NBA Jam
Encyclopedia
NBA Jam is a basketball
arcade game
developed
by Midway
in 1993
. It is the first entry in the NBA Jam series, and was written entirely in assembly language
. The main designer and programmer for this game was Mark Turmell. The release of NBA Jam gave rise to a new genre of sports game
s which were based around fast, action-packed gameplay
and exaggerated realism, a formula which Midway would also later apply to the sports of football (NFL Blitz
), hockey (2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
), baseball (MLB Slugfest), and professional wrestling (WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game
).
in 1989, High Impact in 1990, and Super High Impact in 1991. The gameplay of NBA Jam is based on the aforementioned Arch Rivals, another 2-on-2 basketball video game. However, it was the release of NBA Jam that brought mainstream success to the genre.
The game became exceptionally popular, and generated a significant amount of money for arcades after its release, largely because of the fairly expensive prices for game play. The typical cost to play a full game of NBA Jam in the United States ranged from $1.00 to $2.00. Nonetheless, the game was a smash hit. The original arcade release generated revenue of $1 billion in quarters.
A key feature of NBA Jam is the exaggerated nature of the play - players jump many times above their own height, making slam dunks that defied both human capabilities and the laws of physics. There are no fouls, free throws, or violations except goaltending
and 24-second violations. This meant the player is able to freely shove or elbow his opponent out of the way. Additionally, the game has an "on fire" feature, where if one player makes three baskets in a row, he becomes "on fire" and has unlimited turbo, no goaltending, and increased shooting ability, until the other team scores (or the player has scored four consecutive baskets while "on fire").
The game is filled with easter eggs
, special features and players activated by initials or button/joystick combinations. For example, pressing A five times and right five times on any Sega Genesis controller would activate "Super Clean Floors". This feature would cause characters to fall if they ran too fast or changed direction too quickly. And players can enter special codes to unlock hidden players, ranging from US President Bill Clinton
to Hugo the Charlotte Hornets mascot. Early versions of the sequel
, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, allows players to put in codes that allow people to play as characters from Mortal Kombat
, but the NBA, uneasy over the controversies surrounding Mortal Kombat' s levels of violence, forced Midway to remove these characters in later updates. On the arcade machine, there is also a hidden 'tank' game that allows you to run around a 3D wireframe field. In order to access this mode however, you were required to be able to toggle the on/off switch located behind the machine. While the game was powering back on, you would hold Up + all buttons on player 1 and Down + all buttons on player 2.
and the console versions use rosters from the 1993-94 NBA season
. More up-to-date rosters were available in subsequent ports released for the Sega CD, Game Boy
, and Game Gear
in 1994. Midway did not secure the license to use Michael Jordan
's name or likeness (as Jordan himself owns the rights to his name and likeness, and not the NBA), and as such he was not available as a player for the Chicago Bulls
or any other team. Other notable absences from the home versions are Gary Payton
and Shaquille O'Neal
, the latter conspicuous considering his appearance on the arcade version as a member of the Orlando Magic
. New Jersey Nets
guard Dražen Petrović
and Boston Celtics
forward Reggie Lewis
, both of whom died after the release of the arcade version, were also removed from the home versions.
Note: Some home console versions of NBA Jam were coded later than others, and as a result of real-life roster changes or in the cases of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal, legal reasons, some rosters differ from version to version.
was killed in a car crash between the release of the arcade version and the home ports. NBA Jam is said to be haunted by Petrović, due to a bug causing his last name to be randomly called out by the announcer.
2Shaquille O'Neal appears only in the arcade version because his likeness was no longer licensed by the NBA by the time the home console versions were developed, and the cost was too high to include him in the game (much like Michael Jordan).
.
combined with the same gameplay of the original. Teams now consisted of three players (with the exception of the new "Rookies" team, which consists of five players, all picked in the 1994 NBA Draft
) and players could be substituted into the game. The game also featured new hidden teams and hidden playable characters. Early versions of the game included characters from Midway's Mortal Kombat games. Players were also assigned more attributes, including clutch and fatigue levels. In addition, the game also introduced features such as a "Tournament" mode that turned off computer assistance and on-court hot spots that allowed for additional points or special slam dunks.
This version was also ported to the SNES, Genesis, 32X, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Saturn
, PlayStation
and Atari Jaguar
.
s as well as PC, beginning with the original's debut on the highly-publicized Jam Day (March 4, 1994). Console versions were well known for featuring many easter eggs; the home versions of Jam T.E. even allowed the player to use then President
Bill Clinton
, First Lady
Hillary Clinton, Vice President
Al Gore
and Atari
's Vice President of Software Development Leonard Tramiel on the Atari Jaguar
version. Acclaim
published the console versions, who later ended up winning the exclusive rights to use the NBA Jam name.
Acclaim used the name on NBA Jam Extreme
in 1996, a 3D
version of Jam which featured Marv Albert
doing commentary. The game was a flop in comparison to Midway's version released that same year, rechristened NBA Hangtime
, a game which featured a create-a-player and a usual batch of new features combined with a classic, but improved, NBA Jam feeling. An update called NBA Maximum Hangtime
was subsequently released.
In 1995, Acclaim released a collegiate version of NBA Jam for home consoles entitled College Slam
. Although the game was created to capitalize on the popularity of March Madness
and the subsequent Final Four, it did not enjoy the popularity of the earlier NBA Jam games.
However, the idea was not quite dead as Midway passed it to their other sports games. The 1995 hockey release 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
was only mildly successful at best, but Midway found success with Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
in 1996 and NFL Blitz in 1997. The NFL Blitz series would later become Blitz: The League
due to EA Sports
exclusivity deal with the NFL
. The success of the game brought forth another high-flying basketball game, and genuine 3D rendered (but 2D playing) sequel to NBA Jam and NBA Hangtime, NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC
(which used the familiar NBA on NBC theme, "Roundball Rock
") in 1999, a game which was received well and had acceptable success. After it was ported, Midway decided to focus itself on other games, and after the following year's NBA Hoopz
(a slower-paced, 3-on-3 copy of NBA Showtime), Midway's series ended. Acclaim continued to keep the NBA Jam name alive with its console games, although the games were only mildly popular.
Now making console games exclusively, Midway has used Jam
(a hard-hitting football (soccer)
game). Many of Jam
series.
On October 5th, 2010, EA Sports released a new version of NBA Jam
for the Wii
. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
in November 2010. Original NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell was hired to work on this new version in conjunction with EA Vancouver. Following the game's critical and commercial success, a follow-up NBA Jam: On Fire Edition was released on October 4th, 2011 on PSN and XBLA on October 5th, 2011.
NBA Jam also incorporated a slogan from Spike Lee's alter-ego in his 1986 film She's Gotta Have It
, Mars Blackmon
, who was also featured in a Nike
basketball shoe television commercial at the time. The NBA Jam commentator asked, "Is it the shoes?" after a player performed spectacularly.
The announcer was modeled on Marv Albert
and other announcers although there is no mention of Albert in the game and was voiced by Tim Kitzrow.
The upbeat, funky music written by Jon Hey was inspired by sports music themes and has been compared to George Clinton
's P-Funk All Stars. Funkadelic's 1979 "(Not Just) Knee Deep
" shares the most similarity with the music of NBA Jam but was recorded more than a decade before NBA Jams music was written. The likeness of George Clinton was used as the character "P. Funk" in the console versions of NBA Jam: Tournament Edition.
In July 2009, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon
revealed (on Twitter
) that a Mortal Kombat court was to be hidden in a console port of NBA Jam or NBA Hangtime.
Mark Turmell, creator of NBA Jam, confirmed a long held suspicion that the game had a bias against the Chicago Bulls. According to Turmell, a Detroit Pistons
fan, the game had a special code that caused the Bulls to miss last-second shots in close games against the Pistons.
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Midway
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
in 1993
1993 in video gaming
-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
. It is the first entry in the NBA Jam series, and was written entirely in assembly language
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
. The main designer and programmer for this game was Mark Turmell. The release of NBA Jam gave rise to a new genre of sports game
Sports game
A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
s which were based around fast, action-packed gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
and exaggerated realism, a formula which Midway would also later apply to the sports of football (NFL Blitz
NFL Blitz
NFL Blitz is a series of American football themed video games by Midway featuring the teams of the National Football League. It began as a 1997 arcade game but was eventually ported to home consoles and spawned several sequels...
), hockey (2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge
2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge is an ice hockey arcade game released by Midway in 1995. It was ported to PlayStation in 1996. The game would be similar to its arcade counterpart with exception to the fact that the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix after the conclusion of the 1995-96 season, thus the...
), baseball (MLB Slugfest), and professional wrestling (WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game
WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game
WWF WrestleMania is a professional wrestling arcade game released by Midway Manufacturing Co. in 1995...
).
History
Midway had previously released such sports games as Arch RivalsArch Rivals
Arch Rivals is a basketball arcade game created by Midway in 1989. The game billed itself as "A Basket Brawl." It was also included on Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube and Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition for the PC...
in 1989, High Impact in 1990, and Super High Impact in 1991. The gameplay of NBA Jam is based on the aforementioned Arch Rivals, another 2-on-2 basketball video game. However, it was the release of NBA Jam that brought mainstream success to the genre.
The game became exceptionally popular, and generated a significant amount of money for arcades after its release, largely because of the fairly expensive prices for game play. The typical cost to play a full game of NBA Jam in the United States ranged from $1.00 to $2.00. Nonetheless, the game was a smash hit. The original arcade release generated revenue of $1 billion in quarters.
Gameplay
NBA Jam, which featured 2-on-2 basketball, is one of the first real playable basketball arcade games, and is also one of the first sports games to feature NBA-licensed teams and players, and their real digitized likenesses.A key feature of NBA Jam is the exaggerated nature of the play - players jump many times above their own height, making slam dunks that defied both human capabilities and the laws of physics. There are no fouls, free throws, or violations except goaltending
Goaltending
In basketball, goaltending is the violation of interfering with the ball when it is on its way to the basket and it is in its downward flight, entirely above the rim and has the possibility of entering the basket, and not touching the rim...
and 24-second violations. This meant the player is able to freely shove or elbow his opponent out of the way. Additionally, the game has an "on fire" feature, where if one player makes three baskets in a row, he becomes "on fire" and has unlimited turbo, no goaltending, and increased shooting ability, until the other team scores (or the player has scored four consecutive baskets while "on fire").
The game is filled with easter eggs
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
, special features and players activated by initials or button/joystick combinations. For example, pressing A five times and right five times on any Sega Genesis controller would activate "Super Clean Floors". This feature would cause characters to fall if they ran too fast or changed direction too quickly. And players can enter special codes to unlock hidden players, ranging from US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
to Hugo the Charlotte Hornets mascot. Early versions of the sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, allows players to put in codes that allow people to play as characters from Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (series)
Mortal Kombat, commonly abbreviated MK, is a science fantasy series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The first four renditions and their updates were developed by Midway Games and initially released on arcade machines. The arcade titles were later picked up by Acclaim...
, but the NBA, uneasy over the controversies surrounding Mortal Kombat
Featured teams and players
The original arcade version of NBA Jam features team rosters from the 1992-93 NBA season1992-93 NBA season
-Statistics leaders:-Yearly awards:*Most Valuable Player: Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns*Rookie of the Year: Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando Magic*Defensive Player of the Year: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets...
and the console versions use rosters from the 1993-94 NBA season
1993-94 NBA season
-Statistics leaders:-NBA awards:*Most Valuable Player: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets*Rookie of the Year: Chris Webber, Golden State Warriors*Defensive Player of the Year: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets...
. More up-to-date rosters were available in subsequent ports released for the Sega CD, Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, and Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
in 1994. Midway did not secure the license to use Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
's name or likeness (as Jordan himself owns the rights to his name and likeness, and not the NBA), and as such he was not available as a player for the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
or any other team. Other notable absences from the home versions are Gary Payton
Gary Payton
Gary Dwayne Payton is a former American professional basketball point guard. He is best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle SuperSonics, and holds Seattle franchise records in points, assists, and steals...
and Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
, the latter conspicuous considering his appearance on the arcade version as a member of the Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association and are currently coached by Stan Van Gundy...
. New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
guard Dražen Petrović
Dražen Petrovic
Dražen Petrović was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s before joining the American NBA in 1989...
and Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
forward Reggie Lewis
Reggie Lewis
Reggie Lewis was an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993.-Early life:...
, both of whom died after the release of the arcade version, were also removed from the home versions.
Note: Some home console versions of NBA Jam were coded later than others, and as a result of real-life roster changes or in the cases of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal, legal reasons, some rosters differ from version to version.
Eastern Conference
1Dražen PetrovićDražen Petrovic
Dražen Petrović was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s before joining the American NBA in 1989...
was killed in a car crash between the release of the arcade version and the home ports. NBA Jam is said to be haunted by Petrović, due to a bug causing his last name to be randomly called out by the announcer.
2Shaquille O'Neal appears only in the arcade version because his likeness was no longer licensed by the NBA by the time the home console versions were developed, and the cost was too high to include him in the game (much like Michael Jordan).
Western Conference
1Some earlier cartridges of the SNES, Sega Genesis, and Sega Game Gear versions have Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson on the Phoenix Suns; however, later versions replaced Barkley with Dan Majerle because Midway lost the rights to include Barkley when Accolade developed Barkley Shut Up and Jam!Barkley Shut Up and Jam!
Barkley Shut Up and Jam! is a 1994 basketball video game for the Super NES, Atari Jaguar, and Sega Mega Drive.-Summary:The video game features former NBA MVP Charles Barkley as he jams and slams in the downtown basketball courts of different NBA cities. The gameplay is similar to NBA Jam...
.
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
An update named NBA Jam Tournament Edition (commonly referred to as NBA Jam T.E.) featured updated rosters, new features and easter eggsEaster egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
combined with the same gameplay of the original. Teams now consisted of three players (with the exception of the new "Rookies" team, which consists of five players, all picked in the 1994 NBA Draft
1994 NBA Draft
The 1994 NBA Draft took place on June 29, 1994 in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is notable for the fact that two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season...
) and players could be substituted into the game. The game also featured new hidden teams and hidden playable characters. Early versions of the game included characters from Midway's Mortal Kombat games. Players were also assigned more attributes, including clutch and fatigue levels. In addition, the game also introduced features such as a "Tournament" mode that turned off computer assistance and on-court hot spots that allowed for additional points or special slam dunks.
This version was also ported to the SNES, Genesis, 32X, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
, PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
and Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
.
Ports and sequels
The NBA Jam games were also ported to many video game consoleVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s as well as PC, beginning with the original's debut on the highly-publicized Jam Day (March 4, 1994). Console versions were well known for featuring many easter eggs; the home versions of Jam T.E. even allowed the player to use then President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, First Lady
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
Hillary Clinton, Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
and Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
's Vice President of Software Development Leonard Tramiel on the Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
version. Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
published the console versions, who later ended up winning the exclusive rights to use the NBA Jam name.
Acclaim used the name on NBA Jam Extreme
NBA Jam Extreme
NBA Jam Extreme is a basketball arcade game by Acclaim Entertainment that follows the 1996–97 NBA season. Acclaim ended up winning the exclusive rights to use the NBA Jam name...
in 1996, a 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
version of Jam which featured Marv Albert
Marv Albert
Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
doing commentary. The game was a flop in comparison to Midway's version released that same year, rechristened NBA Hangtime
NBA Hangtime
NBA Hangtime is a basketball video game developed by Midway and released in arcades in 1996. Home versions followed for Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES, and Windows. A version for Game.com was cancelled....
, a game which featured a create-a-player and a usual batch of new features combined with a classic, but improved, NBA Jam feeling. An update called NBA Maximum Hangtime
NBA Hangtime
NBA Hangtime is a basketball video game developed by Midway and released in arcades in 1996. Home versions followed for Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES, and Windows. A version for Game.com was cancelled....
was subsequently released.
In 1995, Acclaim released a collegiate version of NBA Jam for home consoles entitled College Slam
College Slam
College Slam is a college basketball console game published by Acclaim. Its gameplay is nearly identical to NBA Jam, on which it is based. It includes most major Division I colleges, but there are many, such as the University of Tennessee, the University of Notre Dame, and Mississippi State...
. Although the game was created to capitalize on the popularity of March Madness
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
and the subsequent Final Four, it did not enjoy the popularity of the earlier NBA Jam games.
However, the idea was not quite dead as Midway passed it to their other sports games. The 1995 hockey release 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge
2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge is an ice hockey arcade game released by Midway in 1995. It was ported to PlayStation in 1996. The game would be similar to its arcade counterpart with exception to the fact that the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix after the conclusion of the 1995-96 season, thus the...
was only mildly successful at best, but Midway found success with Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey is a video game developed by Atari Games and released for the arcade in 1996.-Summary:This video game was later ported to the Nintendo 64 console on October 31, 1996, where it was the first-ever 4-player game for the Nintendo 64...
in 1996 and NFL Blitz in 1997. The NFL Blitz series would later become Blitz: The League
Blitz: The League
Blitz: The League is an American football game by Midway as an unlicensed extension of their NFL Blitz series. Released after the NFL signed an exclusive licensing deal with Electronic Arts, it was released in October 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Lawrence Taylor, who provides voice acting...
due to EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
exclusivity deal with the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. The success of the game brought forth another high-flying basketball game, and genuine 3D rendered (but 2D playing) sequel to NBA Jam and NBA Hangtime, NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC
NBA Showtime is a basketball video game by Midway. A descendant of NBA Jam and NBA Hangtime, Showtime is modeled after the NBA presentations on NBC. The original arcade version features team rosters from the beginning of the 1998-99 NBA season, while the console versions features team rosters that...
(which used the familiar NBA on NBC theme, "Roundball Rock
Roundball Rock
"Roundball Rock" is a theme song composed by John Tesh and used for The NBA on NBC from 1990-2002. NBC played the song 12,000 times during their run...
") in 1999, a game which was received well and had acceptable success. After it was ported, Midway decided to focus itself on other games, and after the following year's NBA Hoopz
NBA Hoopz
NBA Hoopz is a basketball video game by Midway. This game is a descendant of NBA Jam and NBA Hangtime and a sequel to NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC. Hoopz was the only 3-on-3, extreme-style basketball videogame available the 2000–01 NBA season....
(a slower-paced, 3-on-3 copy of NBA Showtime), Midway's series ended. Acclaim continued to keep the NBA Jam name alive with its console games, although the games were only mildly popular.
Now making console games exclusively, Midway has used Jam
RedCard 20-03
RedCard 20-03, known as RedCard in Europe, is a video game based on association football, released in 2002 by Point of View. The game follows most of the rules of football, but allows for heavy tackles and special moves once the player has charged up a special meter.The game, released on the...
(a hard-hitting football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
game). Many of Jam
NBA Ballers
This article is for the original game, for the sequel see NBA Ballers: Phenom.For the PSP version see NBA Ballers: ReboundNBA Ballers is a streetball game which is similar to AND 1 Streetball and gameplay similar to the NBA Jam series. The game features fictional NBA analyst Bob Benson and MC...
series.
On October 5th, 2010, EA Sports released a new version of NBA Jam
NBA Jam (2010 video game)
NBA JAM is a basketball video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. It is the latest installment in the NBA Jam video game franchise and it was released on October 5, 2010...
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
in November 2010. Original NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell was hired to work on this new version in conjunction with EA Vancouver. Following the game's critical and commercial success, a follow-up NBA Jam: On Fire Edition was released on October 4th, 2011 on PSN and XBLA on October 5th, 2011.
Popular culture
In certain subcultures, the phrases "He's heating up", "He's on fire" and "Boomshakalaka!" have entered into common usage. The phrases, as in the game, are used to (self) describe someone doing something successfully twice or thrice respectively, as the original expression was used for any player who scored three baskets in a row. He would be "on fire", as he then started tossing/dunking a flaming ball to the basket, burning its net in the process. The effect only wore off if the opposite team scored. The NBA Jam script was written solely by Jon Hey.NBA Jam also incorporated a slogan from Spike Lee's alter-ego in his 1986 film She's Gotta Have It
She's Gotta Have It
She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It was also Lee's first feature-length film. The film stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell. Also appearing are cinematographer Ernest Dickerson as a Brooklyn resident and...
, Mars Blackmon
Mars Blackmon
Mars Blackmon is a fictional character in the film She's Gotta Have It , played by its writer/director, Spike Lee. In the film, he is a "Brooklyn-loving", sports-loving, die-hard New York Knicks fan. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, "Mars Blackmon" became the primary pitchman in Nike...
, who was also featured in a Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
basketball shoe television commercial at the time. The NBA Jam commentator asked, "Is it the shoes?" after a player performed spectacularly.
The announcer was modeled on Marv Albert
Marv Albert
Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
and other announcers although there is no mention of Albert in the game and was voiced by Tim Kitzrow.
The upbeat, funky music written by Jon Hey was inspired by sports music themes and has been compared to George Clinton
George Clinton (musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
's P-Funk All Stars. Funkadelic's 1979 "(Not Just) Knee Deep
(Not Just) Knee Deep
" Knee Deep" is a funk song running 15 minutes, 21 seconds on side 1 of Funkadelic's 1979 album Uncle Jam Wants You.-Song information:...
" shares the most similarity with the music of NBA Jam but was recorded more than a decade before NBA Jams music was written. The likeness of George Clinton was used as the character "P. Funk" in the console versions of NBA Jam: Tournament Edition.
In July 2009, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon
Ed Boon
Edward J. Boon is an American video game programmer who had been employed for over 15 years at Midway. He now works for Warner Bros...
revealed (on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
) that a Mortal Kombat court was to be hidden in a console port of NBA Jam or NBA Hangtime.
Mark Turmell, creator of NBA Jam, confirmed a long held suspicion that the game had a bias against the Chicago Bulls. According to Turmell, a Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
fan, the game had a special code that caused the Bulls to miss last-second shots in close games against the Pistons.