Basketball Nightmare

Moby ID: 39218

Description

The captain of the home town basketball team is leading his team to win the All-American Championships. But then the captain had a strange dream, nightmare in fact, where he was playing basketball against all these strange creatures in exotic locations.

Basketball Nightmare is a basketball game where the player plays basketball against strange humanoid creatures on the court where the creature lives. The player must play and defeat each creature before moving onto a new place with a new harder opponent. The player starts of playing against Wolfs in the Forest and then, upon defeating that opponent, moves on to play Frogs at the Pond, One Eyed Aliens at the Waterfall, Vampires in the Skeleton Cave, Geishas in the Bamboo Forest, before finally playing against Samurais at the Shrine. If the player loses a match then that match can be replayed until won.

The player at the start of each match gets to pick how long the match duration is out of the options of 15, 30, or 45 minutes (not in real time) before being placed on the court. When on the court the player always plays towards the right of the court. First the player tries to get the ball from a throw by a well timed button press. When the player has the ball the player has the option to move, pass the ball, and jump. When jumping the player can shoot, with the accuracy of the shot depending on the timing, or just simply pass. When defending the player can cycle through the field or just simply run into the opponent to challenge for the ball. There are a few penalties that the player can get including but not limited to Travelling (not passing after jumping), Charging (Sometimes called when the player with the ball runs into an opponent), and Pushing (Sometimes called when the player without the ball runs into an opponent) with all the penalties resulting with the other team getting the ball on the side of the court.

Also there are two more modes called CPU vs CPU, where the player can get the CPU to play itself and Versus Play to play against a friend. In both modes the player or players pick one of the 8 nations that are USA, CBA, CHN, JPN, URS, DDR, CAN, and FRN all with a character representing a player of that nation. All the rules are the same as single player mode.

Screenshots

Credits (SEGA Master System version)

12 People

Game Design
  • Yoshiyuki
Programmer
  • Battler Fairlady
  • Twin Turbo
  • 300ZX
  • Nkoichi
Designer
  • Tommy ha Okorarenai
  • Ore Tensai Yamguchi
  • Watashi Tomocyan ga Iina
  • Yasuo Wakatsuki (Yasuo te Wakatuki)
Music
Copyright 1989 by
  • Sega Enterprises

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 61% (based on 9 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 6 ratings with 1 reviews)

Scoop the Hoop

The Good
The graphical look of the courts has good use of the Master System’s colour palette and the basketball player sprites are even better and fluid when they move. The opposing teams consist of monsters from Japanese folklore including kappas (or turtle-doves lol!), vampires, tengus and a few others. A nice finishing polish is the closeups when a player is on there verge of scoring a goal. It is satisfying to score goal after goal and beat your opponents to progress. There’s also the option to challenge a friend to a basketball match. Where would any sports ballgame be without two player mode(s) included?

The Bad
Even being creative in its design, there are some things missing from the game. One of them is a training mode to get a better grasp of gameplay. Another is a lack of variety in the single player mode in which it’s just a straightforward play through seven courts with a different team and no actual story. It would have been better if you could play as any of the monster teams and the next opposing team was randomly determined. And speaking of variety, there’s none in the music or the sound effects, just a single repeating tune and persistent ball dribbles. The game doesn’t take into account how strong and agile the team members are. It’s basically the CPU going easy or hard on you. The game also lacks the potential for what could have been, such as cooperative two player mode.

The Bottom Line
A weird kind of title which can’t really define the nightmare that is meant to be present. This isn’t NBA, this isn’t JBA, what you’re looking at is a classic basketball with a twist in the teams. Exactly the break you can use from all the licensed and branded sports. Would be sensational if a truckload of additional teams and creatures made its way to a remake of this title. It all goes to show you that there are many ways basketball can be played. Don’t miss this one if you can help it.

SEGA Master System · by Kayburt (32167) · 2023

Analytics

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by beetle120.

Game added February 10, 2009. Last modified October 8, 2023.