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Basketball
篮球
Basketball is a two-player arcade sports game released by Atari in 1979. Each player controls a basketball player on a half-court setup, attempting to score points against their opponent. Players use a joystick to move their on-court character and a button to shoot or steal the ball. The game features one-on-one gameplay with basic dribbling and shooting mechanics. Matches are timed, and the player with the most points when the clock expires wins. The game uses simple black-and-white graphics typical of the era and displays a scoreboard to track each player's points. There are no multiple levels or stages; the entire experience is a single timed match between two human players, making it a direct competitive head-to-head contest.
- Developer
- Atari
- Released
- 1979
- Platform
- Arcade
- Genre
- Sports
- Players
- 2P
- Rating
- 4.9 / 5 (3.2K)
- Last updated
Basketball Controls — Arcade Keyboard Keys
Default keyboard bindings for Basketball on our in-browser Arcade emulator. Plug in a USB or Bluetooth gamepad to auto-detect mappings, or rebind any key from the emulator settings menu.
| Keyboard | Console button | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| ↑ | Joystick Up | Move up |
| ↓ | Joystick Down | Move down |
| ← | Joystick Left | Move left |
| → | Joystick Right | Move right |
| X | Button 1 | Primary action (jump / confirm) |
| Z | Button 2 | Secondary action (attack / cancel) |
| S | Button 3 | Tertiary action |
| A | Button 4 | Quaternary action |
| Q | Button 5 | Fifth button |
| W | Button 6 | Sixth button |
| 5 | Insert Coin | Insert coin |
| 1 | 1P Start | Start / Pause |
Coin and Start are convention "Insert Coin: 5" and "1P Start: 1". Some arcade boards expect specific button mappings — check the in-game prompts on coin-up.
Rebind any key from the EmulatorJS in-game settings menu (gear icon → Controls). A connected gamepad auto-maps to the same buttons.
Basketball Longplay & Gameplay Videos
Watch a full playthrough of Basketball on Arcade before you dive in — recommended for getting a feel for the game's pacing, story beats, and difficulty curve.
Watch longplay on YouTube
"Basketball" Arcade longplay 1979
External references
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Basketball released?
Basketball was released in 1979 for the Arcade.
Who developed Basketball?
Basketball was developed by Atari, available to play in your browser on RetroGameSpace.
How many players does Basketball support?
Basketball supports up to 2 players, ideal for couch co-op or competitive sessions on the Arcade.
What type of game is Basketball?
Basketball is a Sports game for the Arcade, playable instantly in your browser — no downloads, no installs.
How can I play Basketball for free?
Open this page and click "Play Now" — Basketball runs free in your browser via WebAssembly emulation. No account, no payment, no installer.
Do I need to download anything to play Basketball in the browser?
No. Basketball streams from a public archive into a browser-side Arcade emulator. Nothing is installed on your computer.
Can I save my progress in Basketball?
Yes. Save states are stored in your browser (IndexedDB) per game, and you can also use any in-game save the original Arcade cartridge supported.
Does Basketball work on mobile devices?
Yes — the Arcade emulator runs on iOS Safari and Android Chrome. Touch controls overlay the game; landscape mode is recommended.
Is it legal to play Basketball this way?
RetroGameSpace is a transient caching reverse-proxy and does not host first-party copies of Basketball. Game files are fetched on demand from publicly-accessible archives. You are responsible for compliance with your local laws and the bring-your-own-ROM principle.
