Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition

Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition was made by Konami and released in 1994 for the Sega Mega Drive. The catalogue records a side view. The name follows on from Double Dribble, the basketball game Konami had already established on earlier platforms, so this is a continuation of a known line on 16-bit hardware.

1994 meant fierce competition for sports games. The market was dominated by licensed series, and developers had to win players over either with official names or with the way the game felt. In basketball Konami leaned towards arcade pace: short possessions, simple controls and an emphasis on spectacular finishing.

A side view of the court was standard for 16-bit basketball, because it allowed large player sprites while keeping the action under the hoop readable. The Mega Drive brought a fast processor and smooth scrolling to that, so the swings between attack and defence could be handled without stutter.

The Playoff Edition subtitle indicates a focus on the knockout part of the season, a favourite device of the period for giving individual matches weight without asking the player to manage a whole year of fixtures.

The catalogue records no player count for this entry, but simultaneous play was standard equipment for a 1994 Mega Drive basketball game. The console shipped with two controller ports and adapters allowed more to be attached, so sports titles were aimed squarely at a group gathered around one television.

By this point Konami had dozens of console releases behind it and belonged to the publishers producing for every platform at once. The same brand appeared in parallel on competing machines, with individual versions differing according to what each piece of hardware allowed.

OldGame.cz runs this one right inside the browser window, and the page also lists the release year, the studio and screenshots.