Billy the Shell and his girlfriend Cheryl live happily in Texas. Then one day Sheryl is kidnapped by the Black Bean Gang and it's up to Billy to Save her.
The game beings on a map screen where Billy can move across a path made of squares. Moving over one captures it and marks it with an "X" allowing for free movement over it. If the player moves over a large space with an action stage, they can choose to enter it and must clear it to allow them to move past it. The player has the goal of catching up to the world boss who is also roaming the map, and must defeat them to move on to the next world.
Within a stage Billy's primary action is to roll into a ball. Even though he is more slippery to control, he can attack enemies in that form, and build up power for his bounces to jump higher than his standard jumps.
Because of releasing around the time of the SNES, a North American release of the game was cancelled. However, a fully-done Fan Translation was made and the game has since started being sold on reproduction carts.
In 1994, the game had a Dolled-Up Installment on the Game Boy in the form of Ultraman Ball.
Tropes found in the game:
- Be the Ball: Billy's signature move is to curl up into a ball which makes his control more slippery, but allows him to attack enemies, roll through parts of levels, and rack up bounce momentum to bounce higher.
- Damsel in Distress: Cheryl has been kidnapped and its why Billy is going on an adventure.
- Eagleland: The game takes place in a satirized version of the United States where goats bartend and Martians live among everyone else.
- Level Goal: Stages end with a set of buttons on the floor. The further on the set you land, the more bonus points you get.
