NBA Jam Extreme is Good but far from Great

Do you remember the game NBA Jam Extreme? I didn’t, and I don’t even remember seeing this game in stores. There are a handful of games that I remember seeing at stores like Best Buy, Meijer, and Circuit City throughout the 1990s. This wasn’t one of them.

I do applaud Acclaim’s restraint here. They could’ve easily called this game NBA Jam Xtreme. That was a thing in the 1990s. For some reason, misspelling words was cool, which didn’t help me too much as I struggled with spelling throughout my life.

NBA Jam Extreme was the first in the Acclaim branch of NBA Jam games. There is a short story to why Acclaim got the rights to the NBA Jam name, and it isn’t all that interesting. It is one of the things that led to Midway and Acclaim ending their partnership. This isn’t the first time Acclaim would make a console sequel to a Midway arcade game.

I’m not expecting too much from this game. I’m assuming that it will be a version of the first two arcade games. This was in the arcades, which is interesting in some ways. It has updated rosters, and I’m sure it is similar to how the first two games in the series are in terms of gameplay.

TLDR: Solid gameplay but dated graphics and a rough camera keep this game from being great.

Narrative

There is no story in this game. I don’t mind this. Like other sports games, this doesn’t really need a backstory. It is one of those things that is nice to have, but isn’t a necessity when it comes to the gameplay.

Gameplay

The gameplay is fine. It doesn’t feel as good as the Genesis version of the game. The controls are good, but they just don’t feel as responsive as other versions of the game. There are a lot of game modes, and it is fun to play.

The controls are pretty simple. An “Extreme” button was added, which the manual describes as “turbo on steroids.” So, it does similar things to the turbo function but takes twice as much energy. Cool, I suppose.

It is easy to play the game, and I like the way the game plays. The rubberband AI is still pretty good in this game. You never get too far ahead or behind, which makes each game feel competitive. It is an easy and fun game to play.

NBA Jam Extreme has a lot of easter eggs. This is something that was in the other games in the series, and I’m glad that they’re here. Most of these are jokes, but they’re a welcome addition to a game like this.

There are quite a few game modes, which is always fun. You can also play with four players as long as you have the multi-tap. Sometimes I miss the 1990s, but having to buy a bunch of crap to play with my friends isn’t one of the things I’m nostalgic for.

Overall, the gameplay is pretty good. It isn’t amazing, but this is a competently made game. There are things that I wish were different, but I don’t think the gameplay is a problem here. NBA Jam Extreme is a fun arcade sports game.

Visuals

It looks like a PS1 game from 1996. Character models look okay, the graphics are decent, and some of the animations are good. This game was released at a time when developers were moving from 2D to 3D. I actually like the SNES and Genesis versions of the game more.

The camera angle is tilted a bit, and it scrolls differently than the first NBA Jam. This all has to do with how technology has advanced. It moves around a lot and is angled in a way to make it look more like a 3D game.

The effects in this game are not as cool as the Genesis and SNES versions of the game. Pixels will start flying off the players, and it kind of looks like they’re dissolving. These are supposed to be the “heating up” and “on fire” effects. In 1996, they might’ve looked okay, but now I think they look pretty bad. What’s really odd is that the high score screen has better fire effects in the game.

The digitized photos of the players are nice. I also like that you see more of the court and arenas. These look pretty good for the time.

Nothing looks terrible in this. I just don’t see anything that makes me think this game looks great. For every good thing, there is something that is a little questionable.

Overall, the graphics are good for a game from 1996. In retrospect, they aren’t all that great. I would’ve preferred to see them use pixel art instead of 3D. I get why they went in this direction, but it doesn’t hold up in the long run.

Reviews at the Time

NBA Jam Extreme received mostly positive reviews. The PS1 version of the game fared better than some of the other versions. Most of the scores were between a 6 and an 8/10. These are taken from MobyGames because not all of these reviews have been archived.

 EGM gave the game an 8.5/10. They mentioned that the game was slower, and criticized the game’s camera.

Edge gave the game a 7/10. From what I can see of their review, they didn’t think it did enough to improve on NBA Jam Tournament Edition.

GameSpot gave the game a 6.1/10. The speed of the game was mentioned. That and the camera seem to be the major complaints from the reviews.

I didn’t notice the game being too slow. There wasn’t a lot of new content added to the game, which is definitely a point of contention. I didn’t see a review that just trashed the game. That is always nice to see whenever I look over these old reviews.  

8/10. Most of my problems with this game have to do with the graphics. The gameplay is solid, but not amazing. This is a better than average game. It has solid controls, and I like how there are plenty of unlockables in the game.

Pros

• Lots of Unlockables
• Easy to Learn
•  

Cons

• Dated graphics
• Bad Fire effects

Conclusion

This is a decent example of 3D graphics not always being better than pixel graphics. Early PS1, Sega Saturn, and N64 games didn’t age as well as games on the SNES and Genesis. They look odd, especially when the game zooms in to look at them. They are a good way to show how far the technology has come, though.

I’ve read in a few books that Sony mandated that games on the PS1 had to be 3D. It’s something that I haven’t looked at too closely. This is one of those things that sounds like it is true, but I haven’t looked for the hard evidence to support it. If it is true, then it explains why so many companies made an attempt at converting games to 3D.

When I was going over the reviews, I noticed something a little odd. They mentioned the camera making it hard to position your players. This wasn’t my experience, and I’m not too sure what they were talking about.

There is a lot in this game, but I don’t think it would’ve pulled me away from the Genesis version of the game. The SNES version is probably as good, but I haven’t played that one as much. NBA Jam Tournament Edition is the one I would rather play instead of this game.

If you liked this post, check out my other posts about Acclaim sports games. Such as NBA Jam or NFL QB Club 2000.