NBA Jam remains the perfect antidote to a world of too-realistic sports video games. The game took all the things that make basketball exciting — the stars, the dunks, the buzzer-beating three-point lobs — and exaggerated them.
Even the players’ heads could be blown up to freakish proportions. You might still hear some of the game’s catchphrases (“Boomshakalaka!”) today, but more remarkably, the action itself holds up — a testament the game’s beautiful simplicity.