Welcome to B-Ball Video Games Are Cool. In this feature, I review basketball video games that you may remember or not. You may be surprised on what kind of basketball games video game companies were making back then! That's what I'm here for! I'll make you remember some awesome gems... or I may bring some crap to the table. Here we go!
PAST B-BALL VIDEO GAME REVIEWS
8. Magic Johnson's Super Slam Dunk (S-NES)
9. Hoops (NES)
10. Ultimate Basketball (NES)
11. All-Pro Basketball (NES)
12. Double Dribble (NES)
As video game fans AND basketball fans know, the NBA Jam series is making a return, courtesy of Electronic Arts (ya know, EA Sports). Right now, it's only slated to come out for the Wii but rumors just surfaced that it may go multiplatform. Stay tuned.
(PHOTO SOURCE for NBA JAM WII: Official Nintendo Magazine.)
So as usual, I'm going to take a look back at old basketball video games. I'm gonna take a look at what some people say IS the greatest NBA video game of all-time: the original NBA Jam made by the guys at Midway.
If you had been living in a deserted island in the last 17 years or so, here's the premise of NBA Jam: it's a two-on-two arcade-style, full-court game. Each NBA team has two of their best players representing them.
Yes, that IS former Vice President Al Gore you see. I'll explain later.
While the same basketball rules apply here, what stood out (well, it still stands out) in NBA Jam were these exaggerated dunks that these guys can perform. NBA Jam has a turbo button that can make the player run faster... but if you push shoot while holding down turbo anywhere from about the freethrow line/elbow area to near the basket, the player (depending on how high their dunk stat is) will do some kind of awesome dunk.
When the player makes three baskets in a row without the opponent making one, the player is said to be on fire. The ball catches on fire when the player on fire has the ball... and he can virtually make everything from 3-point land, regardless of his stats. The other great thing about NBA Jam is the Marv Albert-inspired announcer. His catchphrases are legendary ("he's heating up", "he's on fire", "ugly shot", "boomshakalaka") and are still remembered by many a gamer to this day.
I played the Super Nintendo version of NBA Jam and this one was released around 1993. Some legends like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal were not allowed to be in this game because other video game companies have licensed them for their own games (remember Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam?). But, yeah, the best teams were represented well. Chicago was still a powerhouse back then with Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant. New York had Patrick Ewing and John Starks while Seattle had Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. And then on the other side, Milwaukee had Blue Edwards and Brad Lohaus. Awesome.
Another great thing about NBA Jam? There were secret characters. Some of the staffers of NBA Jam put themselves in the game. But the most notable of the secret characters are then-President Bill Clinton and then-VP Al Gore.
NBA Jam was addicting. I was in ninth grade when this game came out for the Super NES and I saved up all my lunch money just so I can get NBA Jam. Once I got it, I had countless games with friends for the next year or so. We just couldn't get enough of everything in the game (the dunks, the "fire", the secret characters)... and at the time, it was rare for a video game to have all NBA teams.
Also of note are other codes that made the game exponentially fun. There was juice mode, which made the game even faster. There's a code where the player can have unlimited fire. And there's a code where players can dunk from halfcourt.
I ain't gonna lie, though. I was still a youth but I couldn't help thinking about the 3-point stat of the players. It didn't matter. Dikembe Mutombo, Horace Grant, and Rony Seikaly had low 3-point stats... but they were still shooting 'em like Reggie Miller. It was a minor blip but most of us didn't care. We still played NBA Jam like it was our job. It wasn't unusual for us to get busted by parents when they would catch us playing NBA Jam at around 3 in the morning. At one time, a cousin and I played eight overtimes in a game. And, yes, we played again right after.
NBA Jam would go on and spawn a series (NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, NBA Hangtime, NBA Showtime, NBA Hoopz were made right after)... and it would inspire many other arcade-style basketball games (most notable is NBA Street by EA Sports... the very same company that's going to bring back NBA Jam).
Anyway, as y'all can see on the screenshots, I played as Bill Clinton.
I definitely came out on top. Kinda like how Clinton came out on top of some intern.
Admittedly, I didn't play the A.I. in the most difficult setting.
NBA Jam is one of the rare sports games that has stood the test of time. It's still very fun to play today despite it being 17 years old. And we're all hoping that the NEW NBA Jam will be as fun, too. EA's had a pretty good track record, though... and some of the old makers of the game are there to help. It SHOULD be an instant classic.
But, anyway, NBA Jam is remembered by many gamers, including non-NBA fans. It is because of this universal appeal that many people have said that NBA Jam is the best sports video game of all-time. Because of that, it's hard to argue NBA Jam's mark in both video games and the NBA.
MORE NBA JAM WITH TNLP
NBA Jam Podcast With Get Your Tournament
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