Lost In Translation/NBA Jam

About The Game
NBA Jam is a two-on-two basketball arcade video game with digitized images of real NBA players, monster dunks and no referee - it's a blowout!

Trivia
Released in February 1993. Many critics claim that the release of NBA Jam gave rise to a new genre of sports games, which were based around action-packed, unrealistic gameplay.

Midway Games, no stranger to releasing landmark games having released "Pac-Man", had started experimenting with the ideas two years earlier, with the "High Impact Football" series. Both High Impact and Super High Impact had somewhat average success in arcades. It was not until the release of NBA Jam that gamers noticed the new genre. The game became exceptionally popular, and generated a lot of money for arcades after its release, largely because of the fairly expensive prices put on these games; a game quarter generally took two credits and a full game generally took eight, typically equal to $2.00 USD. Nonetheless, the game was a smash hit.

NBA Jam was one of the first real playable basketball arcade games and was the first game to be officially licensed by the NBA (wikipedia:National Basketball Association|National Basketball Association]]. It was also one of the first sports games to feature real teams, real players, and their real digitized likenesses. However, the unrealism of the game was the major drawing point, as the high flying dunks (often featuring players jumping twice their own height in the air while making highly acrobatic slams) were the games' signature. Of course, seeing NBA superstars like Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal flying through the air with the greatest of ease brought just as many fans back. In time, players discovered another major feature of the game, as it was filled with easter eggs, special features and players activated by initials or button/joystick combinations.

Updates

 * Revision 1:
 * Software version : 2.00.


 * Revision 2 :
 * Software version 3.01.
 * Credit problems fixed.
 * Jersey color of special guests fixed.
 * Prevents games from ending at the Tank mini-game.
 * Added 'Fair Shake'.

Big Head
Hold Up+Turbo+Steal at 'Tonight's match up'.

Power-up

 * Defense - Press Steal or Block 8 times when it says 'Tonight's match up'.
 * Intercept - Hold Down joystick and hold all three buttons during 'Tonight's match up'.
 * Offense - press Steal or Block 21 times at 'Tonight's match up'.
 * Defense and Intercept - At 'Tonight's Match-Up', Press the Shoot button 7 times, then all at once, hold Down the joystick and all three buttons.
 * Powerup Defense and Big head - press Turbo 6 times, hold Turbo and Steal, then hold the joystick Up at 'Tonight's match-up'.
 * Fair Shake - Tap turbo 10 times when it says 'Tonight's match up'. The Fair shake can ONLY be done in Human vs. Human games and ONLY on machines that are version 3.0 or greater.
 * Fair Shake and Powerup Intercept - press Turbo 7 times, then hold Turbo+Pass+Shoot, then hold the joystick Down at 'Tonight's match-up'.
 * Fair Shake and Big head - Press turbo 8 times, then hold Turbo+Steal and hold the joystick Up.

Tank Mini-Game
Hold all buttons for all four players and press Down on all four joysticks at the 'Tonight's match up'. Keep the controls held until the mini-game begins.

Series

 * 1) NBA Jam (1993)
 * 2) NBA Jam Tournament Edition (1994)
 * 3) NBA Hangtime (1996)
 * 4) NBA Maximum Hangtime (1996)
 * 5) NBA Jam Extreme (1996)
 * 6) NBA Jam 99 (1998, N64)
 * 7) NBA Showtime - NBA on NBC (1999)
 * 8) NBA Jam 2000 (1999, N64)
 * 9) NBA Jam 2001 (2000, GBC)
 * 10) NBA Jam 2002 (2002, GBA)
 * 11) NBA Jam (2003, PS2)
 * 12) NBA Jam (2003, X-Box)
 * 13) NBA Jam (200?, unreleased GameCube prototype)

Staff

 * Design Team:
 * Mark Turmell (MJT)
 * Shawn Liptak (SL )
 * Tony Goskie
 * John Carlton (JMC)
 * Sal Divita (SAL)
 * Jamie Rivett


 * Music & Sounds:
 * Jon Hey (JWH)


 * Hardware Support:
 * Cary Mednick
 * Pat Cox
 * Ray Macika
 * Sheridan Oursler
 * Matt Booty
 * John Lowes
 * Al Lasko


 * Executive Producers:
 * Neil Nicastro
 * Ken Fedesna
 * Wally Smolucha


 * Cast:
 * Stephen Howard
 * Willie Morris Jr.
 * Todd Mcclearn
 * Tony Scoot
 * Kerri Hoskins
 * Lorraine Olivia
 * Awards by Kaydan

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Nintendo Super Famicom (1993)
 * Sega Mega Drive (1993)
 * Sega Game Gear (1993)
 * Nintendo Game Boy (1993)
 * Sega Mega CD (1993)
 * Nintendo Super Famicom (1994) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Sega Mega Drive (1994) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Sega Game Gear (1994) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Nintendo Game Boy (1995) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Sega 32x (1995) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Sega Saturn (1995) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Sony PlayStation (1995) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)
 * Atari Jaguar (1996) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)


 * Computers :
 * PC [MS-DOS, CD-ROM] (1995) (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)