NBA Jam Tournament Edition

NBA Jam Tournament Edition is a basketball game produced in 1994 by Midway as an arcade. The title is a spin-off of the NBA Jam, released in 1993 by the same company.

The Tournament Edition was later ported to Super NES, Game Boy, Game Gear, Saturn, 32X, PSX, and the Atari Jaguar.

The Mega Drive/Genesis version, released in 1995, was created by Acclaim.

Like its predecessor, this installation consists of a basketball game where two players fight a duel with two other opponents. Unlike the original title, Tournament Edition has several enhancements that vary from aesthetics to gameplay and even add replay value.

The first of these changes is that there are now 27 teams, including all-star formations. Besides, there are at least three original players from each team, which now feature 25% of the NBA roster. Based on their real-life performance, all characters are assigned power, blocking, stealing, clutching, and passing attributes. Also, the game has the participation of Tim Kitzrow as the announcer.

The gameplay, in general, is much more fluid, and the moves look more realistic than in the previous entry. Furthermore, it now features a practice mode, the ability for both players to choose the same team and to adapt to in-game situations by making substitutions. Finally, Tournament Edition is full of new dunks, several improvements, and secret powers that are disabled in competition mode.

The graphic part of the game is well optimized. Even though we can't distinguish the players' faces, several characteristics can be seen, such as height or hairstyle. Despite this, each of them has a picture of its real-life counterpart. Michael Jordan's name could not appear in the game, but Acclaim gave his appearance to another player (Ron Harper).

The colors of the title motivate fast and euphoric gameplay typical of basketball. Before starting to play, there are several colors in a gradient, exaggerated shapes, and giant letters. In the middle of the match, a medley of colors with an excessive saturation takes over the whole screen, accompanied by soft but frenetic music.

Reviews of the Genesis version were highly positive, with several 90% and more. NBA Jam was already a great game; this one is even better. If you also want to feel this unbridled gameplay and utilize a full roster of players from the '90s, you are just a few clicks away from starting your first match.