Fox Sports College Hoops '99

Developer: Z-Axis Publisher: Fox Sports Interactive

Released: November 23, 1998 Rated: E 5/10

Sometimes games are just good enough to get a “meh” review by not being outright broken or offensively bad (at least not in too many ways), and not being as bad as similar titles on the system. This essentially sums up my feelings about Fox Sports College Hoops ‘99. The only college sports affiliated title on the N64, it’s decidedly average nature also helps it occupy a niche that’s surprisingly barren otherwise, especially given the total quantity of sports titles on the system.

Far from the greatest looking models, but about right for the standard of 1998 for sports titles

So it’s a fine, functional basketball title. I’ve seen lots of talk from others that this is bottom of the barrel, but being able to get through at least a March tournament’s worth of games without breaking down suggests it’s not quite so dire. This is perhaps maybe except for the visuals, which are sub-PS1 levels of jagged and messy. Definitely beyond rough. But for a basketball title on the N64, sadly, you could do worse, but you still could do so much better.

Continuing Legacy

This forgettable basketball title doesn’t have much influence to dole out, but shoutout to developer Z-Axis who had a strong early 2000s run with extreme sports titles including Aggressive Inline and the Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX titles which are still some of the most beloved of many extreme sports games in the wake of Tony Hawk’s success.