Posts tagged NBA Jam

Sasquatch Soapbox: Why this is the right time for a new NBA Jam

NBA Jam is back. Available now for Nintendo Wii and soon for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the standout basketball game franchise is ready for a proper revitalization. As I wrote in a recent Retrospective, NBA Jam’s formula of fast-paced 2-on-2 is still addictive, and the simpler gameplay allows anyone to catch fire and dunk from the free-throw line.

What you may not realize, though, is this is a perfect time for a revitalization of the NBA Jam franchise. From both a gaming and a source material standpoint it’s a suitable time to bring back the franchise. This is a great time to bring back the boomshakalaka.

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The Backlog: The case of the kidnapped burrito unicorn edition

In case you’ve never been to Seattle before, consider this your primer.

In this week’s Backlog: Aaron laments his decidedly first-world problem of having too many games to play, Doug reminisces on the Dreamcast’s glory days, and Nick tries his hardest to remember everything he played at PAX last week.

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Retrospective: NBA Jam

Here at Silicon Sasquatch, we feel that old games deserve some love too. From time to time, we want to look back at games that have made a big impact — especially when a new version of an old favorite is scheduled to be released. It is in that context that we present to you another Retrospective article, this time on arcade and 16-bit classic NBA Jam.

It’s no secret that I am a sports guy. Many times, though, sports games are commodities: The franchises develop a lineage (à la Madden NFL) while the details on individual entries from each year are often forgotten.

NBA Jam is different. It may not be the first arcade sports game, or even the first arcade basketball game, but it was one of the first blockbuster arcade games, and it’s one that still resounds in the gaming community to this day. It’s also one of the few sports games that holds just as much nostalgia for nerds as it does for jocks. Most importantly, it’s still fun — and a new one is on the way.

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The Backlog: Winter Blues edition

Is it the holidays again yet? And we thought last week was a struggle; if last week was like wiping sleep from your eye, this week is how you feel before you’re fully awake in the morning. Hand me my coffee and the newspaper, please, I’m still groggy from the holiday break. As Doug and Nick see their free time chopped away by returning to the grind (but still get some gaming in!), Aaron provides some detailed impressions after finally digging into one of the holiday season’s biggest releases.

Without further ado, onto the Backlog…

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The Backlog: Back to the Grind edition

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

With December and its myriad holidays out of the way, everybody’s got something to keep them busy. Doug’s back to work on his master’s program, Aaron has transformed into a job-applying machine, and I’ve thankfully found a job once again. Unfortunately, that means we all have a whole lot less time to be playing games, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to turn a blind eye to our sacred obligation to Silicon Sasquatch. Don’t worry! We’ve got a couple great articles that are almost ready for publication, and we’re anticipating a full run of content next week.

In the meantime, here’s what we’ve been keeping ourselves busy with.

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The Backlog: Stephen Colbert is Funny Edition

No silly memes, no riffing on major world news events — this is just your typical, run-of-the-mill backlog. But isn’t that cause enough for celebration?

No? Hm. Well, here, check out Stephen Colbert’s exclusive preview of Microsoft’s Project Natal:

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