Fox Sports College Hoops '99

Developed by Z-Axis, Ltd. and released on November 23, 1998, by Fox Interactive for the Nintendo 64, Fox Sports College Hoops '99 features arcade-style basketball action, with over 120 real college teams to choose from.

As of 2019, it's been six years since the release of a college sports video game. With negotiations between game developers, the NCAA, and former players essentially having gridlocked and died, it's apparent there may never again be another college sports video game released. All that's left then, are the games that already exist. 

Like this turd.

The Nintendo 64 received a whopping one college sports game, 1998's Fox Sports College Hoops '99. The game features either "over 120" real college teams or "120" college teams depending on whether or not you read the back of the box, or the instruction manual. Developers can't use real player names in college sports games due to NCAA athletes' amateur status, and Fox Sports College Hoops '99 features made up names on its real teams. However, you can immediately tell something is amiss in this game when you select to play with Princeton, and notice the developers only put forth enough effort to name the athletes on that particular team "Player 1," "Player 2," "Player 3," etc.

Forget Princeton, though. Geaux Tigers! Also, they went 12-15 that year, but made it to the Sweet 16 the next, so at least this game got one thing right.

Fox Sports College Hoops '99 allows you to play an exhibition game, a full season, multiple tournaments (including conference ones), the NCAA Tournament, and the Final Four. You can save your progress in a season to a controller pak. However, you'll also find that the chances of you playing through a full-season in this game are pretty directly linked to how much you hate yourself.

Nothing weird here: the ball always floats mystically until someone jumps up and grabs it at the start of the game.

The reason being that this game is lousy. Your low-res, blurry, choppily animated players move around like mud. The game gives you options to run plays, but just passing the ball around is laborious. While it is at first laudable that Fox Sports College Hoops '99's computer AI isn't a doorstop, it soon doesn't matter when you realize it's because you are both equally handicapped by the game's stuttery framerate and lousy mechanics. And when someone actually shoots...the ball floats through the air for an inordinate amount of time like a helium balloon.

Seton Hall just shot the ball. I think I'm gonna hit the 7/11 for some Mountain Dew and a burrito while I wait for the rock to hit the basket.

Fox Sports College Hoops '99 features several difficulty modes, though these generally just involve how many rules are enforced. This makes the game's easiest difficulty essentially an "arcade mode," and also a glitchy mess. During a two-player game against a real-live person, my opponent dribbled to the top right corner, far out of bounds. I stripped him (of the ball, not his low-polygon jersey), but the ball bounced into the corner and got stuck there, essentially ending the game. Lousy.

With that said, IN YOUR FACE, SETON HALL!. 

Speaking of multiplayer, if there's a reason to play this game, it's to hang out with a friend and make fun of it. The bizarre dunk animations in themselves make for pretty good entertainment. Of course, the frustration of the gameplay will eventually outweigh the laughs. Okay, so Fox Sports College Hoops '99 has one more thing going for it, and that's the general college vibe. 
Though the players are made up, it is fun to cycle through the sheer quantity of college teams in the game. It's fun to see the logos circa 1998, as well, and they look fine on the courts. I miss that old LSU logo. The music is sparse, but you do get the official Fox Sports song in the opening menu, and every now and then during a game, a college marching-band sounding diddy will come out of the speakers. Crowd noise sounds pretty great, and comes at the perfect times, as well.The animated crowd looks silly now, but for 1998, it was actually pretty graphically advanced. I guess that was more than "one more thing." Of course, is all that enough to warrant the $3 you'll spend plucking it out of the used game bargain bin?

How bout them Tigers! 23-21, what a barnburner. Get it?

That depends. Do you mind spending $3 on something that sucks?

4.5

Graphics

Super choppy framerate, and the players look goofy and are weirdly animated. The crowd and the courts look okay.

6.0

Music and Sound

Not bad, when it's actually there. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, the game has no announcers, even though I'm pretty sure Fox had a few on staff.

4.0

Gameplay

Sluggish, floaty, unsatisfying basketball.

4.0

Lasting Value

The good: you can play an entire season of college basketball. The bad: you're playing an entire season of college basketball in Fox Sports College Hoops '99.

4.5  FINAL SCORE