NBA Give 'n Go

Super NES

Review by Matt Paprocki

Konami

Sports

Graphics: 6

Sound: 5

Gameplay: 2

Overall: 2

Konami was never the sports game company they wanted to be. Besides their soccer titles, everything from baseball, to basketball, to football failed miserably once they left the 8-bit hardware. NBA Give ‘n Go is a rough translation of their arcade Run ‘n Gun series, put onto hardware that simply could not handle it. It fails at being both a simulation and an arcade game.  

While it offers off the standard array of options (season, playoffs, team editing), it’s all saved with an awful, long-winded password system. There’s no excuse for that. As expected, not much is saved in the stat category. The full NBA rosters are present, even though on the court, they never tire or wear down. It’s a novelty at best. 

One the court is where everything dies screaming. This is a slow, plodding game of basketball in which it’s actually hard NOT to score. The speed is hampered by the large sprites and mode-7 court that the SNES simply can’t keep up with. Players change size for no apparent reason, as if they’re warping up and down the floor. Show more than just a handful of players on the screen and slow to a crawl. This makes the absent frames of animation all the more apparent.  

The view of the court, set low on the sidelines, only exists to show off a technical effect. In execution, it’s unmanageable and a hindrance. The player moving up towards their hoop loses over half the court behind them, making it impossible to see of anyone is open before making a pass.  

Defense is non-existent except for blocks, probably one of the few highlights this game is going to provide. You can easily slip past any defender for a clean look. The ball physics are not even remotely close to being realistic, making it hard to judge rebounds coming off the rim. Steals are far too easy as simply jamming on the Y button is enough to swipe the ball from even the NBA’s best.   

It hardly seems to matter which team or player you’re controlling. Everyone seems to be on equal ground, even if the game tries to make you think differently. Any game that makes Will Perdue a dominating force in the NBA simply has problems. It doesn’t matter whether or not you make the adjustment to sim in the options either. The only difference is that rules applied sparingly. At the most, you’ll take two free throws a game.  

If you need a break, you actually have to burn a timeout. There’s no pause function. Once into the menus, you’re ears are tortured by monotonous, repetitive, and annoying music. The in-game music is a tad better. Overly enthusiastic, the announcer rarely has a purpose other than telling you what shot you just made.   

The argument calling this the worst basketball game ever made is tough to justify. Say it’s the worst game to actually secure a NBA license and you would be right. This is nothing more than a fancy tech demo that responds (barely) to controls.