NBA In the Zone 2000

NBA In the Zone 2000 is a Konami basketball game for the Game Boy Color that brings the licensed NBA league to the handheld's screen. The player manages a team through matches, substitutes players, makes passes, and shoots for the basket using a button combination adapted to the console's limited controls. Besides quick exhibition matches, it also offers a season mode in which players can go through part of the league calendar and gradually follow results and the standings. The pace of matches is fast, which suits basketball well on a small console - a single game plays out in a short while, yet still leaves room for quick counterattacks and accurate three-pointers.

Visually, the game uses a side-on or slightly top-down view of the court, and the players are simplified sprites distinguished by jersey color, which makes it easier to keep track of things even during fast ball exchanges under the basket. As a result, gameplay stays readable even on the GBC's small screen, though details typical of basketball simulations on home consoles - individual movements of league stars, elaborate animations - are necessarily toned down here. The sound is limited to the referee's whistle, footsteps on the court, and short fanfares after a scored basket, while the music mainly accompanies the menu and the breaks between quarters.

The title fits into the line of basketball games Konami released for various platforms, including portable ones, during the second half of the nineties, and it built on the good reputation the In the Zone brand had established on home consoles as well. On the GBC, it was one of the few ways to play NBA basketball on the go, so the game held a firm place among genre fans, especially at a time when competing sports licenses were missing from the handheld. Today it's mainly interesting as an example of the period approach to porting sports licenses to eight-bit hardware, and of just how much basketball could be simplified while still remaining accessible fun that even a player without deep knowledge of NBA rules could understand.