I'll admit it up front. I'm not a sports-guy. Never was and probably never will be either. They just didn't do it for me. Growing up, football season meant only two things to me - pizza and a trip to Blockbuster on Saturdays. We kids would be in the back, the adults out front, and we'd occasionally here some shout, usually of excitement. We didn't really care though. We were always too busy trying to eat the pizza before it got cold and beat the game we happened to rent that week. Well I did, anyway.
Later in life, I tried my hand at watching a few sports. I still couldn't get into it. Baseball just seems so boring. The last few games I've watched, all I was thinking was, "Oh, swing the bat already." Football, I defined as the game that you wait for long periods of time to see a bunch of people get knocked over. Hockey, tennis, golf...well those weren't really watched.
The only sport I think I could really get into was basketball. Of all of them, at least the players were always doing something. But even basketball was a sport I really didn't follow. I think the main reason for all of this is that I really don't care if the teams win or lose. I could see getting into it more if I knew the people on the team, if they were family or something, yeah, then I could root for them. But when they're just a bunch of people with names I don't know, my first thought is, "why do I care?"
Kind of ironic since some of my most satisfying wins this year came from sports or sports like games. Granted, most of them had their own entertaining spin on them. I could launch shells from my racing car, compete against gorillas and Koopas in tennis, lob a shell to keep from striking out, and let's face it, how many hedgehogs can strap on a snowboard for the Olympic games. Yeah, when they add a little something like that, it's a bit easier for me to become an avid sportsman.
Which made NBA Jam even more of an irony to me.
I used to watch my dad this game all the time. Apart from Desert Strike, NBA Jam was the only game my dad ever really got into. It was pretty entertaining, even if I wasn't big on sports. Though it's been a few years, he favored either the Denver Nuggets or the Chicago Bulls. At least that's what he told me. For a long time, I was just content to watch him. Then, to my surprise, I found this game in the book, 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. I guess that got me somewhat interested. Then, during a moment when I was tired of slower games like Bravely Default, Fire Emblem, and Chrono Trigger, I decided to liven it up a bit with a little basketball of my own.
So, here's how the experience went for me. Even though there was no Michael Jordan, I decided to go with the Bulls, which for this game consisted of Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant. I took personal control of Pippen. What can I say I liked his stats. So, with those two, I set out to become the NBA Jam grand champion. I have to say, I had a lot of fun doing it too. I don't mean to brag...too much that is, but the game seemed to come a bit easier than I thought it would be. I had a straight winning streak until I wound up going against the L.A. Clippers. Manning and Harper turned out to be tougher opponents than I thought. But I...clipped them the next time.
Who knew this screenshot would later be reversed?
Don't get me wrong. There were more than a few nail biters. Some games, I just barely managed to win. But 26 wins and one loss isn't that bad. But it all took a different turn when the game said I had one more opponent to face. You guessed it. I had to face my, so far, beloved Bulls to win the game. After going so far with them, I found myself wondering if this was how Obi-Wan Kenobi felt having to face Anakin Skywalker. I compared states and finally settled on the Miami Heat. I went into that game hoping Rony Seikaly and Harold Miner were any match for Pippen, now that all his tricks were being used against me. As you could probably guess, this time I brought the heat instead of cooled it off.
Overall, I found the game very enjoyable. Oh, the graphics aren't fantastic, but the controls are easy to pick up. Besides, NBA Jam makes up for it in pure fun. I can definitely see why this game made that 1001 games. Hearing the familiar "he's heating up" and "he's on fire," even if not in the best sound quality sure is something every gamer should hear. And then shattering the goal board with a wild slam dunk is just something you have to experience, even if the immutable laws of physics make those dunks really impossible.
At first, I thought my experiences with NBA Jam would end right here. Oh, I wouldn't complain, since this game is more than enough fun. But I was pretty pleased to know that there was a PS3 version released. I'm hoping to one day see how all this looks in 3D.
So, as the announcer would often say, "Boomshakalaka!"
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