NBA Jam was a huge hit when it hit arcades and home consoles back in 1993. The NBA-licensed arcade basketball game featured 2-on-2 teams pushing, shoving, and dunking on one another in intense, high-energy games. Some of the best memories from the game included backboard-shattering slam dunks, players going on fire after making three consecutive shots, and game announcer Tim Kitzrow’s catch phrases (“Boomshakalaka!”).
A full decade has passed, and while the franchise isn’t as popular as it once was, gamers and basketball fans of age all have fond memories of the Midway game. In an interview with ESPN, NBA Jam lead designer Mark Turmell addressed one such memory. When asked about whether Scottie Pippen’s ratings dropped unexpectedly, Turmell offered an interesting explanation:
It’s true, but only when the Bulls played the Pistons. If there was a close game and anyone on the Bulls took a last second shot, we wrote special code in the game so that they would average out to be bricks. There was the big competition back in the day between the Pistons and the Bulls, and since I was always a big Pistons fan, that was my opportunity to level the playing field.
Collusion! Then again, over the past year, the Chicago Bulls attained three more championships, Derrick Rose, and one of the league’s highest attendance; the Pistons, on the other hand, are still in Detroit… enough said. It’s the little battles that matter, right?
[via ESPN]