In Spike-n-Span, the solo player gets to spell disaster for his or her rivals by bouncing a spiked ball in their direction.
Any rivals who don’t escape that rolling globe are knocked for a loop and eliminated.
The solo player wins by black-balling all of the rivals, while the rival team wins by surviving until time’s up. Okay, let’s get rolling!
When playing from the solo perspective, you must jump up to punch the overhead floor upon which the rivals stand.Punching the floor to the left of the spiked ball will make it roll to the right, and vice versa.
If you punch the floor when you’re directly beneath the spiked ball, it will fly up into the air to knock leaping rivals from the sky. It’s therefore best to roll the ball toward the rivals and remain ready to punch it upward in case you see them jump!
The rivals are restricted to a two-dimensional walkway, but they should still try to split up as best they can to present multiple targets.
Jumping over the spiked ball usually works at first, but a wily solo player will begin to follow the ball, ready to punch it into the air and foil this basic escape attempt.
Get crafty when this happens and fake out the solo player by lightly tapping 2 to perform a short hop, then steer away from the ball in midair and sprint underneath it the moment you land. Smooth moves!
With the unpredictable nature of the spiked ball and the solo player’s small variety of tactics, Spike-n-Span allows for some interesting creativity on both sides.
The rivals must survive for a full 30 seconds up there, which can feel like quite a long time against a cunning solo player. Let’s see what you’ve got!