This is the one hundred eightieth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our one hundred eightieth random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality has just performed a righteous dunk. It’s Super Dunkman, by andrfw, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A Local Multiplayer Action Basketball Platformer

If you can’t slam with the best, jam with the rest.

The “local multiplayer” in that tagline was cause for concern, because I don’t have any people I can physically put in front of my computer and force to play with me. Fortunately, Super Dunkman allows players to be set to AI control, allowing me to play on my own and test it out for you, my readers. Super Dunkman supports 2 or 4 player (2v2) games, with each player choosing a character who then competes on a 2D platformer basketball court. The goal is to grab the ball and dunk it to score points, with matches either lasting until a score limit or time limit is reached, although there’s also a “keep away” mode where players score points by holding the ball the longest. Don’t expect any fancy passes or fade away jump shots though. Those don’t exist in Super Dunkman. This one is all about the dunks.

Controls are simple: players can move left and right, perform a triple jump (after jumping, they can jump again in the air, twice), and execute a slam, which causes them to plummet rapidly to the ground. Perfect for an epic dunk. The ball bounces around the court on its own, never losing momentum, so players must scramble to nab it. Once a player has the ball, other players can dislodge it by colliding with them, so most matches become a frantic series of tackles and steals. Colliding with a player resets one’s jumps, so a strategic airborne tackle lets players reach ever loftier heights. Done right, players can both recover the ball and take it all the way to the basket for an awesome dunk without ever touching the ground.

There are five different courts to play on, from the outdoor court at the local park to the professional league stadium, or even a court on the moon with reduced gravity. Aside from that gravity change, and some different hoop heights, the courts are mostly just for visual variety. There are also a ton of different characters to choose from when playing. Despite the game name, there are plenty of women (or at least femme presenting characters) to choose from, and the cast ranges from standard players to sillier and weirder characters. There are a few dressed up as superheroes or ninjas, as well as two amusingly named LeBrawn and LeBrains. I didn’t try them all out, but I believe they perform identically on the court. Some look bigger than others though, which might affect tackles.

There are also five levels of difficulty for the AI players. I started with the lowest, which is pretty easy to defeat, and then tried the highest, which puts up a tough fight. I soon found myself in a pattern against the level 5 AI: there are no rules against goaltending in Super Dunkman, so I was able to leap directly up underneath the basket to block my opponent’s incoming dunk. But the highest level AI player is an expert at getting the rebound, using its reset aerial jumps after the tackle to retrieve the ball in mid-air and drop down for another dunk. Which I would goaltend again. I could never get the upper hand once I fell into this pattern, but I was able to score a few dunks against this tough adversary if I could grab the ball before they went for the basket.

Still, playing against AI opposition doesn’t stay interesting for long. The real point of Super Dunkman is clearly the local multiplayer aspect, playing against friends crowded around the same computer. I can imagine this would be raucous fun, as players leap around the court tackling each other left and right, and occasionally slamming down for an awesome dunk. The pixel art in Super Dunkman is simple, but stays readable because each player (and the ball) has a trail of color-coded particle effects showing their trajectory. Slams turn this trail a bright yellow, so it’s always clear if someone’s doing a slam amidst the chaos on the court. Tackles not only have a nice squelchy sound effect, but a bit of screen shake to emphasize the fact that the ball is now up for grabs. It looks and feels good, and could be a riot with other human players.

It does look like a story mode was planned at some point, but seems unlikely to appear now, with the last updates dated four years ago at the time of writing. That’s a shame, because I do want to learn more about this dunk-obsessed world. Just check out this description from the itch.io page:

Story mode coming soon! Explore the world of Super Dunkman, become the Dunk Champion of the Universe, expose corruption in the National Dunk Association, save the world, or maybe just run errands for your wife.

Ah, what could have been.

But there’s still the local multiplayer bouts. If you have some people to play with, I’d definitely recommend giving Super Dunkman a look. Those who missed it in the bundle can nab it for a minimum price of $4.99, but be advised that Windows decided the executable was dangerous (it’s not) and tried to stop me from running it.

That’s 180 down, and only 1561 to go!