Wikipedia

Fox Sports College Hoops '99

Fox Sports College Hoops '99 is a college basketball sports video game developed by Z-Axis, and published by Fox Interactive under the brand name Fox Sports Interactive for the Nintendo 64. Jeff Sheppard of the University of Kentucky is featured on the cover.

Fox Sports College Hoops '99
Cover art
Developer(s)Z-Axis
Publisher(s)Fox Sports Interactive
Platform(s)Nintendo 64
Release
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Developed to be an NBA-branded video game, it had to be rebranded as a college basketball game after the original publisher shut down. The game features 120 college basketball teams, multiplayer support for two players, and many of the college championships including the NCAA men's basketball championship. It was the first college sports game for the Nintendo 64.[2]

Gameplay

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A player from the University of Kentucky shoots a jump shot.

The game allows the player to play a single game between any two teams in an exhibition mode, or to play a season mode as the manager of a college basketball team.[2] College Hoops '99 only supports up to two player multiplayer, unlike comparable games of the time which supported four player multiplayer.[3] The season mode contains most of the major college tournaments including early-season tournaments, although the National Invitation Tournament was not included.[3]

The game uses Fox Sports's TV set-up in order to give the player a more realistic feel to gameplay.[2] However, there is little commentary and there are no real fight songs or other university-specific songs in the game.[2]

Development

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With development near complete by mid-1997, the game ultimately released as Fox Sports College Hoops '99 was to be the first NBA game for the Nintendo 64 and feature an expensive Michael Jordan license.[4] However, original publisher BMG Interactive shut down, costing the game the non-transferable NBA and Jordan licenses.[4][5] After developer Z-Axis shopped the game around to publishers for several months, it was picked up by Fox Interactive, who gave it an NCAA license.[5] At this time Z-Axis also increased the memory size and optimization to run in high resolution.[5]

Reception

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Fox Sports College Hoops '99 received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[6] GamePro felt that the game had extremely intelligent artificial intelligence and praised the game overall.[10] IGN's Peer Schneider criticized the arcade-style slowdown that happened during shooting.[2] GameSpot's Nelson Taruc called the game an "incomplete work in progress".[3]

Notes

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  1. ^ Four critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game each a score of 5/10, 3.5/10, 2/10, and 4/10.
  2. ^ GamePro gave the game two 4.5/5 scores for graphics and overall fun factor, and two 4/5 scores for sound and control.

References

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  1. ^ IGN staff (November 23, 1998). "Fox Ships Hoops". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Schneider, Peer (December 4, 1998). "Fox Sports College Hoops '99 Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Taruc, Nelson (December 24, 1998). "Fox Sports College Hoops '99 Review [date mislabeled as "April 28, 2000"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 18, 2005. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Quartermann: Get Ready to Rumble!". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. p. 36.
  5. ^ a b c "The Fall of BMG: Fox Sports College Hoops '99". Next Generation. No. 41. Imagine Media. May 1998. p. 44.
  6. ^ a b "Fox College Hoops - N64". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 11, 2003. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  7. ^ Marriott, Scott Alan. "Fox Sports College Hoops '99 - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Hager, Dean; Ricciardi, John; Hsu, Dan; Williams, Ken "Sushi-X" (January 1999). "FS College Hoops 99 [sic]". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 114. Ziff Davis. p. 221. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  9. ^ "[Fox Sports] College Hoops '99". Game Informer. No. 70. FuncoLand. February 1999. p. 57. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Air Hendrix (December 1998). "College Hoops '99 Takes Home the NCAA Championship". GamePro. No. 123. IDG Entertainment. p. 222. Archived from the original on September 28, 2004. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  11. ^ Hsu, Tim (December 1998). "Fox Sports College Hoops '99 - Nintendo 64 Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on November 10, 1999. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  12. ^ "Fox Sports College Hoops '99". N64 Magazine. No. 26. Future Publishing. March 1999.
  13. ^ "Fox Sports College Hoops '99". Nintendo Power. Vol. 115. Nintendo of America. December 1998. p. 132. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
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