NCAA Basketball on SNES: A Nostalgic Slam Dunk or a Retro Foul?

March Madness is upon us, that special time of year when the nation becomes consumed by college basketball. Brackets are filled, office productivity plummets, and the inevitable upsets leave everyone scrambling. In the realm of video games, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) offered several takes on the sport, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. This article will explore some of these titles, including NCAA Basketball and College Slam, examining their gameplay, graphics, sound, and overall appeal.

NCAA Basketball (1992): A Pioneering but Flawed Effort

When NCAA Basketball was released in 1992, it was a groundbreaking title. As the first college basketball video game ever, it presented five-on-five contests on a 3D court with rotating camera angles that followed the action.

Authentic Presentation

The game featured 44 teams from five conferences: The Big East, Big 8, ACC, SEC, and SWC. Players could travel back in time and see their Maryland Terrapins playing in the ACC. The game aimed for authenticity, offering gamers a collegiate experience.

Gameplay Mechanics

The controls were fairly robust. In addition to all the basic moves, players could toggle their offensive and defensive formations on the fly. It was confusing how there were two buttons to switch defensive players. If used to uptempo sports games like NBA Jam, the game felt slow. As the player chugs up the court, they will search for a turbo button. Players cannot pass on the run, making the action feel even more clunky. The passes are almost too accurate. Three-pointers are hard to come by, even when the shooter is wide open. From the three-point line, the hoop looks like it's a mile away! Working into the paint can be tricky, but if you find an open lane, you may go up with a satisfying slow-motion dunk.

Visuals and Audio

The players look pretty good, but there's no crowd, coaches, or bench. The court is just suspended in a sea of blue, as if you're playing in another dimension! However, depth perception is a problem, and things can get muddled under the basket.

The Good and the Bad

One of the downsides of these early games is that there is no option for team/roster customization, such as "Create/Edit a Team" or "Create/Edit a Player". There are no injuries, player morale, or recruiting/drafting of players. As well, starting lineups are preset and unchangeable. You'll have to call a timeout during the game to sub your players if you want to make a change… It's not really fair to judge an old game by modern standards, but these are areas that more recent games have addressed for the better… After just a few games, the astute player begins to pick up on some simple strategies that make victory easy. For instance, it's not hard at all to pressure your opponents into turnovers and penalties (10 second rule, Backcourt Violation). As soon as the ball is inbounded, you can set your player up in the path of the point guard and get in his way as he tries to dribble upcourt. Continue moving to block his path as 10 seconds counts off the clock, and bam - turnover, your ball! It's not tough to get a dozen or more 10 second calls each game… Similarly, if you use the same tactic just as the ballcarrier crosses the half-court line, you can often get him to cross or pass back over the line for a Backcourt Violation. A game may turn out to be quite boring… Certain opponents seem to be programmed to run the shot clock down to almost zero before attempting a shot. With a 45 second shot clock, this makes for a very boring, slow-paced game. You find yourself pressing the "X" button trying to steal or intentionally fouling just to end your misery. You can give their players clear, unobstructed paths to the hoop and they'll still choose to pass the ball around from player to player, grinding out the clock - even when they're losing! It's unfortunate that there isn't an option for a 2 player season… Would be quite fun to play with another person through this mode.

Lasting Impressions

NCAA Basketball is a unique, more deliberate-paced basketball experience. It might not appeal to everyone, but it's worth savoring for its historical significance and distinct gameplay.

College Slam: NBA Jam Goes to College

College Slam is basically NBA Jam Goes to College for all intents and purposes. If you like Jam, you’ll probably find a very good version of it here with just enough quirks and subtle differences to make it feel at least somewhat fresh.

Gameplay Differences

There’s a few changes here to reflect the differences between college basketball and the NBA. Jam featured four 3-minute quarters, and substitutions after each quarter, with a 24-second shot clock. College Slam uses two 6-minute halves, and a 35-second shot clock (which you should NEVER run down all the way, given as most possessions last ten seconds at most). You can substitute players at the half, or, once per half, you can call a timeout by pausing and then pressing B. This can lead to some pretty interesting matchups and mental battles as you weigh the options of putting in lesser bench players now and give your starters time to rest up, or keeping your stars on the floor and risking them getting too banged up to be effective. You can also react to your opponent’s swaps and matchup accordingly. Opponent wants to bring out his small, quick shooters? Counter it by bringing in the big guys and rough them up inside.

Teams and Options

There’s plenty of teams and options here to choose from. Conferences are up-to-date for 1996, and unlike NCAA Basketball, the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences made the cut this time, so Indiana and UCLA fans can finally take their teams to the promised land. In terms of options, you can adjust things like CPU difficulty, timer speed, Tag Mode (where you control whoever has the ball while you’re on offense), CPU Assist (which basically serves as the rubber band logic that artificially keeps games close) and features like Hot Spots (which makes shots from that spot worth the number on them) and the various pickups that have effects ranging from allowing you to dunk from anywhere to making everyone except you fall down.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Controls and "On Fire" Mode

Gameplay here is simple; A and B shoot, X and Y pass, and L and R trigger turbo, which not only speeds you up, it allows you to unleash monster dunks and push opponents instead of half-assedly swatting at the ball. And sure enough, if a player scores three buckets in a row without the other team making a basket, HE’S ON FIRE, giving them unlimited turbo and a magical ability to hit pretty much any shot they put up until the other team makes a basket (goaltending doesn’t count) or the player on fire makes four baskets, so realistically, the smartest thing to do when you catch fire is to just jack up threes.

Customization

Much like all college sports games, no actual player names are used, but in a neat touch, you have the ability to edit player names yourself, as well as adjust their stats within a pool of stat points. Think your shooting guard needs a little less blocking ability and could use a bit more help shooting threes? Center needs less passing and more blocking? It’s up to you.

Graphics and Sound

Graphically, everything here’s on par with the other two SNES NBA Jam games. Players are still faceless, with dots for eyes, and uniforms are still the same two color palette swaps, but if it wasn’t a problem for you before, it shouldn’t be now. Same story with sound, for the most part, with commentary once again handled by The Voice of God himself, Tim Kitzrow, although here, his lines feel a bit more subdued than on Jam; there’s no “BOOMSHAKALAKA!” to be found, but I gotta admit, throwing down a putback dunk and having Kitzrow respond with “Keg Party!” was more than a little funny.

A Layer of Strategy

On the surface, College Slam seems like a cheap knockoff of NBA Jam designed for a very niche audience, but if you give it a chance, it’s not a bad game on its own merits. The ability to edit teams and make in-game substitutions add a layer of strategy amongst the mayhem, and the intensity college basketball rivalries bring to the table make it a bit more logical to make an extreme college hoops game.

NBA Jam and Its Legacy

To fully appreciate College Slam, it's important to understand the impact of NBA Jam. When my friend Eric and I saw the first screenshots of NBA Jam in a magazine back in 1993, we thought it was the dumbest game ever. The players were soaring ten feet over the rim and performing preposterous slam-dunks. After reading several enthusiastic reviews however, I broke down and bought the game anyway. That turned out to be a major milestone in my game-playing career, because NBA Jam quickly became the premiere sports game of its time. On the very first day I bought this my friends Eric and Tuan played it for six hours straight.

Gameplay Innovation

This SNES version is an impressive translation of the popular arcade game, with the same crisp graphics, fluid animation, responsive controls, catchy music, and clear sound effects. Jam offered a degree of speed and non-stop action you didn't often see in sports games of the time. At its core, NBA Jam is a two-on-two dunk-fest with no rules. On offense you can shoot, throw elbows to keep defenders at bay, execute bullet passes. and easily perform death-defying dunks. On defense you can steal and block, but the gameplay definitely favors the offense. It's so easy to score that games tend to be back-and-forth affairs, although executing a key steal or block can really effectively turn the tide. One effective maneuver is to fake a jumper to draw in the defense, and then pass the ball to the open man under the basket at the last second. Each player has a certain amount of "turbo power" that adds speed and enhances the dunks. Players that sink three shots in a row become "on fire" and are nearly unstoppable until the opposing team scores again.

Minor Flaws

NBA Jam does have a few minor flaws. The turbo is so plentiful that you can practically use it during the entire game, and blocking shots is nearly impossible. Non-dunking players such as John Stockton can slam, destroying what little realism there is. Lastly, the computer has the annoying habit of making full court, last second shots at the end of each half.

Star Power

Two marquee players represent each NBA team, and since the game was made during the NBA's "golden age", you get many all-time greats like David Robinson, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, and Clyde Drexler (sorry, no Michael Jordan). Records are saved using a password system. NBA Jam enjoyed a string of sequels, and its frantic, smash-mouth style of play single handedly created a new genre of "extreme" sports games.

Tournament Edition

Capitalizing on the unbridled success of the first NBA Jam, Acclaim's Tournament Edition retains the fast-paced gameplay of the original while spicing things up with interesting new options. Each team now has three players to choose from instead of two, and you can substitute between quarters. The gameplay places more emphasis on defense, so you can expect to see more steals, blocked shots, and "boings" off the rim. The expanded options menu lets you customize more aspects of the game, as well as enabling power-ups and "hot spots" on the floor that are worth extra points. The new "juice mode" speeds up the action and sends things into overdrive. But the most valuable new addition is the inclusion of a much-need four-player mode. Statistics are now saved via battery backup instead of a long password. NBA Jam Tournament Edition retains the magic of the original game but offers more options, more unpredictability, and more fun.

Other SNES Basketball Games

The SNES boasted a variety of basketball games, each with its own approach to the sport.

NBA Live 96

The NBA Live series got its start on the Genesis, but the SNES edition of NBA Live 96 is clearly better, thanks to sharper graphics and clear sound effects. In addition, holding in the shoulder buttons to initiate turbo is much more convenient than the awkward Genesis controller scheme. In terms of gameplay, NBA Live 96 offers nonstop action and realistic gameplay. It's a huge step up from NBA Showdown. With the five-player multitap, you and four friends can even control an entire team! The only thing I don't like about the game are its horribly pixelated hardwood floors. Otherwise NBA Live 96 is a slam dunk.

NBA Showdown

NBA Showdown is a step up from Bulls vs. Blazers (EA's previous basketball game), with smooth graphics and more realistic gameplay. Unfortunately, it still uses the same slow engine, which bogs down the action. With no turbo button, the pace is slow and deliberate with no possibility for fast breaks. There are less unstoppable dunks, and it's more difficult to penetrate on the dribble. On a positive note, the court looks terrific, and I love how the coaches pace back and forth in front of their benches on the sidelines. The crowd sounds are muffled, but occasionally a fan will yell like "put it up!". Showdown is interesting to look back on, but this basketball series has seen better days.

NCAA Final Four Basketball

This is the weirdest [expletive] basketball game I've ever played. I was willing to give NCAA Final Four Basketball the benefit of the doubt. I mean, there's something to be said for taking a fresh, new approach. In terms of graphics, this is a good-looking game. The players are very small but their animation is silky smooth. The court looks expansive with its colorful crowd and scorers' table, but where are the benches? The main problem with NCAA Final Four is that it's too hard to play! The control scheme is bizarre. Why would you assign turbo to B when you have two shoulder buttons to work with? You're supposed to press B and A to dunk, but I couldn't get that to work. Likewise for the overhead pass (B+Y) and hands up (B+Y). Part of the problem is that the controls are so unresponsive. You'll hold the shoot button to execute a jump shot, and I swear it'll be two seconds before your player even reacts. I do kind of like the passing controls, where you point to a receiver and an icon appears over their head. Unfortunately the passes travel so slowly that by the time the ball gets there the player has already moved on. The action unfolds in slow motion except for short bursts when the game inexplicably moves faster. The most impressive aspect of the game is the foul shooting. The amazing over-the-shoulder graphics really put you in the action, but the meter moves so fast that making shots feels like a matter of luck. NCAA Final Four is a marginal game, but if you're a basketball fan this is definitely something different.

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