Magic Johnson's Basketball

Magic Johnson's Basketball is a decent arcade-style basketball game starring LA Lakers' superstar Magic Johnson, one of the most famous players of all time. It is a direct translation of the popular coin-op arcade game called Magic Johnson's Fastbreak Basketball. Like the arcade original, the game is easy enough for beginners to learn, and challenging enough for experts. You can play against the computer or another human opponent in a hot-seat mode.

As an arcade-oriented game, Magic Johnson's Basketball is pretty good. You can shoot 3-pointers, perform slam dunks, and of course Magic Johnson's famous fast break with a slam dunk finish. The game includes a good training sequence, demo mode, and smooth animation.

When compared with other basketball games made during the same period, Magic Johnson's Basketball falls flat with many limitations. You can only play a single game, unlike the entire season that Ed Ringler's Omni-Play Basketball (also a Magic Johnson-promoted game) simulates. And the on-court action is far from the fun of EA's 1988 classic One on One: Jordan vs. Bird. Without the competition, Magic Johnson's Basketball would have been considered a great game. But basketball fans simply have many better choices to choose from than this game.