White Men Can't Jump (video game)

White Men Can't Jump
Cover art by Damion Davis and Patrick Dolan
Developer(s) High Voltage Software
Trimark Interactive
Publisher(s) Atari Corporation
Producer(s) Allen Edwards
Bill Rehbock
Kevin Hunt
Kerry Ganofsky
Programmer(s) Adisak Pochanayon
Brian McGroarty
Nate Troast
Artist(s) Cary Penczak
Damion Davis
Eric Nofsinger
Patrick Dolan
Platform(s) Atari Jaguar
Release
Genre(s) Sports
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer (up to four players via Team Tap adapter)

White Men Can't Jump is a video game released for the Atari Jaguar in 1995 by High Voltage Software, loosely based on the 1992 20th Century Fox movie of the same name.[1][2] As in the movie, players play games of two-on-two street basketball. It was bundled with the Team Tap Adaptor, which allowed three or four players to play in tandem despite the game box saying "1 or 2 players". Due to its poor graphics, among other factors, it has been hailed as one of the worst games of all time by some critics.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot.

In Vs. Mode up to four players can take part in individual two-on-two street basketball games, with remaining players controlled by AI.

Tournament Mode can be played with 1 player or 2 players (on the same team). Players start out with $500 and bet money on each game.[3] Once players earn $5,000 they are entered into The City Slam Tournament. If the player fails to earn $5,000 over 30 games, or loses all money, the Tournament Mode ends.[3]

Players can pass, fake a pass, jump, shoot, dunk, and punch (try to knock down an opponent). Players can "Speed Boost" by using extra energy. The more energy a player has, the more likely they are to pull off a Super Dunk at a distance from the basket. Each character can pull off a variety of "Super Dunks". Players can also switch between both characters on their team when using an AI teammate.

Like the movie, the entire game takes place in the Los Angeles area. The first four courts are playable from the beginning in Vs. mode. The fifth court, Inglewood Forum, appears only in the Slam City Tournament.[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings50%[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[5]
EGM10 / 20[6]
The Electric Playground3 / 10[7]
Game Players73%[8]
GamePro9 / 20[9]
LeveL85[10]
MAN!AC32%[11]
Mega Fun71%[12]
Next Generation[13]
Player One40%[14]
ST-Computer63%[15]
ST Format22%[16]
ST Magazine73%[17]
Ultimate Future Games35%[18]
Video Games56%[19]

White Men Can't Jump received mostly negative reviews. The two sports reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly panned the game, citing the confusing camera perspective, poor animation, blocky graphics, and ineffective control.[6]

GamePro commented that "Poor control, bad graphics, and annoying sound make Atari's White Men Can't Jump the worst basketball experience since watching the Clippers." They particularly criticized that controls often fail to respond and shots tend to miss the hoop even when shot in the correct direction from right next to the basket.[9]

A critic for Next Generation dissented with the majority opinion; while he said that the game occasionally suffers from erratic camera movements and requires multiple players to get full enjoyment out of it, he generally applauded White Men Can't Jump for its intense violence, "swooping" camera angles, sprite scaling, street-style audio commentary, and generally solid balance.[13]

Patrick Baggatta of Game Players also said the game is much less enjoyable with fewer than four players, commenting that "When playing against the computer there's just a little too much that can't be controlled." He approved of how well the graphics and gameplay recreated the feel of street basketball, but felt the trash talking voice clips got annoying quickly and criticized the camera as moving around too frequently.[8]

Legacy

Electronic Gaming Monthly's Seanbaby placed it as number 8 in his "20 worst games of all time" feature.[20]

References

  1. ↑ ""White Men Can't Jump" -- but can they play ball? Atari Corp. launches "hoops" game with Team Tap peripheral". TheFreeLibrary.com. Business Wire. August 1, 1995. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
  2. ↑ Castle, Justin (July 21, 2018). "Historical Atari Jaguar UK Magazine Advert/Reviews Collection" (PDF). Issuu. p. 340. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
  3. 1 2 3 White Men Can't Jump Game Manual
  4. ↑ "White Men Can't Jump for Jaguar". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  5. ↑ Scoleri III, Joseph. "White Men Can't Jump - Overview". AllGame. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  6. 1 2 Cowboy, Video; ICEMAN, The (October 1995). "Team EGM - Box Score - White Men Can't Jump (Jaguar) by Atari". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 75. EGM Media, LLC. p. 124.
  7. ↑ Lucas, Victor (August 21, 1995). "Reviews - White Men Can't Jump". The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on 5 December 2000. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  8. 1 2 Baggatta, Patrick (October 1995). "Jaguar - Review - White Men Can't Jump". Game Players. No. 76. Signal Research. p. 56.
  9. 1 2 Ballgame, Johnny (December 1995). "The Sports Page - White Men Never Gets Off the Ground - White Men Can't Jump". GamePro. No. 77. IDG. p. 120.
  10. ↑ N, M (September 1995). "Recenze - Atari Jaguar - White Men Can't Jump". LeveL (in Czech). No. 8. Naked Dog, s.r.o. p. 39.
  11. ↑ Versionen, Andere (October 1995). "Spiele-Tests - White Men can't Jump". MAN!AC (in German). No. 24. Cybermedia Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. p. 77.
  12. ↑ Özelsel, Timur (October 1995). "Test Jaguar – White Men Can't Jump". Mega Fun (in German). No. 37. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 78.
  13. 1 2 "Finals - Jaguar - White Men Can't Jump". Next Generation. No. 10. Imagine Media. October 1995. p. 114.
  14. ↑ Chon (February 1996). "Vite Vu - Jaguar - White men can't jump". Player One (in French). No. 61. Média Système Édition. p. 115.
  15. ↑ F, R (October 1995). "Jaguar: White Men Can't Jump". ST-Computer (in German). No. 113. falkemedia. p. 111.
  16. ↑ Campbell, Stuart (February 1996). "Game Reviews - Jaguar - White Men Can't Jump". ST Format. No. 79. Future plc. p. 39.
  17. ↑ Abramson, Marc (September 1995). "Cahier Loisirs / Jaguar - Chroniques Estivales". ST Magazine (in French). No. 98. Pressimage. pp. 46–49.
  18. ↑ "Try slam-dunkin' White Men Can't Jump straight into the bin". Ultimate Future Games. No. 11. Future Publishing. October 1995. p. 75.
  19. ↑ Barysch, Jan (September 1995). "Atari Jaguar - Reviews – White Men Can't Jump". Video Games (in German). No. 46. Future-Verlag. p. 90.
  20. ↑ P. Reiley, Sean. "Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza - #8: White Men Can't Jump (Jaguar)". Seanbaby.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2008. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
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