Pat Riley Basketball for Genesis
Review #4422
Pat Riley Basketball
Slow Double Dribble clone
Gameplay
Very slow, stiff movement.
Odd controls...you can only pass when facing left or right, not up or down.
B jumps and shoots and C passes/steals.
Dunks and blocks are performed in a quick time event like Double Dribble. Fun the first time but the novelty wears off eventually. The name of the game is getting those dunks so in that sense it feels a bit like NBA Give-n-Go.
After scoring the other team runs ahead of your team who are standing around. It feels weird and maybe on a higher difficulty they get a breakaway nearly every time. Just feels strange.
Level Design
Bare bones. Just an exhibition and a tournament mode. You can choose a difficulty but no gameplay adjustments can be made.
Theme
Not sure why Pat Riley is on the cover, but this is one of those non NBA sports titles with generic players representing the biggest cities in the US. However, the atmosphere is very arcadey so it feels more impressive than it ought to.
Art Style
The ball is comically large compared to the players. It looks like they're carrying around a beach ball.
There's only one sprite with a pallete swap to create a white guy and a black guy.
Nice use of color.
The crowd enthusiastically cheers with two alternating frames.
The sprites in the QTE are massive and must've been impressive back in the day.
Overall it's bright and cheerful, and I like it.
Audio
Arcade style music and sound effects. Good for a sports game.
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