Conversion - JAMMA (Player 3/4 10-pin)
Players - 1, 2 co-op, vs 3, vs 4 co-op
Type - Side Scrolling Sports
Stages - 4 quarters plus 3 OT
Monitor - Raster, Standard Res, Horizontal
Sound - separate board and volume pot
Inputs - start, 8-way Joystick, 3 buttons
Year - 1993
Made by - Midway

Description:

This is one of the most popular basketball games ever made and was the first licensed by the NBA. You choose an NBA team, each with two or three superstar players, and play a four quarter side-scrolling basketball game. On standard coin settings, you must purchase each three minute quarter separately. Two players can choose to go head to head or play on the same team. The game is designed so that you can do 2 on 1 or 2 on 2 games also in a four player cabinet.

The game play is fast and you can get away with all kinds of fouls. In addition to high-flying dunks and rainbow three-pointers, players can push each other to the ground and there is no such thing as goaltending. During play, if any one player scores three consecutive baskets, he or she is considered "on fire" and a fire animation accompanies each shot. This continues until a player on the opposite team scores a basket, or until the computer decides the hot streak has gone on too long.

This game was followed by NBA Jam Tournament Edition (1993), NBA Hangtime(1996), NBA Maximum Hangtime(1996), and NBA Showtime – NBA on NBC(1999). NBA Jam Extreme (1996)was made by Acclaim and is not part of the series.

Technical:

This game is like several from Midway and has a separate sound board. This game uses dip switches but the Free Play setting is only available when it is setup in test mode. This game does not have a dip switch to flip the screen so in order to play it right-side-up in some cabinets you have to do what is commonly called a “yoke wire swap.” The name is somewhat misleading because all you actually have to do is turn a plug around on the main board; you do not actually do anything on the yoke itself. The procedure varies from monitor to monitor but basically you switch the plug around so it will reverse the vertical signals going into the tube thus flipping the image.

About My Game:

This was the second board that I purchased. The game works but it has an audio problem every once in a while where some static creeps in but I have not been able to resolve it. I originally had this in my Buster Bros cabinet but moved it into my ESWAT cabinet. When I did so, I found out that it did not have a dip switch setting to flip the screen so right now the video is upside down. I also own the marquee and a control panel for this game (but I do not have a four player cabinet to put it in.)