Double Dribble (video game)

Screenshot of the arcade version.

(Arcade Version)

Like its predecessor, you are in control of a five-man basketball team playing against the computer controlled team, or controlled by a second player. When a coin is inserted, a credit was indicated on the bottom of the screen, and there would be a time left indication of one minute, and it would show where in a quarter you would be, time-wise. From there, when you hit start, you would enter in your initials, like Super Basketball did, and then the game would start.

The gameplay is a marked difference and improvement from its predecessor, Super Basketball. The characters looked better, and moved much better around the court. Like a traditional basketball game, the centers would come out to the middle of the court, and the referee would institute a jump ball and the game would start in earnest.

The goal for Double Dribble is to have scored more points than the computer team by the time your time runs out, which meant that the game would give you another minute of time, and the game would continue. The game would get harder, and would do so *very* quickly. If the computer team had as many points as your team or more when time ran out, the game would end.

The controls are an 8 way joystick, and three buttons. One to dribble the ball on offense, one to pass the ball on offense, and one to shoot the ball on offense. On defense, the dribble button became the steal button, the pass button became the switch button to switch players, and the shoot button became the jump button.

If you are on offense: To move your player that has the ball, you repeatedly hit the dribble button while moving the joystick in a certain direction. To pass the ball, you moved the joystick in the direction of your teammate (who would have an aura in your teams color surround him) and press the pass button. To shoot the ball (outside of the lane, which we will get to), you pressed and held the shoot button until the player reached the top of the jump, and then release it.

If you were in the lane and moving toward the basket and you hit the shot button, the screen would change to the player attempting a dunk. You would hold the button down until the player reached the top of the jump and release it. If your timing was right, you would complete the dunk. If not, the ball will bounce high and far off the rim, and you would need to rebound the ball.

Each player moves at slightly different speeds, and their jumps are different. Some jump high, while some don't get far off the ground. Some rise quickly, others rise slowly. If you learn their high points, you can master their jump shots, dunks, and also get good at rebounds, which is important at later stages of the game.

If you are on defense: if you are guarding a player, you can try to steal the ball from him by moving towards the ball and hitting the steal button. If done correctly, you would steal the ball and the game would say “Nice Steal!” and then you are on offense. There is a chance that while doing this you could foul the player and send him to the free throw line.

If you needed to switch players, you would move the joystick towards the player you wanted and press the pass button, and you would be instantly switched that player.

When the opposing team takes a shot, if you are near to him, press the shot button. If will cause your player to jump and possibly block the shot. Also, if a shot is missed, move your player under the shadow of the ball and press the shot button to attempt to rebound the basketball.

If you player gets fouled (and it can happen on offense or defense), he is sent to the free throw line. Five players will take their places on opposing sides of the lane, with your player at the free throw line. You have five seconds for each free throw attempt. A ring starts above the basket, and when you press and hold the shoot button, the ring descends towards the basket. The trick is to get the ring as close to the basket as possible in order to make the free throw. As with their jumps, each player's ring descends at  different speeds.

As with a real NBA game, the game is divided into four quarters at 12 minutes per quarter. After the end of each quarter there is a challenging stage, which is a three-point shootout. As with a real life three-point contest, you have a player attempting five three point shots at each corner, each wing, and from the top of the key for a total of 25 shots. You press and hold the shoot button until the player reaches the top of his jump, and then release it. Each shot you make adds 1 second to your time remaining for a total of 25 seconds, and you make them all 1 minute is added to your time as well. Play then continues until the player runs out of time while having fewer points that the opposing team or is tied.

The high score table was unique, in that you could get on the table by scoring a lot of points, shooting a high percentage either in-game or from the free throw line, grabbing a lot of rebounds, dishing out assists, or by committing the fewest fouls. You still had to score more points that the lowest score on the high score table to qualify, however.

(Nintendo Version)

Several positions on the court were 'hot spots,' high-percentage areas where shots taken were likely to score points (e.g., "a fade-away, banked 3-pointer"). For example: it is easier to hit a 3-pointer on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. A player could start a 3-point jump shot from the top right or left corner of the court inbounds, and continue the jump out of bounds and even slightly behind the hoop and it would go in nearly every time. Another nearly guaranteed shot is taken with the player standing 3-quarters length of the court away from their goal could go for a running 3-point shot, provided that the shot button was pressed within the other team's free throw shooting circle. In certain circumstances, the display would break away from the full court action and show a close-up of the players either dunking the ball or making a shot. Frequently a player would miss a slam dunk, which is a very high percentage shot. The arcade version was a timed play (much like Star Fire), where after every minute of play, the game was owed a credit if the score was tied or the computer is ahead. However, if the live player was ahead, a "free" minute was earned. Many average players could earn the first free minute, but this became increasingly more difficult to do as making 3-point shots became virtually impossible over the course of gameplay.

Players can choose from one of four teams: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. There is no difference in skill level or abilities between the teams. Since there is no NBA license, no team names or player names are used; however, the teams wear the same color of their NBA counterparts (Boston wears green, Chicago red, etc.). In short, the game control scheme is simple but it takes practice to get the hang of the timing scheme of the game.[1]

The game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in September 1987, which was later released in Japan in Disk Card format for the Family Computer Disk System under the title of Exciting Basketball. The NES version features 5-on-5 action on a horizontally scrolling court, four teams (Boston Frogs, New York Eagles, Chicago Ox, Los Angeles Breakers), three levels of single-play difficulty, and four choices of quarter lengths. Double Dribble was among the first games to feature cut scenes, which depicted a mid-air player completing a slam dunk, and one of the first to use speech, though in a limited quantity (such as announcing the game title, the game's beginning jump ball, and some foul calls). "The Star-Spangled Banner" in this version was slightly altered, while it was being played in a cut scene depicting the crowd entering the stadium before the menu pops up. The NES version was ported to the Wii's Virtual Console in Europe on November 16, 2007, and in North America on November 26, 2007.

In 1990, the game was ported to three home computers: the Commodore 64, the Commodore Amiga and MS-DOS operated PCs.

In 1991, a Game Boy version was released titled Double Dribble 5-on-5.

A Genesis sequel was released in 1994 titled Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition (Hyperdunk in Japan and Europe).

A remake for iPhone OS titled Double Dribble Fast Break was released in 2010.

Double Dribble has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Allgame awarded the game 5 out of 5 stars.[3] The review referred to the game as the most realistic rendition of basketball on its release, and that it "was the beginning of a new era for sports games in which presentation played an increasingly important role. Once you get a glimpse of the innovative, cinema-style dunk attempts, there's no denying its place in history."[3] GameSpot editor Frank Provo displayed mixed feelings towards the game, emphasizing that once you rack up a few minutes of play time, you'll start noticing some nasty design quirks that ultimately force you to play the game a certain way.[4] Provo also criticized the computer player's unfair ability to catch up with the player.[4]

Gameplay of Double Dribble was featured in the Family Guy episode "Run, Chris, Run". The Double Dribble footage was slightly altered with original audio, and made fun of the game's "corner three" glitch.[5][6] The episode also used gameplay footage from Tecmo Super Bowl, exploiting Bo Jackson's pace.

• Double Dribble Fast Break at Konami Play
• Double Dribble at the Killer List of Videogames
• Double Dribble at arcade-history
• Double Dribble at MobyGames