NBA All-Star Challenge
Platform: Super NES
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Gamepad
Genre: Sports > Basketball
Release Year: 1992
Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: LJN
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"And the crowd goes silent!"

In its heyday, the SNES produced some namebrand basketball games that did right by the fans. NCAA Basketball captured the court's spirit of entertainment even with fictional players; NBA Live '97 harnessed excellent rosters from the post-'96 season when players like Marbury and Iverson were cutting their teeth in the big leagues. Heck, even NBA Jam's goofy portrait of showmanship was backed up with fun multiplayer. Enter: black sheep. Acclaim Japan continued a clumsy string of sports-related games with this embarrassing also-ran, despite a host of quality titles and ideas being demonstrated at the time.

And this ain't just an "oops, hehe" snafu -- this is a layercake of failure. Any league fan can quickly spot the derailment from the get-go. The gameplay options, which are basically made up of 'rounds of HORSE and free-throw shooting, are extremely boring -- not only because these are low-interest games played on a halfcourt; but because one normally associates the "NBA All-Star" namesake with fullcourt play and dunking contests, both of which are absent.

But even with pros playing these schoolyard games, the excitement is missing. An obvious reason is because few of the teams had immediately recognizable stars on their teams, and the player gets stuck with relatively obscure dudes like Roni Seikaly if they want to root for the home team. Each of the 27 teams is alloted one player, so it's slim pickins.

Barring player recognition, there's still the matter of gameplay. As previously stated, the all-star challenge is made up of short halfcourt games. On television, these are raucous showdowns where players go head to head with the crowd exploding at a fever pitch...this feeling does not translate at all. Instead, as a consolation prize, there is no sound whatsoever, except the dull thud of the dribbling and stock soundbytes of scuffling sneakers. All excitement has been ciphoned away, and the players (who look like pallette-swapped, skulking masses of bipedal play-doh) go about their business like they're playing in an empty gymnasium. They recreate the sound of no one caring about their product, which would be visionary if it wasn't so pathetic.

But the gameplay...for those that can stand boring peripheral details, the damning part lies here. Jumping takes place with one press of the action button, and shooting with the same button while in midair. This effectively throws player statistics out the window, as three-point sultan Larry Bird shows results little different than those of a pudgy center lobbing the ball with those same timed button presses. When the game shows promise but has horrible execution, y'gotta wonder what could have been with a bit more expansion shown and refined controls.

...No use weeping for what could have been. Repeatedly compounded shortcuts and failures only show the creators had no vision or love for the game, and wanted to ride the namebrand gravy train to make a buck...which is probably an accurate assessment of how much cash they actually hauled in. The only feature that keeps me blowing off the dust is that, when the game's paused, the referee says "Tiiiiiiimmmmmeeeee" in a way that sounds exactly like a sarcastic Phil Hartman.

Sadly, the box NBA All-Star Challenge shipped in is more fun to play with. Avoid at all costs.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 09/10/07

Game Release: NBA All-Star Challenge (US, 1993)

Reviewer: Shotgunnova
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/review/R117670.html
