Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars
Video game developer Tecmo was perhaps best known for their sports titles, especially considering the legendary Tecmo Super Bowl cartridge on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) home console, a high-quality American football title that was a sequel to the popular Tecmo Bowl entry. Adding to their sports simulation line-up that already included carts for major league baseball and professional wrestling, in 1992 they released Tecmo NBA Basketball, a sport sim boasting full line-ups and even the season schedule from the 1991-1992 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Gameplay
This is a video game simulation of the real-life sport of basketball; though Tecmo NBA Basketball does not necessarily follow the finest nuances of every single little rule, it does represent a recognizable facsimile. Four periods of a limited time are played to see which team wins by scoring the most points, each team fields five players at a time on the court who play both offense and defense, penalties such as goal-tending and back court violations are in place, players have such moves as lay-ups and three-point jumpers at their disposal, etc.
In fact, compared to other 8-bit basketball games, Tecmo NBA Basketball arguably represents the most “realistic” of the choices. The most startling example of its reach for realism would have to be its use of every single official National Basketball Association team and player from the 1991-1992 season, including a rare video game appearance from Michael Jordan. For retro pro basketball fans, this is also a chance to play with such former greats as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Reggie Miller, and many others, some of whom were in their prime, others of which were in the twilight of their professional careers.
Furthermore, a player could follow an entire regular season schedule with one of the given teams, with stat-tracking along the way until the eventual play-offs in the hopes of being crowned NBA champion. Game-by-game and across the league, players are tracked by their field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free-throw percentage, rebounds, blocks, steals, points-per-game, and other figures; though, oddly enough, assists are conspicuously absent.
Gameplay is crisp, relatively smooth, and very satisfying, especially for a basketball fan. The pacing the mechanics of this particular NES basketball iteration can take some getting used to, but Tecmo makes it as seamless of a transition as possible, with multiple difficulty modes offered immediately, in addition to such options as quarter length and even three different settings for gameplay speed.
The control scheme is executed well. This title opts for the setting of the B button either swiping for a steal or jumping for a block on defense, depending on timing, with A button switching the controlled character. On offense, the A button passes toward a player indicated by roughly pressing the directional pad toward the intended target, and a tap of the B button jumps for a jump shot, with a second tap of the B button releasing the ball. Exceptions include lay-ups and dunks, executed with a single press of the B button when moving toward the rim and approaching it closely. Fouls are committed if “pushing” against an opposing player, and the computer is very touchy in its out-of-bounds calls. Mastering the flow of the game, how to get open for shots, defending opposing shots, and even managing player fatigue with substitutions in full-season mode will all take time.
Graphics
Basketball games occupy an odd niche in the graphical department on the NES: Their gameplay is somewhat repetitive, visually speaking, with some titles resorting to gimmicks such as slow-motion slam dunk cutscenes or a quick little cheearleader routine. Tecmo NBA Basketball has its share of flourishes, such as the cutscenes for the occasional dunk or even across-the-court outlet pass, but the bulk of its presentation is in its on-the-court play. In this, Tecmo NBA Basketball may not even be the best-looking basketball title on the NES, considering that it does sacrifice sprite size (as opposed to the larger, more detailed in b-ball titles such as, say, Jordan Vs. Bird or Arch Rivals) in favor of simply presenting a competent five-on-five game. For this feat, however, it does accomplish the task fairly well, simulating an actual NBA basketball games. The only complaint, perhaps, is some flickering issues when playing close defense. Otherwise, even elements such as the background crowd, on-court team logos, and menu screens look great for the genre.
Sound
The in-game music is adequate, providing a varied, fast-pace sound that appropriate accompanies the on-court action, and even gives the player the option to turn off this background track on the first menu screen. But where Tecmo NBA Basketball really shines in the audio arena is in its sound effects: The ref’s whistle, the distinctive “swish” of the net on successful bombs, the signature static of an 8-bit crowd, the delightfully helpful tone that alerts a change of possession, and others, are all delivered with a high level of production quality and skillful rendering, enhancing the escapist feel of the era-driven basketball simulation.
Originality
Several basketball video games were produced for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console, but Tecmo NBA Basketball set the golden standard. It was the only title to boast full official NBA licensing, and its gameplay quality pays proper homage to such an honor. No other roundball title had the depth of gameplay options, choices of teams and players, on-court rule depth, or sheer execution strength. The biggest fault against it may actually be one that is not a fault of its own: The problem with a basketball video game, as opposed to an undisputed classic like Tecmo Super Bowl, a football title, is that basketball is a bit more prone to the feeling of redundancy and staleness. Unlike the epic downfield tactical march of football, the nail-biting goal-at-a-time gauntlet of soccer or ice hockey, or even the distinctive tradition of baseball, basketball is a constant back-and-forth grind of shot after shot after shot. This is probably the biggest reason why NBA Basketball did not catch on as much as the Bowl games did, despite the NBA sharing a similar popularity to the NFL at the time. Nonetheless, this is a four-stars-out-of-five NES video game, and one worth preserving for pro basketball fans who long to simulate Larry Nance slamming one home, the picturesque perfect of Stockton to Malone, the agony of Patrick Ewing, the towering blocks of Dikembe Mutombo, and countless other classic basketball moments.