NBA Jam Tournament Edition is the sequel to the original NBA Jam. The game had an updated roster and many hidden characters — a staple of the NBA Jam franchise. Additionally, Tournament Edition included additional SuperJam power-ups, more detailed player attributes, player substitutions after each quarter, injuries and a new soundtrack. It was overall an improved version of the original.

Why We Liked It
It wasn’t so much that the game featured actual NBA Players, but it was that the selection was limited to the superstars you cared about: you know, the Scottie Pippens, Reggie Millers, and Patrick Ewings of the world. The hidden characters were also awesome: how about some Bill Clinton, Larry Bird, Fresh Prince, the Suns Gorilla, or Subzero and Scorpion?

NBA Jam Tournament Edition was a frantic all-out-fun experience. The games were always a close match, typically less than 6 points set the winner apart from the loser and overtime was a common occurrence. You can’t even guess how many times we played and at the buzzer we got out of our chairs as the jump shot made its way to the rim.

Aside from that, NBA Jam Tournament Edition made things more interesting by adding power-up icons. These icons would show up on the court at random and boost certain player attributes. Some of those power-ups where:

• B – Bomb
• 3 – Better 3 Point Shooting
• D – Dunk From Anywhere
• P – Extra Power Stats
• etc…

And to add to the endless fun of this game, the Super Nintendo version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition was tightly integrated with Xband, the first real console online game network. You had instant access to thousands of other NBA Jam fans with a single 2400bps modem connection.

What About Now?
Playing NBA Jam Tournament Edition years later, I was a bit scared that the game would lose its re-playability. However, as soon as the announcer said, “Welcome to NBA JAM”, I immediately fell into the groove of things. It was as if a switch turned on inside my head and my brain downloaded all the information to my hands. I chose my team of choice, Harold Miner and Glen Rice from the Miami Heat, and I was in the action.

It was so easy to ignore the outdated graphics while playing this game. It was immediate unadulterated fun: shoving the opponent in the middle of a dunk, blocking jump shots, doing alley-oops, it was all there. This is what gaming is all about.

Pure unadulterated fun game experiences like NBA Jam are created far and between in this industry, specially now. It was nice to see that NBA Jam Tournament Edition still lights me up so many years after being released. Kudos to you Midway for letting Acclaim and Iguana Entertainment bring this game to our humble video game consoles.

Difficulty:
Easy

Released:
1995

Developer:
Iguana Entertainment

Platform:
Super Nintendo