“He’s on fire!”
For anyone who has experienced the true greatness that is NBA Jam, that phrase should be all it takes to transport you away to a world of frenetic, over-the-top, arcade basketball.
It’s a world of dunks, steals, and hot streaks.
It’s a world in which putting yourself in the shoes of superstars like Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajowan, and Shaquille O’Neal (to name just a few) was a mere dollar away.*
* My memory might be hazy on this point, but I do recall the game costing more than the typical quarter or even 50 cents a play – I’m PRETTY sure it usually cost at least a buck to play – and that it was of great annoyance to me that this was the case. “Games used to cost 25 cents. Why are we now charging more? It’s outlandish and unfair!” Clearly, inflation as a concept had yet to penetrate my teenage boy brain.
It’s a world of impossible physics and ridiculous commentary.
It’s a world of insane levels of rubber-banding that could reduce the hardest of men to quivering tears.
It’s a world of fantastical cameos and easter eggs, not the least of which was a playable version of Bill Clinton himself.
In other words, this world, the world of NBA Jam, is the very best kind of world.
Buckle up, kids.
We’re about to go deep on NBA Jam, the most outrageous mainstream sports game our society has ever seen.
NBA Jam at a glance
Genre: Sports
Release: 1993
Platform: Arcade
No. 19 on Flux’s Top 100 Video Games