Richmond said he doesn’t play the game much these days, but he recently went to his game room to turn it on, just to make sure it still works.ĭrexler said he still gets challenged to play by his family. Drexler said the league gave players who were a part of the 75th-anniversary team an arcade version of the game.
Kitzrow recalled when the NBA celebrated its top 75 players at the 2022 All-Star Game in Cleveland, there were several NBA Jam arcade consoles set up. … I really didn’t play with anybody on the team back then because it was kind of new to everybody. Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine didn’t want to play video games. “I was, like, the youngest dude on the game.
“We had an old team, and they weren’t playing video games,” Brown said. Brown, however, said he had a tough time getting his Boston teammates interested in playing the game with him - even with Lewis and Brian Shaw being players closer to his age. Brown, a member of the Celtics when NBA Jam was released, said it was exciting to be a part of a video game that used real players, something many previous basketball games hadn’t done.īrown’s teammates on NBA Jam were Kevin McHale, Reggie Lewis and Robert Parish. It was a fun game when it first came out.”Ī post shared by Ben Thomas-Gill Brown played 12 years in the league with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic. It was a different type of game because you’re doing different flips in the air and jumping to the moon. “(It was) me, Wayman Tisdale, Spud Webb and Lionel Simmons (on the Kings). “I’ve still got NBA Jam in my house, the version from way back when,” said Richmond, who in his 14 NBA seasons spent time with the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers but played with the Kings in the game. The game was slightly impractical in some ways, but still enjoyable, and that resonated with fans, as well as the players themselves. The big men hit 3-pointers from deep - particularly after Kitzrow said, “He’s on fire!” A player would be “on fire!” if he made three consecutive baskets. Players were overly acrobatic with their shots. The two-on-two format was unlike other simulation games, such as Electronic Arts’ 1989 game Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs. “Of all the great songs that have been written, one-hit wonders and everything else, it’s the idea that a video game has that same kind of nostalgia and that sweet spot for people, that it comes back and resonates 30 years later like any great one-hit wonder.” “It’s the most unlikely scenario in the world,” Kitzrow said. It still amazes Kitzrow that the gig, for which he earned a total of $850, led to one of the most popular sports video games to hit an arcade. They were catchy, funny and the perfect complement to the over-the-top action of the game. For $50 an hour, Kitzrow read lines that would become a part of NBA lingo - ones that are still used today. Released in 1993, the game featured multiple NBA players who are now Hall of Famers, including Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Mitch Richmond and James Worthy, among others.Ī post shared by Chicago Bulls was pursuing acting and comedy when he was hired for the game to read lines inspired by Marv Albert. Thirty years later, riding some of Kitzrow’s memorable in-game catchphrases (“Boomshakalaka!” “He’s heating up!” “He’s on fire!”), NBA Jam has become one of the most popular arcade games ever.
“So then I went, OK, we’ve got Beatlemania here.”Īnd guess what? The two-on-two game featuring some of the biggest stars in the NBA indeed brought in $1 billion in its first year of circulation - all in quarters. “When I saw 10, 15 people around screaming and yelling, it was like people trying to catch Mick Jagger on the way to the stage, or something like that. “My voice is out in this arcade, so let me see how people respond,” Kitzrow said. But roughly 30 years ago, he - admittedly not a big video game player during this time - ventured out to some arcades to see what the fuss was about. Kitzrow, the famous voice of NBA Jam, still is inclined to believe that the article was something of a joke.
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