The sequel to the never officially released Dark Ball, a Breakout clone that was clearly inspired by DX-Ball, following similar level designs and even some power ups, except it takes every aspect of it up to eleven and adds a Karma Meter to the mix. You can download it here
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This game is known for its length and high level of difficulty. Casual players will likely give up before facing or even knowing the game actually has bosses. There is even a "Give Up" mechanic obviously taken from another infamous hard game.
This game provides examples of:
- Artifact Title: The "Dark" in the title comes from Dark BASIC, the programming language which was used in the first game, but not in the second.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Dark Halo form's angel mode. It makes you almost invincible (even letting the ball fall won't get you killed) and lets you shoot laser beams that will explode most bricks. But it requires three Kharma Overflows or one life in order to be activated, and after it's over, it gives you permanent low Kharma for the rest of the level.
- Bag of Spilling: Active power-ups are lost between levels. Can be avoided to some extent with Safe Bar power up.
- Bragging Rights Reward: After defeating Khatastrophe, instead of the usual Blessing, you get a new form with no significant advantages.
- Continuity Nod: At first sight, this game has no real backstory at all (quite expected for its genre), but the secret path on level 4 of Ghost Reveries takes you to the destroyed remains of the first game.
- Demoted to Extra: In a unusual turn of events, the prequel to this game. According to
Word of God, the first game was not up to his standards by the time he had a chance to release it on the internet. Instead, it became an award on Dark Ball 2 after you get enough power-ups. - Elemental Powers: Countless. There are many Elemental-Ball power ups and most allow fusion. You can get anything, from the usual Fire, Ice, and Lightning to Anti-Crystal, Virus, and Goo.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The 1up power up.
- Face–Heel Turn: The Ball (yup, that's right).
- Karma Meter: Here it's a Kharma meter, that indicates your chances of getting a good or a bad power up. When you get a good one, it increases the chances of getting a bad one and vice versa. The official faq actually states that, besides the visible one, there is a hidden one tracking other actions besides grabbing power-ups.
- Lethal Lava Land: Ashes path.
- Lost World: Origin path.
- Multiple Endings: Two Bad Endings and one Good Ending (which is also somewhat depressing...).
- Musical Theme Naming: All Paths are named after heavy metal albums.
- Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: Elemental balls. If you get a Fire Ball, you will lose it when you get an Ice Ball. But you can fuse them before grabbing to get a hybrid element.
- New Game Plus: Anytime during the game, you can opt to start again while keeping all of your upgrades. You are given this option after the True Final Boss.
- Peninsula of Power Leveling: Using the Cure option, any level has potential to become a 1up farm, provided you have a good set of power ups and a Save Token.
- Poison Mushroom: Every purple power up.
- Power Copying: Defeating a boss earns you a skill related to his powers.
- Shout-Out: In one of the Message Box's random dialogs: Marcury curystalu powaa make upo!
- Sound of No Damage: Unbreakable bricks make this when they are hit.
- True Final Boss: Khaos. Which happens to be the ball you were controlling the whole game.
- Upgrade Artifact: The Blessings.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: There is an upgrade that allows you to change the bar into any known form.
