Let’s Play NBA Jam

Let’s Play NBA Jam

Let’s Play NBA Jam! Not that I have a lot of experience with them, but NAB Jam is easily hands down my favorite basketball game of all time. It was cheap as hell, but I couldn’t get enough of punching the crap out of my opponent’s eye on the reg, stealing the ball and making a b-line for the basket.

Let’s Play NBA Jam:

Let’s Play NBA Jam

Like I said, I didn’t play a lot of basketball games as a kid. Hoops was okay, but NBA Jam set a standard. And because of the punching it probably shouldn’t be considered a real basketball game to the purists out there, but it was so flipping fun.

I remember playing this at my buddy’s house a couple of years after graduating college (as an indication of its staying power) and playing with the Pacers I think because they had effective three point shooting for both player on the team, then going nuts with whoever I was controlling while my buddy fed me the ball over and over as I shot 3 after 3.

I scored roughly 120 points, effectively breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s apparent record from 50+ years before. Granted it was in a video game, but that’s just to show you how much fun and ridiculous this game could be. It wasn’t a basketball game for purists, it was just a good time. The one thing which bothers me is that difficulty level which you set and stats even go out the window when playing the game and one team gets a substantial point lead over the other as at that point a massive handicap comes down on whichever team is leading in order to create a sense of unrealistic parity.

I admit that it’s hypocritical to complain about parity in a game in which you can punch other players in the face without repercussion, get “on fire” after nailing 3 shots in a row, and play as Barney, but dammit when I’m pouring it on I want to pour it on!

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