out of their cages, causing the factory to fall apart and come down. All the balls flee the factory just before it collapses, and once it falls over the pollution in the sky disperses, leaving behind a sunny sky as the balls celebrate their freedom.

Chapter 4 - Battle for the Moon (Mobile Version Only)[]

Red Ball is celebrating his victory over the Gray Cubes when he discovered that the Cubes are taking off in rockets and flying into space. The Cubes then land on the moon and start colonizing it! Red Ball realizes that the Cubes are trying to set up their own space station on the moon so they can regroup and form a space army to enact their revenge, so he goes into space himself to stop them. Deep in space, he beats up even more Gray Cubes, navigates their primitive space junk structures, and skirts past space lasers, all while dealing with wonky gravity. Eventually, he meets the Astro Cube, the boss Cube in charge of the Cubes' space station project, and defeats him. With the space station project halted, Red Ball returns to Earth, glad to finally be done with the Gray Cubes for good...

Chapter 5 - Into the Caves (Mobile Version Only)[]

With the Gray Cubes finally gone due to being lost in space, Red Ball decides to spend some quality time with his girlfriend. However, just as the two are about to share a kiss, a hole opens up beneath the girlfriend and she falls in. Barely missing a beat, Red Ball jumps into the hole to save her...only to find that his days of fighting the Gray Cubes weren't finished after all. It turns out that a colony of Gray Cubes has been living deep underground in a deep network of mineshafts the whole time, so now Red Ball must make his way through the tunnels to find his girlfriend. Deep within the caverns, Red Ball finally finds his girlfriend but discovers that she's been captured by an enormous, monstrous boss Cube - the Boulder Cube. After an intense struggle, Red Ball manages to defeat the Boulder Cube and free his girlfriend from her cage, and the happy couple returns to the surface where they can continue spending time together.

Gameplay[]

Red Ball 4 has you travel through a series of levels that feature fairly simple platforming challenges, physics puzzles, and basic combat. Each chapter of the game constitutes one world and contains 15 levels, with the last one being a boss battle instead of a normal level. The goal of every level (minus boss levels) is simply to reach the end without getting killed by enemies or hazards. Some hazards only make you lose one health point, but others can kill you instantly. If you die, you get sent back to the most recent checkpoint you reached. In the Flash version and premium mobile version, this bears little consequence as there is no life limit; if playing the free mobile version, however, lives are capped at a maximum of 5 and you lose one every time you die. Lives regenerate every 15 minutes; if you run out of lives, you lose the level and can't play again until your lives regenerate.

Aside from dying, certain puzzles can also set you back if you mess them up. Many of the game's puzzles involve interacting with one or more items, and while most of them can be solved without much difficulty, some are set up in such a way that you can accidentally lose the item you need to solve the puzzle and progress. If this happens, you'll be unable to finish the level and the game will respawn you at the most recent checkpoint.

Worlds[]

  • Green Hills (Chapter 1, Levels 1-15): A grassland world whose levels consist of simple platforming challenges and puzzles. Water is a common hazard here.
  • Deep Forest (Chapter 2 - Levels 16-30): A forest world with more elaborate platforming and puzzles. Switches and moving platforms are common puzzle gimmicks here, and water and sawblades appear frequently as hazards.
  • Box Factory (Chapter 3 - Levels 31-45): A factory world with challenging platforming and puzzles involving switches and lasers.
  • Lunar Space Station (Chapter 4 - Levels 46-60): A space world with very complex platforming. Laser beams appear abundantly, and later levels feature gravity-warping gimmicks.
  • Mine Cave (Chapter 5 - Levels 61-75): A cave world that focuses heavily on puzzles. Most levels involve finding keys to unlock doors. Spikes are a very common hazard here, and cannons appear in later levels.

Enemies[]

Normal Cubes[]

These are standard Gray Cube enemies that appear in all the game's chapters and have basic behaviors.

  • Roaming Cube: A normal Gray Cube that rolls back and forth. It damages you if you hit it from the side, but can be killed by jumping on it.
  • Sentry Cube: A Gray Cube that initially just stands in one spot, but will start rolling back and forth like a Roaming Cube if you get damaged by it.

Special Cubes[]

These are more powerful Gray Cubes that only appear in specific chapters and have unique abilities.

  • Soldier Cube: A Gray Cube wearing metal armor that normally just rolls back and forth, but gets angry and rolls faster when you get close to it. Takes two hits to kill, and the first hit breaks the Soldier Cube's armor. Only appears in Chapter 1.
  • Ninja Cube: A Gray Cube that sometimes jumps while rolling, and takes two hits to kill. Only appears in Chapter 2.
  • Robo Cube: A robotic Gray Cube that initially just stands in one spot, but will chase after you when it notices you and self-destructs after a few seconds. The explosion deals more damage the closer you are to the explosion if you get caught in the blast. Jumping on Robo Cubes also makes them self-destruct, so they should be avoided altogether. Only appears in Chapter 3.
  • Electro Cube: An electrified Gray Cube with the ability to shoot instakill laser beams. It normally just rolls back and forth, but will occasionally stop to shoot short-lived laser beams to the left and right. Electro Cubes can't be damaged and will instantly kill you if you touch them at all, but will kill themselves after using their laser attack twice. Only appears in Chapter 4.
  • Rock Cube: A stone-elemental Gray Cube that behaves similarly to a Robo Cube, but is covered with lots of small stony spikes and sends them flying everywhere when it explodes. It also kills you if you touch it. Only appears in Chapter 5.

Hazards & Obstacles[]

  • Water: Causes you to drown if you fall in it. Appears in Chapters 1 and 2.
  • Sawblade: A giant metal sawblade that moves back and forth, and instantly kills you on contact. Also destroys wooden objects on contact. Appears in Chapter 2.
  • Punch Press: A huge metal pillar that constantly drops from the ceiling to press down on the ground. Instantly kills you if you get crushed by it. Appears in Chapter 3.
  • Laser Beam: An electric laser beam that instantly kills you on contact. Appears in Chapters 3 and 4. In Chapter 3, laser beams are only ever generated by sweeping turrets, but in Chapter 4 there are also free-floating laser beams.
  • Spikes: Metal spikes protruding from floors, walls, or ceilings, which instantly kill you on contact. Appears in Chapter 5.
  • Cannon: A small turret that sometimes shoots tiny spiky projectiles straight ahead that take away one health point if you get hit by them. Appears in Chapter 5.
  • Cliff instantly kills you when you fall into it appears in chapters 1, 3 and 4. In chapter 4 it is also on the top of the screen.

Bosses[]

These are the extra-powerful boss Cubes; they each appear in the 15th level of their respective chapter and have six health points. Due to their bigger size and strength, boss Cubes are usually invincible and only become vulnerable to your attacks after they tire themselves out.

Monocle Cube[]

The Monocle Cube is the boss of the Green Hills. He's a huge Gray Cube who wears a monocle for some reason, and mostly fights with brute force. He has three phases:

  • Phase 1: The Monocle Cube initially attacks by rolling from one side of the room to the other, and then gets exhausted, giving you a chance to hit him.
  • Phase 2: After losing three health points, the Monocle Cube will summon a few waves of enemies to fight you. First he'll summon a single Roaming Cube, then two Roaming Cubes, and then two Soldier Cubes.
  • Phase 3: After the enemy waves have been defeated, the Monocle Cube goes on the attack again, this time trying to jump on you. You can hurt him after he gets tired after jumping six times.

Sumo Cube[]

The Sumo Cube is the boss of the Deep Forest. Essentially a beefed-up Ninja Cube, he likes to attack with a combination of sheer strength and trickery. He has three phases:

  • Phase 1: The Sumo Cube stomps to summon a sawblade and then gets tired, but becomes invincible again as soon as you damage him. The sawblade rolls across the ground until it reaches the Sumo Cube, and then rolls away in the other direction. Then, the Sumo Cube jumps to the other side of the screen and stomps again to restart the cycle.
  • Phase 2: After losing three health points, the Monocle Cube will summon a few waves of enemies to fight you. First he'll summon a single Ninja Cube, then two Ninja Cubes, and then three Ninja Cubes. (Note: In the mobile version, he only summons one Ninja Cube in each wave.)
  • Phase 3: After the enemy waves have been defeated, the Sumo Cube goes on the attack again, this time trying to jump on you. He gets tired after jumping six times.

Mecha Cube[]

The Mecha Cube is the boss of the Box Factory. He's a giant robotic Gray Cube that relies on the factory's machinery to dispose of his foes. He has three phases:

  • Phase 1: The Mecha Cube activates the Punch Presses in the room and then rolls offscreen, making the Punch Presses fall in a cascading pattern. After the Punch Presses rise into the ceiling again, the Mecha Cube reenters the room tired.
  • Phase 2: After losing three health points, the Mecha Cube rolls offscreen and makes the Punch Presses fall in a few different patterns.
  • Phase 3: After the Punch Presses have finished falling and rising, the Mecha Cube reenters the room and summons a Robo Cube. To damage the Mecha Cube during this phase, you have to get the Robo Cube he summoned to roll into him and explode.

Astro Cube[]

The Astro Cube is the boss of the Lunar Space Station. He is a master of space, able to control gravity and lasers to shake things up in battle. He has three phases:

  • Phase 1: The Astro Cube initially attacks by rolling from one side of the room to the other, reversing gravity, and then gets exhausted, giving you a chance to hit him.
  • Phase 2: After losing three health points, the Astro Cube rolls offscreen and sends in a couple of laser beams to close in on you. The laser beams enter from the sides of the screen, keep moving until they get very close to the center of the screen, and then move away after staying there for a few seconds. All you have to do is avoid touching the beams.
  • Phase 3: After the laser beams are gone, the Astro Cube reenters the room and begins attacking by trying to jump on you. He also reverses gravity every time he jumps, making it harder to avoid getting hit by him.

Boulder Cube[]

The Boulder Cube is the boss of the Mine Caves, and is the largest boss Cube of all. Unlike any other boss Cube, the Boulder Cube never gets tired and can only be defeated by hitting the swiches in his room to make stones fall from the ceiling to hit him. These switches are located towards the top of the screen, at the top of the ladders on the walls of the room. Each time you hit a switch to make a stone fall, the position of the switch changes from one side of the room to the other. He has three phases:

  • Phase 1: The Boulder Cube rolls back and forth across the room. To get past him, you just have to climb up to the top of a ladder and then jump off and over the Boulder Cube from there. Hit the switches as he's approaching the center of the room to ensure that he gets hit by the falling stone.
  • Phase 2: After losing three health points, the Boulder Cube jumps to the center of the room and changes his attack pattern. He'll now stay in the center of the room and attack by jumping and then releasing a volley of projectiles all around him once he hits the ground. Dodge the projectiles and wait for him to jump to pass underneath and get past him.
  • Phase 3: At this phase, the Boulder Cube is defeated, but you still have to save your girlfriend, while the Boulder Cube activates some booby traps in his death throes. Three cannons will sprout from each wall and constantly shoot projectiles while you're tasked with grabbing three keys floating in the air to open the cage to free your girlfriend.

Errors[]

  • When the Mecha Cube is tired, one of his eyes flashes but the other one doesn't. This was fixed in the mobile version, in which neither of his eyes flash.

Trivia[]

  • In the Flash version, Volume 1 of Red Ball 4 cycles through three different soundtracks for its background music, but in the mobile version, Volume 1 only uses one soundtrack like all the other chapters. Additionally, the soundtrack in question is an extended remix of one of the three soundtracks that was used in the Flash version.
  • The Solider Cubes and the Ninja Cubes are the only two Special Cube enemies that take two hits to defeat instead of one. Conversely, the other three Special Cube enemies can't be killed directly but do destroy themselves one way or another.
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