Game Description

College Slam is basically NBA Jam with college teams. A total of 44 colleges are included, but none of their players are. Players are identified by their positions and each has a variety of strengths and weaknesses.

The game features two-on-two unrealistic basketball action. Push players to the floor and go for a super dunk. With no fouls and no out-of-bounds the action only stops when the timer runs out. Thirteen different power-ups will have players catching fire, performing monster dunks from anywhere on the floor, and many other unbelievable feats.

A few different modes of play exist. Semi finals and tournament modes allow you to advance through each round on your way to the championship. In season mode you must defeat 20 teams in order to win.

By entering your initials you can have individual records kept for wins, losses, and your current winning streak. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

College Slam is basically NBA Jam with a college license. NBA Jam was originally featured in the Arcades and later ported to home consoles during the 16-bit era. Along with College Slam, other spinoffs include NBA Jam Extreme and NBA Jam T.E. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Gameplay is fast and exciting. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

College Slam is split down the middle. Some things are good while others suffer. If you own any version of NBA Jam then you really won't find anything new in this game except for college logos.

Controls are very responsive. Even though the Saturn controller has eight buttons (nine if you count the start button) the game only uses the three primary buttons: A, B, and C. This was a very good choice because some versions of NBA Jam have complex controls when they try to use all of the buttons.

Graphically the game is not that far behind the arcade versions of NBA Jam. The courts are crisp and the floors are glossy. One feature does contain bad graphics though, there are some sort of live action video screens that have been painted over. It is strange they put these special effects on the video sequences; it looks terrible. There is really no need for these screens anyway.

Sounds are a mixed bag. They are quite clear and sound really good. The problem is that they tend to disappear for extended periods of time. When a game begins the music is pumping and then it quickly fades away. Of course the announcer is included but he also pauses for long periods of time. Once in a while the crowd gets excited when you push players but even that does not last long.

Another problem is the loading time. College Slam has to load each screen which is very time consuming. What is really annoying is when the computer calls a timeout. First their roster screen has to load and then they make changes in a split second. There is no reason to go to the computer's roster screen. All that needed to be done was to flash on the game screen that the computer made substitutions. You don't even get to make any during the computer's timeout, you have to call your own timeout and wait for another screen to load.

Too bad there are no player names. A few years after the game's release no one will be able to remember who each player is, that is if they even know to begin with. Maybe if they had an option that allowed us to enter player names, which could have avoided any licensing problems that may have occurred.

Overall College Slam is fun to play, especially if your favorite college is included. More sound and less loading time could have really helped this game though. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Action screens look good. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Sounds are great but they are not around for the whole game. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

A variety of teams and play modes. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

I don't like the format or the black pages. It makes it difficult to find the information you are looking for. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide