Double Dribble (video game)

Double Dribble, known in Japan as Exciting Basket (エキサイティング バスケット, Ekisaitingu Basuketto), is a basketball arcade game developed and released in 1986 by Konami. It was the second basketball arcade game by Konami, following Super Basketball. Much of the game's popularity came from its animation sequences showing basketball players performing slam dunks, as well as "The Star-Spangled Banner" theme during attract mode, which was the first arcade game to feature the national anthem. These were uncommon in video games at the time of Double Dribble's release. While successful in the arcades, the game became and remained popular and remembered when it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987.

Double Dribble
U.S. arcade flyer of Double Dribble
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
Platform(s)Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer Disk System, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Game Boy, Virtual Console, iOS
ReleaseArcade version
1986
FDS/NES version
July 24, 1987
September 1987 (North America)
1988 (Europe)
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Up to two players.
Japanese Exciting Basket flyer

Double Dribble was followed by a sequel titled Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition, which was released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. A remake titled Double Dribble Fastbreak was released for iOS in 2010, being based mostly on the NES version; however, the animation sequences were ripped from the arcade version.

Gameplay
Screenshot of the arcade version.

Arcade version

Like its predecessor, Super Basketball, the player controls a five-man basketball team playing against the computer-controlled team, or controlled by a second player. When a coin is inserted, a credit is displayed on the bottom of the screen, along with a timer indicating one minute. The player is then prompted to enter their initials before starting the game.

The gameplay is a marked difference and improvement from its predecessor, as the characters look and move better around the court. Like a traditional basketball game, the centers come out to the middle of the court, and the referee institutes a jump ball to begin the game.

The goal for Double Dribble is for the player to have scored more points than the computer team before the time runs out. Doing so awarded the player with another minute of time, and the game continues. The long the game is played, the more difficult it becomes. If the computer team has as many points or more as the player's team when time runs out, the game ends.

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 becomes the steal button, the pass button becomes the switch button to switch players, and the shoot button becomes the jump button.

If the player is on offense, they must repeatedly hit the dribble button while moving the joystick in a certain direction in order to move the character with the ball. To pass the ball, the player moves the joystick in the direction of the character's teammate (indicated by an aura in the player's team's color) and press the pass button. To shoot the ball, the player must press and hold the shoot button until the character reaches the top of their jump, at which point the button must be released.

If the player controls a character in the lane and moving toward the basket and they hit the shot button, the screen changes to focus on the character attempting a dunk. The player must hold the button down until the character reaches the top of the jump and then release it. If the timing of the button's release is incorrect, the ball bounces high and far off the rim, and the player must rebound the ball.

Each character moves at slightly different speeds, and is capable of jumping to different heights, and at different speeds. Learning the differences between each character's movement is important to performing jump shots, dunks, and also get good at rebounds, which is important at later stages of the game.

If the player is on defense, the player can try to steal the ball from the computer by moving towards the ball and hitting the steal button. If done correctly, the player controlled character will steal the ball. The game then displays the message 'Nice steal!', and the player takes the offense role. There is a chance that while doing this that the player controlled character will foul the computer, who will then be sent to the free-throw line.

If the player needs to switch control to a different player on their team, they move the joystick towards the preferred character and press the pass button. Control is instantly switched that character.

When a character on the opposing team takes a shot, and the player controlled character is near to them, pressing the shot button will cause the player character to jump and possibly block the shot. If a shot is missed, moving the player character beneath the shadow of the ball and pressing the shot button executes an attempt to rebound the basketball.

If the player character is fouled, he is sent to the free-throw line. Five characters will take their places on opposing sides of the lane, with the player character at the free-throw line. The player then has five seconds for each free throw attempt. A ring starts above the basket, and when the player presses and hold the shoot button, the ring descends towards the basket. The player must get the ring as close to the basket as possible in order to make the free throw. As with their jumps, each character's ring descends at different speeds.

Like 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 challenge stage, which is a three-point shootout. In these stages, the player controls a character from their team attempting five three-point shots at each corner, each wing, and from the top of the key for a total of 25 shots. The player presses and holds the shoot button until the character reaches the top of his jump, and then releases it. Each successful shot adds 1 second to the player's time remaining for a total of 25 seconds, with an additional bonus of 1 minute if all shots succeed. Play then continues until the player runs out of time while having fewer points than the opposing team, or the score is tied.

The game's high-score table is unique, in that a player can 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. Players still have to score more points than 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 were 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, and the teams had similar names :L.A. Breakers, Boston Frogs, Chicago Ox, and New York Eagles. In short, the game control scheme is simple but it takes practice to get the hang of the timing scheme of the game.[1]

Winning a game would show a basketball player in the team colors triumphantly holding up a trophy. The trophy's color was dependent on number of opponents defeated, one bronze, two silver, and all three gold.

Notable glitches

Compared to many sports-related Nintendo games of this era, Double Dribble resembled its sport with surprising accuracy. However, there were several quirks in the programming that are noteworthy, if only for their contribution to the overall experience of playing Double Dribble. The game clock, as in most early timed video games (see also: Tecmo Bowl), was accelerated (far faster than real-time). In the third quarter, third is abbreviated as "3rt." In addition, the color of a player's skin can change mid-game. This is the result of the strobing animation that takes place when controlling an individual player, which takes place by way of cycling quickly back and forth between the two skin tones.

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.

Reception

Double Dribble has received mostly positive reception. In Japan, Game Machine listed Double Dribble on their March 15, 1987 issue as being the twentieth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.[3] Allgame awarded the game 5 out of 5 stars.[4] 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."[4] GameSpot editor Frank Provo displayed mixed feelings towards the game, emphasizing that after a few minutes of play time, players start noticing design quirks that force the player to play the game a certain way.[2] Provo also criticized the computer player's unfair ability to catch up with the player.[2]

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.

References
  1. "The 5 Best OLD SCHOOL Sports Video Games". WSAU News. WSAU News. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  2. "Double Dribble Review - Gamespot". gamespot.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  3. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 304. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 March 1987. p. 21.
  4. Miller, Skyler. "Double Dribble - Overview". Allgame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  5. Paget, Mat. "Family Guy Used NES Game Footage From YouTube, Then Claimed Copyright on Same Video". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  6. "7-Year-Old YouTube Video Pulled Because Of 'Family Guy'". Tech Times. Tech Times. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
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