Basketball AllStars

About Basketball AllStars

Basketball AllStars is arcade basketball at its most direct: pick a team, enter the tournament, and win games with dunks, three-pointers and a fair amount of shoving. Blocking and slapping the ball loose are legitimate tactics here, so possession swings constantly and no lead is comfortable.

The supershot bar along the top is what shapes a match. Fill it and you get one shot that scores from anywhere on the floor, which means the losing player is always one steal away from a comeback — the reason two-player sessions never stop at one game.

How to play

Move and jump with the arrow keys, press Down to block or pump-fake, X to steal or shoot, and Z to release your supershot once the bar at the top of the screen is full. Play the tournament solo against the CPU, or hand the second control set to a friend for a same-keyboard match.

Controls

• Arrows — move & jump
• Down arrow — block / pump
• X — steal / shoot, Z — supershot

Tips to win

• Do not spend the supershot the moment it fills; hold it for the possession that decides the game.
• Steal on the release, not the dribble — the ball is loosest as your rival goes up.
• Jumping to block a pump-fake is the single most punished mistake here; stay grounded when unsure.

Basketball AllStars strategy guide

Arrows to move and jump, Down to block or pump, X to steal and shoot, Z for the supershot. Five functions across four keys, and the overlaps are deliberate: X does different things depending on whether you have the ball, and the Down arrow is both your block and your pump fake. Knowing which one you are about to get is most of the skill.

The pump fake wins more possessions than the block. Because Down also blocks, an opponent who sees you press it expects a shot attempt and commits upward. Faking, letting them come down, then shooting is the highest-percentage offence in the game, and it works repeatedly on human opponents because the alternative — never faking — is worse for them.

Steal with X on defence, but only from the side. Pressing X while your opponent has the ball attempts a steal, and mistiming it leaves you out of position while they drive past. The reliable steal is the one taken as they turn or land, not the one taken head-on while they are still in control of the ball.

Watch the supershot bar, not the scoreboard. The bar at the top of the screen fills as you play, and once it is full Z scores from anywhere on the floor — the game says it never fails. That makes it the single most important resource in a close game. Do not spend it on a possession you would have scored anyway; hold it for a moment when you are behind and need a certainty rather than a chance.

Blocking and slapping are legal and underused. The game lets you knock your opponent out to take the ball, which means a purely offensive player is giving away free possessions. In the two-player mode especially, the person who defends between scores wins the tournament, because the scoring is fast enough that possession count decides games.

Basketball AllStars FAQ