NBA ShootOut '97

Most critics hailed NBA ShootOut '97 as a dramatic improvement over the original. Kraig Kujawa and Dean Hager of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the faster game speed and new icon passing system. Kujawa wrote a longer review of the game for GameSpot, in which he additionally complimented the authentic NBA sounds and visuals and criticized the small play book. GamePro gave it a 3.5 out of 5 in sound and a perfect 5.0 in every other category (graphics, control, and fun factor), saying that it "shakes up the basketball world, cooking the court with spectacular, slam-dunkin' gameplay and the most realistic five-on-five hoops action ever brought to the 32-bit arena." Like Kujawa and Hager, they highly approved of the icon passing system. A Next Generation critic called the game "the first true basketball simulation for a console", elaborating that unlike previous basketball video games, the statistics have a significant impact on how players perform in actual gameplay. He also commented positively on the icon passing, but said the game was not as fun as NBA In the Zone 2 due to the controls, explaining that "the game has an almost clinical feel, almost as if the player isn't really affecting the outcome of plays." The game held an 87%, based on five reviews, on the review aggregation website GameRankings. In Japan, where the game was released under the name Total NBA '97, on June 27, 1997, Famitsu gave it a score of 27 out of 40.