“It’s good!”
Super Nintendo
Released in 1995 by Acclaim and Midway
Grade: A
It’s classic NBA Jam action with a few bells and whistles, a guaranteed fun time.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the followup to the original NBA Jam, with nearly identical gameplay. NBA Hang Time came next, but the SNES and Genesis versions seem like sloppy ports of the next-gen installments. NBA Jam and NBA Jam: Tournament Edition are easily the two best basketball games on SNES.
Praises
This is frenetic 2-on-2 basketball with no fouls and no out of bounds and players jumping 20 feet in the air for dunks. Passing and shooting fit well into the scene too, and the control is delightfully easy to pick up.
There are five difficulty settings, and the CPU is stifling on the highest setting, sometimes shoving you and taking the ball before you get past the half-court line. It was the first in the series to support the 4-player multi-tap, which made it a party favorite back in the day.
I’ve read some people say that the gameplay is tweaked from the original, but I don’t think so. The only difference I notice is a few more dunk animations. It definitely contains some added features though: 3-man teams with substitutions between periods, “tag mode” where you can switch control between your players, and the option to sprinkle the floor with goofy power-ups and “hot spots” worth 4 to 9 points when you shoot from them. There are also more codes for secret characters and outlandish gameplay enhancements.
By the way, nobody ever seems to mention that there’s not actually a tournament mode. You couldn’t even do pen-and-paper playoffs against the CPU because you can’t choose your opponent. Instead, you play through the game by beating all 30 teams from worst to best.
In comparison to Genesis, some say the SNES graphics are better, but it’s hardly noticeable. In fact, I think the Genesis version moves just slightly smoother, and has snazzy music, which SNES doesn’t. The SNES controller’s shoulder buttons are nice to use for turbo though.
You can’t go wrong with the first two NBA Jam games on either system. They’re classics and still fun to pick up every now and then today.