Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five jams that you’d expect to see in a dunk contest that could be readily performed during gameplay in sim games.

Sim basketball games have always taken a more casual approach to realism when it comes to dunks. In the earliest NBA Live games, the flashiest dunks included 540 degree reverse jams, which could be pulled off by any player with a suitably high dunking rating. Even as dunks became more realistic over the years, players would still throw it down far more often than in real life. I’d argue that this is an acceptable break from reality, as it adds more excitement to the gameplay. A real game may only see a handful of dunks, but that’s not as fun on the virtual hardwood!

Nevertheless, while the ratio of dunks to layups and other inside shots may continue to take a more casual approach to realism, the jams themselves are ones that we’d expect to see during the course of an NBA game. With the introduction of animation packages, we’re well past the days where anyone with an above average rating could 360 and 540 in traffic. However, there are sim games that have allowed players to perform dunk contest jams during regular gameplay, and some of those releases are more recent than you might think. With that being said, here are five jams worthy of the dunk contest that we’ve been able to throw down in otherwise sim gameplay.

1. Between-the-Legs

Now, players have gone between-the-legs in actual NBA games, so you could argue that it’s no longer just a dunk contest jam. It used to be something that was usually only attempted in an exhibition such as the All-Star Game or Rookie Challenge, but we’ve seen players break it out in regular season games too. This wasn’t always the case, and no, it’s not because players of yesteryear weren’t real athletes and modern players have evolved faster than science says is possible! Orlando Woolridge – an admittedly underrated dunker when it comes to historical high flyers – went between-the-legs in the 1984 Dunk Contest. Doing it in a game simply wasn’t done back then.

That’s why it was surprising when it was revealed that we could go between-the-legs in NBA Live 2002. It wasn’t just a gimmick for a pre-release screenshot or the intro video; it was a dunk we could perform ourselves, with the right player. Of course, this was when dunk packages were tied directly to dunking ratings, so occasionally you’d see someone like Rasheed Wallace pull it off. It wasn’t the last time that between-the-legs jams were possible in a sim game, as even as recently as NBA 2K13, it’s been available in dunk packages that MyPLAYERs can equip. You’ll also see it in Park games today – even off putbacks – though Park does take a looser approach to sim.

2. Vince Carter’s 360 Windmill

Come to think of it, I believe that Vince Carter basically performed all of the jams but one on this list in the 2000 Dunk Contest alone! However, there’s a reason that I’ve attributed this dunk to him in particular. Vinsanity wasn’t actually the first player to perform a 360 Windmill jam, in a dunk contest or otherwise. Kenny “Sky” Walker threw down a variation of the dunk on route to winning the 1989 event, while Jamie Watson made a respectable one in the 1995 contest. Neither had the full rotation on the 360 or the windmill that Carter did, which is why it’s seen as one of his signature dunks, the same way jams from the foul line are synonymous with MJ and Dr. J.

More to the point, it’s Vinsanity’s version of the 360 Windmill that you’ll find in a couple of games, including NBA Inside Drive 2003. Although Carter had a plethora of incredible in-game dunks during his 22-year NBA career, there were a few that he only broke out during the 2000 Dunk Contest, as they’d be tough to pull off without the defense allowing it, or committing a travel or double dribble. As such, it’s exciting to be able to perform his 360 Windmill in the Inside Drive games. To be fair, we have seen players like Paul George do it in actual games, so it still shows up on the virtual hardwood. Mind you, I’d suggest that Vince’s jam was a very specific take on it.

3. Honey Dip

As I noted, some of Vince Carter’s jams that won the 2000 Dunk Contest don’t lend themselves to a properly-officiated game, as they’d violate a rule. While a honey dip makes for an impressive entry in a dunk contest, and it’s quite welcome in streetball as well, in an NBA game it’s going to draw a technical foul call for hanging on the rim. Therefore, while it’s unsurprising to see it in the NBA Street games, you wouldn’t expect to find it in a sim title. It’s definitely made rarer appearances in sim games compared to the other dunk contest jams discussed here – again, it is a violation – but as it’s on this list, it obviously has been possible to perform it in simulation gameplay.

Once again, it comes courtesy of NBA Inside Drive 2003. I wouldn’t say that the Inside Drive series was a true sim-arcade hybrid, but it definitely took a more casual approach to the sim style. There were no arcade-style over-the-top dunks, but yes, you would see the most spectacular dunkers in the game break out a 360 Windmill, honey dip, and other dunk contest jams (and in traffic to boot). Combined with some of the humorous quips and banter on commentary, it makes for light-hearted fun without leaning into arcade gameplay; an approach that I’ve really come to appreciate. As with other the dunk contest jams, it’s also in Park-exclusive dunk packages nowadays.

4. Grab the Rim

Let’s face it: I’m not too concerned about realism when it comes to MyCAREER. If I was, I wouldn’t max out my player’s ratings and equip him with an assortment of fancy dunk packages; not when he’s supposed to be me! MyCAREER is meant to be about fantasy though, and so my avatars are as souped-up as I can make them. NBA 2K is still a sim game of course, so for the most part, all of the dunk packages contain realistic jams that comply with NBA rules. At least, that was the case back in the days of NBA 2K14. As I mentioned above, there are Park-exclusive animation packages that take advantage of streetball rules, to say nothing of NBA 2K being a video game.

Imagine my surprise when after equipping a fancy baseline reverse jams package, I saw my player sky, briefly grab the rim as he flew under the basket, and then slam it home on the other side! It’s certainly feasible to pull off such a slam, but grabbing the rim with your free hand is absolutely a violation outside of a dunk contest. I didn’t expect to see it available in a dunk package outside of a Park game, but I certainly wasn’t upset to witness a rare animation; indeed, I’m more disappointed that I haven’t been able to trigger it regularly! I hope that I do see it more often though, especially now that I’m compiling highlight reels from Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER.

5. Free Throw Line Dunks

There have been some players that have taken off very close to the free throw line in actual NBA games, but it’s easier said than done, even for players with tremendous leaping ability. The sticking point is taking off from the foul line without travelling or double dribbling, and it speaks volumes that Michael Jordan is one of the few dunk contest participants to dribble the ball before soaring from the charity stripe. In fact, it’s one of the things that set his free throw line dunks apart from Julius Erving’s! From the moment I started playing sim games, I’d try to take off from the foul line. It usually didn’t work, but I swear that I once saw it happen in NBA Live 96 PC.

Since then of course, several games have allowed players to leap from the foul line. There’s a recurring free throw line dunk animation in NBA Live that was introduced in NBA Live 2003, and while it often triggers a step inside the charity stripe, you can take off from slightly further back. The return of Michael Jordan in NBA 2K11 also brought an authentic Air Jordan foul line dunk that’s likewise remained in the game for years. Honestly, with MJ’s dunk package equipped in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, it’s actually too easy to take off from the free throw line! I suppose I could remove it, but why spoil the fun? A few dunk contest jams in sim gameplay just spices things up.

What are some other dunk contest jams that have made their way into the gameplay of otherwise realistic sim basketball games? What are some of your favourites? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Dunk Contest Jams in Sim Games appeared first on NLSC.