Double Dribble

Double Dribble

Arcade - USA - Cabinet.

Developer Konami Publisher Konami Published 1986-??-?? Platforms Amiga, Arcade, Commodore 64, DOS, Famicom Disk System, Game Boy, NES, PlayChoice-10 Genres Action, Sports Themes Sports Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

Double Dribble is a basketball video game developed and published by Konami, originally for the arcade in 1986, ported to Famicom Disk System, NES, and PlayChoice-10 in 1987, the Amiga, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS in 1990, and the Game Boy in 1991. In the game, the player controls a team of basketball players as they try to defeat another person or the computer's AI. The player views the court from a slightly raised side-view perspective, and the game's gimmick is to show a large zoomed-in graphic of players when they dunk the ball.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. All difficulty levels.
Finished	Early 1990s.

My older brother was a fan of basketball growing up, so he got a used copy of this game for our NES. I remember playing him in 2-player vs mode, and uncharacteristically doing better than him at it. I had discovered that, if you hold down the shoot button longer while you're in the air, it increases your likelihood to make a basket. My brother, on the other hand, would simply press the button and frequently miss. I remember silently hoping that he wouldn't notice my slower, but more accurate, shooting ability, which allowed me to keep swishing baskets while he bricked them. He eventually got so frustrated he rage-quit the game. Later, I practiced the game on my own and got good enough to beat the bronze level AI. I tried several times to beat the silver level AI, but failed every time. One day, on a lark, I tried bumping the AI up to gold level just to see how bad it would beat me, and I ended up winning! After that, just to say I could beat all difficulty levels, I played the silver difficulty until I beat it. I did this sometime in the early 1990s.

Review

4	5	3	4	5

Best Version: NES?

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The large player animations during dunk shots were pretty impressive at the time.
• Having speech in a game was still a selling point at the time.
• The game plays several short musical themes commonly heard at basketball games, which helps create a professional basketball vibe.
• The ways the designers handled the jump ball and free-throws adds some strategy to the game.

Bad

• The graphics aren't very good across every port. The human animation is very stiff, especially with the cheerleaders and mascots, and the backgrounds are ugly.
• For the arcade game, play length is based entirely on how many quarters you spend, not your skill, which I find poor design.
• In the NES port, the AI cheats by having the ability to pass the ball to players that are not on the screen, something human players cannot do. This gives them a advantage by allowing them to pass the ball all the way down the court to their own basket before any of your defenders can block them.
• The music is quite lackluster in all versions, and mostly absent in the NES port.
• The squeak of the shoes gets annoying after awhile, as does the dribble sound in the NES port.
• It would have been nice to have 2-player co-op.

Ugly

• Nothing, but I don't find the game very enjoyable.

Box Art

• 

  North American arcade cabinet.

• 

  North American arcade marquee. Two white men... sure.

• 

  North American arcade side art.

• 

  The Famicom Disk System cover uses Western art style, which isn't too unusual considering basketball was still primarily an American game at the time. The painting is adequate, the lettering is pretty good, but why is the white guy towering over the black guy?

• 

  The NES box has a skillfully painted action scene, but why is there another white guy dunking over a black guy? The lettering is hard to read, also.

• 

  The US PlayChoice-10 topper finally puts the focus on a black man. It's a bit boring, and the logo is still hard to read.

• 

  The design used for the Amiga, Commodore 64, and DOS uses the same art as the NES release, but simplifies the logo making it easier to read.

• 

  The Japanese Game Boy cover uses an Eastern cartoon style with two Asian players. The lettering is a bit dull.

• 

  The North American cover has a painting of deformed basketball players roughly playing. What the hell happened to his wrist? The flag on the logo is done right on this layout.

• 

  The European Game Boy box has a black man dunking over his opponents and shattering the glass. This is probably my favorite cover.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Arcade - USA.

• 

  Manual - NES - USA.

• 

  Manual - Game Boy - USA.

• 

  The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, part 1.

• 

  The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, part 2.

• 

  The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, blurb.

• 

  Arcade flyer, Japan, front.

• 

  Arcade flyer, Japan, back.

• 

  MS-DOS ad.

• 

  Konami ad for sports games.

Videos

Longplay - Arcade, hardest difficulty.

Longplay - DOS, easiest difficulty.

Longplay - Famicom Disk System, hardest difficulty.

Longplay - Game Boy, USA, hardest difficulty.

Longplay - NES, hardest difficulty.

Game play - Amiga.

Review - PlayChoice-10.

Play Online

Famicom Disk System, Game Boy (Europe), Game Boy (Japan), Game Boy (USA), MS-DOS, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The only women are cheerleaders.
Bechdel test?	Fail	No women talk in this game.
Strong person of color character?	Pass	In most ports, half of the players are black.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Double Dribble
English (Game Boy, Europe)	Hyper Dunk
English (Game Boy, North America)	Double Dribble: 5 On 5
Japanese	エキサイティング　バスケット	Ekisaitingu Basuketto	Exciting Basket
Japanese (Game Boy)	コナミックバスケット	Konamikku Basuketto	Konamic Basket

Links