Wayback Wednesday: NBA Jam Tournament Edition for PS1
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 taking a look back at the PS1 version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition.
Although it’s been surpassed by NBA Jam: On Fire Edition as both my personal favourite and my pick for the best game in the NBA Jam series, I still hold NBA Jam Tournament Edition in extremely high regard. It’s a title that I’ve covered several times here on the NLSC, from reflections while watching a game I’d recorded and an in-depth retrospective, to discussing weird ratings and an error that I somehow overlooked for more than twenty years. In short, NBA Jam TE is a release that I’ll eagerly revisit for both content creation purposes, and my own enjoyment.
As I’ve mentioned in previous features, I grew up playing the PC and Super Nintendo versions of NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Since I’ve been expanding my collection of basketball video games in recent years, I’ve sought out the PlayStation version of NBA Jam TE as well. It was the only version that I didn’t own for the platforms at my disposal, but late last year, I finally managed to snag a copy at a reasonable price. I noted that since I now had it as part of my collection, I’d be comparing NBA Jam Tournament Edition PS1 to the releases I grew up with, in a future Wayback Wednesday feature. The time has come, so let’s take a look back…way back…
Since I’ve covered the finer details of the original NBA Jam and NBA Jam TE in previous articles, I’ll be focusing on the differences between versions rather than going into a full breakdown and impressions as I would in a normal retrospective. To briefly recap however, TE’s biggest improvements over the original were the addition of substitutes on top of the primary duo, injury levels that hampered performance the more a player was shoved to the floor, more hidden content, and various powerups that could be enabled. As much as the original game is a classic, I do tend to look at Tournament Edition as the definitive version of the OG NBA Jam experience.
Of course, our memories of NBA Jam and NBA Jam Tournament Edition may differ somewhat, depending on platform. My introduction to TE was the PC version, which was one of the very first basketball video games that I played and owned. Not long after that, I played the Super Nintendo port, and noted the differences in lineups and other aspects. Many years later, I’ve been able to play the original arcade version, and observe further differences and similarities alike. I had my first glimpse of the PS1 version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition playing with Dee over Parsec, and now that I own a copy of the game as well, I’ve been able to make even more comparisons.
Interestingly, NBA Jam Tournament Edition for PS1 – a North American launch title – is something of an amalgam of the arcade, PC, and Super Nintendo releases. In some ways it’s a more authentic arcade port than the PC and SNES versions, even including the tips pop-ups during gameplay. These “idiot boxes”, as they’re referred to in the settings menu, can be disabled. It features the same music as the PC version, but also a track from the arcade version that didn’t make the PC port. Some of Tim Kitzrow’s lines that ended up being cut from both the PC and SNES ports – including the iconic “Boomshakalaka”, oddly – are left intact in NBA Jam Tournament Edition for PS1.
Unsurprisingly, NBA Jam Tournament Edition for PS1 has longer loading times. Like the SNES version, it provides Head to Head and Team Game options, whereas player assignment on PC is handled through controller configuration. As with the PC version however, it lacks the practice mode found on SNES. Its graphics are comparable to PC – and among the best of the home ports – though it has a wider variety of screen transitions. As in the arcade version, the camera pans up to follow three-pointers and dunks that soar into the rafters. It also has a detailed and realistic glowing ball effect when On Fire, rather than the more cartoony style that’s used in the other versions.
The “Tonight’s Matchup” screen on PS1 also displays each team’s popularity at the current location; a holdover from the original arcade version, which naturally ended up varying from machine to machine. The ranking doesn’t seem to change according to how often you select a team, but “Tonight’s Matchup” does reveal a dynamic aspect of the PS1 version. Contrary to every other version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition that I’ve played, the CPU will not only randomly select a team outside of tournament play, but also change up the duo it uses at tip-off. In the original arcade release, as well as the PC and SNES ports, the CPU always uses the first pairing of players.
One of the most interesting differences in presentation and aesthetics can be found in the player ratings. The rosters in the PS1 version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition are identical to PC, but the ratings levels are represented with different colours. In the PC, SNES, and arcade versions, ratings from 0-2 are in red to emphasise that they’re a weakness, ratings from 3-7 are in white to represent an average to good range, and 8s and 9s are in green to indicate strength. Strangely, on PS1, 0-2 ratings are white, 3-7 ratings are green, and the top ratings of 8-9 are red. Looking up some videos of other versions on YouTube, the Sega Saturn release shares these changes to the colours.
While it may seem like a small change in the grand scheme of things, and ultimately doesn’t affect gameplay or how the ratings work, it was a strange choice. The reason behind making such a change is a mystery, as red for poor ratings, white for average to good ratings, and green for the best ratings, is a far more logical approach. On first glance, my impression was that NBA Jam Tournament Edition PS1 featured a ton of ratings changes, but that isn’t the case. It doesn’t ruin the game, but it’s a puzzling change and interesting difference. Conversely, having a player’s name switch from yellow to orange while they’re On Fire is a nice touch not found in other versions.
For the most part, gameplay is more or less the same across the versions of NBA Jam TE that I own and have played. Naturally, the home ports provide more control over the experience with options that aren’t readily accessible on an arcade machine, but the mechanics and controls are the same, except for platform-specific peripherals and layouts. With that being said, some of the ports are more polished than others, or feature some slightly different player animations and environmental details. On the whole, the PS1 version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition feels like a mix of the PC and original arcade versions on the court, but it does have a few quirks of its own.
My first impression of NBA Jam TE PS1’s gameplay was that it was slower than the PC version, but I realised this was due to being accustomed to playing the latter on a modern system through DOSBox, with settings optimised for maximum performance. Like many games developed for older systems, a faster processor can interfere with the speed of gameplay. Once I adjusted my settings to emulate an older PC, the speed was comparable. Both the PC and PS1 versions have odd moments where there are phantom deflections, and blocks are sometimes tallied as rebounds instead. I can’t speak to all of the home ports, but I haven’t noticed it on SNES, or the arcade release.
Once again though, the PC and PS1 versions of NBA Jam Tournament Edition aren’t completely identical on the virtual hardwood. Although goaltending is called on PS1, there are times when the refs seemingly pocket the whistle, even when the defender isn’t On Fire and actually meant to have that perk. That doesn’t happen on PC – at least, not as egregiously – but the PC port did struggle with both the proportions and animations for taller players. Notably, Shawn Bradley often lands before warping back up to finish a dunk; an issue I haven’t seen in any version but PC. This may be why it has a scaling setting for player size that isn’t available in the options on PS1.
In my experience, NBA Jam TE PS1 is also considerably tougher than other versions. They all feature the legendary rubber band AI that NBA Jam is known for, leading to moments of unfairness and frustration. However, the AI tends to be more aggressive in general. The injury level also seems to shoot up much quicker. It’s not uncommon for games to end with players racking up an injury level of 25 or more in the fourth quarter, even after subbing in fresh. I’ve checked the difficulty settings across all platforms, and I was definitely playing on “normal” each time. Clearly, the team working on the PS1 version took the tagline of “We pumped up the Jam” seriously!
Running through some other noteworthy comparisons, both the PC and PS1 versions of NBA Jam Tournament Edition feature real video clips at halftime and full time, spotlighting the team that’s ahead. On PC, these clips are isolated from the rest of the presentation, whereas on PS1 they’re framed by a screen displaying the game score. The halftime and post-game stats screens on PC only display the number of field goals and three-pointers, in contrast to PS1 which displays attempts, makes, and percentage for both, as in the arcade version. The attract mode reel is the same in both versions, and doesn’t feature the background with Kerri Hoskins as a cheerleader.
Replicating an error seen on PC (yet overlooked by me for some twenty years), Kevin Edwards uses Blue Edwards’ portrait. Dennis Rodman also has his original portrait with black hair, though he sports a variety of different hair colours during gameplay, with those colours also randomly changing between quarters. As noted over on The Cutting Room Floor, these erroneous and outdated portraits were still present in the SNES prototype, but replaced in the retail version. Finally, while backboard shattering was present in the arcade version, the PS1 release of NBA Jam Tournament Edition removes it – at least as far as I’m aware – as was the case in the other home ports.
These differences are a fascinating time capsule, preserving a snapshot of what it was like to port the same game to a variety of home consoles. While we have two separate generations of NBA 2K nowadays, there’s less variation across platforms. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S receive the same version. The PS4 and Xbox One have their own identical release, which is also ported to PC and Wii with small changes to suit each platform. There’s significant overlap in content and gameplay quality. Back in the 90s, when new consoles launched at different times and differed significantly in their power and architecture, they ended up with their own versions of the same game.
Again, this means that while anyone who grew up with NBA Jam TE had a similar underlying experience, our memories and nostalgia will differ according to our platform of choice. Some versions have different rosters and ratings, and the home ports are more up to date than the final arcade revision, including some logos that were set to debut in the 1996 season. Every version has its own quirks, from player errors and gameplay glitches to design choices and colour changes. There’s common ground of course, and some versions are more similar than others. If you’re picturing NBA Jam TE differently to someone else though, it likely comes down to platform.
To follow up on a sentiment I touched upon when I looked back at the final NBA Live games for PS1, one of the most fun aspects of building up my collection of basketball video games has been experiencing different versions of titles that I’m extremely familiar with on another platform. From content and modes to gameplay and presentation, I enjoy comparing and contrasting them, discovering what I missed out on, and then sharing those observations here in Wayback Wednesday. If you grew up playing NBA Jam Tournament Edition PS1, much of what I’ve described will seem familiar. As a PC and SNES kid back in the day, they were fascinating discoveries.
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