Virtual Console: Double Dribble

Nov. 26 1:47 PM by Sardius

"Dubba Dibble!" is the first thing you hear when you boot up Double Dribble. As far as digitized voices go on the NES, it's really not all that bad. I give it an 8.5 out of 10, ranking somewhere in between The Adventures of Bayou Billy's talking title screen and "AHMMM BAGHAGBABBH" from Bad Dudes. I can live with that.

The digitized voice is about the biggest technological advancement you're going to find in Double Dribble. This isn't NBA Live 08, so you're not going to see rivulets of sweat stream down your players' bump-mapped faces while their glazed 3D eyes burn a hole through your soul. You're playing with sprites, and barely detailed ones at that. That is, until you go in for a slam dunk. Then all hell breaks loose. The game cuts to a close-up of your character -- suddenly cast in silver, due to color limitations -- going up to the hoop and slamming the ball in with a satisfying *thunk*. Or a *clang*, if you only hit the rim.

Double Dribble may have turned heads back in the day for its then-realistic slam dunk animations, but it's still worth playing today for its simple but satisfying gameplay. There's passing, shooting, stealing, dunking, and a limited number of fouls in play, so that pretty much covers the basics. I haven't played a basketball sim since the NBA Jam series went 3D, so it's refreshing to go back to a time when your only buttons are "pass" and "shoot." Call me Basketball Grandpa, but that's the way it should be. Consarn it.

Okay, so I'm not really up on my basketball games, so I'm probably not the fairest judge of what makes a good one. All I know is that Double Dribble is something I can play and win at, sometimes. While sports games generally don't tend to age well (oh hey sup Volleyball), Double Dribble still shines, thanks to its tight gameplay and a really fun two-player mode. Here's hoping that Konami's best NES sports title, Blades of Steel, finds its way to the Virtual Console soon.

Double Dribble is worth $5, assuming you can deal with its lack of depth. There's no tournament mode, and if you plan on playing against the computer, there's only three difficulty levels (and only one that isn't insanely hard). Still, I'm still going to call it a better buy than NBA Live 08, because I can.

Here's a gameplay video that looks really boring, but come on, imagine it's 1987. You'd be really excited about this.

Comments

I loved Double Dribble. I remember I would love the dunking part of the game because it would cut to the big cut-scene showing a reverse handed dunk! The old school way of a replay I guess.

The first time I played Double Dribble (at a friend-of-a-cousin's house) was also the first time I played Godzilla and Guerilla Warfare, so every time I think of Double Dribble it makes me want to play Guerilla Warfare.

So my question is why doesn't the Virtual Console port over Crystalis to the VC in its original form as a way of apologizing to those of us who bought the horrible Gameboy Color remake? I paid $30 for that, which is more than I paid for the original NES version! WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?

(Double Dribble was ok but I am not a sports fan)