Sega Saturn
Released in 1996 by Crystal Dynamics
Grade: C
If you can’t tell from the name, this game is heavily influenced by NBA Jam, but it’s 5-on-5 with a low-angle vertical view, and the controls are a pain in the ass.
Where it falls in the series
It’s by itself, no sequels. It looks like Konami’s Run and Gun arcade game and NBA Give ’n Go on SNES, but blows those games out of the water.
Praises and gripes
I love the cool art style and the viewpoint seems fun at first. There’s lots of NBA Jam carryovers, like cartoonish high-flying dunks, a zippy turbo button, a bombastic announcer, and goofy sound effects. Even the scoreboard display looks ripped from NBA Jam.
Additions include fouls (and not too many of them), out of bounds, a pick play, and an isolation play. It’s just the right level of realism: not much. The game is arcade to the core.
Unfortunately, it gets pretty frustrating with ultra-loose, uneven controls. Defense is tough; the players slip all over the place. Blocking dunks is a big part of the game, and it’s a constant pain to get guys into the right position. On offense, passes go to the wrong guy, the jumpshot animation is slow, and dunking is harder than it should be. I can’t tell you how many times I missed an awkward layup when I should have jammed it. It seems easier to dunk from the free-throw line than from under the basket.
The CPU is strangely tough to beat, even on the middle of three difficulty settings. In the fourth quarter, they’re suddenly the “40 Minutes of Hell” 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks, harassing you like monsters and taking away the ball.
Which reminds me, this game was apparently made for an NBA license that never came. The player names are fake and teams represent NBA cities. But if you look close, you’ll find that NBA rosters and colors are relatively intact. “Oakland” is actually the Utah Jazz, with purple uniforms and white guards. And “Utah” is the San Antonio Spurs, with black uniforms and tall #50 playing center. There’s also the Slam N Jam All-Stars where Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are reunited from their Lakers days.
I can’t really recommend it unless you already own 10 or 15 better basketball games. I played it a while without getting bored, but it’s just too sloppy of a game, even for its arcade style.