The From A to Z series lets our editors go back and take a look at games from past generations that are classics, overlooked gems, or just titles they remember fondly. The idea behind this is to pick five games from each letter of the alphabet, once a week to showcase. This delivers 26 weeks and tons of games to talk about. Hopefully it sparks some conversation, and of course plenty of memories.
The system everyone has been waiting for, the Super Nintendo.
Let’s continue with the letters “N and O.”
NBA Jam
HE’S HEATING UP!
Taking the arcade approach and throwing the notions of realistic physics out the window for the sake of ridiculous dunks, NBA Jam is just pure fun and nothing else. This 2 on 2 basketball game was filled with secrets and the simple mechanics made it easy for anyone to pick up and play. I spent countless hours playing this in the arcades with a little scrap of paper with all the cosmetic codes and at home, I did the same.
NBA Live 96
The polar opposite end of NBA Jam is the much more realistic simulation style of NBA Live where you can’t dunk from half-court but instead, it featured a proper basketball game with all the nuances that you would expect from a Live title. 96 in particular was a big improvement over its predecessor thanks to its upgrades visuals, new gameplay mechanics and better overall sound sampling.
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
A little known JRPG that was passed over by many because it lacks the big name of “Final Fantasy”. This title mixed movement style of an RTS with character growth/story elements of an RPG to create a unique title. Given that battles took place in the overworld with many towns/castles and the like, the scale of combat felt a bit more epic than usual and with a large variety of different classes to choose from, there was a lot of strategy in creating an effective party composition. The PSP release of “Tactics Battle: Let Us Cling Together” is a spin-off successor to Ogre Battle and quite exceptional in its own right.
Tune in next week for the next collection of titles.
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VideoGaming4U
