Nintendo 64
Released in 1999 by Nintendo
Grade: C
This game has dumb AI and a few sloppy control problems that spoil the final product. In its time, it received great reviews, which shows you how much people cared about graphics and how low the standard for basketball gameplay was in 1999.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the second edition on N64, followed by a third on GameCube.
Praises and gripes
I can see why people liked this game back in the day. There’s a lifelike flow to the action that was rare in basketball games for many years. Players can dribble through tight spaces and jump toward the hoop naturally. Certain animations are especially sleek, not rushed, sluggish, or mechanical.
The action plays out at a realistic pace, and there’s decent basketball logic. If you pass well, attack the basket, and take open shots, you’ll be successful on offense. On the downside, passes are sometimes unresponsive, and when you need a quick pass most, it seems to always go to the wrong guy. The shooting animation is inconsistent, causing a lot of misses on the higher difficulty settings.
Defensive controls also falter. It’s tricky to stay in good defensive position. And your own teammates get in your way on defense constantly, which is absolutely stupid and annoying. You’ll think the game is laughing at you as the CPU throws down uncontested slam dunks.
Like many old basketball games, this one is okay in short spurts, especially against another human, but you won’t want to hunker down and spend much time with it.
It’s pretty funny to remember how highly this game was praised in its time. I think gamers were so obsessed with graphics that they could forgive obvious gameplay downfalls.