Basketbrawl (Atari Lynx review)

Developer: Hamilton and Associates
Publisher: Atari Corporation
Released: 1992

Basketbrawl is a sports game that was originally released in 1990 on the Atari 7800.

+ Has ten characters (up from six in the original) with unique play-styles, and balancing scoring vs combat is a neat concept.

+ Has welcome new features like player recovery and weapons, and a handy password code is displayed after each match.

- Disappointingly, you can no longer chose your preferred game length and the ball bouncing SFX is beyond irritating.

- Action is choppier than on the 7800 and you often can't tell what's happening when players congregate in the same area.

- A curious removal from this port is your ability to jump, which hampers defensive rebounding in favour of button mashing.

- Screen only scrolls with your player rather than the ball handler, and it's far too easy to lose track of the action.