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Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball FAQ
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To contact me:
[email protected]
This guide is copyright 2005 Peter Tiernan.
This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as part of a public display is strictly prohibited, and violation
of copyright.
Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball is copyright of Hudson Soft.
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Terms
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Active player- The player with two arrows behind him.
Your basket and opposing basket- I refer to the basket you're trying to put
the ball into as your basket.
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About Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball
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Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball is, in my opinion, a fun game that could
have been a hit for the Atari 2600. Instead, it ended up a flop for the SNES.
The controls can be annoying, mainly due to the fact that the game
inexplicably uses only the B button and the D pad during matches.
Here's a list of how the controls work during a match:
D pad- Move active player.
B button- While holding ball and not pushing D pad- Shoot (only works on your
half of the court)
While holding ball and pushing D pad- Pass
While not holding ball and not pushing D pad- Block
While not holding ball and pushing D pad- Tackle
Start Button- Pause
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FAQ
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Contents
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Basic
1. What penalties are used?
2. What do the different icons do?
3. What do the different statistics do?
4. What determines pairings?
5. How do you advance to the next league?
6. What determines the difficulty of the computer-controlled teams?
Strategy
7. Which team should I be?
8. Which players should I buy?
9. I just got this game. What are some good strategies?
10. I've played this game a bit. What are some good strategies?
11. I've played this game too much. What can I do to make it challenging
again?
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1. What penalties are used?
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Out- If you put the ball out of bounds, you get a penalty.
Back Court- Once the ball is on your half of the court, you cannot take it
back to the other side without being penalized.
That's it: no goal tending calls, no traveling calls, no foul calls.
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2. What do the different icons do?
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Only an active player can trigger the different icons you will find sitting on
the court. Computer controlled players will not step out of their way either
to trigger or to avoid triggering any of the icons. All icons disappear after
several seconds.
Circle with an "M" that looks more like a sideways "E" than an "M"- Mine- A
player who steps on it is knocked down (same effect as being tackled)
Oval with a "P"- Power up- All statistics are increased by one star for a few
seconds
Gray spinning disc- Coin- 10,000 dollars
Jagged white circle- Exploding saw blade- Will swoop after opposing team's
active player by an indirect route and knock him down on contact (usually
long after he has shot the ball)
Small flashing spot- Homing missile- Will go directly to opposing team's
active player and knock him down
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3. What do the different statistics do?
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Shooting- How accurately the player shoots
Speed- How fast the player runs
Passing- How accurately the player passes
Aggress- How far the player goes while tackling
Strength- How fast the player gets up after being tackled
Agility- How fast the player gets up after tackling
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4. What determines pairings?
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The eight teams in the division are listed at the beginning of the season as
follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Game 1 pairings:
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
Game 2 pairings:
1-3
2-4
5-7
6-8
Game 3 pairings:
1-4
2-3
5-8
6-7
Game 4 pairings:
1-5
2-6
3-7
4-8
Game 5 pairings:
1-6
2-5
3-8
4-7
Game 6 pairings:
1-7
2-8
3-5
4-6
Game 7 pairings:
1-8
2-7
3-6
4-5
Games 8-14 are repeats of games 1-7.
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5. How do you advance to the next league?
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A season is 14 games. After each season, the top two teams in each league
advance to the league above, and the bottom two teams in each league get moved
down to the league below.
Ties are broken by beginning season standings. If two teams finish the season
with the same record, the one that was ranked higher at the beginning of the
season will be ranked higher.
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6. What determines the difficulty of the computer-controlled teams?
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When you start a new game, it sets a heirarchy of all the teams in the game
based on which team you picked. In Division 3, the first team you face will
be the easiest and the last team you face will be the hardest. When you move
on to other divisions, you will encounter the same situation because the more
difficult teams will have had the best records the previous season, and the
less difficult teams will have had the worst records.
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7. Which team should I be?
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The only time this could be a factor is in the case of a tie at the end of the
first season. If you think you might need that tiebreaker, take the Danger
Dudes. Otherwise, it doesn't matter at all.
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8. Which players should I buy?
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There is quite a list of players you can buy for your squad, but there might
as well only be 4:
Bill Laimbeer- 2,000,000 dollars- Clearly the best player in the game, but
also the most expensive by a million dollars.
Gary Cento- 960,000 dollars and Mike Alpha- 900,000 dollars- These two are
very similar: less than half the cost of Bill Laimbeer, and only missing one
and two stars in Aggress respectively. What's the catch? There isn't one.
Ignore all of those million dollar players, because these two are better. I
would highly recommend buying one of these as soon as possible, even if your
plan is to get five Laimbeers as early as possible: one of these guys can
win a game by himself, and pick up 30 coins in the process. You'll make
your money back in no time.
Joel- 95,000 dollars- I don't get it. Why is this guy on the list? He's the
worst player in the whole game!
Exactly. After you play it a few times, Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball
gets very easy. Provided you buy good players, it never gets any harder
than it is in Division 3. Early in Division 2, you can have a squad of
players that will make any Super League team seem like the Danger Dudes.
To make the game more challenging, play with five Joels.
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9. I just got this game. What are some good strategies?
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Chain score:
When you score a basket, the opposing team will get a throw-in under your
basket. As soon as the thrower releases the ball, tackle the receiver and
score another basket. Repeat as many times as you can.
Throw it out:
If you think you're about to be tackled, just pitch the ball out of bounds.
In this game, throw-ins benefit the defense more than the offense: setting up
from a fixed location, it's much easier to tackle your opponent when he has
the ball than it is to avoid being tackled by your opponent when you have the
ball.
This tactic is often the right call when your opponent scores on you: unless
you're sure you can get the ball past the defense, just throw it in close to
the sideline and immediately pitch it back out of bounds. You don't run the
risk of turning the ball over right under your opponent's basket; instead they
get a throw-in from the corner, which you should usually be able to take away
from them.
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10. I've played this game a bit. What are some good strategies?
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Use the little map in the corner of the screen:
It's useful, mainly for the next two strategies. Learn to use it, or get a
feel for where your players will be: it's predictable.
Use the jump button:
You will almost always have a defender close to your opponent's basket. When
your opponent is making a break for the basket, locate the defender and try to
get him under the basket. (This can be annoying, as you won't be able to
control him until he's the active player). When the opponent shoots, pick it
off. Usually, the next thing you want to do is fling the ball out of bounds
before the opponent tackles you and takes another shot. This tactic is key to
winning the Super League with a squad of Joels.
Pass the ball:
There will be times when you'll want to do it. Using the map helps with this.
Often it's just as easy to throw the ball out of bounds and then take it back
on the throw in as it is to find an open receiver. However, sometimes you
won't have an open lane to get the ball out of bounds, and sometimes a pass
can put the ball in a better position for you than an opposing throw-in can.
Besides, the clock goes slow enough without stopping it every time you get
close to a defender.
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11. I've played this game too much. What can I do to make it challenging
again?
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Ah, how I miss the days (ok, day) when Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball
presented a challenge. Here's what I do sometimes:
-As soon as you can, trade all of your players for Joels.
-Get to the Super League.
-Don't play the game for at least 8 months.
-Beat the Super League.
(Note that if you have a save in the Super League, you don't have to do the
very time-consuming second step).
I've never failed to beat the Super League doing this, but the first few games
are challenging. There have even been rare occasions on which I've managed to
lose a game. But Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball has Cro-Magnon AI, and
there's nothing you can do to change that.
