NBA JAM RETURNS!!

That’s right, people. Possibly the best arcade sports game ever released is about to make a comeback!

ESPN is reporting that EA has acquired the rights and will be updating the game and releasing it on the Wii exclusively some time this year.

NBA Jam for those who don’t know (which I really hope only pertains to my grandparents that like to read the site) was an arcadey basketball game developed by Midway (RIP). It featured the best players in the NBA and virtually none of the rules. You chose your favorite team and competed your way to the NBA championship one quarter at a time while shoving, goaltending and dunking all over your competition. However it wasn’t the single player that kept people playing, it was the addictive multi-player which let 4 people (teams of 2) battle it out. It was one of the first games to utilize an computer assisted AI which would pretty much guarantee that every game would be a close one – often coming down to the last shot.

EA has stated that the game will be just as over the top as it’s original and have all the crazy, gravity defying dunks as the first game plus many, many more. They also didn’t forget to include the equally ecstatic announcer that will be spewing out such classics as “BOOMSHAKALAKA” and “HE’S ON FIRE”. One can only hope that they add such instant classics like “BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!” to his ever so charming repertoire!