EA confirms Wii NBA Jam revival

By Robert Purchese Published 11 January, 2010

Exclusive and out this year.

EA has confirmed a Wii-exclusive revival of NBA Jam, and it's penned for release later this year.

EA Canada's doing the honours, and attempting to rekindle the fires which made NBA Jam a hit in the nineties. Those include "warming up" after scoring two baskets and setting on fire after three, literally - powering the player up temporarily.

Games are played two-on-two and the aim, besides scoring more than the other pair, is to slam balls into the net and abide by a cut-down set of rules. We on the street call them, er, street rules.

Improvements include better graphics and "visible player emotion". No shots or videos have been released.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • hardtech #1 2 years ago

    Awesome! I have fond memories of playing the orginal. Looks like my Wii MAY have another reason to be played.

  • Quint2020 #2 2 years ago

    I used to LOVE NBA Jam on the Mega Drive, it's one of the main reasons I got in to Basketball.

  • cianchristopher #3 2 years ago

    "Better graphics"?

    How's that? The Wii has worse graphics than the SNES...

  • Gnort #4 2 years ago

    The original was awesome, but I think games may have moved on too far since then. They can't release a stripped down modern take on the classic, as people will complain it doesn't have enough content, and if they add too much they could end up over-complicating it and losing what made the original so much fun.

  • ZeroAX #5 2 years ago

    hell yeah I am buying this

  • DiamondIce #6 2 years ago

    NBA Jam has to be one of my fondest memories of gaming back when I was at school.

    I always preferred the Megadrive version to the Super Nintendo one due to the way the player defended the basket. It seemed to be a pain in the ass on the SNES one.

    Can't they bring it out on XBLA as a straight conversion? I don't have a Megadrive these days.

  • spenner #7 2 years ago

    HES ON FIRE!

  • Toothball #8 2 years ago

    All I remember about it is the advert with a bunch of people saying "Jam" in time to the music. I was a Nintendo child at the time though so I didn't want to go near a Mega Drive, so I never played it.

  • BartonFink #9 2 years ago

    Pity that they made decision to release it on Wii only, it will be largely ignored.

  • AusFreelancer #10 2 years ago

    BOOMSHAKALAKA!

  • SavageEvil #11 2 years ago

    Nice addition, although I prefer the much better balanced NBA Hangtime, with it's create a character option and over the top play by play. Hopefully this game brings fun back home, it's sorely lacking these days.

    I wonder if they will be able to use the old super stars from basketballs hey day? Bird, Jordan, Johnson, Russel, Monroe? will they add these guys to the list of the current NBA stars? That would be wickedly awesome, if not create a character feature could let you make anyone you want in there. Clyde the Glide anyone?
    Edited by SavageEvil at 11/01/10 @ 21:21

  • LudusSolers #12 2 years ago

    IS IT THE SHOES?!?

    Over the moon to hear that one of my favourite games of all time is being revamped!!

    @SavageEvil
    No chance of Jordan or Johnson - licensing and all that. Wonder if they'll add a cheat for Prez Obama in this one...

    Agree with you about the legends though - Pippen >>>>> LeBron

  • Slipstream #13 2 years ago

    Gah! Really? Exclusivley on the Wii? do I REALLY have to set up the Wii!? T_T
    ...guess I will have to =x

  • skizoboy #14 2 years ago

    I already own a Megadrive and the original NBA Jam. Guess I won't have to downgrade…

  • kintarovsky #15 2 years ago

    LudusSolers no chance of Jordan and Johnson? Why not? I think Jordan signed something with EA in the past. So who knows. Jordan in NBA Jam would be awesome.

  • kintarovsky #16 2 years ago

    Larry Bird and Magic Johnson confirmed!!