NBA Hangtime

"A Modern Look At An Old Game."

Once upon a time, long, long ago in the age of never-ending arcade play, there once existed a game that boggled the mind. This game was appropriately called, NBA Hang Time. NBA Hang Time was an Arcade game that racked up endless amounts of quarters. It was so popular that Midway decided one day in late 1996 to port it straight to the N64. It arrived on the N64 console in January of 1997, and it was probably the most fun Basketball title to appear on the N64 for some time after.

Gameplay

Hang Time, despite being virtually 10 years old, controls remarkably well on the Nintendo 64. You can set your pass/steal and shoot/jump/block buttons easily or you can just use the pre-set controls which work perfectly fine. Playing basketball in NBA Hang Time is excitingly fun and nostalgic if you vaguely remember playing the old NBA Jam games. They both have a stark similarity.

Just because the game is really old does not mean the game is easy. Even with the first-place Bulls versus the Clippers, you might have trouble winning, even at the easiest difficulty level. Maybe it is the fact that you are playing two-on-two and not 5-on-5, but whatever the case, the game can be unexplainably, uncontrollably, and unnecessarily difficult. I distinctly remember playing as the Sonics, with Gary Payton, and Shawn Kemp (keep in mind the 1996 rosters), one of the best duos in the NBA at the time, and I played against some no-names on the Denver Nuggets. I lost by 4. It was sad and unnecessary.

I suppose one of the perks of the game is the outrageous dunks and shots. Players doing flips in the air several times before slamming the ball into the flimsy bucket still never ceases to amaze me. When can you ever see a 5 foot 8 white dude attempt a dunk from the 3-point line? Usually never, but in Hang Time, its entirely possible. Hang Time also has a very exciting On-Fire mode. When your player or team (double dunks) makes 3 shots in a row without the other team making any, your player or the whole team can catch on fire. Usually for a good minute or after 5 shots your player can endlessly make ridiculous shots from all over the place. These small things keep the game fun to play.

Of course, the main two focuses of the game are the Create-a-Player, and multiplayer modes. In Create-a-Player, you make your own player using whatever stats you currently have and play him in a team. Every four games you win, you earn two attribute points, which go to making your player better. You can customize height, weight, shooting ability, dunks, power, speed, you name it. The great thing about this is, you can show off your outstanding player to your friends.

If you remember Goldeneye, where teens would continuously shoot at each other at sleep-overs and never stop, then you will get an idea of what NBA Hang Time feels like. Anybody can grab a couple friends and play many rounds of Basketball, either using your custom characters, or using the set NBA teams. Either way, playing Hang Time with your friends is fun, hilarious, and exhilarating.

Graphics

Even for an old game, these graphics stink. Besides the shiny court, everything looks like crap, and I mean that literally. Every player is basically a magazine cut-out of the actual player put onto a generic paper cut-out type of body. The players can only turn in four general directions and when they face you, they seem to be smiling. This is simply not needed. Meanwhile, jerseys are amazingly plain and only service two different colors, and each arena is exactly the same with a different logo painted on the court.

The fans are also all paper cut-outs, but at least they rise to cheer once in a while. Other than that, they do not move at all. Players move really awkwardly. Some of them run almost idioticallybecause they think they are supposed to be fast, so they move their legs at an alarming rate, but they are actually only moving at 1 mph.

Even for an arcade port on the N64, this is simply sad, and the graphics can ruin a fun game.

Sound

Musically, NBA Hang Time is a garbage can filled with manure. You actually get to laugh at how bad the music is. Only about, 4 or 5 tunes play throughout the game, and all are repetitive and annoying. The only tune worth listening to is the NBA Hang-Time Rap that plays at half-time, but because of the time limit at the half, you do not get to hear the whole song. All of the rest is just annoying and hard on the ears.

The announcer; however, is mind-bogglingly hilarious. After you hear some of the same commentary it does get old, but for one that has not heard it in a long time, it is absolutely comical. He shouts out lines in white-boy style, like, He Couldn't Hit the Back Side of a Barn, or, Boom! Shaka Laka! The announcer deserves serious props for making his commentary so side-splittingly enjoyable.

Overall

Once you start playing, it will hard to put down the controller, either with a friend, or without, even though you would probably prefer to play it with a friend. Even if you stop playing, you will come back one day to occupy some time, and this game does not fail at that. I have come to cherish this ridiculous game like a classic. It may not have been a great game or even decent, but it will forever remain in my N64 library.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/05