Jordan Vs Bird Nintendo NES Review, A Basketball Classic

Taking arguably the two biggest NBA stars at the time, and putting them together in a basketball game, only makes sense. You have Larry Bird from the Boston Celtics, whom is the best out-side shooting forward in the game.

Then you have Michael Jordan, perhaps the best basketball player during his playing career from the Chicago Bulls. Jordan Vs Bird was released after both players won their respected NBA All-Star events. Michael Jordan just won his first Slam Dunk contests and quite frankly “flew” him self into fame. Then Larry Bird just won his third, and final, three point contest.

So What Makes This Classic Title, Jordan Vs Bird so Unique?

The Gameplay:

It seems fitting to pair two of the NBA’s best in a head-to-head challenge. At the time when this game first came out, it was awesome to be able to dunk like Jordan and Dr. J. Jordan Vs Bird is broken down into 8 events:

One on One – Full Game
One on One – Street Ball Game play to either 15 or 11 points
One on One – Practice Game
Slam Dunk Contest
Slam Dunk – Practice
Follow the leader –
3 Point Contests
3 Point Contest Practice

All the one on one games are pretty much the same

If you click the options' menu. You have the same choices to change, from player selections, what to play too etc. Except the warm-up mode, you just practice here. It's rather funny, all the dunking Michel Jordan does and all the long range shooting is done by Larry Bird. It kind of follows the old saying “white men can’t jump”.

Slam Dunk Contest:

You have a choice of ten dunks to choose from, you select the dunk. Then, depending on how well you launch and perform the dunk, will determine your score out of 50 from five judges.

Follow the Leader:

Player 1 makes a dunk, and player 2 has to do the same dunk. To get a high dunk grade, you need to limit the amount of dribbling, and go directly to thelaunch spot and dunk. There are a total of 10 dunks to select from, and each dunk has a different launch spot on the court. Meaning, to be able to complete a certain dunk, you need to launch in the spot assigned for that particular dunk.

Three Point Contest:

Just like a traditional 3-point contest, you have (5) racks of balls in (5) different locations on the court. The goal is to make as many shots as you can using all the balls in 60 seconds.

The Conclusion: Would I recommend Jordan Vs Bird?

The dynamics of Jordan Vs Bird are pretty simple and controlled by the game for the most part. The most difficult aspects of the game is deciding when to launch your shot, so doing some practice will certainly pay off. Same with the dunks, you will need to practice in order to figure out the different launch spots. I found the game to be pretty entertaining; you have plenty of games you can play. This game certainly has good entertainment value, making it a must-play NES game.

Sure, nowadays

The graphics on the game are not so good, but the graphics were pretty good back in 1988. This was probably among the top three most popular basketball games the NES had to offer. The other two basketball games would probably be Tecmo Basketball, Double Dribble, and I’ll throw in Arch Rivals.

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