One of the first products from a newly founded Electronic Arts, designed by company creator Trip Hawkins and programmed by Eric Hammond. This was also the first computer game with celebrity endorsements. The concept was created by Hawkins based on his recollections of the 60's era "One on One" televised sports contests, sponsored by hair tonic Vitalis. In 1984 his game became a smash hit on the Commodore 64, and in 1986, the game was enhanced a bit and ported over to the Atari 7800 system. (The then "new" Atari that was backward compatable with the Atari 2600 games.)  Many Atari 7800 owners remember it as "the only reason to own a 7800"... which says alot about "One on One"...but also alot about how bad the 7800 game support was.

In the mid 1980s, nobody had heard of "Electronic Arts"- but their visionary founder Trip Hawkins had this idea about sports games where players had their real names and likenesses and had their real-life abilities.  At the time, the technology wouldn't allow five on five basketball with that kind of lofty goal in mind, but EA's first foray into that "experimental" realm of "sim" sports video games was the excellent "One on One" basketball with Dr. J and Larry Bird.  The game featured only those two players, but each player was modeled with their real-life abilities (or as close to their real-life abilities as early to mid 1980s technology would allow.)  Their were programmed hot and cold spots for each of the respective palyers, shooting percentages, outside shooting ratings (which Bird excelled in) while Dr. J had a better drive to the basket and better dunking ability.  The game was rich with basketaball fundamentals, and good defense is rewarded in the game.  You couldn't just get in close and dunk, and body positioning on defense was key to everything, as well as boxing out for rebounds, etc.  The game was simply remarkable, and in terms of two player matchups, it couldn't be beat.  There were also other game modes like Horse, and their wore "loser gets ball" and "winner keeps ball" settings just like on the playground.  You could even occasionally break the backboard, and a janitor would come out and sweep the glass away.

In short, EA's first foray into simming actual athletes was a big success on multiple systems.

Why is it influential?:

Simply put, it's the grandaddy of what would become basketball sims.  There were no "real athletes" in sports video games until this point.  Atari's "Real Sports" series and Intellivisions sports games had no differences amongst sprite-based players (abilities, look, etc.).  One on One was a visionary product that pushed console sports gaming out of the stone age and ushered in the hope of sim sports on consoles.  Tecmo Inc. would take the "model actual players" idea from Dr. J vs. Bird and run with it...and try modeling 9 players on a football field several years later. Meanwhile at EA, Trip Hawkins' "One on One" ideal would set the foundation for an empire, and- more importantly- show that there was a market on home systems for "sim sports" that models real athletes. One on One with Julius Erving and Larry Bird didn't simply influence basketball games, but it opened up the market to other sports.  Not long after One on One, Tecmo would see this and go do its Tecmo Bowl thing, while Nintendo of America would then approach a certain boxer about being in a cartoonish-yet-fun boxing game.  However, none of this happened until One on One hit the market and became a success, and made Trip Hawkins into a visionary instead of the eccentric some thought he was.  Armed with the proven success of One on One, Trip would have a chance meeting with a certain ex-coach of the Oakland Raiders and brainstorm a future game...while other designers at EA would start brainstorming a basketball game with 5 guys on each side that used the One on One concept.

But to be fair to "One on One"- the quality of the game stands on its own, and for those of us who grew up in the 1980s, it was one of those games that you "remember where you were the first time you played it".  A true classic that not only laid the foundation for everything since, but was a damn good game on its own merits.  Craig Gonzalez (Bangpow) and I spent many hours talking trash with each other and duking it out on this legend.

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