Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs

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NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
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)
Licensor: NBA Properties
Genre: Sports (basketball)
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-07-30 ¥8,9008,900 EM20017 US 1993-02-28 720201 EU 1993 E040SMXI UK 1993-05 E040SMXI AU 1993
Non-Sega versions No results

Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs, known in Japan as NBA Playoffs: Bulls vs Blazers (NBAプレイオフ ブルズ VS ブレイザーズ), is a 1993 basketball game by Electronic Arts for the Sega Mega Drive. It is the sequel to Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA Playoffs.

The title is a reference to the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trail Blazers, who were the two teams in the 1992 NBA Finals.

Bulls versus Blazers was the last in Electronic Arts' NBA Playoffs series, with the company being more ambitious in the following year with NBA Showdown '94, which contained every team in the NBA 1993 season.

Gameplay

The game is a five-on-five basketball simulation featuring teams from the 1992 NBA playoffs. It can be played by one or two players. It is largely the same as its predecessor but adds a custom team editor and the ability to customize the behavior of defensive team members.

There are eighteen teams and one court. Games are broken into four periods, 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. In the event of a tie, the teams play five-minute overtime periods (two minutes when playing with two-minute 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 24 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 under some conditions, the fouled player gets a free throw.

	Tip-Off
	At the beginning of the first period, 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. Two players from every team 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. Holding causes a star to flash under the player who will receive the pass when is released (but the player cannot move while doing this). 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 does not go in or if the defensive team has committed 5 or more team fouls. The second free throw is only done if the first makes 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

Defense Set-Up

Playoff tree

There are two game modes:

• One Game: 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 period (2, 5, 8, or 12 minutes) and the play mode (Arcade or Simulation). Players can select the same team twice for a mirror match.
• Tournament: Plays a playoff series. There are three rounds: quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. All rounds are played to the best of seven games against each team. 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 period (2, 5, 8, or 12 minutes). The player is given an eight-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 six fouls.

After starting a game, the "Defense Set-Up" screen appears, which controls the behavior of defensive players in the game:

• Press Type: Can be set to Full Court (the team pressures the opposing team all over the court) or Half Court (the team only pressures the opposing team when they are in the defender's side of the court).
• Press Level: Can be set to Off, Passive, Normal, or Aggressive.
• Steal N Block: Can be set to Normal, Aggressive, or Passive.

More aggressive defense fatigues players faster when playing in Simulation mode.

Teams

Team select

All sixteen NBA teams from the 1992 playoffs are present in Bulls versus Blazers. Each conference also has an all-star team consisting of its best players, which cannot be used in the Tournament mode.

Conference	Team	Players
Western	Portland Trail Blazers
	Los Angeles Clippers
	Utah Jazz
	Los Angeles Lakers
	San Antonio Spurs
	Phoenix Suns
	Seattle SuperSonics
	Golden State Warriors
	All Stars West
Eastern	Chicago Bulls
	Cleveland Cavaliers
	Boston Celtics
	Miami Heat
	New York Knicks
	New Jersey Nets
	Indiana Pacers
	Detroit Pistons
	All Stars East

Custom teams

Custom Team Builder

Choosing one "Custom West" or "Custom East" for a team brings up the Custom Team Builder, which lets the player form a custom team from the starting fives of the other teams (from either conference). The same player can be added to the team multiple times. There is no way to save a custom team, and like all-star teams, they cannot be used in Tournament mode.

The top half of the screen shows the starting fives from every team. and scroll through the list of players. The bottom half of the screen shows the custom team, which is divided into five starters and seven reliefs. adds a player from the top to the current team slot on the bottom, while and move to the previous and next slots respectively in the custom team. When the player is done,  START  finishes.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs	Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
English (US)	Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs	Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
Japanese	NBAプレイオフ ブルズ VS ブレイザーズ	NBA Playoffs: Bulls vs Blazers

Production credits

• Genesis Programming By: John Novak, Lisa Ching
• Graphics and Animation By: Cynthia Hamilton, Paul Vernon
• Sound and Music By: Michael Bartlow
• Technical Director: Rob Harris
• Produced By: Don Traeger
• Assistant Producer: Todd Gilliland
• Original Design By: Robert Weatherby

Source:

In-game credits

---

• Design and Programming: John Novak, Lisa Ching
• Original Design: Robert Weatherby
• Art: Cynthia Hamilton, Paul Vernon
• Producer: Don Traeger
• Assistant Producer: Todd Gililand
• Technical Director: Robert Harris
• Sounds and Music: Michael Bartlow
• Product Management: Gary Gettys
• Package Art Direction: Nancy Waisanen
• Package Design: E.J. Sarraille Design Group
• Cover Photo: Courtesy of NBA Photos
• Documentation: R.J. Berg, J. Poolos, Marti McKenna
• Documentation Design & Layout: Corinne R. Mah
• Testing: Ken Rogers, Kevin Hogan
• Testing Manager: Randy Delucchi
• Quality Assurance: Terrence Chin, Walter Ianneo

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

File:Bulls versus Blazers MD US TVAdvert.mp4

US TV Advert

File:Bulls versus Blazers MD US TVAdvert.mp4

US print advert

Print advert in Mega Force (FR) #18: "Juin 1993" (1993-0x-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 40 Alaab Alcomputtar (SA) 78 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 60 Consoles + (FR) 90 Dengeki Mega Drive (JP) NTSC-J 49 Digitiser (UK) PAL 75 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 90 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 40 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 60 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 85 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 30 Hyper (AU) 79 Mega Force (FR) 81 Player One (FR) 77 Power Unlimited (NL) NTSC 80 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 89 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 62 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 70 Video Games (DE) PAL 56

	68
Based on 19 reviews

Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual Scratch Card

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, US (Limited Edition)
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs/Technical information.