Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition, is an arcade basketball video game developed and published by Konami of Japan for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1994. It is the follow-up to Double Dribble which I have posted a review before.
This game was not as popular as NBA Jam. But it served as a nice precursor to the NBA Live series on the console. Bets were also made among teens and adults playing it at that time in my country.
The Story
Dribble that ball to victory! Get ready for the ball game of your life. You have reached the damn Playoffs, there are only 16 teams left - the question is can you handle it? With 8-player simultaneous action, this basketball game has never been so tough!
The Graphics and Sound
The game has nicely colored and drawn characters, that look almost the same but just with different skin tones. The court display was good too, as well as the crowd. The display of the game was very good as well. There are flashing attractive lights and flashes, and the intro was cool as well.
The sound fits a basketball game perfectly. The intro music sounds like a sample from an old basketball shoe commercial with its hip-hop scheme. Also, the rest of the game music is finely composed with its own basketball flavor. There are also the regular basketball sound effects like the 'bouncing ball' and grunts and whatever.
The Gameplay
It is the same basketball-type game that has that 5 on 5 action. There is no NBA license for it, so don't try to look for NBA 1990s stars or whatever. Konami did not even name the teams. They just put the city or state names.
The control is a bit slow and clunky, and you had to be more aggressive to steal the ball away from your opponent.
Replay value is not that good. There are better basketball games out there if you like it retro style. You can save your playoff game by the password that never works sometimes. Emulator save states can fix that though if playing by the emulator is your thing.
My Verdict
Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition is still worth your playtime, so do try it out if you are a sports fan, or just damn bored. If you do not it, then try something else, but you will not be disappointed. It is not the best or the worst 16-bit basketball game. Just in the middle of decent.
Play test it on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console or play it on an easy to use emulator.