Super Off Road & Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball: Super star sagas | Super NES Works

Another double-header of sports-themed games, but this time the works under the microscope don't adhere quite so rigidly to genre standards. Instead, both Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball and Super Off-Road take more inventive approaches to their subjects in pursuit of fun... though one of these is definitely more successful in that objective than the other.

[@MissAshley42]

There's something hypnotic about watching Super Off-Road in action. The trucks' sprites and animation really sells the illusion of the tracks' contours.

[@JeremyParish]

I agree. The trucks are tiny but have lots of different frames and angles for their animation, so it looks great on every platform.

[@flyingerasehead]

This version of Super Off-Road had 16 tracks because it combined the tracks of Super Off-Road with the semisequel, Super Off-Road Track Pak. Too bad they didn't include the dune buggy. Also worth mentioning, SNES Super Off-Road has one of the best game over screens in all of video games.

[@KNGINetwork]

As something of a racing game aficionado, Super Off Road will always hold a special place in my heart, and this particular version is arguably one of the best games Tim and Geoff Follin ever put their names on.

[@jasongarrett768]

I vaguely recall my grandfather disliking Bill Laimbeer's style of sportsmanship and definitely remember a snort of disgust when I told him Laimbeer was getting a videogame. On Off-Road, these were the same composers behind Spider-man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, right? They were easily the best part of that game. Also, next episode: Yeaaaa- "three parts" -AAAAAHHHHH It may still be hard to be a Castlevania fan these days but the back half of this year has been a real treat in that specific regard.

[@JeremyParish]

Ah, I'm actually just doing Super Castlevania IV as a one-part entry. The "three months" thing was me poking fun at myself.

[@jasongarrett768]

Ah, I managed to mishear months as parts. Apparently I was overcome with Castlemania.

[@METR0lD]

I had so much fun playing Super Off Road back in the early 90s. I never owned a copy of it, but I rented it several times and played it for hours at a time with my friends.

[@ChrisGorski]

So happy to see all the love for Super Off Road

[@Pyroja]

Can confirm that Super Off-Road is one of my favorite games from my childhood. My friends and I played MANY hours of that game together, and I still have the cart to this day!

[@billcook4768]

Combat Basketball was the first game I ever saw/played on an SNES. I went out and bought a Genesis the next day.

[@sonicmario64]

One thing's for sure, I am so looking forward to next week's episode, since "Super Castlevania IV" is my all-time favorite game in the Castlevania series. :D

[@rwiseart2269]

Casey Decker Ooh, that’ll be good!

[@gbaweekly]

As stated earlier, Hudson most probably wanted to focus on PC Engine. I mean, they released over 40 games on SNES (well, Sufami). Also, Super Adventure Island was released in January 1992, so the only waited a 2-3 months, not 18.

[@Tubewings]

It seems all the Nintendo versions of "Super Off-Road" released during this time had the trophy girls wearing (relatively) conservative attire as opposed to the skimpy bikinis seen in the arcade and other versions (of course, there's also an option in the arcade to have them wear evening gowns instead). Also, the name Mickey Thompson appears in the SNES version. He was an off-road racer who was the first American to break the 400-mph barrier, and was tragically murdered (along with his wife) in 1988.

[@EvanSchatz]

"Super Off Road: The Baja" on SNES has the ladies in bikinis IIRC

[@Tubewings]

@@EvanSchatz I'm referring to the original Off-Road.

[@CarozQH]

Tiny correction: the samles used in Super Off Road aren't the SNES stock samples used in most games we've seen in the series so far. The Follins used their distinct sample library from Software Creations' previous Amiga games, especially LED Storm and Gauntlet 3.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Haha, yeah. I was thinking "Wow, this really sounds good for a SNES game, much less an early SNES game" and then he says the Follins did it. Right, that answers that.

[@JeremyParish]

Ah, OK. Those guitars are pretty shrill regardless... but the composition is great!

[@duffman18]

@@jasonblalock4429 yep, the Follins were savant geniuses with how they could manipulate chips to create such amazing sounds. The soundtrack to Plok sounds like CD level quality electronic music made in Logic Pro or something

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

@@duffman18 Yeah, by Plok, Tim managed to create what is probably the best electric guitar sound on the console.

[@razcarsey6635]

So is there a ROM inside the SNES that had a library of samples that developers could put to use in their games? Or did Nintendo supply a set of stock samples to developers which would need to be put on the cartridge ROM? Do you happen know more about this? I seem to remember weaker SNES titles often sharing a similar sound, and wondered if they simply didn't put in the effort of recording/programming custom sounds, and instead opted to use the Nintendo library.

[@matthewlane518]

Super off road was so good i had it on nes then got it again when i got my snes😊

[@darktetsuya]

I don't have a lot to say on Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball, aside from I didn't know it was an Amiga port! Guess that explains the one-button control scheme. Super Off-Road though, is definitely an all-time favorite of mine! On the licensing stuff, the Toyota representation actually extends to the Super Shop music! If you listen close you'll hear the jingle they used back in the 90s to sell trucks! Just a neat extra I discovered all these years later... I had no idea it was a Tim Follin jam, though!

[@untexan]

Boulder Hill was the bane of my existence

[@yuriwalkiw]

Yet another informative and entertaining video, thanks Jeremy. Love watching these and listening to Retronauts while I play video games.

[@JustinLeeper]

Super Off Road is the rare game that, to me, was equally compelling in single- or multiplayer. The economy aspect can’t be understated, as an early instance of RPG elements in a non-RPG game.

[@discordinc]

I remember seeing a Super Off-Road machine at a local skating rink for years. Never knew that it had an SNES port. I'm surprised there haven't been many games that have revisited that style. The only one that jumps to mind is the Top Race mode from Kirby's Air Ride, and even that's old news at this point

[@pentelegomenon1175]

I think the first game of Super Off Road's lineage would have been 1974's Gran Trak 10, although it was purely a time attack game. Also, the Oliver Twins made a similar computer game in 1988 called BMX Simulator which slightly anticipated Super Off Road's incorporation of physics.

[@ztoxtube]

10:10 The fantastic, over-the-top Follin rendition of the famous Toyota commercial jingle of that era.

[@jonriede6846]

Glad you recognized Super Off Road for the quality game that it is. The only thing that improves the competitive play is a case of cheap beer!

[@JeremyParish]

I can't imagine what kind of soulless imbecile would DISLIKE Super Off-Road.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Off-road is a excellent arcade classic game and I will play super off-road. 😀👍🎮

[@kehoe319]

Love that the track name at 12:15. Can't believe that made it past the Nintendo censors.

[@JeremyParish]

Who among us does not enjoy beginning the morning with a breakfast platter featuring large eggs? Seems like a fine tribute to starting the day a healthy way. Why, what are YOU thinking of?

[@KujiGhost]

Combat Basketball seems to be a blatant rip-off of Bitmap Brothers' 1990 Amiga/Atari ST hit Speedball 2, down to the power-ups and one-button controls. Also, let's not forget Tim Follin's amazing ZX Spectrum output alongside his C64 goodness.

[@delaorden]

You are right, but the fact that speedball doesnt pretend to be basket but something more similar to handball. But yes, the one button control is a giveaway that its a bad port from an amiga / st

[@maggoty]

My thoughts exactly.

[@todesziege]

One button controls is just an Amiga standard, hardly something invented for Speedball 2.

[@edwindeleeuw6590]

While watching this video I was thinking 'Why hasn't he mentioned Speedball yet? I wonder if anyone in the comments thinks the same...'. :)

[@kadafi1987]

@@edwindeleeuw6590 Sadly the Amiga was never really a thing in NA(the ST was niche everywhere) so its possible he simply not aware of SP2.

[@adamking6645]

"The Super NES shipped with a revolutionary six-button controller yet everything is set to the B Button." Unfortunately that's the case with many computer titles that got ported to consoles, even as far back as the Atari 7800 days. The programmers, used to mainly one-button joysticks, pretty much neglect the fact that controllers have more than one button.

[@todesziege]

In their defense, thoroughly redesigning the controls to use more buttons typically go beyond porting duty.

[@EmmBee27]

Super Off-Road makes me think of the multiplayer racing minigame in Simpsons Hit and Run.

[@JustinLeeper]

I rented Lambier, knowing it wouldn’t be good. But Base Wars is arguably my favorite NES baseball game (Dusty Diamond is its rival).

[@Phediuk]

Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball is a straight-up clone of Speedball.

[@scumbagbrocialist5885]

Oh! I have the gameboy version of Super Off Road, it was one of the first games I had. Surprised to see it on SNES works instead of Gameboy works

[@meh6722]

Can't wait for the next episode!

[@hemangchauhan2864]

I somehow really find "isometric" racing games to be extremely charming. Toybox Turbo on Steam is one such game that I enjoy.

[@NORMALLYRETRO]

Man. Infinite turbos and 4 player NES Off Road made for instant hilarity and chaos. Great vid.

[@Wuss2ns]

I feel like hudson probably wanted to focus on PC ENGINE games in 1992. The console was still a hit in Japan, right?

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Hm... The next NES game is Castlevania, and the next SNES game is Super Castlevania? Sounds like a great theme for the latter half of October.

[@JeremyParish]

Yep. I had to do a bit of scheduling chicanery to make it all line up, but it worked out.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Nice. Worth it.

[@emmastarr5242]

Also, to be fair, of course they're walking slow, they're wearing who-knows-how-many pounds of future robot armor! :P

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Wowsers. I always thought the only thing to follow-up Super Off Road was Indy Heat (which retained the formula, even if it was for a different kind of racing). Truth be told, whilst it's a bummer to lose the 3-player support, I don't think I ever played any of the other home computer ports (which did support 3 players) in 3 player mode. Not sure what to think about Combat Basketball other than well… I think I want to find the nearest Amiga (or Atari ST) and play some darn Speedball 2 instead ;)

[@michiganjack1337]

Bill was actually a Back to Back Champions 89-90. Bad Boys, Detroit Pistons.

[@mymangodfrey]

Three months on Castlevania IV! Can’t wait. And yes, the game is “super” as hell.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

The way the ball shadow works, I can only assume all the players in Combat Basketball are 30 feet tall.

[@JeremyParish]

They could just have telescoping arms like Inspector Gadget

[@franklinbrown7389]

Never knew about this b-ball game. Great review

[@xenxander]

The game doesn't end so much as stop. After 99 Tracks it instantly takes you to the high score board. You don't even get a credit roll or an ending.

[@doctorhandsome]

I feel like the Super Off-Road port would have worked better if steering was done with the shoulder triggers.

[@Radi0inactivity]

"at least it wasnt shaq-fu" excuse me, are you implying there is something wrong with Modern Masterpiece Shaq-Fu?

[@JeremyParish]

[makes "OK" symbol with fingers] It stinks!

[@Radi0inactivity]

instant unsub, reported to the internet cops

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

@@Radi0inactivity idk, I think the Pod People reference more than offsets any offense.

[@jasongarrett768]

@BFisch "Trumpy, you can do stupid things!"

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

@@jasongarrett768 "It's called 'evil', kid."

[@doug8171]

Also looks like speedball on the amiga

[@PastoKage]

Is years that I follow you, and every time I cant remember where the "next episode" music is from... I give up.. Source?!

[@thegreatoni]

Evangelion

[@PastoKage]

@@thegreatoni Ah, right!!!

[@falselogic]

First! I loved this game when it came out. Reminded me so much of RC Pro-am for the NES.

[@jamesmoss3424]

I like basketball I am a clippers and celtics fan. 😀👍🏀🎮

[@paulpetroleum]

Even the original Amiga version of Combat Basketball was a poor man's version of Speedball 2.

[@luisguillermojg]

Great footage of Laimbeer getting rough with Michael Jordan.

[@JeremyParish]

Can't take credit for that-see the citation that runs along with the footage for the original source!

[@luisguillermojg]

Sure, but you found it and picked it. You can take credit for that.

[@IanSane]

The samples in Super Off-Road's soundtrack sound like the same ones used in Battletoads-Double Dragon. Since both games are published by the same company I'm assuming that Tradewest had some sound library they made available to their devs. Odd that Jeremy didn't mention that the grey truck wins every single race. In the arcade it's Iron Man Stewart's truck so I guess the idea was that you were trying to beat the game's star. But what you end up with are multiplayer games where you and your friend are racing to finish second, which is pretty lame. Great arcade conversions realize that a home game isn't designed to suck quarters from players and thus the gameplay should be tweaked to accommodate that. This one is a little too straight of a conversion.

[@emmastarr5242]

WAAAAAIT........what came first, Arch Rivals, or the basketball Kunio NES game? :/ Actually, I think the original concept of agressive sports games came from Kunio, to be fair...

[@theacematt2]

❤️❤️❤️❤️ the Kunio series

[@JoeBushOnline]

Had slamball been a more successful venture, I think it would've turned into the Laimbeerian Combat Basketball and our future would've been about as shitty, but just in a different way

[@nicholaifugate]

The Genesis version has the ladies still in their bikinis and does have 16 tracks too. The SNES one has better color and the sound is really a matter of taste I'd say.

[@Plasmariel]

The SNES OST completely destroys any other one and for a good reason.

[@silentfanatic]

You joke, but a lot of people would gladly listen to your thoughts on Castlevania IV over the next quarter of a year.

[@JeremyParish]

Maybe, but I gotta move on with my life.

[@silentfanatic]

One could argue that retro gaming is predicated on an inability to let go of the past, but you have a point!

[@tekkensentai]

For some reason I want to buy a Toyota.

[@adamking6645]

Super Castlevania IV is a great game, but I don't feel it warrants three parts dedicated to it. Then again the next game in NES Works is also the first Castlevania. Do the three parts you announced consist of CV1, CV4 and a third related game?

[@MrJWTH]

Adam King He mentioned in a reply to to what I believe to be a deleted post that he was joking about the three month part which would actually have been 12 episodes.

[@massivepileup]

Bit odd to see the basket ball game's title screen have five dudes and they're all white.

[@Larry]

Future/Combat Basketball looks like a total knock-off of Speedball, a HUGE game on the Amiga, especially Speedball 2. Also there was a completely unnoficial endorsement in the SNES Super Off-Road, Mickey Thompson, despite the fact the fact he was murdered a few years before AND was put in there without his estate's consent.

[@lwvmobile]

I feel like the 'sports violence' genre is severely lacking in today's gaming market. I think somebody should make a new version of Basket Brawl, it might give NBA 2K a run for its money. There is just something extremely satisfying with nonsensical violence plus a real sport.

[@theacematt2]

Ps: RC Pro Am 2 ❤️

[@stevenwaite1063]

The top down basket ball looks like a terrible Copy of Speedball II

[@gf-zi5hr]

3MONTHS SERIES? NANI?

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Honestly, Shaq-Fu is a bad game, but not as godawful as its reputation insists, while I'm pretty sure Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball is actually among the worse games on the SNES. Given the choice between playing one or the other, I'd plump for Shaq-Fu any time.

[@abraveastronaut]

1:12 Is that Donald Trump getting hit in the head by a basketball on the left?

[@DrewberTravels]

Thumbs up to counteract any thumbs down from unabashed trump supporters.

[@GoTeam383]

Haha! Love the trump dig. Yes, that is where we are today. The POTUS with toilet paper on his shoe, and that's not even the most embarrassing thing about him.