Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: 29th Genre Rank: (Sports) 4th Awards: 7th Worst Graphics, 9th Worst Interpretation Hmmmmm.... I Wonder What Dr. J and Larry Bird are Looking at? Pros: Janitor's Oral Rampage Cons: Ugly Game/ Parts of the Game Feel Rushed The Game Opens With Ol' Larry Missing a Free Throw. (Sigh) What the Hell Was Wrong With Atari???

Overview: I remember that this was the first big game for the 7800, and it came complete with a commercial from Spudd Webb, where he said with relief, "Finally, I can play with the big boys." I always thought Spud Webb could play with the big boys anyway, but hey, people sell their souls for money. This was a game that got Atari playing with the big boys, because I also remember a TV Guide review of games for Christmas and they said this was the best basketball game on the market, beating out NES's Double Dribble, and Sega's forgettable basketball game. One-on-One Basketball got an A- grade from the reviewer and Nintendo must have taken notice. Later that year Nintendo released a One-on-One with Michael Jordan game.

Graphics: Not much to right home about here. The court looks good, but that's about it. The goal, scoreboard, and the ball have a real "cut out of construction paper" look to them. Dr. J, Larry Bird, the ref and janitor look weird as well. If it wasn't for Dr. J being black and Larry Bird being white, there would be no way to easily identify the players. But what One-on-One lacks in flash they make up for it in substance.

Sound: Can you believe the sound was not good for this game? Well, that just proved it's another game from the 7800. The only audio clips that were worth a pee pee were the illustrious backboard shatter scene. This may be the best and most famous scene from a 7800 game. After a vicious Dr. J or Larry Bird jam (normally Dr. J for obvious reasons), the backboard will shatter and actually sound like glass breaking. Then the janitor will come out and sweep the glass up, but before he'll finish he'll tell the player that broke the backboard how he felt about it! The gibberish barrage of imaginary cuss words is hilarious, and it always was an event me and my chums looked forward to seeing every time we played One-on-One.

Gameplay: You actually have a lot of freedom with the controls. You can make your own moves (kind of) by tapping the left button, which causes you to spin 180 degrees. The game is fairly easy to understand. The left button handles all of the shooting, spinning, jumping, and stealing. The right button calls a T-O Baby! As far as the rest of the game goes, the action is pretty slow. This looks more like a Dr. J vs. Bird match-up if it was played today, not 15 years ago! When you shoot an outside shoot, sometimes the ball will just hang in the air so much you can catch a quick nap before the ball approaches the rim. Oh well, even though the controls are sluggish, this game has a lot going for it though, like the fatigue bar, hot streaks, and you even have 5 fouls to give before your opponent gets the "bonus".

Interpretation: The 7800 version of this game is not bad, but it really gets slammed in the area of graphics of gameplay compared to other versions of the game. Overall it is an enjoyable game, but other versions are better.

Value: There are many options in the game that lengthen the lifespan of the cart to a certain degree. You can play to a set score, like 21, or any other number between 1-99. You can also play a 4 quarter game, with various period lengths. You can even play winner's outs, or as the hip kids now call it, Make-it Take-it. The computer has 4 difficulty levels, from Park & Rec to Pro. After a few games, even the Pro level computer should be a chump to your newly found mad skills. I remember this was a great game to play with a friend back in the day, but it can still be fun if you have no life. Just sit back with an ice cold Pepsi and watch the computer play itself as your life slowly slips away.

Overall: If you like the game of one-on-one basketball, or you are a fan of Dr J. and Larry Bird, this game is worth the 2 or 3 bucks you will lay down for it. The postal janitor scene alone is worth that. Yeah, it's not NBA Live, but if you want to kick Bird's butt in a friendly game of one-on-one because he always beat the Knicks, (ahem...no emotional scars) it's a decent and fun translation of B-Ball madness.



Other Reviews:
The Atari Times: 7 out of 10
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: 3.0 out of 5.0 (Fair)
Video Game Critic: C


Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank Mitch Orman, owner of The Atari 7800 Page for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Worst Atari 7800 Sports Game?

Title Match Pro Wrestling Hat Trick Summer Games Touchdown Football Fight Night Realsports Baseball Water Ski Mat Mania Challenge

Email Vinnie