''Arch Rivals'' is a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

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released by Midway for arcades in 1989. Billed by Midway as "A Basket Brawl", the game features two-on-two full court basketball games in which players are encouraged to punch opposing players and steal the ball from them. ''Arch Rivals'' was the second basketball video game released by Midway, sixteen years after ''

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'' (1974). ''Arch Rivals'' allows players to select from a variety of fictional teams (although arcade operators can change the team names to reflect real ones) and players. One playable character, "Tyrone" was also featured in the animated ''

The Power Team The Power Team is a group of Christians, Christian Evangelism, evangelists, based in Dallas, Texas. They incorporate their preaching with displays of strength and martial arts skills. They were founded in the late 1970s by John Jacobs (evangeli ...

'' segments of the television series ''

Video Power ''Video Power'' is an American television series that aired in two different formats from 1990 to 1992 in syndication. Both formats revolved around video games, and actor Stivi Paskoski presided over both series playing video game master Johnny Ar ...

''. In turn, the game has been considered a forerunner to Midway's popular arcade basketball game, ''

NBA Jam ''NBA Jam'' (sometimes "Jam" for short) is a long-running basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digiti ...

''. Home versions of the game were released for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

, the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

/Mega Drive as well as the

Game Gear The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990, in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily competed with Nintendo's Game Boy, ...

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versions of the game were included in the compilations ''

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' is the second collection of classic arcade games published by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox (not compatible with Xbox 360), and GameCube. This compilation includes 20 games that were not in the 2003 re ...

'', ''

Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition ''Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition'' is an arcade compilation released exclusively for Microsoft Windows on February 15, 2006 in North America, and on March 17, 2006 in PAL regions. It is a compilation of ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' and ' ...

'', and ''

Midway Arcade Origins ''Midway Arcade Origins'' is an arcade compilation released on November 6, 2012, in North America and in Australia. It is the successor to the ''Midway Arcade Treasures'' series, and includes a selection of games that were included in those compila ...

''.

Gameplay

Games generally follow standard basketball rules; a full game consists of four quarters, with four minutes each. Each team has two players, and the objective of the game is to outscore the opponent until the final buzzer sounds. A player can call for his teammate to pass him the ball or to shoot it in this

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e. If the game results in a tie after four quarters, multiple sudden death

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periods are added, in which case whoever scores the next basket will win the game. Every overtime period is one minute. If, however, no score occurs after overtime the procedure repeats. The difference between ''Arch Rivals'' and other basketball titles is the ability to freely punch an opposing player without penalty and steal the ball away. The referee will only call

shot clock A shot clock is a countdown timer used in a variety of games and sports, proving a set amount of time that a team may possess the object of play before attempting to score a goal. Shot clocks are used in several sports including basketball, wat ...

violations. Also unique to the game are various on-court hazards such as soda cans and candy wrappers thrown onto the floor. If a ballhandler steps on those, he falls onto the floor allowing his opponent to steal the ball from him. Players could also fall over the referee in the same way as the objects on the floor, as well as steal the ball with a maneuver called the "flying leap" where the player would jump forwards at the opposition ball carrier. If the maneuver missed, the player would roll along the floor. If successful, the player would tackle the opposition holding the ball. In the Arcade version the "flying leap" would pull the opposition's shorts down, revealing the opponent's underwear. There are eight playable characters, each with a unique characteristic. The teams in ''Arch Rivals'' are selected at random, with Player 1 playing as the home team and Player 2 (or the computer) as the away team. The teams in the arcade version are

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, Natural High and Brawl State. Also, the arcade operator can customize the team names and colors through the game's "Hometown Heroes" feature.

Ports

The four home

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of the game have lower-quality graphics than the arcade version, due to being released on 8 and 16-bit systems. The NES version of the game contains a glitch where a 3-point dunk can be achieved. The Sega Genesis version received poorer reception due to a glitch where almost 95% of shots taken from anywhere on the court would result in a basket. It was also included on ''

'' for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

, ''

'' for the PC, and ''

'' for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

Reception

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'' and ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' published positive reviews of ''Arch Rivals'', while commenting that the game was best suited to fans of the sport.

References

External links

Arch Rivals
at ''Arcade-History'' * {{Rare 1989 video games Arcade video games Basketball video games Fantasy sports video games Game Gear games Midway video games National Basketball Association video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Sega Genesis games Video games scored by Dan Forden Video games scored by David Wise Video games scored by Mark Cooksey Video games developed in the United States All articles needing additional references Multiplayer and single-player video games Arc Developments games

Gameplay

Ports

Reception

See also

References

External links