As for my story: It happened in 1993 while my family was on vacation. I stubbornly tried to prod my parents for the exact location for this article but of course neither of them have an ironclad memory or had an inkling to think about writing it down somewhere. Anyway, we took a brief stop at a local arcade, more than likely because of me dragging my feet or whining to go there. While perusing the arcade cabinets, I encountered it. Immediately struck by its side panel featuring a large NBA logo placed over a closeup of a basketball, I went over and watched the demo play out for a bit. I then plucked down two quarters into the coin slot.
After some confusion with the process of entering initials, I came upon the team select screen and was blown away. These were all real NBA players and on their real NBA teams. I went all over the screen even while the incredibly loud timer began to ring out. I thought about picking my favorite team, the Chicago Bulls. They had Scottie Pippen but the bald guy with him wasn't Michael Jordan. I went to the New York Knicks, another favorite, and was glad to see Patrick Ewing there. But I ultimately decided on the Orlando Magic because, with my mind blown again, it had Shaquille O'Neal and I wanted to play as him. The game officially begins and I'm overwhelmed by the visuals and of course the sound of it all. Seriously, the NBA Jam arcade cabinet was unbelievably loud by design. I grappled with the controls, constantly kept goal tending despite becoming fearful of the game's intense alarm to cut that shit out, and was able to deliver some dunks. The first quarter ends and I'm losing. The game immediately asks for more money to continue but I was either empty or on my last couple coins. The game ends but I'm completely changed by the experience.
Time passes from that event but I'm still hooked on NBA Jam. I don't have any other lasting memories with the arcade version other than that initial encounter but I must have had a few run-ins with it or, more likely, did my usual routine of watching other people play from the side. It's now spring 1994 and thanks to a huge marketing campaign, I'm well aware of NBA Jam coming to my beloved Sega Genesis. While on a mini-vacation to visit a family friend, my mom is awesome enough to buy me a copy. Once we get home, I practically run to the Genesis so I, and oh yeah maybe my older brother as well, can play the game. I of course have a blast with it, further fueled when the codes for secret characters come out, but I already had some disappointment with it going in. For you see, thanks to what I skimmed from magazine coverage and other news, I was well aware that Shaq would not be in it due to business reasons. I was happy though that I at least got to play as Charles Barkley, which I for a long while though was just a special console exclusive for the Genesis.
Cut to 2020. I'm currently reeling from watching The Last Dance during the pandemic and in immediate need for some more basketball, preferably anything that also helps fuel the nostalgia factor. I of course first look towards NBA Jam. While deciding on either playing the original games on an emulator or just booting up the EA reboot downloaded on my PS3, I see that NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is on sale on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Since it has Michael Jordan in it, along with some more recent NBA players, I went with that option. As of this writing, Playgrounds 2 has become my second most played game on the system, clocking in at 85+ hours of playtime. And yes, the huge playtime is in part due to my absolute refusal to pay for virtual currency and willingness to grind out the process of unlocking all of the players.
As I'm playing Playgrounds 2 though I begin to wonder: Are all of the players from the original NBA Jam in here? What about the people in Tournament Edition? I look online for some help only to shockingly find practically nothing on the game. There's a ton of YouTube videos of the game but they're more focused on the YouTubers playing it and their online experiences. Nothing focusing on the actual game itself (besides a few helpful FAQs) or its huge roster. Wikipedia just practically hides the game away. Even Giant Bomb and their great alternative wiki has no real or concise info beyond a loose "Characters" page. Because of this annoying setback, I decided to do my own personal FAQ, listing out the players in their proper teams and lamenting at how the game lacks players like Toni Kukoc and Rony Seikaly or doesn't have versions of Kevin Garnett and Jeremy Lin under their more famous teams. As I'm doing this, I begin to cross-reference Playgrounds 2 with the old NBA Jam games in order to generate an easy guide on the playability of NBA players. However, during the process I begin to see that the NBA Jam games have some noticeable differences in their rosters among the versions. And additionally none of this is really well known or broadcasted across the internet. So I decided to take the initiative again.
Over the next four days, I will be posting the full NBA team rosters for the original four Midway produced NBA Jam games. Those games are the original NBA Jam, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, NBA Hangtime, and NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC. I'll not only be noting all of the players on a NBA team in a game but also the team roster differences between the game's many ports and revisions. For example, as mentioned in my story, Shaquille O'Neal was in the arcade version of NBA Jam but was removed in the Sega Genesis version. I did all that I could on no budget to document these games fully and accurately for all my fellow NBA and arcade basketball fans. If I'm up to do it in the future, I also hope to maybe cover the infamous Acclaim line of NBA Jam games and/or the last of Midway's NBA attempts, NBA Hoopz, since they all also have a distinct lack of online chronicling.
And if you're still questioning why I went to the trouble to do all this, please remember: being featured in a NBA Jam game was a practically a godsend for a NBA player. You're weren't just a name or a small peg on a team like in basketball sim games such as the NBA Live series. Your own face was hand drawn on to a video game body, not just a blob of pixels. You were deemed important and famous enough to become "the" hero of your team, able to fly high, dunk hard, and set the ball on fire. You became part of a lasting legacy instead of just a footnote in a basketball team's history.
Please enjoy!
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