It’s hard to put into words just how disappointing Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 for the N64 was. On the surface, it had everything going for it. The Fox Sports branding was a first for the console and made it seem like the game would offer a level of immersion not seen in an N64 sports game.
I remember seeing an ad for the game in Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine and being super hyped for it. Well, hyped for everything apart from Jeff Sheppard being on the box cover. But after seeing the PlayStation get countless college sports games, Linda Tripp could have been the cover athlete and I still would have bought the damn thing. That’s some 1998 humor for you.
I still remember buying Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 at Funcoland. Unfortunately, thinking about playing the game during the car ride home would be the most enjoyment I would have with it.
The game did have two redeeming qualities. Firstly, seeing the Fox Sports graphics and menus was cool. Secondly, the game looked good for that point in time. The visuals may be terrible now, but in 1998 it was fine.
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What was not fine was the ball physics. There are numerous reasons to hate Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 for N64. However, none of them are as annoying or utterly game breaking as the movement of the ball. Let’s take a look.
As you can see in the video, the basketball itself moves normally when you are dribbling or performing a bounce pass. Chest passes on the other hand seemingly teleport from player to player at warp speed. Meanwhile, shooting is at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Every jump shot feels like a time stealing ordeal that will never end. The ball floats towards the hoop as if it is taking place on the moon. You could literally shoot a three pointer, take a piss and the ball still wouldn’t have reached the basket by the time you got back to the couch. And you have to pray there isn’t a rebound because the basketball just meanders aimlessly until someone collects it. Even now it frustrates the bejesus out of me.
Of course, this isn’t the only flaw Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 contained. The game features a season mode which is so boring. Part of that is due to the fact the games aren’t fun to play. On the other hand, the season mode has no depth to it. You pick a team, play a season and then nothing.
I could not get Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 back to Funcoland fast enough. That’s not true. I kept it for a month hoping it would magically become good. I begrudgingly played the damn thing every day before giving up on it. It was a lost cause.
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What were the developers of Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 doing?
The developer of Fox Sports College Hoops ’99, Z-Axis, actually had an extra year to make the game. It was originally supposed to be an NBA title released in 1997, but BMG Entertainment, the original publisher, went bankrupt. Fox Sports took over and decided to make it a college affair since it had those rights in real life.
To their credit, Z-Axis didn’t simply add some new uniforms and courts to what it had already created. They made sure the gameplay was different from NBA video games. The developer also did a good job integrating the Fox Sports license.
That wasn’t enough to save the game. It’s baffling that with so many good basketball games on the N64 around this time, the team at Z-Axis didn’t steal some stuff from those to improve Fox Sports College Hoops ’99. Because what was on this cartridge sucked. A lot. And no fancy scoreboard or graphics were going to change that.
