NBA Pro '99

Updated rosters do not take months of programming to achieve, everyone knows that. Fine-tuning a game already a year old doesn't take an eternity either. So why do we have NBA Pro '99? Could it be because with minimum effort Konami can get away with slapping a whopping price tag on a game that has been around the block a few times under the guise of NBA Pro '98 and wasn't originally that good anyway? As if it would be so blatant – surely there has got to be something refreshing and new! So, cynicism aside, could this 'new' game be any good?

Hoop-la

Upon turning this revived beast on it was achingly clear nothing much had changed with regards to the old slap being applied. If anything, having aged like some withered old walrus, more slap was needed then ever before. The players lack detail and definition, bounding gormlessly around the court in a colour frenzy that actually hurts the eyes. Their bodies almost seem to meld together in a crowd and distinguishing between players is nigh on impossible. Not a good sign!

NBA Pro '98 stank of the early N64 haze, everything on screen being as blurry as Damon Albarn. Pro '99 isn't quite as bad, but it's nowhere near as good as NBA Courtside. To combat this, the only choice was to zoom the camera angles as close as we could to the action. This helped, but it shouldn't have been required. Another aspect that caused one or two flurries of frustration was the player mechanics. They didn't look good, and to accompany that they didn't move very well either! Slow, jerky, lethargic or dead, choose your word.

NBA - Never Bother Again

For NBA nuts, Pro '99 does offer an absolute wealth of pointless trivia and squad swapping. Performing managerial duties, re-arranging line-ups, team strategies and navigating your way through a sheer chocolate box assortment of rules and regulations will have you dribbling like you'd just discovered a mine full of strawberry creams. Mmm... sugary.

Rules are there to be broken though, so if the arcade experience calls you greater than the sim experience, with the flick of a switch all rules, fouls and time penalties can be deactivated. With the flick of another switch you can whip this game out and plug in the likes of NBA Courtside, something you'll want to do if enjoyment comes high in your gaming priorities.

As with other NBA games, you can design a team to your exact requirements. Remember, though, the taller they are the better, the fatter they are the worse. This guy eats rice cakes and has to duck when planes fly overhead. Our star player!

Pro '99 still has a couple of pleasant surprises waiting for anyone with the stamina to see it through. The further into a season you progress the greater attention you have to pay to the players' performances, so weeding out all the bad players and replacing them with a few hardy perennials of the court is satisfying. Winning, of course is still rewarding, but with a game so de-motivating and ugly, just getting to the end is a reward.

Don't Do It Again!

It's such a shame that in this day and age (excuse us for sounding like OAPs) games developers can't push themselves to do things with more aplomb, to challenge gameplayers and themselves alike, to give the public a game worthy of admiration and attention rather than just another poor excuse for an original concept that is so obviously an exercise in banal. NBA Pro '99 isn't worth mentioning again. Case closed.