Sega Genesis Vs Sega Saturn - College Slam

In Season 11 of Retro Comparisons we take a look every Genesis/Mega Drive game that made its way over to its true successor, the Sega Saturn.

[MikeC-pstc]

Saturn's sprite engine did well here! I have never played this but it would have been fun to play as college teams! Otherwise it is just another NBA Jam. Nicely done as always!

[jediknightgeo]

It's amazing how goddamn LAZY Acclaim were.

[shotgunl]

Nice comparison: it's nice to see these two side-by-side. This one's a bit of a wildcard for me: I only ever owned the DOS version of College Slam, so I'm not as familiar with the other versions unlike the Midway NBA Jam/Hangtime games. I've played each of the versions, but only a very small bit of the Saturn and PSX versions and little more of the SNES and Genesis ports. I think Iguana did a decent job with this game. I'd rather play any version of Hangtime and some versions of NBA Jam TE, but I was quite interested in NCAA basketball at the time, more so than NBA ball by the time this came out. So, I did enjoy this, even if it's not quite as good as Midway's own efforts. I prefer the DOS version because to me the Saturn and PSX versions feel a bit off but that's probably just having played it so much on the DOS version back then. I like the Genesis version 2nd best just because it has the in-game music and like the control layout. The DOS port has more in-game music than the Saturn and PSX game but it's not a constant tune either. However, in DOSBox, I've only ever been able to get the music to work correctly with my original CD-ROM. Whether my own multi-track rips or others I've found and tried, I can't get all of the music to work in DOSBox from an disc image no matter whether mounting inside or outside DOSBox. DosBox-X doesn't even play the music correctly from the original CD...sigh...Well, sure, I would have loved a college basketball game running on the NBA Hangtime engine, but nothing like that ever happened. College Slam was good enough for me at the time, so I don't consider it as big of a disappointment as others do. At least the DOS version feels like a college expansion pack of Iguana's DOS port of NBA Jam TE, and that was right exactly what I was looking for at the time.

[baronhausenpheffer]

I had no idea that College Slam was basically NBA Jam with a college roster. Might have to check that out! On the comparison, both versions look good for their respective systems, but I really miss the Genesis's funky music in the Saturn version. Is there an option to turn it on? Or did they just leave it out so that the fight song could play when you make a basket?

[rh]

Didn't play college slam as much as NBA Jam but I enjoyed it

[ExtremeWreck]

Acclaim's dumb attempt to make a spiritual successor to NBA Jam, despite Midway making NBA Hangtime, & also despite Acclaim owning the NBA Jam brand.