NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the secrets in NBA Jam TE that were actually revealed by the attract mode screens.
If you’ve never known a time before YouTube, social media, and readily accessible information on just about anything you can name, it may be difficult to imagine not having detailed knowledge of a game’s secrets. That’s how it used to be, though. We had to buy (or photocopy!) official hint books and strategy guides, or consult game magazines for tips and cheat codes. Some secrets went undiscovered for years, or gave rise to urban legends. Discussion was limited to your circle of friends, which meant information travelled slower than it can nowadays.
To that point, there are details about some of my favourite video games – basketball and otherwise – that I didn’t know until I finally got online in the late 90s. Of course, when it comes to some games, there are details that I could’ve and should’ve known, but remained ignorant of because I was young and impatient, and thus not properly observant. These include a few secrets in NBA Jam TE on PC, which is one of my all-time favourite basketball games. I don’t know how I missed this information the first time around, and you’ll probably wonder too as we take a look back…way back…
One of my fondest early memories of the virtual hardwood involves defeating all 27 NBA teams in the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Not only did it feel like a great achievement at a time when we didn’t necessarily finish every game we played, but upon continuing to play under those same initials, I discovered that new players were unlocked, and an All-Stars squad replaced the Rookies team. Hidden characters also joined in the action as opponents, adding new challenges and giving me a reason to keep playing after completing the tournament ladder. It was a very exciting discovery for young Andrew, and I remember the thrill all these years later.
Here’s the funny thing, though: those secrets in NBA Jam TE weren’t really secrets at all! I wasn’t expecting the new players or hidden characters to show up, and at first, I wasn’t even sure that I’d be able to keep playing with the same initials once I’d etched them into the high scores screen after beating the game. I would’ve known better if I’d actually paid closer attention to the various attract mode screens that cycled as the game idled. For a start, there’s the roll call. Portraits of all the players that are included in NBA Jam TE scroll across one of the attract mode screens, while their names are displayed underneath. This should’ve revealed that there were more players to access.
It gets even more embarrassing. Another attract mode screen bluntly states that when you defeat all 27 NBA teams, you’ll unlock expanded rosters and new challenges in the form of hidden characters with juiced abilities. Much as CJ only needed to follow the damn train in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, all I needed to do was watch the damn attract mode screens in NBA Jam TE! I would’ve known exactly what to expect. In hindsight, it’s far less of an exciting discovery when those “secrets” are laid out by the game, meaning that you can be aware of them before you’ve even stepped onto the court and heard Tim Kitzrow’s famous call of “He’s On Fire!” for the very first time.
Of course, while I could’ve known what to expect before completing the tournament ladder, and feel slightly silly in retrospect that I didn’t, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that I missed it. It avoided what was obviously a major spoiler regarding unlockable content, thus allowing my younger self to be pleasantly surprised by an unexpected turn of events. Clearly it didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all, but rather enhanced it, solidifying a fond basketball gaming memory. Nevertheless, this isn’t the first time that I’ve overlooked an issue in NBA Jam TE, or one of its Midway sequels. As such, I do have to wonder: how did I not see that information on the attract mode screens?
The likeliest explanation is that I rarely gave the attract mode screens in NBA Jam TE a chance to play, and thereby reveal their secrets. Whether I was playing solo or with my cousin, we were eager to jump into the game and play. We weren’t sitting there letting the game cycle through all those screens and paying close attention to each one. When I did let them run, it was mostly when I was occupied by something else, followed by hitting a key or gamepad button as soon as I could to get back to the title screen. I wasn’t going to bother reading a text crawl that begins after two and a half minutes of idling, explaining details I already knew (or at least, thought that I did).
I should also note that I’d only ever played the home ports of NBA Jam TE. Had there been a cabinet in one of the arcades, bowling alleys, or other such venues near me that had arcade and pinball machines, there’s a chance I would’ve watched those attract mode screens while waiting for a turn (or because I didn’t have any coins to play, as the case may be). Playing the PC and Super Nintendo versions, there wasn’t really an incentive to scrutinise the demo. Even if you did, it’d be easy enough to overlook that paragraph, or the portraits of the unlockable players, due to the speed of the scrolling. Or perhaps I’m just trying to excuse my lack of attention to detail as a young gamer!
What’s strange is that I was the kid who pored over manuals and the back of the boxes of my favourite games. I wasn’t averse to reading, or uninterested in paying attention to detail. With that in mind, I had to pull out the box and manual for the PC version of NBA Jam TE, just to see if I’d somehow overlooked the information there as well. There’s nothing in the manual, but the back of the box does actually mention “all-new secret characters” in a blurb, and some of the screenshots of the rosters do include players that were unlocked upon defeating all of the teams. It’s not as informative as the attract mode screen, but I surely would’ve read it. Nevertheless, it didn’t click.
All the same, I shouldn’t be too hard on my eleven year old self for missing a detail here and there. I was excited to play the game, and ended up spending many, many fun hours with it, before and after unlocking the expanded rosters and secret players. Once again, in my ignorance I avoided what could certainly be considered a spoiler. Even though I “discovered” something that wasn’t exactly a well kept secret, I still had the joy of surprise on top of feeling accomplished when I finally toppled the Houston Rockets in tournament mode. It’s just funny to think that the information on what to expect afterwards was right there in the game (and on the box) all the time.
It’s inspired me to reflect on some other elements of basketball video games that I’d suggest more than a couple of us have overlooked through the years. When Franchise mode was introduced in NBA Live 2000 PC, there was actually a supplementary Word document containing additional advice and explanations that didn’t make it into the printed manual. It includes a comprehensive overview of the simplified salary cap represented in the game, as well as a rough outline of the logic behind free agent signings, player development and decline, and even retirement. It concludes with eight very solid tips for successfully building a dynasty with your chosen team.
That file can be found in the main game folder. The game’s Start menu folder also included a shortcut to the document, so it was readily accessible. Based on the number of questions I recall seeing posted about the salary cap and other aspects of Franchise mode, it’s fair to say that many of us didn’t read it when we first got the game. Indeed, even if you’ve played a lot of NBA Live 2000 – or NBA Live 2001, which included a similar reference document – this may be the first time you’ve heard of it! When we’re eager to hit the virtual hardwood, we’ll forego reading the manual or supplementary documents. No doubt it’s why in-game onboarding has become far more common.
There are other details and secrets in basketball games that have flown under the radar over the years, even when there are hints and shortcuts pointing us in their direction. When it comes to hidden and “New Game Plus” content however, ignorance can be bliss. It’s fantastic that information is so readily accessible now, and it absolutely should be that way with the resources available to us. At the same time, at the risk of sounding corny and cliché, there was something magical about not knowing what to expect, and being surprised by discovering something about a game without hints or blatant spoilers. That’s harder now that social media feeds can spoil accidentally.
I’ve said it many times before, but this is just one of the reasons why I love revisiting and reflecting on old basketball video games. You never know when you’ll notice something that escaped your attention because you were focused on finishing the game, or were simply having too much fun. Furthermore, times have changed; in many ways for the better, of course, but in the information age, most video game secrets don’t remain a mystery for long. Then again, the secrets of NBA Jam TE were right there on the attract mode screen and the back of the box for me to see. Still, it’s arguably less embarrassing than not noticing a mix-up between unrelated Edwards!
