Balls of Steel

To do: Check *.bnk files for uncompiled stuff More revisional differences, mainly for v1.1.

Balls of Steel is basically what would happen if Duke Nukem designed pinball tables. A remake (without the Duke Nukem table) was later released in 2024.

Hidden Message#

If you rename any of the *.mnu files to *.exe and try to run them, you will see a short message:

Stop playing around with these files and go run the game!

Additionally, duke.mnu randomly ends with a (no longer existing) link:

Visited: http://www.team17.co.uk/ab3dii/screenshots/screen1.html 
Alien Breed 3Dii - Screenshots

Revisional Differences#

v1.0#

Launch version of the game.

v1.2#

Released on April 14th, 1999. Shareware version was later released on July 14th that year.

• Added DirectDraw support option for the display
• Fix to Firestorm 3-ball totaling for undefused bombs
• Change to double for scoring, rather than custom 64-bit ints
• Updated magnetic lock parameters to prevent ball getting stuck
• Fix to Firestorm Powerplant and Freeway ramp scoring awards
• Super combo scoring cap introduced
• Kickback cheat code on Mutation now properly opens kickback gate
• Powerball mode now correctly resets gas cylinders on Duke Nukem
• Ball blocker gate bug corrected
• Ball dumping from cyclotron dish during Mutation 3-ball improved
• Free 4-billion points in Duke Nukem video mode corrected
• High score sorting problem corrected
• Crashing after final ball of Darkside 3-ball corrected
• Parental lock extended to cover text of hurry-up message
• Firestorm outlanes no longer turn off novice ballsaver
• Suppressed false display of combos values in Mutation
• Fixed Barbarian element missions to ensure correct display on completion
• Corrected bug in Duke Nukem multiball modes in conjunction with elevator
• Removed references to Worldscores, as they no longer track Balls of Steel scores

v1.3#

Released on April 9th, 2001.

• Now runs under Windows 2000
• VESA support has been removed - DirectX only
• Menu now displays full screen
• Microsoft SideWinder game pad detection fixed to detect Pro (USB) version