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| Released on April 27, 1998 for the Nintendo 64 by Nintendo after development by Left Field Productions, Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside is a blend of arcade and simulation still basketball gameplay. |
You ever play a game that is just completely adequate? There's nothing wrong with it, and you come away from it saying, "That was pretty fun." There's nothing great about it, it could be better, it could be worse, but it's just solid. That's
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside.
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| I'm adequate! |
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside is a solid blend of arcade and simulation style NBA gameplay. Any newcomer to basketball games can pick it up and play it. "A" to pass. "B" to shoot. On defense, "A" goes for a steal, and "B" to block a shot. You can switch defenders with the "C" buttons. Super simple.
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| Lovin them late-90's logos! |
Want to go a bit deeper? Played a few basketball games before? Well, you'll enjoy that there are buttons to do crossovers, change your defense, call offensive plays, get another player to set a pick for you. And lest you worry that the game might get bogged down in seriousness, you've got a button you can hold down to do a special move, which makes scoring much easier, but betraying its arcade roots, these moves have a power meter that drains the longer you use them.
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| Men of the West. |
Computer AI is solid. Easy enough when you're playing as a beginner, but also easy enough to ramp up if you need a challenge. Want to play a human? Rest easy, as
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside's multiplayer mode is perfectly adequate. My son and I had a jolly time pitting the 1998 SuperSonics against the 1998 Phoenix Suns, his Chris Webber raining down dunks as my Rex Chapman rained down threes.
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| Rex Chapman's about to show Seattle what real rain is. |
Want to go off on your own for awhile? You can play a single preseason game, a whole season, or just skip to the playoffs. You can even trade players with other teams to make the team of your...dreams. This whole game is as adequate as this description.
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| And Shawn Kemp pulls down the rebound for the Seattle Supersonics. Sigh...I miss the 90's. |
The graphics? Solid. They look like decent 1998 Nintendo 64 graphics. Good amount of polygons for each player, a lot of beautiful NBA jersey colors, and a lively, if slightly awkward looking crowd. The players are well-animated, but not anything to write home about.
The sound? So adequate! Nice reverb noises from dribbling, good crowd noise, solid, slightly repetitive, though not annoying voice announcer. The music, when it happens, is just fine. I love the trippy menu music in particular. It's just so incredibly solid.
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| Adequate rebound, McDyess! |
Overall, if you want to spend $5 total on a 64-bit basketball game, you can do no better than
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside. If you want a better game, there are several, for only a few dollars more, and there are most definitely worse. However,
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside is absolutely...solid.
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