Tecmo Super NBA Basketball

Tecmo, known for their great sports games for the NES, is introducing yet another title to their increasing lineup of sports-related titles. The latest, Super NBA Basketball, is as realistic as you can get. Your Genesis will rock as you choose one of many teams. What's nice about this cart is the fact that you have so many options. Play an All-star game, or play a regular season. You can switch around your players, each a real person from a real team.

This is one basketball game that sports fans must have. The look and feel is just like being at a real game. It's a basketball fan's dream.

If you have ever dreamed of playing in the NBA here is your chance. Tecmo Super NBA Basketball is as close to the real thing as you can get. Choose from all the real teams and players. You can play in preseason, season or even the all-star game. Some of the other options include changing the game speed and period length. Check out the individual leaders of field goals, points, bocks and steals. Finally make a team selection to win the championship.

Super NBA has excellent control, and there are plenty of options to choose from! The real difference with this game is probably if you are a sport's fan. It probably won't convert anyone to this genre, but fans will love it!

Tecmo's testing the 16-bit sports waters for their first time ever with Tecmo Super NBA Basketball for the Super NES. However, impressive figures on the 8-bit sales chart don't necessarily guarantee a top seed in the 16-bit big leagues. If comprehensive stats and high- quality action are the one-and-one free throws for SNES basketball success, Tecmo only hits the front-end.

The Right Stuff

TSNB starts off right by taking complete advantage of the NBA license. All 12 real players on all 27 teams are represented, plus two All- Star squads. You even get a passable digitized mug shot for each player. The teams also sport their correct logos and jersey colors.

Tecmo's game play setup options are a sweet finger roll, as usual. You choose whether to control the action manually, or kick back and coach your team. You play against a second player or the computer. You can even watch the computer play against itself.

The battery-save season play is also fairly well-executed. You can play a regular 82-game season, a reduced 41-game season, or a short 26-game season. In the programming mode, you can adjust the wins and losses accrued by each team. Unfortunately, there's no way to edit the overall schedule or jump directly to the play-offs.

Stats R Us

Tecmo crunches the NBA down to a game of numbers -- lots of 'em. You get each player's real-life average-per-game stats for field goals, free throws, treys, steals, blocks, rebounds, and overall points. Additionally, the game analyzes each player's basic abilities in six categories. The stats impact game play, and in that regard TSNB is reasonably true-to-life.

Audio and Visual Rejection

At first glance the side-view court looks like it's fit for a king: The floor has a nice textured look and the on-screen colors are pleasing. You even get a few pop-up cinematics for great plays. Then you notice the players. There are only two different sprites in the entire game -- a generic black guy and a generic white guy. Unlike EA's Blazers vs. Bulls, characteristics such as height and hair color are absent. Additionally, the fans in the stands don't move.

If the graphics can be a bit annoying, the music's boring. The two music tracks sound like 70's disco theme songs. The sound effects, however, are much better. A ref's digitized voice, the clank of the rim, and the roar of the crowd do their jobs.

Middle-of-the-Pack Game Play

The game play scores a few times in the Win column, but doesn't quite make the play-offs. Fatigue and injuries force you to call timeouts and substitute bench-warmers as needed, and this works fine. What doesn't work is the play-calling system. During the action, you can call four plays from a play-book of eight, but they're not displayed on-screen. You're forced to memorize them. Additionally, there are no defensive plays.

The control is solid, but somewhat confusing. It's hard to switch players smoothly on defense, and often the on-screen clutter of players makes distinguishing your man and choosing another player difficult.

Some of the game play is quite innovative. You can easily commit an intentional foul should the need arise, which has been missing from previous electronic basketball games. However, one of the key features you'd expect to get in a 16-bit game -- signature moves -- is nowhere to be found. The players all have the same three or four moves under the basket.

Playing against the computer won't make pros work up a sweat, because it's often possible to penetrate its defense with a few quick passes. However, unlike other artificially ignorant CPU opponents, this one calls strategic timeouts and plays for the last shot!

Permanent Pine Rider

Tecmo Super NBA Basketball has some great qualities, especially in the stat department. It comes up short when matched up against NCAA Basketball's innovative game play style, towering 3-D graphics, and smooth play-calling. It also falls to the great action, graphics, and signature moves found in EA's Bulls vs Blazers and the NBA Playoffs. Think twice before driving into this SNES lane.

Tecmo's NBA Basketball for the NES is slam-dunking the competition, but soon its cousin will be raking up the parquet on the SNES. This game looks like it's going to really rock the system. All real NBA teams and players will make this a gym-jamming game, and killer cut-scenes in mid-game will add surprising excitement to the game play.

Finesse

For added realism, this game will allow you to send in the goons to intentionally foul your opponent and then hope that he doesn't make the free throws. Other cool features that you'll see in this game are instant replays and a button that will choose your best defender for you.

Poised

This game is getting its finishing touches at the moment, but it should be fully operational and ready to go this Winter. We'll just have to wait and see if this game is as good as its NES teammate.

Can Tecmo do for basketball what they did for football? If you're a die-hard roundball fan and you own an SNES, keep your fingers crossed! Tecmo has licensed the NBA, so all the pro teams will be there with complete player rosters. In addition, Tecmo promises their SNES B'Ball game will have:

• Pre-season play
• Full or abbreviated regular season
• Play-offs
• All-star game
• Penalties and fouls
• Substitutions and player injuries
• All 27 NBA teams

What more could you want?

That's right! Tecmo has finally decided to bring their sports expertise to the Super NES with a new basketball game licensed from the NBA! Get ready for the B-ball game of a lifetime! This cart does what no other basketball game ever did! The control is all there, no problems doing simple lay-ups or a terrific slam dunk! The cinemas also bring the game to life, not to mention the massive amounts of stats containing all of the actual players and big names! Tecmo has made one awesome basketball game!

For those who love their basketball games with a little bit of umph, their game has arrived. Super NBA is as close to the real thing as it gets. You get to choose from an assortment of plays, configure game speed and period length, and to add a little variety, you can even program the win/loss records in the team standings. So even the mediocre teams can have a perfect record! There are cinemas all over the place, options galore, stats for teams and players, and a season schedule - this game is loaded! A very cool game! Select plays for your team before a game or during a time out. Choose plays that match the strength of your team. During the game, press a direction on the pad and the start button to execute the play.