Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were two of the fiercest competitors that the NBA had ever seen.
Winning meant everything to these two Hall of Famers, who finished their careers with a combined nine NBA titles, eight league MVPs, eight Finals MVPs and 26 All-Star Game appearances. Sheesh.
But with all that glory came one huge loss — their video game. Yes, unlike their memorable careers, Jordan vs. Bird: One on One was forgettable. With Nintendo turning 30-years-old this week and the 2015-16 NBA season just days away from tipping off, it's only right that gamers look back at this iconically-bad video game.
By the time this 1988 Nintendo game, made by Electronic Arts, hit stores, Bird had gotten the best of Air Jordan, with Larry Legend's Boston Celtics eliminating MJ's Chicago Bulls in back-to-back three-game sweeps in the first-round of the NBA playoffs in 1986 and 1987. That being said, a young Michael Jordan would certainly make an impression on the older Bird in each series, including an unbelievable 63-point display in Game 2 of the 1986 first-round series.
So, when the video game, Jordan vs. Bird: One on One, came out for Nintendo in 1988, it was supposed to be as good as the actual rivalry itself, right? Wrong. Although you couldn't have told me that as a kid, who experienced great joy playing this game and other bad sports games like it back in the day.
Bird and Jordan were the only players in the title, as gamers were able to pit the stars one on one in what looked to be some type of stadium/outdoor court equipped with a brick wall as the backdrop. Yes because every basketball game needs a brick wall to break players' falls.
If you look closely at the gameplay, you'll notice that the players' hands hardly move when dribbling - something I would have never noticed as a five-year-old kid at the time. That and Bird and MJ constantly walk into each other, when they're not moving around almost robotically. The first to 11 points won the game, as they played four quarters of two minutes each.
Bird has sick range, able to drain three-pointers well beyond the arc, while Jordan was pretty much unstoppable from everywhere else on the court. The game also featured a Slam-Dunk Contest, in which Jordan was only allowed to participate, and a Three-Point Contest, in which — you guessed it — Bird was the lone contestant. Not much of a contest if there's one participant, but that's what Jordan vs. Bird gave you.
Somewhere in today's NBA landscape — one that sees Bird as the Indiana Pacers president and Jordan, the owner of the Charlotte Hornets — these two legends probably cross paths and have a laugh thinking back to this game. On second thought, probably not. They had to have forgotten about it a long time ago.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
