~B
NBA JAM Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and Sega Game Gear versions
Version 1.3 -- April 7, 1994
Edited/compiled by Dan Amrich (AOL: DanAmrich)
*For best results, print in Courier font -- the spacing should
line up*
Welcome to NBA JAM! Here's what's currently known, unknown
and suspected about the home versions of Acclaim/Arena's NBA JAM.
SECRET PLAYERS:
On thew 16-bit versions of the game, access these players by
entering the first two initials of the player normally. On the
final initial, however, perform the button combination indicated.
On Genesis, hold Start and press either A, B or C, depending on
the character. For SNES, hold down L, R and Start and press
either X or A.
Character Genesis SNES
ARK Bill Clinton A X
NET Al Gore B A
MJT Mark Turmell A A
RJR Jamie Rivett B X
SAL Sal DiVita C X
AIR Air Dog A X
CAR Chow-Chow C X
QB_ Kabuki A X
ROD Scruff B X
SAX Weasel C X
DIS P-Funk C A
UW_ Warren Moon A A
After weeks of experimentation, only these 12 codes have appeared and been confirmed. People
constantly beg for new codes, but there is a strong possibility that there are no more than a dozen
(hey, be happy--they could have included none at all). Don't let the lack of new characters ruin
the game for you; there's much more to mastering this game than a handful of secret faces. There's
a long list of bogus secret characters a little later on in this file.
As in the arcade, there are "stats only" players. Entering
these initials will make the game respond vocally ("It's a
blowout," etc.) but you won't get a new face to play with. These
initials will let you play with the famous NBA people but with
different stats. Finding out what those stats, strengths and
weaknesses are will take a while, but that's half the fun.
These are Genesis only.
Genesis
GAP B,C
SNK C
ZOB B
JAZ B
CHR C
JMC C
Here are some SNES password combinations players have posted. These feature incredible
(sometimes impossible) win/loss records. There are a LOT of these out there (mostly due to the work
of Velocrptor!) but I'm including just a sampling (thanks too to Lev1258 for doing the number
crunching on this):
POWERUPS:
These are all performed at the "Tonight's Matchup" screen,
and if you're told to hold the last button or direction, do so
until the tip-off. In all cases, your powerup should be
confirmed by a message onscreen. On the Genesis and Game Gear, your player's name is replaced by
"POWERUP WHATEVER" for about a second; on the SNES, ÒPOWERUP WHATEVERÓ
appears lower onscreen (as it does in th arcade), but expect the ÒPowerup DefenseÓ
message to be garbled.
Powerup Defense: Hit any button four times then hold it on the
fifth (all systems). This will increase your defensive ability.
Imagine an "aura" of pixels around your player's hands; this
powerup increases that aura, the area you can safely defend
without being called for goal tending.
Powerup Turbo: Press any button five times then hold (A, B and
C/Genesis; Y, B and A/SNES) for the sixth entry (Game Gear unknown). This will give you unlimited
turbo power throughout the game. You still have to hold the turbo button down, but your turbo
status bar will not diminish.
Powerup Dunks: While rotating the D-pad clockwise, press (any
button/SNES & Genesis; Button 1/Game Gear) twelve times and hold it the thirteenth. Keep
rotating the pad until the tip-off. This will allow you to do super dunks from the half-court
tip-off circle and the near vicinity. It apparently does NOT allow poor dunkers, such as Skiles, to
become good ones.
Powerup Fire: Press (B/SNES and Genesis; Button 1/Game Gear) seven times then hold (Up, B and
C/Genesis; Up, B and Y/SNES; Up and Button 2/Game Gear) until the tip-off. This puts you on fire
the whole game!
Powerup Intercept: While rotating the D-pad, hit (B/SNES & Genesis; Button 1/Game Gear) 13
times and hold it the fourteenth. Keep rotating the pad until the tip-off. This makes it easier to
steal and intercept the ball from opponents.
Shooting Percentage: Press any button once then hold (Down, A
and B/both systems). For Game Gear, press Button 1 once then hold Button 2 and Down. This will
show you, from 0% to 99%, how likely your shots are to go in from where you're standing on the
court.
Juice Mode: Press (any button/SNES & Genesis; Button 1/Game Gear) 13 times, then hold (B and
C/Genesis; B and X/SNES; Buttons 1 and 2/Game Gear) until the tip-off. This makes all the players
on the screen move about twice as fast, increasing the overall difficulty and excitement of the
game. The game will turn on the Juice automatically for every game once you've beaten all 27
teams.
COMBINED POWERUPS:
Turbo + Dunk: Rotate the D-pad clockwise and hit (any
button/SNES & Genesis) 12 times. Stop rotating and hold (A, B and C/Genesis; Y, A and B/SNES).
Game Gear is unknown. This was incorrectly listed as 10 times in the last FAQ; anything less than
12 gives just Turbo. All apologies.
Turbo + Intercept: Rotate the D-pad counterclockwise and hit
(any button/both systems) 13 times. Stop rotating and hold (A, B
and C/Genesis; Y, A and B/SNES). Game Gear is unknown.
GAME GENIE CODES:
These codes have been graciously provided by Galoob right here on AOL. The main feature of
using Game Genie codes is that multiple powerups can be programmed without using the button
combinations at the "Tonight's Matchup" screen--and you can use up to five of these at
once!
Super Nintendo:
1 BBCC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 1
2 34CC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 2
3 30CC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 3
4 39CC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 4
5 35CC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 5
6 36CC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 6
7 3CCC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 7
8 3ACC-0F6F Visitor's baskets worth 8
9 BBC6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 1
10 34C6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 2
11 30C6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 3
12 39C6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 4
13 35C6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 5
14 36C6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 6
15 3CC6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 7
16 3AC6-A7AF Home's baskets worth 8
17 D8E7-C448 All players have super dunk ability
18 D6E1-CF38 All players have infinite turbo
19 D6E9-CD18 All players always "on fire"
20 D8ED-C418 All players have super interception ability
21 D6E5-C718 "Juice" mode
22 D6E4-CDC8 Shot success percentages displayed for non-dunk
shots
23 D4BD-3038 + D4BA-C948 Only need 2 baskets to be "on fire"
24 D0BD-3038 Need 4 baskets to be "on fire"
25 D9BD-3038 Need 5 baskets to be "on fire"
26 D1BD-3038 Need 6 baskets to be "on fire"
27 D5BD-3038 Need 7 baskets to be "on fire"
28 D6BD-3038 Need 8 baskets to be "on fire"
29 DBBD-3038 Need 9 baskets to be "on fire"
30 DCBD-3038 Need 10 baskets to be "on fire"
31 D4BD-3038 Need 2 baskets to stay "on fire" until an opponent
goes "on fire"
32 DDE1-3C2A Turbo bar never goes up (until next quarter)
33 D3E1-3C2A Turbo bar restores very slowly
34 F9E1-3C2A Turbo bar restores much slower
35 F2E1-3C2A Turbo bar restores slower
36 0DE1-3C2A Turbo bar restores faster
37 9DE1-3C2A Turbo bar restores much faster
38 6FE1-3C2A Turbo bar restores extremely fast
39 D0E9-38FA Turbo drains very slowly
40 D6E9-38FA Turbo drains slower
41 FDE9-38FA Turbo drains slightly slower
42 44E9-38FA Turbo drains slightly faster
43 42E9-38FA Turbo drains faster
44 76E9-38FA Turbo drains very fast
Genesis:
EFFECTS SWITCH MUST BE ON BEFORE TIP-OFF
1 SGFB-3EVN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 1 point more
2 SGFB-3JVN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 2 points more
3 SGFB-3NVN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 3 points more
4 SGFB-3TVN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 4 points more
5 SGFB-3YVN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 5 points more
6 SGFB-32VN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 6 points more
7 SGFB-36VN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 7 points more
8 SGFB-3AVN + NWFB-36BT Visitor's baskets worth 8 points more
9 SGFB-3EV6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 1 point more
10 SGFB-3JV6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 2 points more
11 SGFB-3NV6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 3 points more
12 SGFB-3TV6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 4 points more
13 SGFB-3YV6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 5 points more
14 SGFB-32V6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 6 points more
15 SGFB-36V6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 7 points more
16 SGFB-3AV6 + NWFB-36CA Home's baskets worth 8 points more
17 RGPV-46Y2 All players have super defensive ability
18 BWPV-4A74 All players have super interception ability
19 BWPV-4A8W All players have super dunk ability
20 BWPV-4A7C All players are always "on fire"
21 BWRB-4A2C All players have infinite turbo
22 BWRB-4A24 "Juice" mode
23 BWPV-4A9J Shot success percentages displayed for all non-dunk shots
FOR ALL TIMER CODES, LEAVE SPEED ON 3
24 AA4V-J8N0 Timer counts down slower than setting 1
25 AA4V-K8E0 Timer counts down very slowly
26 AA4V-J860 Timer counts down faster than setting 5
27 AA4V-K860 Timer counts down very fast
28 AAEV-LADR Only need 1 basket to be "on fire"
29 AEEV-LADR Only need 2 baskets to be "on fire"
30 AWEV-2AFG + ANEV-LADR Need 4 baskets to be "on fire"
31 A0EV-2AFG + ATEV-LADR Need 5 baskets to be "on fire"
32 A4EV-2AFG + AYEV-LADR Need 6 baskets to be "on fire"
33 A8EV-2AFG + A2EV-LADR Need 7 baskets to be "on fire"
34 BCEV-2AFG + A6EV-LADR Need 8 baskets to be "on fire"
35 BGEV-2AFG + BAEV-LADR Need 9 baskets to be "on fire"
36 BLEV-2AFG + BEEV-LADR Need 10 baskets to be "on fire"
37 BLEV-2A9T Players 1 and 3 stay "on fire" when the other team scores
38 BLFB-2A2A Players 2 and 4 stay "on fire" when the other team scores
WHO AND WHAT ELSE *MIGHT* BE IN THE GAME:
The lovely cheerleaders from the arcade version, Lorraine
Olivia and Kerri Hoskins (both ex-Playboy models), are believed
to be in the game as secret players. I wrote a story for SLAM
magazine on NBA JAM that should be out soon; here's a
transcription of some of my interview with Dan Feinstein,
Acclaim's NBA JAM producer (yes, this was "on the record"):
DA: Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the cheerleaders are in
the Game Gear version, but not the 16-bits. Is that right?
DF: Uh, I can't tell you about the cheerleaders. [laughs]
DA: Then, uh, scratch that.
DF: Yeah, I can't say anything about those cheerleaders. And
there are a lot of new hiddens.
DA: Oh, I didn't even mean as hiddens, I meant as display --
like, they're not in the attract mode of the game or anything,
are they?
DF: You're talking about the cheerleaders on the sidelines?
DA: Cheerleaders on the sidelines, you know, just them saying
"Hi, welcome to NBA JAM..."
DF: Oh...yeah. Yeah. Um, we ran out of room for that. But
there are a hell of a lot of surprises that make up for it.
While Mr. Feinstein sounded a little uncomfortable, I kinda caught
him off guard with the question, so that's certainly
understandable. Plus, the nature of this business involves
hidden things that are not to be blatantly revealed; he's simply
not allowed to give anything away, and that's only fair as well.
That, along with STESS's confirmation of a cheerleader playing in
the demo of an early SNES EPROM and EGM's subsequent printing of photos from their EPROM, gave me
hope that perhaps they
made the final cut, but lately, I'm thinking they've been removed. Perhaps Mr. Feinstein reacted
that way because he himself didn't know if they'd be included in the released version. In any case,
if they do exist, they will NOT appear naked in the game! People have been asking for the
cheerleader code and the Playboy code seperately, hoping to catch the ladies sans uniforms. There
is no Playboy code. If you're that interested in seeing them unclothed, Lorraine's Playmate
centerfold was in the November 1990 issue of Playboy. (Also, watch reruns of the game show
ÒFamily FeudÓ closely--both Kerri and Lorraine appeared on a celebrity edition of
Playmates Vs. Daytime Soap Opera Men!)
Much speculation has come about wondering whether characters
from Mortal Kombat are in the home versions. They weren't in the
arcade game (although Raiden was in a preliminary version, he was
cut before it hit the arcades) and they've been removed from the
new NBA JAM TOURNAMENT EDITION arcade, but...I don't want to say
it's impossible. Midway and Acclaim did both MK and JAM, so
anything could show up, but I think that by now, someone would
have announced their existance. It would be too hot a property
to keep quiet.
And odd as it may seem, a number of dinosaurs --
Dilophosaurus, Velociraptor, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex --
were reported as secret characters in early EPROMs of the game,
but have since been removed.
WHO AND WHAT IS *NOT* IN THE GAME (AND WHY):
Michael Jordan is NOT in the game. He was in preliminary,
unreleased versions of the arcade game, but was NOT in the final
arcade version and is NOT in the home games either. Shaquille
O'Neal was in the arcade version, but is NOT in the home game.
In most cases, arcade-to-home player substitutions from the
original arcade players were because of 1) licensing problems
(sports stars like Jordan and Shaq command a certain amount of
money for the use of their image, and either Midway or Acclaim
simply could not pay their prices) or 2) by order of the NBA.
They call the shots and certain players have risen in popularity
while others have dropped since the arcade game appeared. They
said, "We want the following people replaced with the following
people" and Acclaim had to comply.
Therefore, all Shaq and Jordan codes you may receive are
BOGUS and are merely an attempt by one person to make themselves
look cool. Don't believe the hype. Incidentally, both men are
working on their own games, neither of them basketball-centered:
Jordan will star in his own as-yet-untitled platform game, while
Shaq will kick and punch his way through "Shaq Fu," a Mortal
Kombat-style fighting game. Both are due this fall from
Electronic Arts.
Charles Barkley, however, appears in SOME versions of NBA
JAM. He signed a separate deal with Accolade for the dreadful
"Shut Up And Jam" game and will therefore be in the early
versions of the cart. The first run of the game will feature
Barkley and Kevin Johnson for the Suns; later versions will have Dan Majerle with Johnson. If
Barkley plays for the Suns on your copy of the game, hold on to it!
Sadly and against all popular logic, Willie "Air" Morris Jr.
is NOT in the home version. Even though Air Morris is the most
popular of the secret characters from the arcade, Acclaim to keep
only Turmell, Rivett and DiVita from the original secret staff.
Two musicians, George "P-Funk" Clinton (leader of the 70's
funk outfits Parliament and Funkadelic) and Flea (bassist for the
Red Hot Chili Peppers) were both in early versions of the home
games. Their pictures were shown in the centerfold of the
February 1994 issue of VideoGames Magazine. Feinstein said that
one of the two had been removed in lieu of another secret player,
but didn't say which; we now know that P-Funk *is* in the game.
Reading the fine print on your box shows a copyright notice for
George Clinton's "P-Funk" nickname, no less. That means Flea is
*not* in the game, but for diehards won't take no for an answer,
his real name is Michael Balzary...
Other rumored secret characters that can be confirmed as
FALSE: Barney the Dinosaur, Beavis & Butt-head, Charles Manson,
Jeffrey Dahmer, Randall Cunningham, Jim Harbaugh, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius "Dr.
J" Erving, Ermac the Red Ninja, Rush Limbaugh, Darth Vader, Superman, Al Pacino, Santa Claus,
the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, Cool Spot, Sinbad, Humpty Hump, Oprah Winfrey, Alien, Predator, Dr.
Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Michael Jackson (who was reported by some gullible player to give a
*halftime show,* for cryin' out loud). Anyone who promises you codes for any of the above is either
trying to dupe you or has unknowingly been given inaccurate information.
Far and away the aspect that most people refuse to believe
is that the Big Head Powerup does not exist in the home versions.
I therefore supply you with another direct quote from Dan
Feinstein on the subject:
DF: I had a fear early on that there were things that we
definitely couldn't do on a deck like the Genesis or the SNES,
and the scaling had to go on the games. You couldn't have the
scaling [the illusion that the players are running toward and
away from the screen]; we would have had to have, I don't know,
32 meg carts or something ridiculous. We would have had to sell them for $200 apiece. It would
have been silly. And the big
heads along with it, and we might get criticized for that, but
what are you gonna do? It's an impossibility. The hardware just
won't handle it.
So that's the deal. No Big Head. Sorry.
MISCELLANY:
Both the SNES and Genesis versions support four-player
adapters. The Hudson Soft Super Multi Tap and the Bullet-Proof
Software Super Link Multi-Player Adapter both work for the SNES,
while the Sega Team Player works for the Genesis. The Electronic
Arts 4-Way Play adapter does NOT work on the Genesis version.
PetroPratt reports a sneaky way to get away with travelling: Press Shoot then immediately press
Pass. You'll do a head fake, then start dribbling again. Don't try it too near the basket, or
you'll likely dunk instead.
Being "on fire" does NOT insure that every single shot you
put up will go in. It DOES increase the your chances
dramatically for sinking impossible-looking shots, but it's not
foolproof, so don't plan your entire game on it!
Kintaro434 reports that the backboard shatters in the fourth quarter after eight dunks. If you've
already performed eight dunks in the third quarter, then the first dunk you perform in the fourth
quarter will break the board. Thanks for the confirmation, Kintaro!
Many Genesis players have reported problems saving their win/loss records with the battery backup.
It would appear that gamers with Sega CD systems are out of luck; for whatever illogical reason, you
must disconnect the Genesis from the CD unit for the battery to save your record. It's a minor
pain, but it does work. If you just can't stand it (or if you don't have a CD connected and you
still have trouble), return the game for a new copy, and hope for the best--it still might not solve
the problem...
Rumors are flying of a Sega CD version of NBA JAM for
release in July; word has it that CD owners will able to upgrade for $19 plus their old cart. This
is not yet completely confirmed, but reliable sources are starting to murmur about it, so I'll throw
it in as a guarded possibility. Acclaim's home version of NBA JAM TOURNAMENT EDITION, however, is
definitely being planned for release for the 4th Quarter of 1994--just in time for
Christmas. It will be larger than 16 megs, but all other details
are as yet unknown.
And in the free plug department, pick up a copy of SLAM magazine's Issue #2 (Kemp on the cover) for
ÒSecret Agent Man,Ó a feature story on NBA JAM. It doesn't offer any new codes, but it
does have a lot of direct quotes from Mark Turmell, Roger Sharpe and Dan Feinstein about how NBA JAM
made video game history. And besides, I wrote it. :)
THANKS:
There only two kinds of information: true and false.
Everything in this document is labeled as one or the other thanks
to the people listed below. By publicly sharing their knowledge,
instead of playing "Email me" games and attempting to buy friends
with it, the following AOL NBA JAMmers are to be commended.
Thank them if you see them online:
STESS NebuIous Kintaro434 VGS Jeff
PetroPratt KingKombat Velocrptor SVW
JamieW MisterZ22 MortalKm367 Raggio
RyanReed HKATZ BarryF3 RonA678
BryanB2163 SLICER 101 ShadimAli Vittles P
MikeB95760 Wolffgang GALOOBGENI ToddMF
Falcon3345 Daniel187 JonN878859 Lev1258
RustyE JamminJon Justin TG
pendleto@cc.dixie.edu
...and offline, Carl Elston, Jr. and Katrin Auch. Extra special
thanks to Mark Turmell, Paul Dussault and Roger Sharpe at Midway,
as well as Dan Feinstein and Dan Harnett at Acclaim; their
cooperation was invaluable.
Also, thank YOU for reading this file, confirming things and reporting back. Since much of the
information has been found and confirmed, I'm hoping this will be the last revision of this file.
Stop by the NBA JAM message areas where all of the above Jammers
hang out (hit AOL Keywords "VideoGames" and "Critics") and post
your questions, corrections and new info publicly. Just remember
to leave your ego at the door; working together works wonders.
Enjoy!
---
"NBA," "NBA JAM" and "NBA JAM SESSION" are trademarks of NBA
Properties, Inc. "Midway" is a trademark of the Midway
Manufacturing Company. "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" and
"SNES" are trademarks of Nintendo of America, Inc. "Sega Genesis"
and "Sega CD" are trademarks of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. "Acclaim"
and "Arena" are trademarks of Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. "Game
Genie" is a trademark of Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc., and Game Genie codes are copyright 1994 Lewis
Galoob Toys Inc.
This list has been created as a FREE PRODUCT, without the
approval or permission of any of the above parties, and is
intended for PRIVATE, NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY.
