What is One on One?

One on One is a basketball simulation game for very early Macintosh.  Altough it's B&W, One on One features realistic sound effects and original gameplay.  You control your character using the mouse and jump to shoot (or to block) by clicking the mouse button.  The computer AI is nicely done as it sometimes misses the basket or does rebounds to help make more real.

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Julius Erving and Larry Bird going head to head would be a basketball confrontanon to take your breath away. In One on One, Electronic Arts’ programmer Eric Hammond brings this dream match to the Mac screen. Hammond studied hundreds of game films and action photos and consulted with both athletes to reproduce the players’ styles and strategies in their digital counterparts.

Jump Ball 

One on One ofters four levels of competition: Park and Rec, Varsity, College, and Pro. You can assume the role of either player while the computer takes the other, or two people can play against cach other. The game includes a 24-second clock, a referee who calls fouls, and instant replays. Animation of the athletes and sound effects, such as the squeak of rubber-soled shoes, add a degree of authenticity. For further realism, a fatigue bar for each player indicates his condition; if your man has expended alot of energy running and jumping, he slows down, and his shooting and defensive skills wilt. You can reenergize him by dribbling in place or by taking a time-out.

Both players shoot with either hand and execute realistic reverse lay-ups, jump shots, and a variety of dunks. They have, however, no hook shots in their repertoire. And regrettably, you cannot control the type of shot your man takes. 

Occasionally play is halted by a slam dunk that disintegrates the backboard. A little man shuffles out, sweeps away the broken glass, and utters some unintelligible phrase. Slow-motion instant replays sometimes appear, but like the foul calls and backboard-exploding dunks, they occur randomly. After seeing these gimmicks a few times, you Il wish for a way to terminate them forever.

Mouse versus Joystick

Your opponent, whether Bird or Erving, is a deadly shooter from anywhere on the court. And maneuvering with the mouse, rather than a joystick, has serious limitations. You can’t move your player to the basket for rebounds after missing an outside shot, for example. Instead, you flounder helplessly in the backcourt while your opponent dunks the ball with impunity. The offensive player cannot beat the defender to the basket; in fact, from Varsity level and beyond, I was unable to move past my opponent and drive to the basket. Forget playing against Erving or Bird at the higher levels with the mouse—you'll get crushed. However, with a little experience and the joystick, your chances for scoring improve.

The Coach’s Advice 

The game offers a sense of NBA magic. Hammond captures the styles of both superstars, even though you experience only a few facets of their true talents—those that can be statistically represented. I found the game absorbing because of the degree of realism, but unless you use a joystick, you will be at an unfair disadvantage.

Miller, Richard. (September 1986). One on One. Macworld. (pgs. 178, 180).

Download One on One for Mac

Architecture

Motorola 68K

System Requirements

From Mac OS 1.0 up to Mac OS 6.0

Compatibility notes

System 1 - System 6

This runs on any 68K Mac with System 6 or older (not compatible with system 7 and up).

Note 1: This game runs too fast on recent hardware, even in vMac, but you can set vMac's speed to 1X and it's good.

Note 2: This game was meant to work as a boot disc, so when you quit the game, it reboots the system.

 

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Mini vMac