These days, sports games are pretty much assigned. You’ve got 2K Sports handling basketball, wrestling and golf; Sony swinging for the fences with its MLB The Show baseball sims; and EA Sports pretty much covering everything else. But back in “olden” times – the early NES days, for example – everyone had an idea of what they wanted a sports game to be. As a result, we got a lot of great contests, as well as some lackluster ones.
Jaleco was certainly no stranger to that, producing a number of NES and SNES favorites, including its Bases Loaded and Goal! games. But it decided to put together an interesting “oddball” package with Jaleco Sports: Faceoffs, which is available now for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. Now, a replacement for your current sports fave this isn’t. But for ten bucks, you get four “blast from the past” titles that you can play along with friends.
Let’s break each one down and see how they fare, shall we?
First up, we have Hoops. Some of you may recall this one-on-one (or two-on-two) basketball game, choosing from eight different characters and taking it to the hard court. I’m here to tell you, NBA Jam it clearly isn’t. That’s because the timing of the shots that you take have to be precise. Practice makes perfect here. Once you get that timing down, however, you’ll find it to be a pretty good contest – especially going against a friend locally. You can also try your luck with the AI, though they can be tougher than most.
It’s a decent b-ball game. It lacks the signature flair of others on the market, as well as the dramatic dunk animations of Konami’s classic Double Dribble. But it’s suitable for a quick and simplified contest, even if you won’t necessarily be raining threes all the time. Who does?
Then we have Racket Attack, the tennis sim of the package. Again, it lacks the contemporary touches of your modern games, or even the Virtua Tennis series. But for a debut NES title, it does deserve a little bit of a revisit. Here, you’ll serve the ball and face off against a number of contenders with not-so-licensed superstars. (Who names their kid Gibbco?)
I wish the gameplay was a little more consistent, as it’s far too easy to miss the ball at times. But playing against a friend does generate a few laughs, and the visuals, while dated, do provide a pretty good perspective of the court. You could do better, sure, but you could also do way worse.
Taking up the rest of the slack are two hockey games. The highlight of the two is Pro Sport Hockey for the NES. While this may not look as good as the other counterpart, it does feel a little better when it comes to scoring goals and passing the puck. It also helps to have a variety of modes available, including a Super Cup championship.
I do prefer the glory of Blades of Steel (which makes me wonder – Konami should do a sports compilation sometime, since there’s no licensing anyway), but Pro Sport Hockey isn’t too shabby with what it offers. Find some like-minded retro puckaneers (like that?) and you’re in business.
This ties in with Super Pro Sport Hockey, the only SNES game of the bunch. It’s not entirely better than the original game, despite the new hardware. It does play all right, however, and it’s got a neat feature where you can switch back and forth between the two versions. It’s hardly as revolutionary as, say, R-Type Dimensions, but for a budget-priced sports compilation, it’s not bad.
So none of the sports games are a revolution in their genre, I’ll say that right now. But there are decent options here, presented by the developer Sickhead Games. The CRT viewing ability is probably the best, as you can change the visuals around to appear like you’re watching through a classic TV. I also like the rewind option, even though you can’t really utilize it with match-ups. Also, there are leaderboards, but local competition is a better bet.
Plus the whole thing is just ten bucks. That’s a pretty decent price, and about what you’d pay for the original carts if you could find them on sale. Jaleco Sports: Faceoffs won’t amaze you with technical prowess, but the retro memories and the ability to play with friends may just be enough for you. I know I had a good time. Not great, mind you, but definitely not “so, wait, will the computer let me score even a point?!”.
Does this game get the GTM Burton seal of approval? Well, not mega high-up, but it’s a decent collection for the price!
A review code was provided by Rock-It Games. Thanks, guys!
