Roughly a year before Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes joined forces, the "Tune Squad" had it's own basketball game, albeit with much lower stakes than what the movie had.
Looney Tunes B-Ball (Known as Looney Tunes Basketball in PAL regions) is the result of taking the gameplay of NBA Jam and adding both the characters and trademark slapstick of the Looney Tunes franchise, courtesy of Sunsoft and Sculpted Entertainment, in 1995. Though the roster is noticeably thin compared to Jam (only Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote, Taz, and Marvin the Martian are playable), it makes up for it by incorporating tons of signature Looney Tunes humor during gameplay, with lots of Mythology Gags abound.
By collecting gems on the court that pop up during gameplay, you can spend them to use special offensive and defensive abilities; such as Bugs dressing in drag to distract opponents, Marvin zapping opponents with his disintegration gun, or a long range 3-point shot that can be used from back court. Also unique to B-Ball is the "Vegas" ability, which can grant a team special bonuses depending on the slots results, and a pre-game "Wacky Meter", which as the name implies, lets players ramp the slapstick up to eleven, or skew gameplay closer to a traditional NBA Jam match.
Despite favorable reception and sales, this was the last game Sunsoft's American branch published before shuttering completely due to circumstances beyond their control. As a result, B-Ball, and an unrelated Speedy Gonzales game still in development, were moved over to Acclaim when Sunsoft sold them the game rights to the Looney Tunes franchise. Not-so-coincidentally, Sculpted Entertainment, B-Ball's developer, would also be bought by Acclaim around the same time, and developed both the Space Jam tie-in game and NBA Jam Extreme the next year, both of which used this game's engine.
This game includes examples of:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Taz, the only playable character who otherwise doesn't wear clothes, wears sneakers.
- Animated Actors: This game's opening cutscene has Bugs and Daffy on the set of Looney Tunes, after having finished a cartoon, challenging each other to a game of basketball.
- Anvil on Head: It wouldn't be Looney Tunes without this happening at least once. A variation occurs if a certain button combination is inputted during tip-off: A giant anvil will come down instead of the ball, crashing through the court pavement.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Bugs Bunny's bread and butter from the cartoons is his main defensive option. When activated, everyone - including your teammate - will gawk at Bugs in drag with heart eyes, and the ball will go loose, allowing Bugs to steal it if he's close enough.
- Be the Ball: The basketball in this game is actually a dog who has the ability to roll up into a ball.
- Bullet Dancing: Yosemite Sam's defensive special, which also has a high likelihood of causing an opponent to fumble the ball.
- Disintegrator Ray: Marvin's signature weapon, which can turn opponents into dust in one hit, though with the trade off that his movement stops completely when he fires, and can accidentally friendly fire if a teammate is in the line of fire.
- Excuse Plot: After a day of filming shorts, Bugs challenges Daffy to a friendly game of hoops, which Daffy eagerly accepts. The basketball between them actually turns out to be a dog, who rushes off between them, and the duo quickly go after it, setting the game in motion.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Bugs plays a game of basketball against several members of his Rogues Gallery; Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Taz, and Marvin the Martian. Sylvester is the notable exception, since while he is still often portrayed as an antagonist in the Looney Tunes universe, Bugs isn't one of his targets.
- Grenade Hot Potato: If the "Bomb" ability is active, players only have a few seconds to get rid of it before it blows them up, resulting in everyone trying to lob it off to another player, even their teammates.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: In a departure of the norm, all of the animal Tunes wear "streetball" clothing from the waist up except for Daffy, who inexplicably rocks a Hawaiian shirt, and Wile E., who wears a jersey and sneakers. Bugs is the only animal who wears full basketball gear, sans sneakers. The only one who doesn't wear clothes (save for his sneakers) is Taz.
- Invincible Hero: Totally averted for Bugs here. He doesn't have the karmic invincibility he has in the shorts, so he's fair game for any traps his opponents send his way.
- Logo Joke: When you start up the game, Aero the Acro-Bat is shown holding a basketball in his right hand as he stands behind the Sunsoft logo and a fanfare plays.
- Long-Range Fighter: Downplayed. Marvin and Yosemite Sam have the best 3-pointer stats in the game, but have fairly low shooting states to prevent the game from delving into a sharpshooter fest. In contrast, Bugs has near-perfect shooting stats, but below-average 3-pointer stats (though his half-court special is virtually guaranteed to go in every time), while Elmer Fudd is the most balanced, with the best shooting stats, but a 3-point stat slightly below Marvin and Sam's.
- Mythology Gag: There's loads of nods to the history of the Looney Tunes characters, from Bugs' Attractive Bent-Gender ploy, Elmer's shotgun, Daffy's original "screwball" persona, and tons more.
- New Jack Swing: Makes up the entirety of the OST.
- Pie in the Face: Appears as an offensive power up that can be used to stun opponents, but it can boomerang, and hit the sender if they don't duck.
- Shout-Out: Bugs' half-court special is a shout out to the Harlem Globetrotters, which had players that could drop kick basketballs into the hoop in their heyday.
- Super Mode: "In The Zone", basically the game's equivalent to NBA Jam's infamous "Fire Mode", and is activated the same way, by sinking three shots in a row with a character. While in this mode, the character's face will also be plastered in the half-court circle.
- Token Human: Per tradition, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam are the only two humans among the core Looney Tunes cast in this game.
