History VideoGame / NBAJam

** Eastern: [=LeBron=] James (goes on fire if losing), Dwyane Wade (game is played straight with no interruptions), Creator/ShaquilleONeal (smash rules, if the backboard is destroyed, he wins; board can be repaired by shooting), Larry Bird (can shoot three consecutive 3-pointers if on fire), Julius Erving (domination rules, can dominate all points if on fire)

* BigHeadMode: Trope maker.

* EasterEgg: Aside from all of the games' [[ClassicCheatCode legendary cheat codes]], inputting a certain combination[[note]] Up and all buttons on Player 1 and Down and all buttons on Player 2[[/note]] while booting up the original arcade game allows you to play a hidden 3D tank minigame. In revision 3.01 of ''Jam'', your team would get a massive stat boost if you lasted for sixty seconds in the minigame.

** If the RubberBandAI doesn't get you, the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the original 1993 game will. To make matters worse, they are usually the first two teams you will go up against.

** Eastern: [=LeBron=] James (goes on fire if losing), Dwyane Wade (game is played straight with no interuptions), Creator/ShaquilleONeal (smash rules, if the backboard is destroyed, he wins; board can be repaired by shooting), Larry Bird (can shoot three consecutive 3-pointers if on fire), Julius Erving (domination rules, can dominate all points if on fire)

''NBA Jam'' is a two-on-two basketball game that was released in the arcades (by Creator/MidwayGames) and [[UsefulNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 16-bit consoles]] (by Creator/{{Acclaim}}). The game is notorious for its insane dunks and equally insane catchup. The game became a phenomenon when it was released in 1993, [[CashCowFranchise earning over a billion dollars in quarters over its lifespan]]. An UpdatedRerelease titled ''NBA Jam: Tournament Edition'' quickly followed, with new players, stat tracking, and hidden players. In 2010, [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]] would release ''NBA Jam'' on the 7th-generation consoles with two iterations: the first one (simply called ''NBA Jam'') was released in 2010, with the ''On Fire'' edition released the following year.

--->"Not cool, dude! You shot blocked me!"\\

"Like my wife says every night, REJECTED!"

** Music/JCole and 9th Wonder are unlockable bonus characters in the 2009 version of ''Jam''. in the 2010 ''On Fire'' edition, they're replaced by the Music/BeastieBoys.

* PopStarComposer: Rapper M-Doc of Indasoul wrote and produced the theme song "Whatcha Gonna Do?" and "Get Up, Get Up (First Quarter Music)" for ''Hangtime''.

---> "Not cool, dude! You shot blocked me!"\\

** Raiden, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile from ''Franchise/{{Mortal Kombat}}'' were {{Dummied Out}} from ''NBA Jam: Tournament Edition'', although they can be played through hacks.

** In the ''On Fire'' edition of ''NBA Jam 2010'', Elise, Mac, and Kaori are members of Team VideoGame/{{SSX}}. Another bonus team (Team EA) consists of ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' and ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' protagonists Faith and Issac Clarke. The game also features the now-defunct Seattle [=SuperSonics=] as a playable team (with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp playing), as well as a team of ''[[VideoGame/EASportsStreet NBA Street]]'' characters, some international teams and a couple of other random oddball players.

!!''NBA Jam'' contains examples of the following tropes:

** Music/GeorgeClinton, (under the name "P. Funk"), Music/DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince, and former U.S. President UsefulNotes/BillClinton can be unlocked in ''Tournament Edition''. Bill Clinton reappears in the 2009 revival and its 2010 update, this time bringing along UsefulNotes/BarackObama and Joe Biden as teammates, and John [=McCain=], UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and Sarah Palin as rivals.

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** ''NBA Jam'' itself could be seen as a spiritual successor to ''Arch Rivals'', which debuted a few years earlier and [[TropeCodifier popularized]] the concept of arcade-style 2-on-2 basketball.
** After Midway lost the ''NBA Jam'' name to Acclaim in the mid '90s, they released a series of games with different names. First came ''NBA Hangtime'', which added a create-a-player mode and refined the gameplay elements, then ''[[UpdatedRerelease NBA Maximum Hangtime]]'' refined things even further. ''NBA Showtime'' then took the series into 3D, ''[[XtremeKoolLetterz NBA Hoopz]]'' made it 3-on-3 as opposed to the 2-on-2 of previous games, then the ''VideoGame/NBABallers'' series added extra "bling". Then, EA Sports got the license, which was well-received.
** Midway also applied the ''NBA Jam'' formula of "loose adherence to the rules and fast-paced gameplay" to other sports games. The best example of this is the ''VideoGame/NFLBlitz'' series (with 7-a-side teams and 30-yard first downs and [[WrestlerInAllOfUs suplexes and leg drops on downed players between plays]]. After EA gained exclusivity of the NFL license, Midway succeeded it with ''Blitz: The League'', which ramped the violence aspect of ''NFL Blitz'' up to eleven[[note]]EA would later release their own classic-formula ''NFL Blitz'' in the wake of the success of their ''NBA Jam''[[/note]]). Midway also did it with hockey (''NHL 2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge'', ''Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey'', and ''NHL Hitz''). More Midway-style interpretation of other sports includes soccer (''Red Card Soccer 20-02'', in which Zidane can headbutt players a few years before he committed the deed in real life), baseball (''MLB Slugfest''), golf (''Skins Game''), combat sports (''VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing'', ''VideoGame/WWFWrestleManiaTheArcadeGame'') and motorsport (''CART Fury'').
** Every game in EA's ''[[VideoGame/EASportsStreet Street]]'' series took a lot of cues from ''Jam'', though ''NBA Street'' is the obvious spiritual successor, to the point that Stretch was included in EA's ''Jam'' revival.

* DummiedOut: According to Mark Turmell, UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan appeared in a very early revision of the original ''NBA Jam'', but was quickly excised from the game once Midway was notified Jordan wasn't a part of the NBA licensing.[[note]]For those wondering why he was an exception to the rule, NBA players have the option to opt-out of the licensing, thus allowing them to choose what NBA-related media they could appear in.[[/note]] However, Turmell also confirmed there is a small number of collector's editions of the original game with MJ's code intact.

** Midway also applied the ''NBA Jam'' formula of "loose adherence to the rules and fast-paced gameplay" to other sports games. The best example of this is the ''VideoGame/NFLBlitz'' series (with 7-a-side teams and 30-yard first downs and [[WrestlerInAllOfUs suplexes and leg drops on downed players between plays]]. After EA gained exclusivity of the NFL license, Midway succeeded it with ''Blitz: The League'', which ramped the violence aspect of ''NFL Blitz'' UpToEleven[[note]]EA would later release their own classic-formula ''NFL Blitz'' in the wake of the success of their ''NBA Jam''[[/note]]). Midway also did it with hockey (''NHL 2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge'', ''Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey'', and ''NHL Hitz''). More Midway-style interpretation of other sports includes soccer (''Red Card Soccer 20-02'', in which Zidane can headbutt players a few years before he committed the deed in real life), baseball (''MLB Slugfest''), golf (''Skins Game''), combat sports (''VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing'', ''VideoGame/WWFWrestleManiaTheArcadeGame'') and motorsport (''CART Fury'').

* NewJackSwing: Every game's OST by Midway and Acclaim until ''Jam '99'' was influenced by this, funk, hip hop, and dance music.

* PolygonCeiling: Acclaim, upon seizing the ''Jam'' name from Midway, ran smack into this problem with ''Jam Extreme.'' The 3D graphics were middling by 1996's standards and have aged like sour milk, the pace of play takes a significant hit, and on consoles, the experience gets even worse thanks to good old-fashioned PSX[=/=]Saturn load times long enough to make a quick sandwich while you waited. Midway, on the other hand, hung back and stuck to two dimensions with ''Hangtime,'' providing faster gameplay with more meaningful tweaks like team fire and create-a-player, and the result was a stronger successor that set the stage for an actually successful leap to 3D with ''Showtime''.

** After Midway lost the ''NBA Jam'' name to Acclaim in the mid '90s, they released a series of games with different names. First came ''NBA Hangtime'', which added a create-a-player mode and refined the gameplay elements, then ''[[UpdatedRerelease NBA Maximum Hangtime]]'' refined things even further. ''NBA Showtime'' then took the series into 3D and added in rudimentary fouls while avoiding the PolygonCeiling, ''[[XtremeKoolLetterz NBA Hoopz]]'' made it 3-on-3 as opposed to the 2-on-2 of previous games, then the ''VideoGame/NBABallers'' series added extra "bling". Then, EA Sports got the license, which was well-received.

* EverythingsBetterWithCows: One of ''Hangtime''[='=]s create-a-character attributes is a cow's head.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: When playing a one-on-one match against Magic Johnson in the 2010 version of the game, Magic will ''literally'' use some magic teleporting skills to to make some very improbable plays, even by ''[=NBA=] Jam'' standards.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Midway also applied the ''NBA Jam'' formula of "loose adherence to the rules and fast-paced gameplay" to other sports games. The best example of this is the ''VideoGame/NFLBlitz'' series (with 7-a-side teams and 30-yard first downs and [[WrestlerInAllOfUs suplexes and leg drops on downed players between plays]]. After EA gained exclusivity of the NFL license, Midway succeeded it with ''Blitz: The League'', which ramped the violence aspect of ''NFL Blitz'' UpToEleven). Midway also did it with hockey (''NHL 2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge'', ''Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey'', and ''NHL Hitz''). More Midway-style interpretation of other sports includes soccer (''Red Card Soccer 20-02'', in which Zidane can headbutt players a few years before he committed the deed in real life), baseball (''MLB Slugfest''), golf (''Skins Game''), combat sports (''VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing'', ''VideoGame/WWFWrestleManiaTheArcadeGame'') and motorsport (''CART Fury'').

* PinballSpinoff: ''Jam'' was adapted into a pinball table called ''NBA Fastbreak'' by Midway in 1997, with Tim Kitzrow once again providing play-by-play.

** Eastern: [=LeBron=] James (goes on fire if losing), Dwyane Wade (game is played straight with no interuptions), Shaquille O'Neal (smash rules, if the backboard is destroyed, he wins; board can be repaired by shooting), Larry Bird (can shoot three consecutive 3-pointers if on fire), Julius Erving (domination rules, can dominate all points if on fire)

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Tim Kitzrow slipped in quite a few cleverly risqué lines and puns in EA's ''Jam'' that never would've flew in 1993. Here's a few gems:
---> "Not cool, dude! You shot blocked me!"\\
"Get that weak shit...take mushroom outta here!"\\
"An unfortunate case of projectile dysfunction..."\\
"Two guys, one dunk!"\\
"I am the rainmaker. I'll ride you hard and you're gonna get wet."\\
"Like my wife says every night, REJECTED!"
** Subverted with ''[[MeaningfulName NBA Jam XXX]]'', an in-house prototype of the SNES port featuring profane calls from Kitzrow that was never meant to see the light of day to avoid pissing off the NBA. When the prototype surfaced in 2012, [[https://kotaku.com/5932227/is-this-r-rated-version-of-nba-jam-legit Kitzrow called it a hoax]], but Jon Hey, the game's composer and sound engineer, [[http://www.nintendoplayer.com/interview/nba-jam-xxx-posed/ refuted that claim]], and Kitzrow himself would later admit to recording the lines years later. Check out all of the prototype's X-rated glory [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgzqLiIZmR8 here]].

''NBA Jam'' is a two-on-two basketball game that was released in the arcades (by Creator/MidwayGames) and [[UsefulNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 16-bit consoles]] (by Creator/{{Acclaim}}). The game is notorious for its insane dunks and equally insane catchup. The game became a phenomenon when it was released in 1993, [[CashCowFranchise earning over a billion dollars in quarters over its lifespan]]. An UpdatedRerelease titled ''NBA Jam: Tournament Edition'' quickly followed, with new players, stat tracking, and hidden players. In 2010, [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]] would release ''NBA Jam'' on the 7th-generation consoles.