Ever dreamed of being a Basketball star, and winning the championship game for your team? Probably many of us have, and we've surely all had that nightmare where we are playing Basketball in a graveyard, against horror story worthy beings! And if I'm the only one that's had that nightmare, then this is your chance to peek inside the mind of a truly disturbed individual, or at least someone with secret basketball fears (I blame Space Jam). Want to see dracula beat you on a one-on-one fast break, take it to the hoop, and dunk on you? You finally can! Ever wondered how Aliens play basketball? This game let's you find that out! There's no telling what you'll see (unless you read the game's full description online, you spoilsport) when you enter this nightmare world and test your skills against these creatures that nightmares are made of, and on their home turf at that. But really, who needs a description? With a name like Basketball Nightmare, how could you not want to check the game out? It sounds weird, dark, and fun, and let me say, it definitely delivers on two of those three expectations.

The controls are stupid simple:
On offense:
A button passes
B button Jumps, and when pressed a second time, shoots
D-pad moves

On defense:
A button steals the ball
B button switches between players
D-pad...still moves

The most complicated part of the controls is the ability to pass while jumping: press A while in the air. So B then A. Hard, right? Also, your passes always go to the guy on your team that is flashing at the time that you press the pass button.

But enough about the uniqueness of the game, and it's simple controls, let's see those numbers.


Graphics: 10/10
Incredible.

The Sega Master System never ceases to amaze me graphically. I mean, play an NES game (which is honestly what most of us limit our 8-bit experience to) and check out those graphics. Now fire up a copy of the same game for the SMS. See the difference? The first SMS game I played, blew me away. I almost couldn't believe I was looking at an 8-bit game, and Basketball Nightmare wowed me just as much.

The sprites look great, and are very well made. There's no real distortion, and they're good sized. The close up dunk sequences are what really got me. I saw this concept used in a game on the Genesis, but I would never have expected it from the SMS. Also as a nice added touch, the beam that goes across the top of the rickety old goal, breaks when you make a basket. Again, a good addition, I'd say. The only problem I had with the sprites was a slight flickering, but I suspect that was an issue with emulation, and perhaps even my device specifically.

The backgrounds are designed very well, and convey more of a playful feeling than a scary one. In fact, kids could play this and enjoy it. The lighthearted approach to the theme of a horror/sports genre blend is awesome, and really sets the game off perfectly.

So with great sprites, an excellent environment, good color contrasts that never feel too serious or overly nice and cute, and all around impressive graphics design, Basketball Nightmare doesn't fail to impress, and does as good as the best of it's peers.

Highlights:
-Impressively well designed sprites

-Entrancing "horror" themed levels

-Cool close-up action shots


Sound: 10/10
Incredible.

This may seem like a generous score to others, but I can't get enough of the music in this game. It's some of the best music I've ever heard in any 8-bit game, and it fits the theme of the game so well. It has that creepy movie sound, yet keeps it upbeat and lively enough that it more pumps you up, and makes you feel like "I must win this game, and get out of this place!" than creep you out. It's very impressive to say the least, but since when have we expected anything less than excellence from Sega in the audio department?

The sound effects are very nice as well, and very clear and clean. This is pure excellence, and as annoying as it is, I can't find a single bad thing to say here, so grab a barf bag, because you're likely to get sick of hearing how great and happy everything is with this title.

Highlights:
-Some of the best music, this side of 16-bit consoles

-Great sound effects accent the excellent music and gameplay perfectly


Story: N/A

No story here, at least not in the game. Apparently you are the captain of a basketball team who falls asleep before a big game, and dreams of this horror land, where you play against these beasts (though I'm not sure how Gieshas and Samurais fit in there). That's about the size of it, but that's enough for me in a sports game of any kind.


Depth: 8/10
Exceptional.

The tens finally end here, but for a sports based game to get an eight in depth is pretty impressive, I think. And Basketball Nightmare earns it too.

The modes, Duke, the modes (yes, again with the obscure references to 1990's commercials)! Basketball Nightmare offers three modes of play, which is more than your average 8-bit game with it's one or sometimes two modes (single and multiplayer). It goes beyond the usual one and two player modes, and offers a simulation mode, known here as "Cpu vs. Cpu", where the player can watch the computer play against itself, and see which team wins.

More options! There are even more options to choose from after you select the game mode you want. You must now choose between fifteen, thirty, and forty-five minute games. Don't worry though, they aren't actual minutes, as each second that passes in real time, is the equivalent of a little more than two in-game seconds, so your fifteen minute game really lasts about seven minutes. A very much appropriate touch for a game of this style.

Finally, in both Versus (two player) and cpu vs. cpu modes, you have eight teams to choose from, all of which are human however, and they all come from different countries. I personally wanted to be able to play as the nightmare beings in multiplayer, or better yet, watch the beasts battle it out in cpu vs. cpu mode, but alas, it was not to be. Still, eight teams is a pretty good amount in a game that's almost as old as me (released in 1989).

Highlights:
-Three modes, including a simulation mode

-Eight teams to choose from

-Three game length options let you customize the way you play


Addictiveness: 10/10
Incredible.

The only reason I decided to give this game a ten for addictiveness is because I couldn't give it an eleven (or more). If ever an 8-bit game had me hooked, it's this one. I absolutely love the gameplay here, and I can't get enough of the audio and graphics (an A/V geek? Maybe), and the very concept is incredible. As soon as I started the first game, and saw what it was about, I knew it would be great. I was hooked before the tipoff.

I played through this game in one sitting, not because it was so easy, but because I didn't want to stop. I have also played it multiple times since then (once while writing this review), and I'm sure I'll be playing it again in the next day or two, and many more times after that. The charm is not easily lost on me.


Difficulty: 4/10
Easy.

This one is easy enough that you shouldn't have too much trouble with it, but difficult enough that you will probably lose a few times along the way, but with unlimited tries at each game, you can't really lose unless you quit. Also, the controls make it easy to play, the ball is terribly easy to steal, and once you learn how to do so effectively, you'll easily run up the score on the computer quite often. Still, they can be a challenge if you can't manage the ball well, or get open, and they almost always get the rebounds (did I forget to mention that your teammates run around aimlessly, like they have no clue as to what is going on?)

Highlights:
-Simple and easy enough for everyone, but challenging enough that it shouldn't lose your interest

-Teammates that are more mindless than the zombie hoards of the Nightmare sports realm. Gotta love them


Overall: 9.5/10
Excellent.

Excellent? More like downright impressive! Basketball Nightmare is a game that offers what are quite possibly unprecedented graphics and music for the SMS or any 8-bit system. It's very impressive to see the game in action, and it's extremely fun to play. This is easily one of the best overall scores I've given any game, and it definitely desreves every bit of it. In fact, my personal rating of it is a big honking ten (yes, the ten honks. It's that good). I have never found another game in it's genre that can rival this one. Very few good games are this creative, and even fewer are this great.


In the end, I can definitely say that I highly recommend Basketball Nightmare to anyone who enjoys a unique gaming experience, as well as fans of sports games, and those that like a good lighthearted horror themed game. In fact, I recommend this game to everyone that reads this review, as it's one of the most unique and enjoyable experiences you'll get with any game.This one really fits in well with so many different crowds, it's a shame that it didn't become bigger than it did. Basketball Nightmare is easily one of my favorite games of all time, and manages to obtain that lighthearted spooky charm that so many games have failed to obtain. This one is worth all of the time and Viz it takes to play, and then some. If you've never tried it, give it a go. If you enjoy simple and lighthearted games, you won't be disappointed. This is indeed, one of the best games in the RGR.

Of..course. You make another great review..like always. So anyway it has lots of information...(obviously )...and you break it down into different Categories. Overall good job. Have a nice day.

Wow, another great review man. This was a pretty dang long review, almost 2000 words for a game about basketball! Master System did have much better graphics then the Nes and you can tell it with this game (like you said). The only thing (and this is a very little thing) is that the SMS controller has button 1 and 2 not A and B. You really wouldn't know that though onless you have a Master System.

This is the best sports game I have played next to the Mutant league games on the Genesis. Thank you for suggesting it to me and thank you for writing this review, I love seeing high scores and positive reviews for the Master System. It needs more attention and thanks to you I think it will get it.

Edit. Guess I clicked twice.

GenesisJunkie : Yeah, I learned that when I fired it up on Vizzed, AFTER writing the review. Lol I admit, I used an offline emulator (for shame!) and it emulates Genesis as well as SMS, so the on screen buttons stay as A B C X Y and Z. I thought I may see if I can edit it now. 1 is the equivalent of A, correct?

Eirinn : 1 would be where B is and 2 is where A is on an Nes controller. Why B is before A is really beyond me. 1 also acts as a start button.

GenesisJunkie : Right, but since it uses the same button layout as a Genesis controller, 1 is where A is then? I believe Vizzed refers to it as fire 1 and fire 2. I may just try it again on here and see how it is.

And I've often wondered why the HES controller is like that too. lol

Also, thank you for the comments! It's been a while since I reviewed a game that I just loved (reviewed some good ones, but none this good recently), that's why I wrote so much. lol

supercool22 : Thank you as well.

Eirinn : Oh I thought you were talking about SMS and Nes controllers. Yes A is 1 and B is 2 when compared to a Genesis controller. You can use a Genesis controller to play SMS games. The Genesis controller works with everything!!!

Nice job on this review as always man, your work is always amazing to read, this will be the second awesome review I have read all day. I think you and sonichthehedgehog57 rank among some of the best reviewers on vizzed, all of your work is amazing. As always you broke the review down quite nicely and you went into some  pretty great detail with this. Your work is always organized and easy to follow and understand which makes this review all the better in my opinion.

Overall, this is just a masterpiece of a review and I wouldn't change a thing about it, it is perfect the way it is. Keep up the awesome work man and keep making more great reviews like this! Merry Christmas! 

This is an excellent review. It looks sort of like the style in which I'd done my reviews, except it also looks a thousand times better...Now I wish I was better at this kind of thing. I still don't know how my reviews were staff quality...