NBA Jam
NBA Jam is a basketball arcade game published and developed by Midway in 1993. It is the first installment in the NBA Jam series. The main designer and programmer for this game was Mark Turmell. Midway had previously released sports games such as Arch Rivals (1989), High Impact (1990) and Super High Impact (1991). The gameplay of NBA Jam was based on Arch Rivals, another 2-on-2 basketball video game. However, it was the release of NBA Jam that brought great success to the genre. The game became extremely popular and made arcades a considerable amount of money after its release: 1 billion dollars in quarterly sales. In early 1994, the Amusement & Music Operators Association reported that NBA Jam had become the top-selling arcade game of all time. The release of NBA Jam established a new genre of sports games based on fast-paced, action-packed gameplay and exaggerated realism - a formula Midway would later apply to the sports of soccer (NFL Blitz) and ice hockey (2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge).
Story
NBA Jam, which features 2-on-2 basketball, is one of the first truly playable basketball arcade games and 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 over-the-top nature of the game - players jump many times their own height and make slam dunks that exceed both human abilities and the laws of physics. There are no fouls, free throws or rule violations with the exception of scoring throws and 24-second violations. This means that the player can elbow his opponent out of the way. When a player makes three baskets in a row, he becomes "on fire" and has unlimited turbo and increased shooting accuracy. The "on fire" mode continues until the other team scores or until the player who is "on fire" scores 4 more baskets in a row while "on fire". The game is full of Easter eggs, special features and players activated by initials or button/joystick combinations. For example, pressing A five times and right five times on a Genesis controller activates "Super Clean Floors." This feature causes characters to fall if they run too fast or change direction too quickly. Players can also enter special codes to unlock hidden players, from U.S. President Bill Clinton to Hugo, the mascot of the Charlotte Hornets. There is also a hidden "tank" game on the arcade machine that allows the player to run around on a 3D wireframe. However, to access this mode, the player must press the on/off switch behind the machine. While the game turns back on, the player holds down the up and all other buttons on player 1 and the down and all other buttons on player 2.