Not everyone has mad hoop skills so for those of us who were more comfortable in the arcade than on a basketball court, Midway introduced NBA Jam. Players were able to pick from a stable of contemporary NBA superstars and pit them against each other in a no holds barred game of pick up.

The NBA gladly leant out their name to the well-made game, which included high-quality digitized graphics that looked just like the NBA players of the day. Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Mullin and many more were at your disposal as two-man teams. The action took place in a standard basketball court but there were no referees and no foul rules. As long as you didn't guard the basket or run out the shot clock, you could do anything you wanted.

NBA Jam featured an eight-way joystick and buttons for steal/pass, jump/shoot and turbo. The turbo button gave players extra speed and strength for those impressive slam dunks, but it did deplete a player's stamina with each use.

One memorable power-up was awarded to a player who made three shots in row. The invisible commentator's shout "He's on fire!" signaled a shooting streak that didn't sap the turbo reserves and more shots scored than not. The game also had a customization feature that kept track of each gamer's statistics as well as the game characters' averages.

Arcade players loved the game and Midway released NBA Jam Tournament Edition, reflecting changes in the real NBA's team rosters. The NBA Jam name was licensed to Acclaim in the mid-90s who introduced NBA Jam Extreme, causing Midway to change their game's name to NBA Hangtime.