Team USA Basketball

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NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Team USA Basketball
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Electronic Arts (US, Europe), Electronic Arts Victor (Japan)
Developer: Electronic Arts
Supporting companies: E.J. Sarraille Design Group (package design)
Genre: Sports (basketball)
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-12-26 ¥7,800 (8,034)7,800e EM20004 US 1992-08 $49.9549.95 714801 EU 1992-10-07 E069SMXI DE 1992 DM 119.95119.95 E069SMXI UK 1992-10-07 £39.9939.99 E069SMXI

Team USA Basketball, known in Japan as Dream Team USA (ドリームチームＵＳＡ), is a 1992 basketball game for the Sega Mega Drive by Electronic Arts.

Its name refers to the United States national basketball team, making this one of the first, if not the first, basketball games with a focus on international basketball teams rather than US city teams. The 1992 United States Olympic basketball team was nicknamed the "Dream Team" as it featured many of the greatest players in the NBA at or near the peak of their careers: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls, John Stockton and Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz, Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks, Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors, David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers, Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers, and NCAA player Christian Laettner. The team was undefeated at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games.

Gameplay

The game is a five-on-five basketball simulation featuring international teams that competed in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. It can be played by one or two players. It plays very similarly to previous games in Electronic Arts' NBA Playoffs series, with some modifications to account for the differences in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules used at the Olympics. Games are divided into two halves rather than four quarters, the shot clock is 30 seconds rather than 24, players are ejected after five personal fouls rather than six, and the three-point line and key vary in size and shape.

There are fifteen teams and one court. Games are broken into two halves, and the team with the most points at the end wins. A basket from inside the three-point line is worth two points, and any other basket is worth three points. The three-point line on a FIBA court is closer to the basket than on NBA courts. In the event of a tie, the teams play five-minute overtime periods until a winner is decided.

Fouls are called for traveling (if a player moves after he stops dribbling), charging (running into a defensive player who is set), failing to shoot the ball after having it for 30 seconds, failing to advance the ball into the defense's half of the court within 10 seconds, crossing back into the offense's side of the court after crossing into the defense's side, failing to throw the ball back into play within 5 seconds, and running out of bounds with the ball. Most fouls give possession of the ball to the other team, but fouling another player gives him a free throw.

	Tip-Off
	At the beginning of the first and third periods, the teams meet in the center of the court and try to gain possession of a jump ball to start the game on offense. The tip-off starts by pressing  START , then a player from each team jumps with when the whistle is blown and the ball is thrown.
	Defense
	The player under control has a star follow him on the ground (white for player one, black for player two) and moves in any direction using the D-Pad. The player under control can be switched by pressing ; the game initially changes to the player closest to the ball, but repeated presses of cycle through all of the players on the team. The player can jump with to try to block a shot by the opponent. The player can try to steal the ball from an opponent by pressing .
	Offense
	The player with the ball has a star follow him on the ground (white for player one, black for player two) and moves in any direction using the D-Pad. The player dribbles automatically while moving. The player starts a jump shot by holding and shoots the ball when is released. Releasing quickly does a fake shot (but moving again after this is a traveling foul). The player's accuracy is determined by his statistics, his position (guards and forwards are better at shooting), and how closely he is being guarded. Every player on Team USA and one player from every other team (with the exceptions of the CIS and Italy) has a "marquee shot" that he performs when shooting from a certain spot on the court. The player can always do a jump shot (instead of a fake shot or a marquee shot depending on the situation) by holding instead. The player can pass to ball to a teammate by pressing . Passes are made to the nearest teammate who is facing the player with the ball, and control changes to the player who receives the pass if the player is under control of the computer and not the other human player (in two-player coop games). After the other team scores or commits a foul, the player's team gets possession of the ball. A player stands on the sidelines and throws the ball to the nearest teammate he is facing by pressing . The player can rotate using the D-Pad to face a different player. When the player's team has possession of the ball, the player can call a time-out by pausing the game with  START , then pressing . This brings up the player statistics screen, where players can be substituted. This screen is also shown before every period. Each team can call up to five time-outs per half. Substitutions can also optionally be made after a foul has been called.
	Free Throw
	An offensive player is given free throws if fouled by a defensive player. The offensive player gets one free throw if fouled while shooting and the shot goes in; the offensive player gets two free throws if the offensive player is fouled while shooting and the shot misses (three free throws if the shot was taken outside the three-point line) or if the offensive player is fouled when the defensive player reaches in and there have already been 7 defensive team fouls in the half. Second and third free throws are only done if the free throws taken before make it in. Free throws use a "T-meter" that works similar to a golf game. A basketball moves back and forth through the horizontal bar first. Pressing stops the ball and decides the aim of the shot. Then a basketball moves up and down through the vertical bar. The ball moves slower for players with higher free throw percentages (which makes the shot easier). Pressing stops the ball and determines the power of the throw. For both bars, the optimal area is in the center and marked by white lines.

Modes

Tournament chart

There are two game modes:

• Exhibition: Plays a single game. It can be played by a single player against the computer, by two players (on the same team) against the computer, or by two players (controlling separate teams) against each other. There are three difficulty levels (Pre-Season, Reg-Season, and Showtime) for computer players, and players can select the length of each half (5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes) and the play mode (Arcade or Simulation). Players can select the same team twice for a mirror match.
• Tournament: Plays a tournament. All of the teams are divided into two pools of seven teams, then each team plays a preliminary round against every team in their pool. The four teams with the best records from each pool (eight teams total) advance to the medal round, which is broken into quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. If the player's team is eliminated in the semi-finals, the player plays a consolation game for the bronze medal. The loser of the finals wins the silver medal, and the winner is awarded the gold medal. This mode can be played by a single player or by two players cooperatively against the computer. It is always played at Showtime difficulty and using Simulation rules, but players can select the length of each half (5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes). The player is given a seven-character password after each game for continuing.

There are two play modes:

• Arcade: Players never tire. The game does not keep track of fouls. This mode is not available for Tournament games.
• Simulation: Players become fatigued over the course of the game. Players have a fatigue level (FTG) from 1 to 4 (with 4 being full strength) and start to move slower, jump shorter, and miss more shots when their fatigue level decreases to 2. Slams tire players out faster. Players must be rotated in and out of the game during time-outs or between periods so they can rest. The game keeps track of fouls and ejects a player after committing five fouls.

Teams

Team select

Country information

The teams in Team USA Basketball loosely reflect the nations that competed in basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics. There are notable omissions, possibly to reflect the standings in the older 1990 FIBA World Championship, such as the inclusion of Yugoslavia, the champions from that tournament. The explanation behind choosing teams such as France and the Netherlands over more competitive countries such as Brazil is unclear.

Note that, at launch, Yugoslavia no longer existed as a country, and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States; formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union) had competed in its last sporting fixture under that name.

The All World team is composed of the best players from every team.

Before a match, the game shows a screen of information about each country playing (with the exception of the All World team).

• Angola
• Australia
• Canada
• China
• The CIS
• Croatia
• France
• Italy
• Lithuania
• Netherlands
• Slovenia
• Spain
• United States
• Yugoslavia
• All World

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Team USA Basketball	Team USA Basketball
English (US)	Team USA Basketball	Team USA Basketball
Japanese	ドリームチームＵＳＡ	Dream Team USA

Production credits

• Programming by: Jeff Lefferts, Lisa Ching
• Graphics and Animation by: Cynthia Hamilton, Paul Vernon, Julie Gast
• Sound and Music by: Rob Hubbard
• Executive Producer: Don Traeger
• Associate Producer: Happy Keller
• Assistant Producer: Gerald McLane
• Technical Director: Edwin Reich
• Original Design by: Robert Weatherby

Source:

In-game credits

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• Design and Programming: Lisa Ching, Edwin Reich, Jeff Lefferts
• Original Design: Robert Weatherby
• Additional Design: Happy Keller
• Art: Cynthia Hamilton, Paul Vernon, Julie Cressa
• Producers: Don Traeger, Happy Keller
• Assistant Producer: Gerald McLane
• Technical Director: Edwin Reich
• Sounds and Music: Rob Hubbard
• Product Management: Karen Schulman
• Package Design: E.J. Sarraille Design Group
• Artists' Photo: Barry Muniz
• Documentation: J. Poolos
• Documentation Layout: Emily Favors
• Testing: Randy Delucchi, Scott Gilliland
• Quality Assurance: Glenn Chin, Rob Cavaness

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Team USA Basketball/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in (US) #39: "October 1992" (1992-xx-xx)
also published in:

• (US) #bg93: "1993 Video Game Buyer's Guide" (199x-xx-xx)

Print advert in (JP) #1992-12: "December 1992" (1992-11-07)

Print advert in (JP) #1993-01: "January 1993" (1992-12-08)

Print advert in (GR) #96: "Fevrouários 1993" (1993-0x-xx)

File:TeamUSA TV advert GR.mp4

GR TV advert

File:TeamUSA TV advert GR.mp4

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (RU) 60 (RU) 70 (JP) NTSC-J 58 (FR) 92 (IT) 81 (US) NTSC-U 70 (UK) 80 (JP) NTSC-J 55 (UK) 86 (IT) 72 (US) NTSC-U 88 (DE) 73 (JP) NTSC-J 40 (FR) PAL 80 (FR) PAL 79 (UK) PAL 62 (UK) PAL 62 (JP) NTSC-J 67 (UK) PAL 72 (UK) 88 (UK) PAL 80 (SI) 46 (JP) NTSC-J 59 (FR) 80 (DE) 73 (UK) PAL 64 (UK) PAL 70 (UK) PAL 70 (JP) NTSC-J 63 (FR) 88 (RU) 58 (RU) 54 (US) NTSC-U 80 (DE) 67

	70
Based on 34 reviews

Team USA Basketball

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, FR
Manual

Technical information

Main article: Team USA Basketball/Technical information.