Jan 29, 2020
Arcade Game #02: Street Slam
ダンクドリーム (Dunk Dream)
Hello everyone, this is Cory Roberts, creator of the upcoming Radical Flannel webcomic series on Tapas. I am also the owner and writer of the retro gaming and 90s pop-culture publication Shinkansen Retrogaming on Medium.
To pay tribute to Kobe Bryant since he, his daughter, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash this week, it’s time to review Street Slam, also known as Dunk Dream in Japan and Street Hoop in Europe.
This basketball video game is developed by Data East for Neo Geo in 1994. The game features three-on-three basketball match-ups with a variety of different teams.
In the US/Canadian version of the game, players can select a three-player team from a selection of 10 cities in the United States. In the European and Japanese versions of the game, the cities are replaced with countries around the world. The selection screens, player skin colors and costumes also change between the versions. There are:
- 🇫🇷 France (Los Angeles in the NA version): They excel in long-range shots (3-pointers) as well as moderate speed and dunks, but low defense.
- 🇪🇸 Spain (Dallas in the NA version): Most of their stats are balanced.
- 🇺🇸 United States (New York in the NA version): They excel in dunks and moderate speed and defense, but their weak point is making long-range shots.
- 🇮🇹 Italy (Phoenix in the NA version): Their stats are the same as Spain.
- 🇹🇼 Taiwan (Philadelphia in the NA version): They excel in long-range shots, have moderate speed and defense, but their weakest point is the dunking.
- 🇰🇷 South Korea (Boston in the NA version): Their strong points are dunking and speed, but their weak points are long-range shots and defense.
- 🇯🇵 Japan (Chicago in the NA version): Their stats are almost the same as Spain and Italy, otherwise they are balanced.
- 🇨🇳 China (Seattle in the NA version): Their strong points are long-range shots and defense, but weak in dunking and speed.
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (Miami in the NA version): They have a high chance of dunking and defense, but low chance in everything else.
- 🇩🇪 Germany (Detroit in the NA version): They have the highest defense and dunking, but weak on long-range shots and speed.
Each team has a total of 18 points in several characteristics (Dunk, 3pts, Speed, and Defense), and 8pts max for each. Every team has its own strengths and weakness. For example, New York (America in the JP/EU Version) is good in dunks and bad in 3-pointers. On the other hand, Philadelphia (Taiwan in JP/EU version) is good in 3-pointers and bad in dunks.
A sequel to the game, known as Dunk Dream ’95 in Japan, Hoops ’96 in Europe, and simply Hoops in North America, was released in 1995.
You will be missed, Kobe Bryant.
See you back on the blacktop.
