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 battle royale. If the game results in a tie after four quarters, multiple sudden death (sport), sudden death overtime (sports), overtime 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 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 Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, New York, New York, New York, Denver, Colorado, Denver, 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 porting, ports 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 ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' for the PlayStation 2, Xbox (console), Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, GameCube, ''Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition'' for the Personal computer, PC, and ''Midway Arcade Origins'' for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.Reception
''Sinclair User'' and ''Computer and Video Games'' published positive reviews of ''Arch Rivals'', while commenting that the game was best suited to fans of the sport.See also
* Double Dribble (video game), ''Double Dribble'' (1986 video game) * NBA Jam (1993 video game), ''NBA Jam'' (1993 video game) *''Basketbrawl'' *''Pigskin 621 A.D.''References
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