Released just a year after the console's debut, "Basketball" recreates a one-on-one match with a side view that forced players to read jumps and shot timing rather than memorize plays. It was programmed by Alan Miller, one of the Atari designers who, shortly after, unhappy about getting no credit or royalties for their games, would go on to found Activision.
Today it plays as a piece of sports-game archaeology: crude by current standards, but a pioneer in trying to translate the rhythm of a court sport into a handful of pixels.
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