Tales From the Bargain Bin #21 - NBA All Star Challenge (SNES)

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to episode 21 of Tales from the Bargain Bin where myself and a friend talk about a random game we received as young people from well-meaning family members and either loved it, hate it or have some sort of just I don't know connection to it.

[00:00:28] And this one is a weird one. We've had some weird ones on this show or on this series so far, but with me to talk about NBA All-Star Challenge on the Super Nintendo is the one and only Justin Ham from the Stage Select podcast.

[00:00:44] Justin, how are you this good evening, sir? Pretend like we just haven't talked about Final Fantasy 7 for an hour. I'm very good at pretending I haven't talked about things. Fantastic! Just hearing you say I'm here to talk about NBA All-Star Challenge just lights me.

[00:00:59] It just lights my day. That's my favorite thing. I'm glad that I made somebody like look at this game because I feel for years and years it's been one of those things where I'm like, what was the name of that game that somebody like randomly bought me?

[00:01:16] And I was like, I, I, this was like, you know, like a couple months back that it entered my brain before you even asked me to be on here, which is it's kind of weird how the timing worked out.

[00:01:26] I was like, I think it was like, MB, it was some like NBA All-Star thing. And I started looking it up and I was like, this is the one. This is the piece of trash. I remember this game.

[00:01:37] And you know, and then you asked me, you were like what? I was like, I need to talk about NBA All-Star Challenge. I just need to talk about it. I need somebody else to be like, acknowledge this game. It existed. And we all had to suffer for it.

[00:01:51] Well, not really, not everybody because I feel like I'm maybe the only person that actually played it. So, you know, you'd be surprised, you'd be surprised on some of these games, the reaction they get.

[00:02:04] There's always there was one there's one game we did early on in this series. It's Adventures in the Magic Kingdom for the NES. And it's like very strange. And it was one of these situations where I was talking with a guest about Zelda.

[00:02:18] Yeah. And we were talking about music. He's like, you know, a game has really great music adventures in the Magic Kingdom. No one ever played this game. I talk about this game all the time and no one's heard of it.

[00:02:26] And I'm like, you've met your soulmate because I actually had this as a kid, too. My aunt bought this for me. That soundtrack is a banger. And then we do an episode on it. So how did this come into your how did NBA All-Star Challenge?

[00:02:39] If we even get into what this game is, because there's not much to it. How did this end up in your orbit? OK, well, I've been doing some soul searching as to how that happened. Now, I'm not it's been a long time since since I was gifted.

[00:02:54] I 100% know it was gifted to me. I remember receiving it and being kind of like. So it was at that time where, you know, I had a Super Nintendo and any video game I would get was like awesome. Like, I was like, oh, man, a video game.

[00:03:07] This is going to be great. Like, I'm going to, you know, even if I didn't know what it was, I was excited about it. But I remember specifically getting this one and being like, huh? OK, well, it's it's an NBA game.

[00:03:19] I like basketball because, you know, I'm a very young kid at that point. And the Bulls were the Bulls were hot, Bill. They were hot. Michael Jordan was there. Scottie Pippen, you know, there was that was the time in basketball

[00:03:35] where like I knew a lot of the players and all that stuff. So I was very into that that whole scene. I was very into a lot of the sports because I was a kid and all my my family were very into sports and stuff like that.

[00:03:47] So this is what I was exposed to. So I I've been trying to pin down exactly who gave it to me, and I'm not sure. But I'm I have a theory and it's an it unlocked a space in my brain when I was thinking about this.

[00:04:03] So I there was a character in my life who I called Grandma Mart. They were not my grandma. That's just what they were called. And my mom knew them. And then suddenly they disappeared at a certain point. I don't know where they went or what happened to them.

[00:04:22] We just never went back over to there. But there was a man there who would buy me things. And I'm pretty sure and I don't remember who he was either. That's this is the whole thing. Like, I'm like, I and the people that are left for me

[00:04:39] to talk about either are not going to remember or they're going to be like, like, I don't remember you getting a video game from these people. But I'm like, I'm fairly certain it was there. I'm fairly certain because like they didn't know what I liked.

[00:04:52] They would just they just have like a general idea. And I'm fairly certain like my mom probably told them like, oh, he has a Super Nintendo. If you find like a video game or something for cheap, then, you know, get that. And they're like, does he like basketball?

[00:05:07] Yeah, he does like basketball. NBA All-Star challenge, it's, you know, it's 20 bucks or something at Walmart. I don't even know how much this thing was. Oh, man. But I'm pretty sure it was it wasn't my grandma, Mark, that bought it. Or it might have been.

[00:05:21] But I think it was the this other person. And I don't know. I don't think he was like an uncle. I don't even know how this guy was related to my mother at all. If they were related, I think it was like a step family thing.

[00:05:33] I don't know. This is a lot of a lot of things that I'm like, I need to kind of need answers to these questions, actually, because I was very young. This is like an ancestry dot com situation where you're like,

[00:05:45] I need to dive into the genealogy of this family and see how I acquired this. This weird. Yeah. When you when I started thing, I was like, oh, he's going to ask me who bought me this. I really need to sit down and think.

[00:05:57] I was like, man, Grandma Mart. I was like, oh, my God, I forgot they existed. I wonder, oh, boy. And then that just went down a whole. I was like, what happened to them? Where did they go? I are they OK? They they might they might be dead.

[00:06:11] I don't know. And if they are, I'm sorry, Grandma Mart. I hope, you know, things did OK. But yeah, like, yeah, so pretty sure that's where I got this game, though. Like I have a memory of like I remember the house.

[00:06:25] I don't remember where it was at, but like I remember kind of the interior. Like if if as weird as that sounds. And it just it was like one of those places where it felt like old people live here. Yeah.

[00:06:37] And and and so I remember like opening that up and being like, oh, cool, a Super Nintendo game. Like I didn't expect that to get that here because, you know. Sure. Yeah. And then going home and playing it. So and I guess I'm scared.

[00:06:52] I don't know if I'm skipping ahead, though, but I just want to say this. OK, good. Good. Absolutely. There's no other. It doesn't matter. Great. Thank God, because I'll say this. So I remember this is the very first game ever

[00:07:06] that I remember playing and going, oh, this game is actually bad. Like, this is not good because I was at that age where like, I mean, I'd pick up, you know, dumb things and from the rental place.

[00:07:18] And they wouldn't be good games and going back and playing them. I'm like, man, this was a piece of garbage. Wow. But like my my, you know, young, you know, seven, eight year old brain would just go, well, but it's cool, though, like it's a video game.

[00:07:32] You know, I have a good time for an hour. Yeah, it's a game. I don't care. This was the first one. I was like, I this is this is not good. Like, this is bad. This is this is a pretty bad video game. And it is I.

[00:07:49] So I downloaded, you know, an emulator and I was like, well, time to go play NBA All-Star challenge, you know, 30 or 30 plus years later. And I was like, I was like, OK, there are certain things

[00:08:03] that when I when I started it up and I was like, OK, I remember I want to remember, see how much I remember. I was like, OK, if I remember correctly, you can only play one on one basketball with people.

[00:08:16] But but they don't tell you who you're picking. They don't tell you by player. They only tell you by team, which was also confusing as a kid because I was like, well, who's it going to be? Like, it's it's almost like a big mystery thing.

[00:08:28] You're like, OK, I'm going to pick the Charlotte Hornets. Am I going to be like Alonzo Mourning? Nope. JR Reed Gifford is like, who the hell is JR Reed? I don't know who that is. It's like are like you pick the bulls.

[00:08:43] I'm pretty so I'm pretty sure the like genealogy of here. Yeah, you get George. The genealogy here is kind of interesting, I think. This is an LJN game. LJN has never done anything good ever. Like they're just an awful toy company. I'm sorry. Sorry, LJN fans, they're bad.

[00:09:01] So it's like I going through. I think the genealogy is this this came from the bones of Jordan versus Bird or whatever that old NES game. I believe that's the lineage here. The thing is, is just like, God, it's so bad. So you can play as Larry Bird.

[00:09:21] You can play as Michael Jordan is one of the few like before he like kind of splintered off and like you couldn't play as him in video games anymore. Like he was always player double zero or player 99 on the bulls for like in almost every basketball game ever.

[00:09:35] Yes, his name wasn't on it because he's Michael Jordan and he's better than us, I guess. I don't know. He's worth more apparently. But this he was in NBA All-Star Challenge. Yes, he was. I. Yep. Unfortunately, he was. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to

[00:09:56] you. So I pick up the I'm like, OK, I'm sorry. I want to see how much I remember even before I touch anything. So I remembered that part about the teams. Then I was like, OK, if I remember correctly, this game has a dunk button.

[00:10:13] Now, that sounds cool on paper. That sounds cool. You go, OK, it has a slam dunk button. All right. So it's not like, you know, you're usually in in basketball games. If you're moving towards the hoop and you press the shoot button

[00:10:28] at a certain time, the player will just randomly do a dunk and it's cool. No, this is a specific dunk button and every player has their own dunk and you don't know what the range of it is or anything. Also, they're all terrible.

[00:10:44] They barely work and you have to be the exact right spot for it to happen. And if you're not, your player will then land on their feet or just, you know, rim out or whatever. If they have the ball in their hands, they'll just jump up, go down

[00:10:58] and then you'll get called for traveling because you this game hates you. Yeah. Oh, my God. I did not realize there was a dunk button because I was trying to do a dunk when I fired it up.

[00:11:13] And I usually I usually look at the manual before I do these things. But sometimes I just don't. Sometimes I just jump into it as if I rented it. Right. Yeah, I kind of have that like that experience.

[00:11:25] I didn't realize I had to had a dunk button until about 15 minutes ago when I pulled up the manuals and saw the little picture of the controller with dunk button. I'm like, God, a dunk button. OK, I was hitting I was hitting X.

[00:11:39] Oh, I guess I was in the right spot for it. Oh, here's the fun part, though, like if you would have hit it, you would have realized how bad it was because it's really bad. Like you have to be at the exact like I can't stress this enough.

[00:11:51] You have to be at the exact right position on the court. Your player will then go up and do a thing. And if you're not in the exact right position, they'll just, you know, hit the rim like you miss more dunks than you ever will shots,

[00:12:04] which it's crazy. At some point, like again, I was a kid, so I had time. I would sit there and be like, I'm going to get good at dunking today. And I think I did.

[00:12:15] I think at one point I got to where I could land a slam dunk in one day. Now, I'd never be able to do it again. I couldn't do it the entire half hour.

[00:12:24] I went back to play the game because I was like, I just want to land one. I was like, no, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's just not. I got blown out every single match I played this time.

[00:12:35] And it was on like the easiest difficulty because the computer is insane. They're just insane. All all I wanted to do. So I fired it up on the emulator. I didn't know I didn't know it was a one on one game. I just NBA challenge.

[00:12:52] Realized one on one. OK, this is kind of neat, right? It's like I like NBA Jam. Yeah. And that's like two on two. And it's a lot of fun. So a one on one basketball game can be fun.

[00:13:02] I made it made a grave error right off the bat. Yeah, because you have the ability to change how much time in your game and it starts with two minutes. A two minute game. I'm like, yeah, look, how to win a game.

[00:13:16] I had to at least do five. That was a poor decision because, oh, boy, you do not need to play this thing for five straight minutes. Two minutes is the longest five minutes I have spent after.

[00:13:29] Oh, yeah. After like 10 minutes of me still being at two minutes left, I was like, oh, this is why the default option is two minutes. I did not see that. I didn't win a single game. I played probably five or six matches, maybe half an hour's worth.

[00:13:46] And then I, yeah, noodled around with the three point shot contest. Actually, I think it's kind of neat. That's my favorite. It's the best mode in the entire game. And here's the fun part is like you don't get to play against anybody in it.

[00:13:58] It's just for your own satisfaction to see how many points you can get, which is which is my favorite part about it. It's just like there's like unless you unless you have unless you drag someone miserably into this game with you.

[00:14:12] Then you can both have a three point shoot out, I guess. But other than that, no, you just you're just doing it for your own fun. You know? Yeah. Because points. Yes, because points, because points. I I I was struck by how challenging

[00:14:29] yet not challenging it is because essentially all you do is run and you hit one button, get the top of your shot like any basketball game. And if you get to the top of your shot, you maybe you may you may.

[00:14:40] But the opponent on easy is so hard and so good. I can't even imagine playing this on anything other than easy. Well, because yeah, the fun part is, is like, well, the game just feels awful. Like so it's. It's it feels like me and my. Yeah, it basically.

[00:14:58] Yeah, it's like it's kind of like you're on ice or something. Like, I don't know how to explain it. Like it has to be felt to believe. And it if your player has one mode, it has stand and move. And so there's no acceleration in your player.

[00:15:16] So you can easily get around your opponent by as soon as the ball is given to you, left, go around and over and do a little layup. But inevitably, the your opponent will steal the ball from you or hit a three pointer.

[00:15:31] And now you're doing you've now lost the game. It's over. You can't be hitting three point shots in this game is. I don't know. I don't think I've ever hit a three point shot as a human being.

[00:15:42] I am not a basketball fan, which is kind of ironic because this is this is the 21st or second show episode of this series. This is the second basketball game we've done. Sorry. Yeah. For some weird reason. And I don't even like basketball.

[00:15:55] But for some reason, my aunt during in the 90s said, Hey, here's NCAA basketball for Super Nintendo. You're you're a boy. Yeah. In New Jersey. Sure. You surely like basketball. No, absolutely. Anyway. But I was just struck by how monotonous this game is. There's no music. There's nothing.

[00:16:15] There's no music. You in the court and like the squeaking of the court squeaking of your kicks as you and Alvin Robertson do battle on the court. Oh, man. I'm looking I'm just looking at the list of players they had.

[00:16:29] Oh, man. I almost want to see that myself. Go ahead and listen if you got them, because because there's a few that I was like, I wonder who you get when you pick that. Now, I am looking at the manual because whenever I do this,

[00:16:41] I prepare myself with like the manual. I look at some reviews. I try to have like stuff because again, this game we have literally exhausted and there's one other mode in the game. So we have our turn in a point shot.

[00:16:51] We have the tournament, which is like a one on one tournament. And we have horse. Yes. Horse also there. The playground, the playground classic, which to this day, you couldn't you couldn't drag me to play horse with anybody.

[00:17:05] Yeah, because I am I made basketball is probably my 17th favorite sport. I'd rather watch golf. I'd rather watch tennis. I'd rather watch bowling. I'd rather watch poker. So it's a lot. I'd rather watch a lot of things before basketball.

[00:17:20] I just don't. Yeah, I didn't grow up with it. I don't I don't that's not my thing. Right. But so it's just like it's one of those things where. I was just struck by how monotonous this is.

[00:17:35] And so the final thing was horse and horse is the classic playground game. I don't think it explained the game of horse. Yeah, I played it for exactly 30 seconds. I said there's no way there's no way. No, yeah, I played an entire game of horse.

[00:17:48] Yeah, I played an entire game of force because because I did that when I was a kid and I was like, no, we're going to play one round of horse. For whatever reason, I have a memory of like

[00:17:59] that being kind of my favorite mode because I could sometimes win it. Like like the but look, going back to it, I was like, oh, they just nail every shot. This just nail it every shot, every every shot, though, just crush it. It's insane.

[00:18:16] You're only your only defense is a jumping block or a steal, both of which you need to have pixel or millisecond perfect timing. Oh, yeah. So the defense just you practically don't play defense, but the computer's great at it. They're amazing. Oh, he's there are excellent.

[00:18:34] They know your every move for some weird reason. It's it's absurd. The other thing that I want to mention about about the shooting is yes, you do. You know, you release it at the top of your shot or whatever. It's like every basketball game ever, except it isn't.

[00:18:52] When you when you shoot in every other basketball game, the mechanics are very simple. So after this game, I went to make sure I wasn't crazy and that the game like it was like maybe it's this emulator I downloaded just is really bad

[00:19:06] or something. I got to let me go check. So I booted up Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, which is one that I really do like because I also owned that as a kid. And so I booted that up. I was like, OK, I have very fond memories of this.

[00:19:20] Let me see if this plays how I remember it. And it absolutely did. I was like, this is this is still a fun video game. This is fun. You're you're doing this is a basketball game. Absolutely. So the reason I say the shooting doesn't feel

[00:19:35] like every other basketball game is every other basketball game. When you press the shot button, you hold the shot button in and you release the shot button at the top of your shot. Yes. This one, you press the button. Yes.

[00:19:47] Then you press the button again at the top of your shot. So and if you don't do that, by the way, you will hold onto the ball and you will be called for traveling. It's insane. I got called for goaltending so many goddamn times.

[00:20:04] And I'm like, I'm just trying to play defense. We mean goaltending. And then again, and they I kept getting called for something. Damn, I wish I wrote it down. It was a mystery. Didn't clear the ball. Yes. What does that mean? Didn't clear. What does that mean?

[00:20:20] Didn't clear ball. So this is this is. Please explain to this. Please explain this to me. The only way I remember it, Bill, is because I had this. I own the game. And and and the reason I remember is because I had the same.

[00:20:34] I was like, what do they talk? What do I got to do? You have so in a game of one on one in this game, when when you get it, if it if it touched the rim of the thing, right, if it touched the rim,

[00:20:48] you now have to go back behind the three point line and then you can go and shoot the ball again. You have to clear the ball. Yeah, I got it. OK, OK. Yeah, every time I would successfully steal something,

[00:21:05] I would take a shot and I always feel shoot and they would say failed to clear the ball. Yeah, they failed. Yeah. You mean clear the ball? I can't remember if it's like if it touches the rim or if it doesn't touch the room, it's a little unclear.

[00:21:20] But there's a certain thing like where you there sometimes you don't have to clear the ball and there's sometimes you absolutely do. I think it has to do with touching the rim. I remember that part.

[00:21:30] I think of it if a shot touches the rim, then you can rebound it and you have to go back behind the three point line because it's supposed what they're trying to do is simulate a full court. So it's it's the equivalent of running, you know, back

[00:21:43] the other way and now you run. And that's kind of why I figured like I got like take backs. Yes, almost. What's but it's one on one. So what's the point? My favorite part is the computer is equally as stupid about this

[00:21:54] and they would just get called for it all the time to like they would just they would they were constantly like not clearing the ball. Like, cool, I get the ball back. And then and then they would immediately just steal it from me

[00:22:05] and score anyway. So it didn't matter. God, what an awful game. What is this game? I'm perusing the the manual as we all right. And there is a section for violations. OK, and it says the following violations will be called during the course of a normal charging.

[00:22:25] Yeah. Blocking. Yeah, which I don't know again. Blocking. I didn't understand why I was getting called for blocking. I don't know this because so it's kind of like how does this? So if you're moving while you're guarding, you'll get called for blocking if you're not moving

[00:22:46] and they run into you, that's charging. Charging. Gotcha. It's insane. OK, Bill, I need to also point out something. It's insane the amount of just pure sports rules that I know from video games. Ask me about the infield.

[00:23:00] I can tell you exactly how it works because of video games. And Griffey Junior had the in fly fire was the first baseball game they had. I know the fly. Yep, I know that dumb rule that is true. Well, it's not it's not dumb. It's very necessary.

[00:23:16] Yeah, because that way people can't just purposely drop the ball. Triple play you. Yes, exactly. It's triple play. Yes. It is actually a real reason for it, which is it is silly. But anyway, it has so you have charging, blocking, traveling, didn't clear the ball shot clock violation.

[00:23:30] Yes, you can be called for a violation and be forced to give a possession of the ball, just like in a real game. Be aggressive, but don't overdo it. You may not see him on the screen, but the referee is watching closely. Yeah. Kind of ominous.

[00:23:43] I love how that's now that's the vile. That's the violation section. It doesn't tell you what those violations are. It just it just just it just like, you know, you know what they are. You figure it out. You know what they are. Don't don't act like you don't.

[00:23:58] My favorite part about the whole game is it felt like they spent a ton of their budget just putting the voice samples for the referee in there. And they're like, well, the game isn't very good. What if we just made the referee sound really like,

[00:24:10] you know, good, like we made the put all the voice samples for him in there. How many are there? Like five? You know, it's fine to make them sound good. It's it'll be OK. Traveling that is why I didn't clear ball. God damn you ref didn't clear ball.

[00:24:28] I the the manual is 28 pages long, which is probably 22 pages too many. Yeah. For what you need for this game. So for the horse section of the game, it explains what horses. But the first section is horse options and the sentence. Horse options. There aren't horse options.

[00:24:51] There are no real options in the game of horse. Well, they know you. OK, I mean, why would there be? Yeah. Why would there be? It's just shut up, play horse, shut up and play horse. It says all you do. This is what the manual says.

[00:25:06] All you do is take a shot from anywhere on the court. Yeah. If you make it, then your opponent has to make the exact same shot. If he or she misses the shot, they get an H.

[00:25:14] You miss. Yeah. If you miss your shot, there are no letters given out. Then your opponent gets to take a shot. That's it. Yeah, that's pretty much it. I just found it very funny that horse options. There are no real options in the game of course.

[00:25:25] So why did you come to this section? It's like I will say, look to you should know a horse. To explain that we didn't feel like putting options for you in the game. We didn't put pig in the game. Shut up. There's no pig. You can't play pig.

[00:25:36] No big horse and play big. Just horse. Yeah. And I can't and can't believe they're they basically went going back to that the whole shot mechanic. They basically did golf controls. That's how you play. That's how you play video game golf.

[00:25:50] Yeah. It's the two point or the three point shot. It's it's it was very confusing. And when I realized that's what the game wanted me to do, I was like, oh, this is. Frustrating. Yeah, because basketball games don't work.

[00:26:01] No, it's bad. It's it's it's it's it is the the worst feeling basketball game I think anybody's ever played. I would I'm curious if there's any worse out there. And if there is any please let me know.

[00:26:13] I'd love to just mess with them because I love bad video games to a certain degree. So I was delighted for the half an hour I spent with it, to be honest with you. Yeah, it's kind of delightfully bad in a way because you're

[00:26:26] you're just like there's no I have no chance. There's no chance of me winning this. And that's refreshing when you're like, I know I'm going to lose. And it's because the game's awful. Yeah, it's not my fault. It's just at the whims of it's not my fault.

[00:26:39] I just I am doing everything the game is allowing me to do and it is impossible to succeed. The bigger names, I do have the list of players, but in the manual they had the list of the players with their screenshots.

[00:26:51] They do not list the team they're associated with. Why would they why would they just picking? Just hope you know, you know what team they play for. Shut up. Well, I was going to ask. OK, let me see if I know as someone who see if I know.

[00:27:05] I probably don't, but I'll try. Let's let's see. And you can and I don't think I'm going to Google every single one. Yeah, I don't know. So you could just make it up and I'll say that sounds good. Yeah, that's great. This is a fun game.

[00:27:21] Before we do that, I would be remiss if I did not thank my wonderful patrons for their wonderful patronage, starting with Philip Becker, Terry Canare, Greg Stewart of the Player One podcast and Generation 16 series of videos. Sir Coffee of House Blend, first of his name,

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[00:28:17] But the first one I have on the list here is J.R. Reed. That was that was Charlotte Hornets. Yep. OK. OK. Cool. I'm not looking it up. Patrick Ewing. And then we all know Patrick Ewing in the next. Yep. Yeah. David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs.

[00:28:33] Yeah. Akeem Alonjo. He was the Houston Rockets. OK. All right. Hopefully somebody at home is keeping track, because again, I'm not. Yeah. Tony Campbell. Tony Campbell. Oh, Tony Campbell. Um, he wasn't the Nuggets because, oh man, Tony Campbell, what would he have played for? Oh, I don't know.

[00:29:03] I'm going to say the Nets. It's probably wrong. You're I think I looked them up and I think he's played out a lot. I was going to say it's tough to know because like, yeah, they they in this specific game, they bounce around a lot.

[00:29:17] Let me see if I can find NBA All-Star Challenge or something here. Yeah, so I think of the era it was probably the Timberwolves. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was. I think it's one player per team and we already have. Yes, I believe you're right.

[00:29:32] I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, it was the Timberwolves. I think I played them, in fact, and they destroyed me and I was like, you know, a good better than them. Nobody even knows who Tony Campbell is.

[00:29:45] Jordan, I went straight to Chicago and say, is Jordan here? And I saw Jordan and I said, all right, I'm going to play as the best player. Yeah, nope. No, didn't help. Didn't help. No, I don't think they have stats. I don't think it matters. Everybody's equal.

[00:29:59] No, I don't think they do either. If they do, I have no idea. Yeah, height. They have height. They have weight. Yeah. And but I don't think has any has any barriers. Isaiah Thomas is maybe like two pixels smaller than other people, and that's really all you're getting.

[00:30:12] So we have Carl Malone. That was the Utah Jazz, Utah Jazz, Sean Kemp. That was the Seattle Supersonics. OK, I was I was that was the one I was wondering about. I figured he was there, but I was hoping it was that left shrimp.

[00:30:28] But it's not. That's OK. Dead left shrimp is my favorite NBA player of all time because. Shut up. Because it is, because I have opinions, damn it. That's right. I direct. Clyde Drexler was the Portland Trail Blazers. Awesome. Mitch Richmond, Mitch Richmond. Oh, fuck. I got no idea.

[00:30:53] Never heard that name. I'm going to send you this manual so you have some context on these pictures, too. Yeah, OK. They do that. That way you can maybe see the picture. The picture of Mitch Richmond, he looks like he looks like he shouldn't be photographed.

[00:31:07] Like it's a you know, like most of these players have a nice picture with like a background. Yes, clearly taken in game while he's like staring at the bench looking for some message from a coach. And there is no rhyme or reason.

[00:31:20] Mitch, I'm trying to think of like weird teams that weren't very good back then. I'm I doubt it was the Lakers. I know the Lakers are like are good now, but there was a point in time where they like weren't anything because like around this time

[00:31:34] would have been when Magic Johnson was gone. But I don't and I don't think he was in this game. Not I. Yeah, no, I didn't figure he was. This was this was this was post Magic Johnson. And this was like kind of when they were floundering.

[00:31:46] But I don't think Mitch Richmond was ever on the Lakers that I know of. No, it says Sacramento Kings, Sacramento. Yeah, that would be OK. They were even worse. So yeah, that makes sense. OK. So that's what they that's who they drug. Yes. Got it.

[00:32:02] Hershey Hawkins, Hershey Hawkins. That's that is that is the Atlanta Hawks, I believe. Or no, it's not. That's the Washington Bullets. Oh, boy. Yeah, it might have been the Washington Bullets that Hershey Hawkins was on. Let me see, because I think. Actually, this is of this era.

[00:32:25] It was the Charlotte Hornets. Oh, really? Well, well, either 76ers or Charlotte 76ers. That's it. That's the one. That's what he played for in this in this one. Yes, absolutely. It was definitely the 76ers. I got man. Yeah, I had the color scheme right.

[00:32:40] Yeah, the bullets were the same exact colors. OK, so next up on the list is James Worthy. James Worthy. Oh, that was the Lakers. I know that that was the Lakers. Yeah, I was Lakers. Yeah. Did they the Kenby Matumbo star of the many, many a guy?

[00:32:58] That is he was playing for the Denver Nuggets. Yeah. Oh, was it OK? Pretty sure. All right. Alvar, I'll take your word for it. Alvar and Alvin Robertson. Alvin Robertson. Oh, I think I want to say I played him and I think he plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.

[00:33:16] I want to say he was so wait, he was selected by this. Oh, here you go. Milwaukee. Yeah, Milwaukee. OK, I remember picking Milwaukee. I was like, surely anybody playing for the Milwaukee Bucks is terrible. I have a good idea.

[00:33:29] Yeah, I played against Sean Kemp a few times and I played against Alvin Robertson because again, like Milwaukee can't be good. Yeah, I say Thomas. I think we should all know that is Detroit Pistons. Yep. Pistons. Yep. Danny Manning, Danny Manning,

[00:33:43] Danny Manning almost need a list of NBA teams because I'm like I'm starting to go, oh, boy, let's see. Much more known, much more known as a coach than a player. Yeah, a lot of teams. You know, a lot of manning.

[00:34:04] I'm going to admit I don't have any idea where Danny. Well, I did find it. It's the he was on the L.A. Clippers. Oh, OK. He was the Clippers guy. Got it. All right. The Clippers got it.

[00:34:15] Yeah, I didn't pick anyone from the Clippers, so that makes sense. Chris Mullin, Chris Mullin was the Golden State Warriors. Yeah, you all know Jordan was the Bulls, Bulls, Bernard King, Bernard King. He was he I think was the Washington Bullets guy. Maybe it's my guess.

[00:34:37] I didn't even know there was a team called. Yes, they be I they moved and they changed their name because I believe the owner of the team got shot, which is funny when your name is the Bullets. And they immediately went, maybe we should name our team that.

[00:34:51] And so they changed everything. I can't remember what they changed the name of their team to. Now, now I'm kind of curious where that that team went. But yeah, I can. I have it up here. They became the Washington Wizards. Right? Yeah. Yes. That was yes.

[00:35:08] And they still are. I guess they still exist. That's still a team. OK. Yeah. Show you how much I know. It looks like he was on the nose. Yes. OK. Yeah, that makes that. I know it was his last team before that makes sense.

[00:35:21] Yeah. I'm going to get this bullets character, this bullets guy right. Eventually you wait. Well, we had nine more. Good. All right. Nine more. So we have Reggie Miller. Pacers. Yeah. Indiana Pacers. Brad dot Brad. Doddery. Doddery. He played for the the Cleveland Cavaliers.

[00:35:40] That's our that's our local team. So I know who that is. Yeah. All right. I wish Mark Price was there. That's a bullshit that he's not. I don't know the Dominique Wilkins. Dominique Wilkins was the Atlanta Hawks.

[00:35:54] That's the one that's the one earlier when I was like her. See, I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They would have had Dominique Wilkins. He would have been the guy. Yeah. We have everybody's favorite cantankerous sportscaster Charles Barkley.

[00:36:06] Barkley would have been the Phoenix Suns. Yeah, indeed. Indeed. Ronnie Seclay Seclay. Seek a leave. Oh, old Ronnie Boy. I don't know. I do. Lebanese American former basketball center. OK, he was the center. That's it. It was a. OK, I got the team.

[00:36:31] OK, what is it? Because I got nothing. Miami Heat. Oh, yeah. The Heat. Right. Yeah. I forget they exist sometimes except when he this that he must not have been very good at this time because all of his biggest. Yeah, there is.

[00:36:46] Biggest career highlight is NBA most improved player in 1990. And he was consensus second team All-American in 1998. None of these are great, great accolades. So no, which is weird. Yeah, the Miami Heat were off an awful basketball team for a really long time until they eventually started

[00:37:07] paying money and got people like Dwayne Wade. And I think it wasn't it. Dwayne Wade and LeBron James that they both got at the same time. And then then then it became, you know, a big, big deal. They spent the money to do that. Right.

[00:37:20] So yeah, but they were awful up to then. All right. So four more on this on this strange journey we're going on here. All right. Great. Derek Coleman, Derek Coleman, he was the Nets. I think. Did I say that or do we say the Nets already?

[00:37:33] I think you said a Nets personal. You might be right. Derek Coleman. He was either. OK, so Derek Coleman was either the Nets or the Timberwolves. Or we said that. No, he was he was actually the Nets. He was actually. I was right.

[00:37:49] I was like, and that's having. OK, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we said seventy sixers. I got it. It's tough to say. It's we should we we almost need a list to cross off as we go. Teams that are well, if only the manual had their team.

[00:38:04] No, yeah, but they have it in the game. See, they do expect you to have the game up, you know, and then you. I would love to know if this is because like some weird licensing thing where you can use the name of the teams in the game,

[00:38:16] but not in the literature for the game. I wonder, yeah, I wonder. I because I know since there's no teams, I want this. This one feels definitely like I don't if you recall, are there any logos of teams in the game? Because that might be a giveaway sometimes.

[00:38:35] Like this feels like very much a players association game where they got to deal with them and not like the NBA. You know, there are no logos in this game if I if I remember correctly. If I remember right, I don't think there are either.

[00:38:48] I don't think so. The name of the team, which is just the name of the list. So, yeah, it feels like a very like we got to deal with the players association. We didn't we didn't bother with the NBA story about that

[00:38:59] because those are two different licenses, two different things. And we don't have the cash. We're not doing that now makes perfect sense. Yeah. Larry Bird, their bird definitely Boston Celtics. Yeah. Yeah. Derek Harper. Derek Harper, he was the he was the bullets guy.

[00:39:16] I feel like he was the bulls guy. He had to have been come on. Yeah. Don't make me fire up the emulator real quick while we're on here. Oh, it's all good. And I feel like he's the Mavs. You know, OK, yeah. And I didn't play as them.

[00:39:30] I was maybe. Yeah. Maybe the last person here is that person, Scott Skiles or Skilly's. Oh no, Scott's house is Orlando Magic. OK, if it was pretty sure their team. Who was the mystery? Who was a mystery bullet? Man, who was Washington Bullets? Oh, boy. Oh, God.

[00:39:52] Oh, Jesus, this isn't this is impossible to find out. You bother me. 90 and 91, they had they definitely had Bernard King. I guess maybe that was it. I think it was Bernard King. Yeah. I'll accept that. Yeah, because I feel like I played against the Washington Bullets guy

[00:40:13] because I was like, well, I have to because the bullets, you know, they don't exist anymore. I think, yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Bernard King. Oh, I don't know, Bill. It's a lot. This is a lot. This is a rabbit hole we are descending upon.

[00:40:28] Yeah, I'm trying to fire the game up. Yeah, that's OK. I mean, it's perfectly fine. I what I like to do in this in this tells from the bargain bin as well is try to find the reviews of the day.

[00:40:44] Oh, God. What were what were the magazines saying? Yeah, about this. Good luck. I'm having a very hard time finding good luck. I don't know if any magazine covered this game. I am having a very hard time finding either images or I usually can find something.

[00:41:04] Yeah, but not so much. This game was also released on the Gameboy. Yeah, that sounds like that sounds right. It's an OJ and Genesis and Genesis. So on the Gameboy, the Genesis and the SNES. Yeah, but there are some lovely game fact reviews. OK, all right.

[00:41:23] This is a this is a bit I stole from one of my favorite podcasts. Watch out for fireballs. OK, when they do their abject suffering podcast, would they play bad games and talk about it? They will sometimes go to GameFax and read GameFax reviews.

[00:41:38] He goes, boy, oh, boy, there is some wonderfully bad grammar and wonderful punctuation. Oh, yes. There's a lot of gold to be mined. Absolutely. The world of GameFax. And one of the first the first one that comes up was from 2003.

[00:41:51] Title is should have been named NBA All Trash Mini Games. That sounds right. Yeah, that's good. Scathing. All in all, I remember this as being notoriously the worst basketball game I've ever played. Avoid it like the plague.

[00:42:05] Yeah, I think. Yeah, I I used to write reviews and I've used that sentence many a time. Yeah. And I challenge I challenge anyone listening to this to find a worse basketball game than NBA All-Star Challenge. I it's raw. I challenge you.

[00:42:21] I challenge you. That's the challenge of the NBA All-Star. That's the challenge. Find a worse game than this. It's not your dollar at a used game store. Instead, try to find NBA Live 20 90. They should they should pay you to play this game. That's what I think you should.

[00:42:38] That's another line I would have used in an early Bill Tucker video game or movie review. And I would have agreed with you because I feel like, yeah, no, they should. I should have got money for playing that.

[00:42:50] I wish somebody would have just gave me like $20 or something instead of giving me this game, because it would have been I'd have been looking great. Yeah, OK. I can now I can buy something that isn't garbage. But oh boy.

[00:43:01] And the only other review I'll highlight here is only like four or five, which is a paltry amount for GameFacts is the best review is giving it a score of four. OK, best review you can find on GameFacts.

[00:43:12] And the title of the review is my first video game. OK, so there are some lenses there. And I love how this person actually went through the game pro style. So presentation options five out of ten, five out of ten. That's generous, generous, generous, very generous.

[00:43:30] Gameplay two point two out of ten. OK, I yeah, maybe I can maybe agree with that. It's not broken. The game works so. Yeah. OK, two point two. Sure. And to be fair, this person is also talking about the Game Boy version,

[00:43:44] but wrote this under the Super Nintendo entry on GameFacts. So as well as one as one should. Yes. The conclusion, the game was awful for me, awful for the time and even the most. So now whoever released this game was just trying to capitalize on basketball.

[00:43:58] Crazy kids like me. I want to give this game a high score because it was my first game, but I can't however, I can't give it a two or three because I did spend many hours devoted to this game. Imagine this. Let me paint this.

[00:44:11] Let me paint this short story for you. Yeah, it's a little if you want to close your eyes, feel free. If not, no, it's NBA All-Star. I just imagine the poor lad of, let's say, 10 on his Game Boy.

[00:44:23] And we all know the Game Boy, how intimate the Game Boy was. I gave it was great because it was a thing that was yours and the whole episode on a very early on in the right. Right. And I have very fond memories of the Game Boy

[00:44:34] under the covers with the light and the attachments trying to play it after lights out. And this poor lad spending, quote unquote, many hours devoted to this game. I hope legendary Pegasus. Yeah, on Game Facts. I hope you're OK now. I hope they're doing good.

[00:44:54] I hope you're OK now because that doesn't sound like the best of childhoods. No, and I hope everything is OK. That's all I just want to like this. I have this image of this kid playing this one game on the Game Boy,

[00:45:07] which it is reprehensible on the Super Nintendo. I can imagine imagine how it is on Game Boy. Good on this on this tiny screen. Yeah. Wow. So I just want to say to legendary Pegasus, I hope you're OK. Yeah, I think they are because they've you know,

[00:45:26] they were able to go back and look at it. You know, this is them confronting the past. You know, this is a good step forward. So I think I think they're I think they're going to be all right, Bill. But, you know, all right.

[00:45:37] I just I just hope as somebody who also played this game and was given it had it given to them and, you know, devoted some time to it because it was a game that I owned and I, you know, I had something

[00:45:48] I had to do something with it. You know, I can relate to that. And, you know, going back to it was like, oh, yeah, this this this definitely was the again, I said it right off the bat.

[00:45:59] It was like, this is the first game where I ever played, where I went, this is not a good video game, is it? And I and realizing that later on and being like, I was right. This is even worse than I thought it was. Not good.

[00:46:14] No, it's not. It's not good at all. The last thing we'll do real quick just to see if you can take a guess. I like to see how much these games go for now on the secondary market.

[00:46:24] Yeah. As per price charting, which is the site I use to price out my son's Pokemon cards because I am a dork like that. I saw he's got some that are worth some cash. I know which ones he's not allowed to play.

[00:46:37] I got a friend who looks up video games and comic books on there. So, yeah, I get it. So as per price charting, what do you think the loose prices as per price charting for NBA All-Star Challenge loose? Somebody is offering you thirty dollars to take it.

[00:46:54] That's probably not accurate based off this. It's based on the volume, though. So think about an average like average. OK, all right. OK, well, man, you hardly ever seen this thing through. It's only been four sales this year. Yeah, OK. Not a lot of data.

[00:47:09] There's four people that bought it. Wow. That's insane. Loose. Yeah. OK. All right. They really wanted NBA All-Star Challenge. Really did. Wow. That's absurd. I'm going to say probably like somehow it's thirty dollars. That's that's what people are playing. No, four dollars. OK, four dollars and twelve cents.

[00:47:31] God, that's yes. OK. This yes, I live in a world where things make sense because yes, like I can't live in a world where NBA All-Star Challenge is forty dollars loose. Like that can't be no. I can't live in that world. Justin, I can. I don't think you.

[00:47:48] Yeah. Again, I said it should be like they should pay you thirty dollars to take it off their hands like it's a cursed idol of some sort. If you play it more than an hour, you summon Cthulhu.

[00:48:00] Like it's not. Yeah, this is not what you should be doing. Complete, though. Now complete. What do you think for complete? Knowing that loose prices. Twenty, twenty dollars. OK, twenty. OK, that's fair. Yeah, that's probably honestly brand new. That's probably about what it was.

[00:48:18] Something like that. Maybe maybe a little cheaper. I'm not really sure. You know what games were. I my my brain doesn't remember the economy like a good economy, I guess. So, you know, I don't remember how much Super Nintendo games, especially in the All-Star Challenge.

[00:48:34] I actually tried to look up the retail price and I was unsuccessful at that. Yeah, and finally, the new price knew some new meaning wrapped complete new. How much do you think a new copy of this? Twenty five bucks, maybe.

[00:48:48] Now you're going to be this heartened at this one. It's 110. Wow. Wow. For out of two sales per year, which means two people on average sold bought spent about one hundred dollars on this brand spanking new. But again, collectors and that's yeah, collectors. And here's the other thing.

[00:49:06] As long as you don't take it out of the plastic wrap, it never hurts you. So it's fine in there. You know, I guess it is. You know, that's OK. You know, if your idea is to like, I own this thing and I'm never going to play it.

[00:49:17] That's good. You know what? That seems logical, actually. And if you're doing that, you're doing the world of service because you should you're taking it out of the hand of them all. Yes. They're taking it out of the hands of somebody

[00:49:30] who may be foolish enough to take it out to let it breathe. Yeah. And pop it into their Super Nintendo or whatever console they have. Yeah. The final thing I do at the end of every one of these, I think we've I think we've answered this question.

[00:49:42] OK, I'll state it because that's what I do at the end of every one of these things. NBA All-Star challenge for the Super Nintendo. Justin, are we taking it home or are we putting it back in the bin? Burn every copy of it ever. It's terrible.

[00:49:57] Like it shouldn't exist. I mean, I guess it does. And there's nothing we can do about that. You know, no, no. LJM was a terrible toy company. They made bad toys that people somehow fondly remember. Like, do you like they had those goddamn like

[00:50:12] I almost went real redneck accent there. Sorry. They had those like real big like wrestling action figures that didn't have any articulation to them. And people love those things. They're awful action figures. They don't move. That's LJN. They made terrible.

[00:50:30] And then they were like, what if we also made terrible video games? Almost every one of their games is bad. And then like kids get stuck with it because it's like Toys R Us probably had some kind of weird deal with them. So I don't know, man.

[00:50:43] Anyway, it's terrible. It's a terrible game. I almost feel like I would do the world a service if I went out and just bought every copy of the game. I'm willing to pay one hundred and ten dollars. So nobody has to worry about that ever again. That's fine.

[00:50:58] It's a bad video. Yeah, it is. It is a really bad game. Is this picture of cash grab? Yes. Like this is this is a game that I would put under the cynical category. This is a cynical game by made by a company that said,

[00:51:12] oh, we paid licenses for these a NBA, PA Players Association license. Let's get something out as quick as humanly possible and hope people buy it. So I labeled this as cynical. Which for me is one of the cardinal sins.

[00:51:29] I don't mind bad can be can mind joy out of bad with good intentions. You can't mind joy out of this. This is that's here. This is purely like, hey, we got basketball cards are huge right now. People like these players.

[00:51:44] Michael Jordan is blowing up when we got him in a video game. We got to put we got to get this thing out probably. And again, I believe this comes from the bones of Jordan versus Bird, which, you know, was roughly the same as this.

[00:51:58] It was it was also not great, but I think slightly better maybe. I don't know. But so I'm guessing they had some sort of license left over from that. They're just like, oh, hey, while we have this, make this game

[00:52:11] really, really quick, put it out for the Super Nintendo and people will buy it. If we'll make our money on it somehow, it'll be fine. Yeah, it's awful. Oh, God, what a bad game. What a bad game. Oof, oof and oof.

[00:52:24] Justin, before we finish up, I'd love please tell the five folks out there. I usually do this at the beginning. I completely forgot. Tell the five folks about stage select. Oh, I'm on the stage like podcast with Julian Titus, who has also been on,

[00:52:37] I don't know if this exact version of the show, but he's been on the show. He has many times. And and we do a show is like is a video game variety show. I'm very bad at plugging things. I also do a twitch thing.

[00:52:51] You can watch me play video games, not maybe NBA All-Star Challenge someday. I don't know. You never know. Listen, bring in those views. Yep. Twitch.tv slash Tyrone Swift, if you're interested in that or Tyrone Swift TV on YouTube.

[00:53:07] That's also a thing that that's all the old streams. You can go catch up on all the deep lore. OK, but yes, stage select is the big one. That's that's the one that we enjoy doing. Mean me and Julian are been good friends.

[00:53:21] We did the Old Nerds without pants podcast, and now we're doing this because that's what we're doing. And you all are having a lot of fun and doing really good stuff on that show. I said it to Julian last time he was on.

[00:53:31] I'm so glad my friends are doing good work, like like genuinely doing good stuff where I don't have to be like, oh, that's that's nice. Yeah, right. You try. How's that? Yeah. How's that thing going for you? No, you actually people I like are doing really good work.

[00:53:46] And that's like good, right? Good thing. That makes me feel good. So that's good. Justin, again, thank you so much for joining me on this wonderful journey through NBA All-Star Challenge. Thank you, fine listeners, for listening to this episode of Tales

[00:53:59] from the Bargain Bin. If you enjoyed this show and how could you not with such a wonderful topic we're talking about today? You could go to my website. A gamer looks at forty four zero dot com. There is a section for full series, full series playlists.

[00:54:14] And you can go there to the Tales from the Bargain Man playlist and just binge them all in one convenient spot. There is 20 other of these things of random games, some that are actually really surprisingly good, some that are just as cash grabby bad as this.

[00:54:29] And as always, you can find me mainly on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and all the other dumb things that I can easily put content out to hopefully get the show out to more and more people. Thank you again, Justin, for joining me.

[00:54:41] And thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Right on, man. And just until next time, just be kind to yourselves and each other.