Prepare thyselves for the 172nd basketball game on the PlayStation. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak... whoosh!
Steve Bradley

Aaaarrrgghh!! No more, please...
Bounce, bounce, bounce. Heh, heh, heh. Sorry, there are rather a lot of basketball games for the PlayStation, aren't there? Truth be known, Sony's original Total NBA '96 remains as good as anything that has come along since. It was packaged in a fabulous orange, dimpled case. Tremendous.

How many basketball games are there?
Hmm. Dunno. Okay, so the '172' was an exaggeration, simply to make a point. This is at least the 18th though.

Aren't they all virtually the same?
Au contraire. There are clear and obvious differences between NBA Hangtime, NBA Jam, NBA Jam Extreme, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, NBA In The Zone, NBA In The Zone 2, NBA In The Zone '99, NBA Live '96, NBA Live '97, NBA Live '98, NBA Live '99, NBA Pro '98, Slam 'n' Jam '96, Total NBA '96, Total NBA '97, Total NBA '98, Lara Croft's NBA Basketball...

Okay, okay... you've made your point.
Actually the Jam games are a bit different. They're the ones where you play two-on-two and pull-off special moves, such as jumping 30 feet into the air before slam dunking a fireball. A festival of trickery they are, too.

And the rest?
The majority are ultra realistic simulations of the sport, although some lean more to arcade-style action. But they all have the same teams, stats and camera angles. Naturally, some play slightly better than others, and feature better visuals and spot effects.