NBA Hangtime

"Just a N64 copy of NBA Jam. Nothing else."

Remember NBA Jam on the Super Nintendo? I loved that game. I have a thing for unrealistic sports games, they grab me and kinda hold on for a bit. That’s why I liked NBA Jam. And then came along NBA Hang Time for the Nintendo 64. I thought, “Oh cool, a sequel to NBA Jam!” Of course, I wasn’t expecting an exact copy. I expected everything I had before plus a ton of new features that they would take advantage of with the Nintendo 64. But what did I get? I got… another NBA Jam with better graphics and only a few new features that were very minor and boring. Whoopdy do.

The graphics… not the best. Not at all. The characters were 2D, something not very commonly seen in the N64. The characters looked okay, although the heads seemed a little messed up, to me at least. There is actually a distance effect on the court, which means the sprite gets smaller has get goes to the top of the screen, and larger as he gets to the bottom. A little thing, not exactly the most eye popping thing you’ve ever seen, this is very common nowadays. And even for its time. The crowds look a bit dull as well. Not too pleasant.

That announcer!!! UGH! He’s back! Say it ain’t so! That unbelievably annoying announcer dude is back to make you scream in agony and clamp your hands over your ears as hard as possible. Anyway, he pretty much says the exact same things as in NBA Jam, like those annoying “Monster Jam!” and “He’s on fire!!!” But besides the announcer guy, the other sounds were pretty good. Dribbling the ball against the court while you squeak to the other side. It’s all pretty good.

Another repeat: The AI. Easy as ever, for most other people and me. I found it pretty easy to keep well ahead of the opposing team and score plenty of those cool dunks. Not much else to say.

Okay, now for the gameplay. If you’ve played NBA Jam, you should know how it is. There are crazy things that are very unrealistic. Sometimes the dunks are crazy, sometimes the player just goes crazy and just pops that ball right off the rim onto the other side of the court… you know. What really made me mad is that there wasn’t too much new features. There are a few minor things like dribbling maneuvers. These things just didn’t stand out, causing this game to play very, very much like its 16-bit predecessor. A 16-bit game going to a 64-bit game is just too much. It’s inexcusable. In fact, I’d say the only good thing is that “Create-a-player” option. But otherwise, it’s just a repeat with some better graphics.

For anyone that did OR didn’t like NBA Jam, I recommend you try it if you have the chance to for free. Don’t waste your money on renting it. If your friend has it or something, then just try it out. Some people liked it, others didn’t. I didn’t, I just thought it was much too similar to the 16-bit NBA Jam. In the end, it’s just another sports game that failed.

Final Score: 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 05/11/01, Updated 05/11/01