RealSports Basketball (Atari 5200)

This game was stuffed away in a cardboard box and found 30 years later in a garage

This game was never completed and/or given a public release.
As a result of this, keep in mind that the developers might have used or deleted some of the content featured here, had the game actually been released.

RealSports Basketball was an attempt to make an updated version of the Atari 8-bit title Basketball for the 5200. The game's long development time (primarily due to a programmer change), combined with the dying 5200 scene, led to the game's cancellation in December 1983.

Four builds are known to exist: two from 1982 under the game's original programmer, and two from 1983 after Patrick Bass overhauled the game. This page covers the last of these builds, dated December 16, 1983.

(Source: Atari Protos)

Developer Credits#

While the demo is playing, press 5 to display an odd message in the scrolling text box:

...WHEN RUNNING INTO THE TROPICAL ENTROPY NIGHTLY, BY YOURSELF, PROJECT AND TRY REACHING INTO CIRCLES KILLED, BECAUSE ALL SEEMS STRANGE...

This is actually a hidden developer credit - the first letter of each word spells out "WRITTEN BY PATRICK BASS".

(Source: Digital Press (Patrick Bass))

Oddities#

During the demo, pressing any number apart from 1 or 5 will remove the "REALSPORTS" from the scrolling copyright text. Pressing 1 will restore the text.
This is the only 5200 game that emits dial tones when the keypad buttons are pressed, so you could potentially dial a telephone with this game if you had a compatible phone and phone line. It's not clear why Patrick added this function.