NBA Live 96

NBA Live 96

cover featuring Shaquille O'neal
Developer(s) PlayStation/MS-DOS: EA Canada
SNES/Sega Genesis: Hitmen Productions
Game Boy: Tiertex Design Studios
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts, THQ
Series NBA Live
Platform(s) PC, PlayStation, SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy
Release date(s)

[1]DOS

  • NA December 31, 1995

[2]PlayStation

  • JP June 14, 1996
  • NA March 1996
  • EU May 1996

[3]SNES

  • NA October, 1995
  • EU November 23, 1995

[4]Sega Genesis

  • NA 1995
  • EU November 30, 1995

[5]Game Boy

  • NA March 1996
  • EU January 22, 1996
Genre(s) Sports (Basketball)
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer (Head to Head or Cooperative)

NBA Live 96 is the second installment of the NBA Live video games series. The PC and PlayStation covers features Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic, while the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis box covers show a photo of the tip-off to Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals. The game was published by EA Sports and released on November 30, 1995. The PlayStation and PC versions were the first games in the series to feature a 3D rendered court, allowing for multiple camera angles using EA's "Virtual Stadium" technology (also used by FIFA Soccer 96). The on-court player graphics remained 2D sprites. It was also the first NBA Live game released for the PlayStation. NBA Live 96 is followed by NBA Live 97.

Notes

Reception

Johnny Ballgame of GamePro said the SNES version "is bigger and badder than previous versions on the SNES, and it's the first to be comparable to the acclaimed Genesis versions of the past." He praised the new features, excellent controls, improved graphics, and "jammin' soundtrack".[6]

Johnny Ballgame was less enamored of the PlayStation version, stating that the removal of the create-a-player feature seen in earlier versions of the game, the substandard graphics, and the erratic camera make it an overall mediocre effort. He particularly remarked that the game fails to measure up to NBA ShootOut, which was released in the same month.[7] The two sports reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed that the graphics were not up to PlayStation standards, but maintained it to be the best basketball game then on the market. They gave it scores of 9.0 and 8.5 out of 10.[8] A reviewer for Next Generation also felt it was better than NBA ShootOut, praising its vast array of options, features, and plays, though he criticized the unrealistic physics. He gave it four out of five stars, concluding, "Even EA admits that as far as technically innovative basketball games go, it's way behind Sony Interactive, Konami, even Crystal Dynamics. But when it comes to gameplay, NBA Live '96 is the most consuming basketball game on the market."[9]

References

  1. NBA Live '96 (MS-DOS) at GameFaqs.com
  2. NBA Live '96 (PSX) at GameFaqs.com
  3. NBA Live '96 (SNES) at GameFaqs.com
  4. NBA Live '96 (Genesis) at GameFaqs.com
  5. NBA Live '96 (Game Boy) at GameFaqs.com
  6. "NBA Live '96 Is Fantastic!". GamePro (IDG) (86): 110. November 1995.
  7. "NBA Live's Dominance: A Thing of the Past". GamePro (IDG) (93): 73. June 1996.
  8. "MBA Live '96". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis) (83): 120. June 1996.
  9. "NBA Live '96". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (19): 74–75. July 1996.
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