EA Sports gave an exclusive first look at NBA Jam to Nintendo Power, and judging by a scan that's circled the earth about three times now, a zany visual style should accompany its boom-shakalaka gameplay.
That image above was first circulated by Go Nintendo. As you can see, it looks like the players will have 3D bodies and 2D heads, (think Monty Python, or the cutscene animations in Mythbusters.) According to a reader on NeoGAF, "The faces are actual photograph captures, each character has multiple faces, three faces while running the court, two dunk faces, and a positive and negative face." Sounds delightful. In fact, it wasn't that far off from Ripten's artist's conception published when the game was announced earlier this week.
For those curious about how the game will be controlled, NBA Jam will support motion control; players may also control it holding the Wiimote sideways to use the D-pad and buttons. No mention was made of the Classic Controller.
Of course, the power-ups and unlockables are what made NBA Jam such a raucous hit, and the Nintendo Power article listed these: Fire; Shattering Backboard; Cheats; Flashing Shoes; Flashing ball; Big Head Mode; Legends; Playable Mascots; Secret Characters.
Big Head mode, combined with these graphics, sounds like a riot. The secret characters were a show-stealer on the original, but they came before everyone got super uptight about licensing and use of likenesses in games. I have to wonder who they've brought in.
First EA Sports NBA Jam Details [Pasta Padre]


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