Even more live than 95
Sega Genesis
Released in 1995 by EA Sports
Grade: B
Free-flowing, spread-out 5-on-5 basketball. Enjoyable and easy to grasp, but held back by annoying quirks and limited AI.
Where it falls in series
EA made five B-ball games on Genesis between 1989 and 1993 (Lakers vs Celtics, Bulls vs Lakers, Team USA Basketball, Bulls vs Blazers, and NBA Showdown ’94) using a nice-looking but sluggish side-scroll engine. These showed potential but are a chore to play.
Things changed in NBA Live 95, which tilted the viewpoint diagonally, made the court bigger, the players faster, and the controls more sensitive. The result was a much more fun game.
It seems most people consider 95 the best of the Genesis titles, but I prefer 96, which made critical improvements to the game logic. In a nutshell, 95 was about launching shots from wherever and watching them go in. 96 lowered the success rate on outside shots and forced you to attack the basket or pass around for quality opportunities.
It came out at the same time as EA’s college ball clone of Live 96, Coach K College Basketball, as well as NBA Live 96 on Playstation, which is similar in spirit but used a different engine.
Praises and gripes
In real basketball, the key actions often happen in small spaces. Offensive players use quick, short movements — jab steps, hesitations, dribble moves, ball fakes, head fakes, and even “eye fakes” — to set up a burst past the defender, or to make the defender back up enough to allow them to take a proper shot. This intricate chess match isn’t easy to recreate in video game form, especially not on a 16-bit, 3-button system. No basketball sim even got close until NBA 2K11.
Given that, EA was wise to forget about closely resembling basketball action, and instead used a fast and loose engine that allows you to dribble around swiftly in open space, challenging your defender to keep up with you. It doesn’t look great, but adds dynamics to the gameplay.
The diagonal view makes passing lanes easy to see and you can smoothly pass to teammates without any trouble. The common issue of “I meant to pass to the other guy” isn’t an issue here. This is especially helpful on fast breaks, which feel just right.
Players have highly varied skill attributes, forcing you to play like a real NBA team. Skilled guards are trusty ballhandlers while big guys lose the ball if they dribble too much. Big guys typically can’t shoot from the outside but are better finishers near the basket.
The best offensive strategy is to work the ball near the basket, then pass to a player cutting in, who can catch the pass in the air and dunk it. This comes with a fair amount of risk; in crowded areas defenders knock the ball away more often. Outside shots have their place as well, and you’ll be rewarded for shooting from within each player’s range. And occasionally you’ll simply blow by the defense for an easy dunk. The result of all this is well balanced competition, and usually you find that points are realistically distributed among your players.
There are three difficulty levels and the CPU puts up a good fight. If they’re behind at the end of games, they’ll realistically take quick shots and foul to stop the clock.
There are plenty of annoying missteps: Defenders can cheaply steer dribblers out of bounds. Rebounds and loose balls are a pain to track down. Blocks are equally difficult. Fouls are called randomly, and adjusting the sensitivity on them (on the surface a great option) doesn’t help much.
The defensive AI is weak. Your teammates seem scatterbrained. They switch too easily, and a man is left wide open too often.
The playcalling system is a mess, although I don’t know what to expect on a 3-button controller. You’ll probably end up ignoring it altogether.
There’s no steal button. To be fair, steals occur often enough when you body up on your man, but this can be frustrating at first.
Top teams
This followed the 1995 Finals, when the Rockets became two-time champs with a 4-0 sweep over the Magic.
I think the best teams in the game are the Rockets, Magic, SuperSonics, Knicks, Spurs, and the no-Jordan Bulls, but I’ll play some more and get back to you on that.
In 1996, Michael Jordan finished his first full season back from retirement with another Bulls championship, this time over the Gary Payton/Shawn Kemp SuperSonics.