Play Arch Rivals - A Basket Brawl! Online

Arch Rivals: A Basket Brawl! came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989, a Midway game that took the basic idea of basketball and cranked the absurdity up to eleven. It was a time when sports games were starting to branch out, and this one definitely stood out from the more straightforward simulations of the era with its focus on pure, unregulated chaos.

You control one of several exaggerated players, and your goal is to score more points than the opposing team, but the real objective is to beat up the other players. You can punch them to stun them, trip them to make them drop the ball, or just outright steal it from their hands. The court is split into two screens that you move between, and the ball can be passed between them, adding a layer of frantic strategy to the brawling. The pacing is fast and unforgiving; if you hesitate, you get pummeled. It feels like a playground argument that somehow became an official sport, and it's a blast to just cut loose and cause mayhem.