Basket Master

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game, also known as Fernando Martin Basket Master, is a nice looking one-to-one basket game in which you're playing against the former Spanish player who gave his name to the game, or against a friend. Oh yes, the game offers a two-player mode, which is something wonderful for its time! The player can dribble, shoot from every position (!), dunk, defend and make fouls. The game also features replay scenes. But as another game released from Dinamic, the game is too difficult to play! It's almost impossible to maintain the ball for more than a few seconds especially when playing with computer as an opponent! Although its difficulty, the game offers great fun and a few unique for its era features such as the zoomed replay scenes!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The MSX version offers nicely detailed playground and sprites. Sprites are moving quite smooth although the overall action is a bit slow (as in the CPC and Spectrum versions). I would expect also more colors on screen, as the MSX hardware could handle up to 16 colors! The gameplay area is in black and white, while the white color is vastly used! Also notice that this version is the only one that displays all 8bit home-computer brands the courtside advertising boards, while all other versions show (except for the C64) their own brand! Hmmm, strange stuff indeed…
The sound on the MSX version does offer a catchy introductory tune (as in all 8bit competitors), but the gameplay SFX are minimal and don't impress really.