The NES version features 5-on-5 action on a horizontally scrolling court, four different teams (Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles), three levels of single-play difficulty, and four different choices of quarter lengths. Double Dribble was among the first games to feature cut-scenes, which depicted a mid-air player completing a slam-dunk, and one of the first to use speech, though in a limited quantity (such as announcing the game title and the game's beginning jump ball).