Back in college I don’t think my friends and I enjoyed almost any game more than NBA Jam: Tournament Edition on the SNES. While it was never really the deepest game in the world, the pure fun of it, easy action, and straightforward controls it offered up were really tough to beat. Sadly, since that time I can’t say I’ve run into another game with that same strong core design, accessibility, and satisfying sports play… until now. While on the surface Basketball Classics may look like a relatively simple 5-on-5 throwback, it absolutely has the beating heart of a determined over-achiever, supplementing a classic look with smart and fun modern flourishes.

The foundation that helps set the game up for success is its relatively simple 3-button controls. On offense you can pass or shoot, with the ability to pick who you’re sending the ball to by simply running in their direction or manually switching between players. For ranged shots all you’ll need to do is hold down the shoot button briefly, looking for your player’s accuracy gauge, and trying to release at the peak of their jump. On defense it isn’t much different, with the ability to switch through your players, attempt to steal, or go for a block. All of this adheres pretty closely to old-school basketball titles, and with just that you could probably get a decent game going.

What elevates this experience to the next level though is what it layers on top of that. When you go for a big dunk against defenders you’ll sometimes need to quickly tap a button to close the gap between you and the basket quickly, but other times you’ll need to essentially try to fake out your defender who’s trying to deny you. You’ll each be able to position yourselves into a high, low, or mid height, and if they match the defender will get the block. Of course, this is also stat based so if one player is significantly better than the other their ability to execute more adjustments will likely make it easy for them to win these mini battles. As you get further into the flow of things you’ll also have the option to call set plays that will give you even better opportunities to make critical shots to help shape the outcome of each game. It’s truly a surprise that a game with such a humble base look can have so much going on in it, looking and feeling like a fun title from yesteryear, but packing in thoughtful design that feels very contemporary.