NBA Jam 99

• Release Date: December 01, 1998
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Basketball
• Similar Games: NBA: In the Zone '98 (Nintendo 64), Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside (Nintendo 64), NBA Live 2000 (Nintendo 64)

Game Description

Despite Keith Van Horn grasping a ball that's "on fire" on the box of NBA Jam 99, this is not your old NBA Jam. NBA Jam 99 from Acclaim features realistic five-on-five basketball. It comes from the same development house (Iguana Salt Lake City) that brought you WWF War Zone and NHL Breakaway '98.

NBA Jam 99 focuses on realism, with technical muscle to back it up, much like Acclaim's other sports games on the Nintendo 64. Cover boy Keith Van Horn of the New Jersey Nets provided motion-captured animation. Over 300 players have been modeled with their real-life faces and with smooth skin texturing. A 640 x 480 "Hi-Rez" mode was used for increased clarity. Kevin Harlan of TNT and Bill Walton of NBC will bring you the courtside action.

Acclaim emphasized attention to detail with its basketball offering, too. All arenas, uniforms and players -- complete with their signature moves -- have been included accurately. Teams even use the same play styles as they do in real life, from the Celtics' press to the Bulls' triangle offense. Alternatively, you can run your own offensive and defensive schemes by choosing from over 80 plays in the playbook. Or maybe you'll want to take the role of GM by signing, trading, releasing, drafting and even creating your own players.

Whether you want to play a single game or a full season, it's here. NBA Jam 99 features a standard exhibition mode along with season and playoff modes that can vary in length. Furthermore, a Skills Mode has been included to test your three-point and free throw shooting skills. NBA Jam 99 even pays homage to its roots with a "Jam Mode." Rather than two-on-two basketball action, however, it features five-on-five play with similarly outrageous dunks, a lack of fouls, and the infamous "on fire" streaks.

An entire Controller Pak will be needed to save your season progress, playoff series, statistics, and customized teams and players. NBA Jam 99 also makes use of the system's four controller ports not only in the Jam Mode but for regular match-ups as well.

Roots & Influences

In the early 1990s, Midway released a two-on-two basketball game into the arcades that sparked an entire genre of sports games lacking stringent realism. Acclaim won the rights to publish home versions of NBA Jam for the Super NES and Genesis systems. In the mid-90s, however, Acclaim snatched the licensing rights to the "NBA Jam" property from Midway.

Consequently, Midway later released its own two-on-two games under the names of NBA HangTime and NBA Showtime. Acclaim eventually released its own version of NBA Jam -- NBA Jam Extreme -- early in the PlayStation's life, but the game didn't meet much success. With Acclaim focusing on sports simulations and going head-to-head with EA SPORTS, the company hopes to capitalize on the "NBA Jam" name for its basketball title.

Review: Overall

NBA Jam is back! Well, except it's not the same NBA Jam you've played in the past. If you're expecting two-on-two arcade-like basketball, then you'll have to get NBA HangTime, because NBA Jam is a serious basketball simulation along the same lines as Acclaim's NFL Quarterback Club, All-Star Baseball and NHL Breakaway series.

NBA Jam 99 contains simulation modes, skills modes and an arcade mode. You can choose from NBA Play, Jam Mode, Quick Play and Skills Mode at the title screen. NBA Play contains Exhibition, Season and Playoff modes. Jam Mode is similar to the original NBA Jam, as it contains few fouls, on-fire players and wacky dunks, but it's five-on-five basketball, not two-on-two basketball. Quick Play enables you to jump into an Exhibition match with the default settings. The Skills Mode is where you can participate in a Three Point shootout or in Free Throw practice.

The default control scheme makes use of all the buttons on the controller. On offense, the A button shoots, the B button passes, the Z button is turbo, and the L button toggles icon passing. Then you can use the C group for other moves. For instance, Right C activates play calling, Left C calls for a pick, Top C executes a special move, and Bottom C backs into the post. On defense, the A button jumps/blocks, the B button steals, the Z button is turbo, and the R button controls the next player. Within the C group, Top C is a push and Bottom C is a defensive stance.

Like Acclaim's other sports simulations, NBA Jam 99 includes many features and options to customize your game. Some options to change are minutes in a quarter, fatigue, keeping the score close, specific rules (second violations, fouls, illegal offenses, etc.), and audio options.

On the features side, you can be the General Manager in NBA Jam 99. First off, you can use the actual NBA rosters, which are accurate as of July 1, 1998, or you can enter the Fantasy Draft to create custom rosters. Once your team is assembled, you have the authority (if you want) to make trades, to release players, to sign free agents, and to create your own players. Additionally, there's an off-season Rookie Draft if you want to play multiple seasons.

Fortunately, everything comes together well in NBA Jam 99. Comparatively, NBA Jam 99 is about on par with NBA Live 99 and Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside. Whether you like NBA Jam 99 more than those other games depends on if you like Acclaim Sports' style. In other words, Acclaim's sports games are deep simulations with many options, but they also play slower and seem devoid of atmosphere.

NBA Jam 99 definitely plays on the slower side, although a turbo button has been included. But the basketball action is good, as there are post moves, fast breaks and intelligent computer players. Plenty of action happens away from the ball, and you can choose different strategies and can setup plays for more realism. It feels like a realistic basketball simulation without anything being too arcade-like. The turbo button doesn't hurt, either.

The Jam Mode, however, is a joke. Since it's five-on-five, not two-on-two, the game just doesn't feel like NBA Jam of old. There's absolutely no reason to get the game for the Jam Mode. In fact, you'll probably never play it. The Skills Mode is decent, though, and a Three Point shootout for up to eight players is a nice change of pace.

As expected, NBA Jam 99 looks very nice. The game runs in the high-resolution 640 x 480 mode for extra sharp graphics. Character animation is smooth and lifelike the majority of the time. All the court graphics are accurate. Instant replays highlight spectacular plays from multiple angles. One problem with the graphics is terrible crowd graphics. Another problem sometimes is that the frame rate drops when a lot of activity is happening on the screen.

Tons of voice has been packed into NBA Jam 99. In fact, it's the best sports production from Acclaim in that regard. TNT's Kevin Harlan calls the play-by-play action enthusiastically, NBC's Bill Walton provides off-the-wall color commentary, and Dan Roberts of the Utah Jazz is your public address announcer. The trio provides maybe the best announcing in an N64 sports game so far. Yes, it can get repetitive, but it's much better than in other sports games from Acclaim.

Other aspects of the audio aren't so impressive. The crowd noise is somewhat generic and not that responsive. You can hear vendors selling things in the crowd sometimes, or the crowd will start chanting "Defense!" or a little organ tune might be played to fire up the crowd. The music is below average, too.

Despite some of the sound problems, NBA Jam 99 is surprisingly good. Like the competition from Nintendo, EA SPORTS and Konami, Acclaim's offering does many things well, but it doesn't come together as an excellent basketball package. If excitement, atmosphere and speed aren't so important to you, then you'll enjoy the deep, customizable simulation aspects of NBA Jam 99.

Review: Enjoyment

It may be called "NBA Jam," but this isn't the NBA Jam of old. A deep, solid simulation backbone is at the core.

Review: Graphics

High-resolution graphics. Good player animation. Automatic instant replays. No real graphical glitches. Aside from a bland-looking crowd and an occasionally slow frame rate, everything looks very nice here.

Review: Sound

Impressive play-by-play announcing from an enthusiastic play-by-play guy and a sometimes outlandish color commentator. Too bad the music and atmosphere aren't more than average.

Review: Replay Value

The Jam Mode adds nothing to the replay value, but other things do: a comprehensive season mode, a three-point shootout and four-player action.

Review: Documentation

Lots of information has been included, except about the Jam Mode, but the black-and-white manual is heavy on text and light on pictures.

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