Wayback Wednesday: NES Basketball Gaming
This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at basketball gaming on the Nintendo Entertainment system, aka the NES.
Saturday will mark forty years since Nintendo launched the NES in select test markets in the United States, some two years after the Famicom debuted in Japan. Over the next few years, it launched in Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and other regions, going on to sell 61.9 million units worldwide. Support for the NES was officially discontinued thirty years ago in North America, Europe, and Australia, but actually continued in Japan until 2003. Since then, its library has been re-released digitally and via the NES Classic Edition, and of course, unofficially emulated.
Coming in the wake of the infamous Video Game Crash of 1983, the NES ended up bringing us some iconic games and franchises: Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid, just to name the biggest first party properties. There were many other classics from the likes of Capcom, Konami, and other developers that became titans of gaming. However, the NES isn’t usually remembered for having a great selection of basketball titles. With that being said, there are some decent ones that, if nothing else, paved the way for better games to come. Let’s take a look back…way back…
I’m extremely nostalgic when it comes to the NES. It was my first gaming console that wasn’t a hand-me-down, as our Mattel Intellivision had been. Even though the Super Nintendo was already out by that point, the NES was the console that I wanted because one of my best friends had one, and I loved playing it when I was over at his house. I wasn’t a hardcore hoop head then, so basketball gaming wasn’t on my mind when it came to the NES. As I fell in love with the sport and remained keen on video games in the years to come, I naturally wanted to combine those passions. I’ve been able to do that – obviously – but the NES definitely wasn’t the ideal platform for it.
Ten basketball games were released for the NES: Double Dribble, Magic Johnson’s Fast Break, Jordan vs. Bird: One on One, Arch Rivals, Hoops, Ultimate Basketball, All-Pro Basketball, Tecmo NBA Basketball, Harlem Globetrotters, and Roundball: 2 on 2 Challenge. There are a couple of decent to good games there, but unfortunately, they weren’t all available to me. Tecmo NBA Basketball, Harlem Globetrotters, and Magic Johnson’s Fast Break were US exclusives, though the latter two also came out on PC and other platforms. All-Pro and Ultimate Basketball were exclusive to the US and Japan, while only the Gameboy version of Jordan vs. Bird saw a PAL release.
Roundball: 2 on 2 Challenge did receive a PAL release, but it doesn’t look like there are many copies in circulation today. It might’ve been a different story back in the 90s, but it’s safe to say that for me, my options back then were basically limited to Double Dribble, Arch Rivals, and Hoops. They are three of the strongest basketball titles on the NES, but undoubtedly primitive. Indeed, by the time I was getting hooked on hoops and hitting the virtual hardwood, they were already showing their age. A number of times, I almost picked up Double Dribble from my local video game store, but decided against it. When I did finally play it, it confirmed I’d made the right call.
That isn’t to say that Double Dribble isn’t a classic, or that I can’t enjoy it for what it is. There isn’t much to the single player experience though, especially for someone who had already had a taste of the 16-bit games. The same goes for Arch Rivals and Hoops. I appreciate them, and I’m glad to have them in my collection, but they’re not on par with NBA Jam Tournament Edition, NBA Live 95, or NBA Live 96. Arch Rivals for NES is a respectable 8-bit port of the arcade original, but it’s definitely inferior, not to mention tougher to enjoy after playing its spiritual successor, NBA Jam. Likewise, Hoops has its moments, but it lacks the appeal of licensed NBA titles.
I’ve since had the opportunity to play most of the other NES basketball games that weren’t available to me here in Australia. I don’t want to bash them, or hold them to unfair standards by comparisons to more advanced titles, but honestly, I didn’t miss out on much! Don’t get me wrong; I respect what they tried to do with the tech at their disposal, and those early games of all genres were the stepping stones to the all-time classics that we can still play decades later. Put it this way, though: even in the 16-bit era, many developers were still figuring out how to properly represent some of the basic elements of basketball. It’s understandable that 8-bit games weren’t there yet!
Once again, technical limitations of the hardware were definitely an issue, as was the design of the controller. As I’m sure most people are aware, the NES’s controller was comprised of the D-Pad and four buttons: A, B, Start, and Select. That was sufficient for most genres of 8-bit titles, but in basketball games, it requires the controls to be heavily simplified. This was also an issue in early PC basketball titles, when two-button joysticks and gamepads were still common, and the DA-15 game port only supported four button inputs potentially split across two devices. As I’ve previously explained, this was the reason that early NBA Live on PC didn’t have a steal button.
Similarly, several NES basketball games only gave us control over blocking while on D. Tecmo NBA Basketball is one of the few with a manual steal control, but it shares the same button as block. The control is therefore contextual: steal when the ball is on the floor, jump to block or rebound when a shot goes up. Sprint controls were still a long way away, though to that point, you won’t find them in early 16-bit games either. Playcalling and detailed strategy options were rare, with the aforementioned Tecmo NBA Basketball being one of the few NES titles to include such functionality. Indeed, it’s the deepest basketball release on the console, and a respectable 8-bit NBA sim.
It really stands out in an era where many games didn’t have real players, simplified or ignored certain rules, only offered a basic tournament or even just exhibition play, and struggled to replicate aspects of the sport, such as having players grab the ball instead of tapping it to a teammate on jump balls. It helped that Tecmo NBA Basketball was a later release in the NES’s lifecycle and developed alongside the 16-bit Tecmo Super NBA Basketball for SNES, basically being a stripped down version of it. It’s a shame it was a North American exclusive, as I definitely could’ve gotten into its NBA season mode, even if the rosters were a few years out of date. Besides, it has Michael Jordan!
More importantly, there’s more control, fluidity, and balance to the gameplay than the rest of the NES basketball titles. There’s no fade to black and change in direction upon crossing half court, as in All-Pro Basketball. Ultimate Basketball has clunky controls, clueless teammates, and ruthless AI. In Magic Johnson’s Fast Break, you’re lucky if you can advance past halfcourt, even on Rookie difficulty! Harlem Globetrotters is just awful, with incredibly stiff movement and the game going into slow motion on shots, blocks, and steals. Roundball: 2 on 2 Challenge is decent but incredibly dated; essentially a mid-80s game that was released in 1992. Overall, it’s a very weak lineup.
Obviously, when you revisit any game that’s over thirty years old, historical context is vital. You need to judge it by the standards of the era, and that affords primitive titles of any genre a certain amount of grace. However, Tecmo NBA Basketball is proof of what was possible with the NES’s hardware. It has the smooth scrolling the console was capable of. The controls are responsive and get the job done, despite lacking the buttons of its 16-bit counterpart. It plays a recognisable form of basketball that can be fun today. Again, even back in the mid 90s, most of the other hoops titles would’ve felt extremely dated. The NES simply wasn’t a prime option for basketball gaming.
Of course, the quality of Tecmo NBA Basketball would indicate that it was actually technically possible to develop a good and enjoyable representation of the sport for the NES! For that matter, the NES release of Jordan vs. Bird is at least as good as any other version (and in some ways, arguably better). Hoops is fun a little game for its time, and again, Arch Rivals and Double Dribble are respectable ports of the arcade originals. As such, the selection of basketball games on the NES isn’t all bad, but it could’ve been much better. It would’ve been great if a few more developers had tried making a deeper and more polished basketball game during the NES’s later years.
On that note, it’s a shame that Acclaim didn’t develop a NES version of NBA Jam or NBA Jam Tournament Edition while they were working with Midway on home ports of their iconic arcade titles. As an owner of a NES back in the mid 90s, I was jealous that games like NBA Jam TE and Mortal Kombat were ported to Gameboy while the NES missed out! There are some hardware differences of course, but it does feel like the Gameboy version of NBA Jam could’ve come to the NES as well. For that matter, considering that bootleg NES versions of Mortal Kombat have been homebrewed, I’m surprised that no one has ever seen fit to unofficially port NBA Jam to the console!
As harsh as I’ve been on many of the basketball games for the NES, they still have their charm. Some have voice clips for the referee’s calls and other on-court moments, a feature that isn’t to be taken for granted in that era. There’s some wonderful 8-bit music. In the games that have fake squads standing in for NBA clubs, there are some funny names, and a few others that were later used by real teams. Ultimate Basketball has the Houston Comets, later a founding member of the WNBA. All-Pro Basketball has the Phoenix Wings, the name of Dallas’s WNBA team. As a side note, Pat Riley Basketball for the Sega Master System also features a club named the Dallas Wings.
If there’s one thing that stands out about basketball gaming on the NES, it’s the use of dunking cutscenes. Double Dribble’s dunk cutscenes are probably the most infamous, seeing as though they’re re-creations of some legendary slams! However, Hoops also cuts away to close-ups of the players dunking, as well as being blocked if the defender gets there in time. Ultimate Basketball’s scenes are interactive with a meter. Failing to time the button press – which is all too easy – will result in a travel. All-Pro Basketball also spices up play in the paint with dunking cutscenes, while Tecmo NBA Basketball has a cutscene featuring a one-handed dunk, the same as the Super Nintendo version.
Needless to say, this didn’t completely make up for subpar gameplay, especially in games where it’s far too difficult to get to the hoop to see the cutscenes in the first place. Nevertheless, they were an appealing novelty at a time when the on-court animations weren’t nearly as sophisticated. It was the closest those games could get to showing a lifelike player throwing down a dunk, so for a lot of gamers who grew up with these NES titles, they’re easily the most nostalgic and memorable part of early basketball gaming. It’s certainly what had me picking up the Double Dribble box and considering taking it to the counter while I was building up my collection in the 90s!
Even if the NES wasn’t the best console for basketball gaming, it has a couple of titles that were definitely worth playing at the time, and can still be fun today. The genre had to start somewhere, and it gave video game developers something to build upon as they sought to capture the beautiful sport of basketball on the next generation. The quality isn’t there across the board with the NES titles, but there’s charm and definite points of interest. I’m grateful I had other platforms to indulge my newfound love of real hoops and basketball gaming back then, but it’s been fascinating to dive into titles that got others hooked on the virtual hardwood, and paved the way for future classics.
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