Play Great Basketball Online

Pick a team, drain threes, and beef up your players between games—this 8-bit hoops title has more depth than you’d expect, especially when you’re trading steals with a friend.

Developer: Sega

Genre: Sports

Released: 1987

File size: 128 bytes

Game Overview

Great Basketball on the Sega Master System is one of those old-school sports games that somehow makes blocky 8-bit players feel like they’ve got real moves. You pick from eight national teams—I always went for the USSR because their jerseys looked cool—and suddenly you’re in this fast, slightly chaotic game where three-pointers actually matter and fouls can ruin your whole tournament run.

The single-player mode is surprisingly deep for its time. After each win, you dump bonus points into stats like shooting or jumping, which makes your team gradually feel less like clunky sprites and more like actual athletes. Two-player mode is where the real fun is, though—nothing like trash-talking your friend after stealing the ball with Cuba’s weirdly effective defense.

It’s not perfect (the AI sometimes forgets how to pass), but there’s something weirdly satisfying about the way the ball physics work. You’ll miss a layup, swear at the screen, and immediately hit a half-court shot right after.