FAKE RONJAN!!Tecmo Super NBA Basketball: a mini-tribute
If you're reading this article, the chances are pretty good that you played NBA Jam back in the early 1990s. That game was an instant classic, and the designers knew it. You could even argue that it is one of the time capsule creations of its era. But we'll talk more about NBA Jam some other time.
With the new NBA season starting tonight (YES!!), I wanted to talk about another basketball game from that same era, a five-on-five game that is criminally under-shadowed by its much better known, much more popular older brother, Tecmo Super Bowl.
Enter Tecmo Super NBA Basketball. I first played this game by renting it from Blockbuster several times in a row. I didn't actually buy it until it came down in price -- all the way down to ten cents -- at Funcoland. And seriously -- that's the best dime I ever spent!
This isn't the best basketball game ever made, or even of its era, but it's my personal favorite. Let's count down five reasons why.
#5: The halftime show
Sure, most games give you a breakdown of the halftime stats. But do they do it in style, like this?
And there's some attention to detail, too, with the cheerleaders changing their outfits to match the home team. Here's the Spurs' cheerleader doing her closing flourish:
Nice outfit!
#4: The music
The soundtrack can be found here, so listen along!
The menu music is borderline bad-ass, with its slower pace and prominent bassline. Perfect for making roster changes and simming through the other team's games.
On the other hand, the actual in-game music is delightfully, hilariously cheesy. Can't you just picture an intense Heat-Bulls game against this upbeat, goofy music?
#3: The cutscenes
The game opens with a fantastic montage that includes most of the epic cutscenes that you seen during gameplay:
It was always an event when your game was interrupted to make your superb play look even more superb.
Just to illustrate, here's a regular dunk:
And here's the epic cutaway version:
Sick!
#2: The quirks
So, this was a 5-on-5 game, so it was more "realistic" than NBA Jam. But, that doesn't mean it was actually realistic. This game had some hilarious quirks.
For example, the ref was always so pissed off when he had to make foul calls:
Every offensive player had a killer sky hook:
And perhaps my favorite, free throws were jump shots!
Maybe the quirky gameplay isn't as memorable as Tecmo Super Bowl's, but it still stands out to me.
#1: The roster
Until NBA 2K12 was released 2 years ago, Tecmo Super NBA Basketball had the best roster of players and teams of any basketball video game in history. Seriously.
Larry Bird? Magic Johnson? Michael Jordan? Check, check, check.
Tecmo Super NBA Basketball came out just as legends from the 1980s were on their way out and stars from the 1990s were making their mark, so it has a perfect confluence of talent. As a result, the game starred the whole Dream Team (minus Christian Laettner) and Isiah Thomas.
The game also has two notable deceased players: Reggie Lewis, on the Celtics (above), and Drazen Petrovic, on the Nets.
It's unfortunate that the world never got to see Petrovic play to his full potential on the biggest stage. The phenomenal Once Brothers 30-for-30 documentary highlighted just how good he was, and perhaps this game is another way that he can live on, forever.
Because sports games are literally outdated within 12 months of release, classic sports games are just as much a time capsule into who was relevant as they are a simulation of the rules of a sport. And that's why I love this game so much -- it features the key players who defined the league for a generation. I'll always go back to it.
Game on.
-rj