super nintendo ncaa basketball review thomas cozzi tripp spectacular magazine garner nc
Business & Technology Sports

NCAA Basketball Review (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)

Thomas Tripp

Hello all:

I hope everyone is well, despite the unfortunate outbreak. My thoughts and prayers are with you all during this arduous time.

Well, since there’s no NCAA Tournament this year, I have decided to review Nintendo’s own 1992 hit NCAA Basketball. super nintendo ncaa basketball review thomas cozzi tripp spectacular magazine garner nc

It was released in October of 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. HAL Laboratory (who is famous for developing the Smash Bros. and Kirby games) developed this masterpiece.

Despite lacking a crowd and not including the Big Ten, Pac-10, Metro and Great Midwest Conferences (Anyone remembers these conferences?) — NCAA Basketball still delivers for the system as it showcases its Mode-7 capabilities and exemplary gameplay.

The conferences showcased are — the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big Eight and the SWC (Southwest Conference). Interestingly, the latter two conferences merged four years later, in what is now known as the Big XII (12) Conference!

Unfortunately, Florida State wasn’t added to the ACC and Arkansas was still in the SWC in this game. By the time the game was released, both of these teams were entering into their second year playing their current conferences.

The Mode-7 capabilities are rivaled by a SNES launch title, F-Zero, thanks to its large characters and detailed court.

NCAA Basketball is a two-player simultaneous game. You can play against the computer or play against another player.

Also, there is a season mode, where you guide your team to Conference play.

If you do well in conference play, you enter the NCAA Tournament. If you advance far enough, you will get to play in the Final Four.

Nintendo and HAL took great advantage of using powerful sounds! You can hear the PA announcer say “rejected!,” “Foul by (position),” etc. In addition to this, the music is outstanding, thanks to the talented composers Paul Ganus and Mark Webb.

Below are a few examples of the soundbites you are likely to hear while playing the game:

Menu music
 Halftime Music
 “Rejected”
 “Charging by Forward”
 When you win the NCAA Championship

NBA 2K may be the hottest basketball game in the video game world these days, but this game was a revolution to the basketball video game world. I’d say until about 1994, it was the best basketball game on the Super Nintendo.

While it would be eclipsed by titles such as NBA Jam and NBA Live 95, NCAA Basketball is still one of the premier basketball titles on the system.

NCAA Basketball revolutionized the way basketball video games are played, especially in the 16-bit era. Sega’s own NBA Action ’94 for Sega Genesis rotation was possibly inspired by this game.

So, go out and dust off that ole’ Super Nintendo and order this game off eBay or Amazon and play this game! You will not be disappointed!