 There are some games out there that simply do not need reviews, or in the case of NBA Jam Tournament Edition, the review could consist of four words. Look at this game. Look at it for God's sake, that's all you need to do, even if you don't give a crap about basketball. This game is incredible in its absurdity, and not to mention incredible in its 90s-ness. You got the announcer shouting incredibly dated catchphrases. Guys jumping 30 feet into the air, the ball bursting into flames, you got the classic 90s players like Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Eric Montross, okay? Not to mention the pathetic lineup of my hometown Minnesota Timberwolves, JR Ryder, Doug West, and Christian Leitner. Man, that's terrible. Anyway, NBA Jam brings all these elements together to form the ultimate arcade game. Now you might be thinking right now, what's the difference between the original NBA Jam and Tournament Edition? In terms of the actual gameplay, absolutely nothing, it's nearly identical, but Tournament Edition just has more stuff, more players, and more codes. Codes like being able to dunk from anywhere on the floor, seriously, this never ever gets old. There's tons of other codes too, like being able to block every shot, infinite turbo, slippery mode, speed mode, on fire mode. You can even enable hotspot settings, which can allow up to 9 points per shot. Reminds me of the old MTV rock n' jock basketball game. The codes are really easy to enter in too, it's just a simple sequence you enter on the tonight's matchup screen. There's also tons of unlockable characters, everybody from Bill and Hillary Clinton to a selection of mascots, to the Beastie Boys, the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff, and, uh, Prince Charles. Sure, okay. These codes are a little trickier to implement. Anyway, I've got a link in the description to a Game Facts page that has everything listed there for you. So is there any real difference between playing NBA Jam or NBA Jam Tournament Edition on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis? Not really, some of the unlockable characters are different between the two games, but other than that, both games are very similar. It's not like the EA Sports NHL games, where everything is much faster, smoother, and just more satisfying to play on the Genesis, so it really makes no difference what system you play it on. I play it on the Super Nintendo because I just like the Super Nintendo controller a lot more. Plus, this game is also compatible with the four-player multi-tap. The NBA Jam series eventually evolved into the NBA Hangtime series, and those games are also very good, and have also aged well. I gotta mention NBA Jam Extreme, which was released in the late 90s for PS1, Saturn, and PC. Lack some of the charm of the Super Nintendo and Genesis games, but they're still good. And in 2010, EA Sports threw their hat under the ring by releasing a new version of NBA Jam for Wii, PS3, and 360, and NBA Jam on Fire Edition the next year. If you'd rather play this kind of game with modern players and some more polish, then those games are the way to go. Anyway, I've said this many times before, but the real brilliance of the NBA Jam franchise is that you don't even have to be into or even like basketball to like these games. It takes two seconds to learn how to play, and once you do, you just want to see more and more absurd dunks, and you want to hear what other ridiculous crap the announcer says. And unlike other sports games, NBA Jam has aged very well because of that. It's a weird and unique case where the game's dated 90s-ness actually lends it that much more charm. But most importantly, the gameplay is as fun as ever. So yeah, is NBA Jam Tournament Edition worth playing today? To quote my friend here. Oooooop, shaka-laka!