Wayback Wednesday: 30 Years Ago, I Bought NBA Jam TE

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m reflecting on it being 30 years since I bought the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition, aka NBA Jam TE.

These days, I have a sizeable collection of basketball video games – I’m overdue to take a new photo with the additions that I’ve made since 2022 – but it all had to start somewhere! As it happens, I purchased my very first basketball video game 30 years ago yesterday. That game was of course NBA Jam Tournament Edition, or NBA Jam TE as it’s also commonly known. A minor technical issue prevented me from playing it on January 27th 1996, but a day later that was all sorted, so today marks 30 years since I hit the virtual hardwood in NBA Jam Tournament Edition for the first time.

Needless to say, as one of the earliest titles that turned my interest in basketball and basketball gaming into full-blown fandom – some might say obsession – NBA Jam Tournament Edition is an all-time nostalgic favourite. It certainly helps that just like the original NBA Jam, it still holds up superbly three decades later. Of course, even if I wasn’t able to enjoy it today, it’d still be a special part of my history with the virtual hardwood and real hoops alike. As such, I’ll never pass up the opportunity to reflect on it, especially on a milestone anniversary! Let’s take a look back…way back…

Remembering that 2026 would mark 30 years since I bought NBA Jam TE, I pulled out my 1996 diary to find the exact date. Yes, I’m sure it’s a huge surprise that even as a child I enjoyed putting pen to paper to share my thoughts! Scanning through those pages, it obviously didn’t take long before I reached the day in question: January 27th. While I went on to create many fond memories with NBA Jam TE on PC, I’d actually forgotten a couple of details about that day; or rather, they’d run together with other gaming memories. I mixed up the store I bought it from with where I picked up NBA Live 96 PC not too long afterwards, and I’d forgotten about the initial trouble I had.

Incidentally, the issue I encountered on that very first session with NBA Jam TE PC was that I couldn’t make a selection on the “Enter Initials” screen. We ended up taking it back to the store where they tested it, and confirmed that it was simply an issue with the keyboard configuration. As someone who’s been messing around with computers both recreationally and professionally in the decades since then, the problem and the incredibly simple solution is rather embarrassing to look back on now! Interestingly, I haven’t ever experienced that same issue with NBA Jam TE on any other PC, or under DOSBox on a modern system. Then again, that 486 DX2-66 had some weird quirks!

As it happened, the first game of NBA Jam TE that I played was against my Dad, and I’m pleased to report that I won. This was before I had a PC gamepad, so we would’ve been hunched over opposite ends of the keyboard; a staple of multiplayer PC gaming back in the 90s! In my diary, I reported that I was very pleased with both NBA Jam Tournament Edition and The Need for Speed, purchased together for a total of $189 AUD (around $400 AUD today). Over the next few weeks, I played several games against my Dad – only losing once, by a single point – and also began taking on the CPU to defeat all 27 teams. The Chicago Bulls were naturally my squad of choice.

I’ve already covered NBA Jam Tournament Edition with in-depth retrospectives, so I won’t go into a full review here. With that being said, it’s one of the definitive arcade basketball games of the 90s, building on the success of the original NBA Jam. It has similar rubber-banding – which certainly led to some frustrating moments, particularly in my earliest sessions with the game – but it’s also well-balanced in that you’re able to make great plays at both ends of the floor. Getting On Fire is straightforward, but not too easy or overpowering. The crazy dunks are exciting, and the atmosphere is great, from the music to Tim Kitzrow’s commentary. They did indeed “pump up the jam”!

I will admit that the PC version isn’t the most polished port, however. There are some weird phantom deflections on blocks and rebounds. Certain dunk animations glitch out for really tall players such as Shawn Bradley. The ability to shatter the backboard was removed, and despite being released on CD-ROM, some of Tim Kitzrow’s lines were cut; most egregiously, his iconic “Boomshakalaka”! I was aware of some of these issues even back then, but they didn’t stop me from falling in love with NBA Jam TE, nor do they prevent me from going back and enjoying it now. Other games tried to imitate the NBA Jam formula, but it was the gold standard for arcade hoops.

Looking back, those early sessions with NBA Jam Tournament Edition played such a big role in my burgeoning basketball fandom. Being a 90s kid, pop cultural osmosis had instilled a casual interest in hoops before that point. A couple of years earlier, I received a hoop and ball for Christmas. I had a small collection of basketball cards, which would soon start to expand. I even had a #45 Michael Jordan jersey, though he’d already switched back to #23 by the time I got it. His return undoubtedly boosted the popularity of basketball in Australia, inspiring many of us to take an interest in it. By January 1996, the seeds had been planted for me to become a hardcore hoop head.

However, before I was tuning into every second of NBA action on free-to-air TV, before I was regularly playing basketball at school, home, and friends’ places, I was learning about the league and the sport from NBA Jam TE. Naturally, NBA Live 96 later proved to be a more accurate teaching tool when it came to the current NBA and its players, but NBA Jam TE was still allowing me to grow familiar with the stars and other notable names. Sure, inaccuracies such as Dino Radja having a rating of nine for three-pointers and Harold Miner being a standout player were misleading for a newly-minted basketball fan, but the bottom line is that it fed my enthusiasm for the sport.

Although I’d come to love the sim genre once I got into NBA Live, I’d say that for me, NBA Jam Tournament Edition was an ideal entry into basketball gaming. I was able to learn about a handful of noteworthy players – some depicted more accurately than others – instead of being overwhelmed by complete rosters. Likewise, the over-the-top, action-oriented style of the NBA Jam games introduced me to virtual basketball with gameplay that was pick-up-and-play, and less complicated and challenging than sim titles such as NBA Live. In time I’d seek out a more realistic experience, but it was a thrill to pull off ridiculous dunks, catch fire, and knock opponents to the floor.

On March 7th, I defeated the Houston Rockets to complete the tournament ladder and unlock the expanded rosters, which came as a pleasant and exciting surprise. Granted, it shouldn’t have been surprising given that the inclusion of extra players and secret characters was actually given away on the back of the box, which I’m sure I must’ve read more than once. I either forgot or it somehow didn’t register with me though, so it ended up feeling like a cool discovery. Amusingly, in my diary I lamented that the secret players made the game less serious. Apparently, my 11-year-old self was fine with players soaring into the rafters, but a mascot joining in was just a step too far!

Mind you, that speaks to my desire to have a more realistic experience, an itch that NBA Live 96 PC would scratch in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, I kept playing NBA Jam TE, discovering more of the secret characters as they randomly appeared. It also became a staple of gaming with my cousin Clinton when he came to stay with us. Indeed, after convincing my uncle to let him stay a little longer during the July school holidays, we resolved to play and win with every team in the game. With Clinton on the keyboard and me on my new gamepad, we accomplished this task on the 11th, proudly marking our progress on a printed table after each victory.

In fact, writing down stats and accomplishments was a regular part of playing NBA Jam TE. Between my solo sessions and playing with Clinton, I ended up with a stack of papers on which I’d jotted down the final score, stats for every player, the number of somersault dunks I’d managed to perform (if any), and other memorable moments. I wish I still had a few of those pages, but over the past 30 years, they’ve ended up in the recycling bin. Nevertheless, while I can’t refer to them like my 1996 diary, I have fond memories of excitedly scribbling down those numbers and notes. Tracking my statistics and setting various goals kept me hooked on NBA Jam TE for a long time.

Unsurprisingly, so many of my basketball gaming habits began with NBA Jam TE. Playing through the tournament ladder and setting goals like winning with every team established a desire for achieving completion, such as playing through entire seasons. Jotting down stats and other accomplishments led to me recapping my adventures on the virtual hardwood through story topics and articles. Mapping which dunk ratings could perform certain dunks – another document I wish I’d been able to preserve – inspired an interest in analysing games. Trying in vain to add Michael Jordan to the game put the idea of modding into my head long before I discovered the NLSC.

To that end, over the past 30 years, NBA Jam TE has been a gift that keeps on giving. Not only do I still enjoy dusting it off to play, but it’s been a blast to discover new things about it, especially aspects that I overlooked. I don’t know how I never gave any thought to Kevin Edwards having Blue Edwards’ portrait – especially since he has a correct headshot in the SNES version – but it was fun to investigate how that error came to be. An issue of Nintendo Magazine System provided the cheats for Super Nintendo, but it wasn’t until I got online that I was able to track down the equivalent codes for PC, as well as the methods of playing with all of the secret characters.

It’s been fun to analyse the rosters, and the way that NBA Jam TE ended up depicting elements of multiple seasons. Being far more familiar with all those players now than I was when I first played NBA Jam Tournament Edition, I’m able to point out some of the weird ratings, and discuss the possible reasons for them. Back in 2024, I was able to solve the mystery of the missing serial number for the Lights Out screensaver that was included with the game. It’s nowhere to be found in the manual that came with my copy, but the Internet Archive has preserved the US booklet featuring the code. Once again, for anyone in need of a working serial, try punching in B16-1-10-915711.

The discoveries are still coming. Recently, I noticed a detail in one of the attract mode sequences that hints at removed content; I’ll be getting to that in the near future. And, most exciting of all, after all these years I may have finally discovered how to mod the players, as I was able to rename (Ron) Harper to (Michael) Jordan! I still need to experiment with changing ratings, but I’m a step closer to achieving a dream I’ve had for 30 years. There have been some fantastic ROM hacks for the SNES and arcade versions of NBA Jam TE, but despite PC normally being a modder-friendly platform, that release hasn’t seen any mods to date. With any luck though, that’ll soon change.

Given that NBA Jam Tournament Edition for PC is the oldest game in my collection, I’m pleased to report that I still have the original box! I’ve never been one to quickly discard game boxes for any platform, but over the years some of them have been lost, or damaged and subsequently thrown away. My NBA Jam TE PC box is still intact and in good condition, safely stored in a cupboard with other boxes while the CD-ROM in its jewel case is in a rack near my PC for convenient access. It’s satisfying to have kept these throwbacks to the “big box” era of PC gaming. Digital platforms and storefronts such as Steam have their advantages, but I do miss physical PC releases.

During the course of 1996, I also played the SNES version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and eventually added it to my collection as well. It’s a nostalgic favourite too, but the PC version will always be special as the very first basketball video game that I both bought and played. To that point, I also prefer Tournament Edition to the original NBA Jam. Obviously I respect the original’s place in history and enjoy it as well, but it’s one of those situations where I played the sequel first, and am used to its changes and improvements. It’s the same reason I’m more nostalgic for Monkey Island 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3 than the first Monkey Island and previous Super Mario games.

It feels wild to say that I got into basketball and basketball gaming – with NBA Jam TE being a significant part of that – 30 years ago. Back in 1996, when I was 11 going on 12, “30 years ago” sounded ancient. Of course, as I observed when I reflected on Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game last week, our perception of time does change as we get older. Obviously NBA Jam TE is a retro title and has been for some time, but since it’s something I experienced and remember, it doesn’t feel as old and from another time as anything from the 60s did to me back in the 90s. To young basketball gamers today however, NBA Jam TE is to them what The Beatles were to my generation!

Well, it’s not a 1:1 comparison in terms of pop cultural relevance, but hey, you get the idea! In any case, I’m grateful that way back on January 27th 1996, I took a chance on the sequel to a game that I’d never played but definitely knew about, and indulged a growing interest in basketball. It’s led to so many fond memories of real and virtual hoops alike, friends around the globe, and creative pursuits that include some amazing opportunities, such as interviewing Tim Kitzrow, the voice of NBA Jam! NBA Live brought me to this community, but NBA Jam Tournament Edition got me onto the virtual hardwood, and ignited a love of basketball that’s still On Fire 30 years later.

The post Wayback Wednesday: 30 Years Ago, I Bought NBA Jam TE appeared first on NLSC.