Warming up, but not on fire.
John Tesh - the one time host of Entertainment Tonight and the source of endless
material for comedians everywhere. Did you know he wrote the NBA basketball
theme? Seriously! Now every time you hear that tune, you'll shudder with fear.
But that shouldn't stop you from getting into some digital two on two, should
it?
Two on two basketball,
no goal tending, five fouls and the opponents get a free throw. So states the
rules of NBA Showtime. If you've ever played NBA Jam, then you
already know the basics - the familiar cheap computer opponents, the lackluster
single player mode, and the endless back and forth gameplay. While the N64 version
lacks the graphical crispness of the arcade and Dreamcast
versions, the overall gameplay manages to stay mostly intact.
Indeed, single player will get boring. It's fun for a quick full 4-quarter
game, but I've never thought of NBA Jam/Showtime as a game to play for
hours on end by yourself. While you can save your game records under a name
and pin I.D., there is no season mode.
When you shoot for the hoop, oddly enough, your computer-controlled teammate will jump as well; after you drain the three-pointer, that same teammate might grab the rim from his airborne descent. Maybe it was waiting for the alley-oop, but it's as if there's something not quite right with the drone member of your team. The same problem has shown up in the arcade version (and other home versions), but other than the complete weirdness of it, it doesn't deter the gameplay.
New to the Midway b-ball series is a Create-a-Player option. As incentive to keep playing, you can build up a player's statistics. The more you win, the better the player you can create. Unfortunately, you're limited to the set faces and mascot heads you're given. There's no way to put a reasonable facsimile of yourself among the ballers of the NBA. And mascots can only wear their original uniforms.
At the end of every quarter, the camera arcs around the stop-motioned players
in a pseudo bullet-time effect. The freeze frame shows one of the graphical problems
of the game's engine - collision detection. I've seen a goal tending call when
the player jumped from behind the backboard to put an arm straight through a basketball.
One time, the camera froze on Chris Webber riding Kobe Bryant piggyback. Now that's
something you'll never see in a real game... well, maybe with Dennis Rodman...
ahem... The point is, the effect could have been altered so as not to blatantly
show these major flaws. 
The player graphics are unfocused and blocky; detail isn't clear, animation
is somewhat comical, and even the text isn't sharp. Thankfully, as a whole, the
graphics don't reach the blur-fest that is the Playstation
version and the speed maintains well. Final analysis? There's plenty left
to be desired graphically and it seems to not take full advantage of the system.
There's the familiar range of calls and witty remarks, but none of the player's names are included. You would expect that since this is a "NBC" broadcast, the commentators would give names. But alas, the N64 cartridges can't muster the strength. It feels much emptier than the arcade and Dreamcast editions. The music in the game is mostly background filler - trying for a hip-hop style beat to complement the action. And yes, even John Tesh's signature tune is here. Ugh.
The additions of free-throws keep the game from becoming a shoving match,
adding some balance to the multiplayer. The updated rosters and familiarity of
the classic Jam mechanics also help, but the aforementioned flaws of collision
and graphics do take away from the overall experience. If you're all Blitzed
out, this does make for a reasonable, but not great game of multi-player b-ball
.
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