NBA Live was the EA Sports counterpart to what the 2K series is today and was one of a mesh of games that game producers made in the 90's. It is noted that the NBA Playoffs series started it for EA Sports but they are more noted with the NBA Live franchise. The series of NBA Live started with NBA Live 95 but it was really 96 that they started to get the idea of the series. It is probably the best EA Sports NBA game on the Super Nintendo, though it does have its flaws as well.
Positives:
1. NBA/NBPA license: Minus Michael Jordan, everyone is on this game and it is a good thing overall. Jordan wasn't featured on a lot of games, which might have been a copyright thing rather than an NBPA thing. However it was good to see everyone else on it and they did well with their strengths/weaknesses in the game for each player as well.
2. Basketball arena: It looks like a basketball arena, feels like it as well with the crowd noise. The floors have great floor patterns and the whole feel of the basketball game is there, which is a good touch.
3. Graphics: Overall, pretty well done. I thought the game did well graphics wise and the idea of the game to have good graphics was a good one overall I felt. Same goes for the presentation graphics. I thought they were pretty well done overall.
4. Music: Normally I wouldn't say yes or no to music on a sports game, but the music in NBA Live is actually quite good overall. I liked the upbeat style of it and the city background for the game. It's an added plus to the game.
Negative:
1. Shooting: Yeah this wasn't a good positive. It seemed for me at least the only way to score was by moving with the shot and if you are standing still you are easily able to get blocked on the shot. I felt that was not crafted well in development as most players don't move and jump in midair shooting like 8 feet to make the shot.
2. The sprites: They are all literally the same. There is just the height difference on some players. No like big dude down low like 90's NBA was and it was just the same player sprites in a large amount of ways to be honest. I's actually quite disappointing they didn't expand on that further.
Overall Rating/Rank
Overall despite the downsides of NBA Live 96, it's still a very playable game with a lot of good features to it. There are some downsides but they can be overlooked in some way, especially the player sprites. However the Shooting was a massive negative and if someone says no to the game I would understand. I do recommend this game at least on a season playthrough or at the worst, a playoff format playthrough (as there are multiple modes.)
Overall Rating: I'd have to say 7.5 out of 10. The shooting if refined by the time of release of the game would have been a solid 8 to 9.
Overall Rank: In the case of NBA Live 96, it's not a top 100 game, but I would say it can crack the top 200. It's probably around 180th overall.
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