All-Pro Basketball is a 1989 basketball game developed by Aicom and published by Vic Tokai. It was released exclusively for the NES, without any official license for the NBA. However, the game has a few ways around that, which we’ll get into soon enough.
All-Pro Basketball Premise
©Screenshot from All-Pro Basketball.
In All-Pro Basketball, you have a few different game modes to choose from. The one-player and two-player modes allow you to choose a team, and play through an entire season as them, either solo or with a friend. It also has a Vs. mode, which pits you against your friend in a one-off match. Finally, there’s even the option to watch a match between two computer-controlled teams.
The gameplay itself is played from a top-down perspective, with players having a vertical view of the court. It’s everything you’d expect from a basketball game of the era, with the gameplay remaining extremely simple with just a few controls to pass and throw the ball. One area where the game does excel is its slam dunks, which are portrayed as cutscenes that add a ton of excitement to the play.
All-Pro Basketball Main Characters
©Screenshot from All-Pro Basketball.
Basketball games generally tend not to have one particular main character, barring a usual cover athlete. All-Pro Basketball is no exception to this and suffers further as a result of the lack of an NBA license. Not only is the game not allowed to use real players, but it can’t use real team names, either. Because of this, the game features eight teams, all of which use a slightly changed name from their real-world counterparts. For example, the New York Knicks become the New York Slicks.
With no main character to speak of, here are all the teams seen in All-Pro Basketball:
- New York Slicks
- Chicago Zephers
- Boston Redcoats
- Los Angeles Breakers
- Dallas Stallions
- Phoenix Wings
- Seattle Sonics
- San Francisco Bayriders
All-Pro Basketball Titles in the Series
©Screenshot from All-Pro Basketball.
Interestingly, although All-Pro Basketball is a one-and-done series, developer Aicom actually released a few different basketball games around this period. These include Hoops (1988), Takin’ It To The Hoop (1989), and Ultimate Basketball (1990). Despite this, all four games play differently, and are not connected in any way. Even the names of the fake teams vary from game to game; for example, the Chicago Bulls are known as the Chicago Zephers in All-Pro Basketball, but they’re the Chicago Wolves in Ultimate Basketball.
It’s certainly an interesting decision to try their hand at so many different titles. Ultimately, All-Pro Basketball suffered the same fate as many unlicensed sports games. When the NBA Live series arrived, gamers much preferred the idea of playing as players and teams they actually recognized. This quickly made it an extremely tough sell for any title looking to challenge, as the gameplay would have to be perfect to make up for the lack of licenses.
- All-Pro Basketball (1989)
All-Pro Basketball Cheat Codes
©Screenshot from All-Pro Basketball.
All-Pro Basketball is similar to many NES games, in that it uses passwords to save your progress over the course of a season. To use these cheats, select 1PLAYER at the main menu, then hit Continue at the next screen. Here, you’ll be able to use all of the following passwords:
| Password | Password Effect |
|---|---|
| DHPWHP PPPPPU | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the second match of the season, with a record of 1W-0L. |
| GFUMJU LUUULL | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the third match of the season, with a record of 2W-0L. |
| LHWLLW LWWWNS | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the fourth match of the season, with a record of 3W-0L. |
| IHWPHP HRPPWQ | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the fifth match of the season, with a record of 4W-0L. |
| HGQQTI TTIIQN | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the sixth match of the season, with a record of 5W-0L. |
| JDKORD RRDKKP | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the seventh match of the season, with a record of 6W-0L. |
| JKRYYK YYKYVY | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the eighth match of the season, with a record of 7W-0L. |
| MNQPQX AAPAQV | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the ninth match of the season, with a record of 8W-0L. |
| ILVAVS VLTLVS | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 10th match of the season, with a record of 9W-0L. |
| CNQQQW CAPAQC | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 11th match of the season, with a record of 10W-0L. |
| IISISP MPQISR | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 12th match of the season, with a record of 11W-0L. |
| CNAPQW CCXAQW | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 13th match of the season, with a record of 12W-0L. |
| CNAXQW CCWQQN | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 14th match of the season, with a record of 13W-0L. |
| ILLVVS PPSPLT | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 15th match of the season, with a record of 14W-0L. |
| LGKKKI OOIOKV | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 16th match of the season, with a record of 15W-0L. |
| AAGNJE EGEGAM | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 17th match of the season, with a record of 16W-0L. |
| BEMKIG EMGMLQ | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 18th match of the season, with a record of 17W-0L. |
| AOURXS DTSUXR | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 19th match of the season, with a record of 18W-0L. |
| FEKNNI TTIKHP | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 20th match of the season, with a record of 19W-0L. |
| FHLUQL WWLLQH | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 21st match of the season, with a record of 20W-0L. |
| MNWXAW VVWVCX | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 22nd match of the season, with a record of 21W-0L. |
| BBDIIN BBDBIM | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 23rd match of the season, with a record of 22W-0L. |
| DIPIST JOPOIR | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 24th match of the season, with a record of 23W-0L. |
| BFRUMI PFHFJJ | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 25th match of the season, with a record of 24W-0L. |
| MIJSLT PIRQXX | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 26th match of the season, with a record of 25W-0L. |
| NKLUUV TTLQOT | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 27th match of the season, with a record of 26W-0L. |
| PHMQKV IIVMNJ | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 28th match of the season, with a record of 27W-0L. |
| BNNCUQ XXQXVR | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 29th match of the season, with a record of 28W-0L. |
| HOWYBZ VVZVDC | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 30th match of the season, with a record of 29W-0L. |
| PFUIOT MGTGLR | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 31st match of the season, with a record of 30W-0L. |
| JMBAAQ VSQSNT | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 32nd match of the season, with a record of 31W-0L. |
| PHIUQV JVVILK | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 33rd match of the season, with a record of 32W-0L. |
| NENTEP SSPNIG | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the 34th match of the season, with a record of 33W-0L. |
| DJSTJU XXUMNV | Start the game as the Chicago Zephers from the final match of the season, with a record of 34W-0L. |
All-Pro Basketball Cheat Code FAQ
©Screenshot from All-Pro Basketball.
Does All-Pro Basketball Have Achievements?
No. Its only release came on the NES, leaving the game with no achievements at all.
Are There All-Pro Basketball Cheats for Teams Outside of the Chicago Zephers?
If there are, they haven’t been found yet. The publicly available cheats for the game all center around an entire season with the Chicago Zephers. This means that if you want to use level passwords in All-Pro Basketball, you’ll need to play as the Chicago Zephers.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Screenshot from All-Pro Basketball.