NBA Jam: TE Review

                It has been a long time since I have done a review, but I will try my best.

                First thing’s first: a little bit of background. NBA Jam: Tournament Edition came out in 1995 as an update/sequel to the arcade smash (and a game of which I have already reviewed in its GB form), NBA Jam. Now on to the actual review…

                The graphics score a 9 due to its impressive array of tweaks and improvements from NBA Jam. For example, the home team’s (player 1’s team) uniforms are now primarily white, regardless of the team’s colors. The courts are revamped, too. They now display the team’s colors, and have the NBA Jam: TE logo at center court (as opposed to NBA Jam’s generic court).  Lastly, considering the limitations of the SNES, the players and courts look great.

                The sound gets an 8 because… well, everything sounds okay. The ball bouncing is the most common sound that you will hear. Thankfully, the other sounds are there as well. The scoring and dunk sounds are both there, obviously carried over from the previous game. My biggest gripe in this area is the reused quips from the unknown announcer (some guy that did play-by-play for the Bulls back then, as I have learned), which I still find tacky and boring.

                The depth gets a 7 due to a slightly increased amount of it. New features include a “Special Features” menu which provides access to some interesting amenities such as Tournament Mode, Hot spots, etc. Also included is a practice mode, to hone one’s skill. You can enter you name to save your record as usual. For the above reasons, addictiveness gets a 10.

                I end this review with a recommendation to the reader to play this game, not only for the reasons elaborated on above, but because it is one of (in my opinion) the best SNES games out there.