Reports from earlier today that Electronic Arts had acquired the trademark to Midway’s old multiplatform/arcade megahit NBA Jam inspired all sorts of wild nostalgia, particularly on the part of New York Magazine’s Will Leitch and a host of colleagues, warning of the match up problems posted by pairing Hillary and Bill Clinton against Scottie Pippen and B.J. Armstrong.
A far more obscure peak into NBA Jam lore is available, however, via a 2002 post by Defunct Games.com’s Cyril Lachel, who describes the confusing method employed in order to unlock Sonic Youth as hidden players in the game.
You see, Thurston Moore, singer/guitarist, is accessed by using the birthday June 8th … even though his birthday is actually July 25th. Kim Gordon, bassist/singer, is acquired by using July 3rd as the birthday, not April 28th. Drummer Steve Shelley gets similar treatment, as you use June 8th to play with him, and his real birthday lands on June 23rd. It’s Lee Renaldo who comes out the best looking in the end. He is picked up using February 4th, while his birthday is just two days earlier, on the 2nd!
If the designers really are fans of the band, why wouldn’t they put in the thirty seconds of research it takes to get the right birthdays? After all they spent that much time to scan the images, why not go the extra mile to make it seem that much more authentic?? Maybe this is something we’ll never know.
This is the first time I’ve seen the screenshots though this was talked about at the time. thanks