NBA Hangtime represents an interesting split in NBA Jam/Arcade basketball fandom. Hangtime was made by Mark Turmell, which makes it part of the esteemed NBA Jam lineage even though Midway had lost the rights to the Jam name. Some fans hate Hangtime saying it doesn’t add enough to the formula, others (mostly N64 owners) cite it as the pinnacle of the formula.
I did not like Hangtime when it came out. The only version I had seen was the N64 version which I think looks and plays mediocre at best. The colors aren’t vibrant, it doesn’t look good. Recently, I grabbed Hangtime for Genesis, PC, and the weirdly rare Playstation 1 version to give the game more of a chance to wow me.
I’d be remiss to not bring up NBA Jam Extreme. People think NBA on NBC: Showtime was the first 3D NBA Jam game but actually it’s NBA Jam Extreme that came out around the same time as Hangtime. I remember loving NBA Jam Extreme for Saturn and PC growing up, but it was years since I played. I recently picked it up for PS1 and it is such a poorly realized game with a lot of potential. The graphics are bad, but it’s early PS1 so I can forgive it. The courts are real NBA courts which is nice but the player models are awful even for the era. The player models are way too big and the hoop, rim and ball are so small! The rim is so small that the dunk animations can’t even put the ball through properly. I think the biggest thing lost in Extreme is the animations. NBA Hangtime doesn’t just have great animations (it does) but the game always chooses the correct animation for the gameplay moment. Extreme seems to always be behind or wrong on the animation it chooses. Players shoot backwards towards the hoop, the dunks are random and don’t make sense from where you jump. It’s a shame because NBA Jam Extreme added some cool ideas to the presentation. They use the center hanging scoreboard/jumbotron in really neat ways. Highlights and D-Fence chants show up between plays, they have cheerleader breaks on the jumbotron. It adds a lot to the atmosphere. On that same note, players are air humping after dunks. I don’t ever need to see a 3D Patrick Ewing air humping after a dunk. The controls aren’t terrible. It adds the spin move and the ETREME button for double turbo pushes and dunks. It such a hard game to play because it’s almost good.
NBA Jam Extreme is bad and it sets the stage for NBA Hangtime to languish. Gamers are ready for 3D at this point, it’s 1996. Gamers are also coming off of NBA Jam TE which is basically perfect, hell Barkey Shut Up and Jam 2 was out and it’s solid too. As somebody partaking in these games at the time, Hangtime feels like a knockoff without the Jam name and a regression without 3D. Nobody bought an N64 or PS1 to play a 2D sprite based game. All of this is a shame but in hindsight NBA Hangtime is the perfect sequel to NBA Jam TE in so many ways.
Before we get into the ports let’s get into what NBA Hangtime adds to the NBA Jam formula. Create a player mode was solid and unique at the time. It had tons of options and added something truly unique. They added alley-oops and double dunks. This is awesome because alley-oops are dope and it adds a cool layer to the co-op experience. More importantly, it’s a smart system. If you shoot a long 2 and your cpu player goes up for a dunk he will grab the ball out of the air automatically and put it in. This is awesome. It’s also really neat being able to pass the ball to the CPU players and put yourself up for an oop. The game added leaners and floaters. You can press the D-pad in a direction and lean your shot that way, it also adds true fadeaways. If your watching the NBA in the 90’s the fadeaway with MJ, Ewing, Hakeem is such a huge part of the experience. This also adds a good looking animation and more strategy to get an open shot. The final thing added is statistics based defense where your proximity to the shooter actually impacted their shot percentage, this is actually the biggest and most important change in the game. Defense matters now, and it’s not just pushing, steals, and blocks (you can also swat the ball away by holding and releasing the block button) you can be in a good position and are rewarded for it. Defensive struggles are a thing that can happen in Hangtime and that’s awesome. You’re rewarded for playing smart defense with makes the game feel good on both ends. Defense in NBA Jam TE is just a chore to attempt to get the ball asap. Try a shove, attempt to block the dunk and move on. NBA Hangtime rewards you for staying in front of the shooter even if you don’t get the block. Pushing opponents is harder but steals are more viable. It’s just a better system.
Comparing ports is interesting for this game. The N64 version is touted as the best and probably most played version. The PC Windows version is the most arcade accurate. The PS1 version is plagued with load times and very little slow down but is very arcade accurate as well. The Genesis and SNES versions are, much like their NBA Jam counterparts, amazing demakes of the arcade game.
I actually want to start with the Genesis port because I think it’s low-key amazing. If I was a kid who only had a Sega Genesis and went from NBA Jam TE to NBA Hangtime I think my head would explode. It’s not just a great sequel to NBA Jam TE, it feels like they made the NBA Jam port they wanted to but couldn’t a few years earlier. The sprites are big and colorful, the animations are amazing on the Genesis (and SNES). The most noticeable thing about the player models is that they capture the faces and differences well. Every character in NBA Jam for the 16 bit consoles was white or bald or had a high top fade. You had 3 real options and body types. NBA Hangtime you can tell Ewing from Larry Johnson. It’s truly amazing. You still have the leaner and fadeaway shots as well new dunk animations. You can create players. The game is lightning fast and of course has 0 load times. It’s a good version of the Hangtime and the best Version of 16-bit Jam. You also get music with no lyrics but a small price to pay. The courts on Genesis and the hoops all look worse than the 32 and 64 bit counterparts but they look great in gameplay. Supposedly, the defensive impact and proximity is missing on the 16-but games. I can’t confirm that per se, but the games are absolutely easier and feel more like NBA Jam than Hangtime proper. These are awesome ports worth checking out!
NBA HANGTIME GENESIS 
NBA JAM GENESIS
The PC port in 2019 is great but rough. You have to run the game in a Wins 95 of WIn XP compatibility mode which isn’t bad but what is bad is that the game can’t run in anything outside of it’s native resolution. That means on my 1920×1080 screen, I have a small box to play NBA Hangtime in. Once it’s running, the game is buttery smoothe, feels amazing and is the arcade NBA Hangtime game you remember. The roster is different on the PC version than the console versions, it actually uses an older roster. It’s not a huge deal but something to take note of. I love this version of the game but if you increase the resolution at all the game just crawls and there aren’t enough graphic options to make it work. I played a lot of this version, it’s easy to find on Ebay and Amazon.
The Playstation 1 version of NBA Hangtime is the best. I was trying to buy it on Ebay but even the case cost 20 bucks and the game is going for anywhere from 60 to 100 dollars. I got lucky and found it at a local shop for 12 bucks. I can’t say it’s worth 100 dollars but I would have paid 60 in a heartbeat. This feels like the definitive version of the game outside of the arcade in 2019. Obviously, you don’t have to worry about resolution issues. It plays on your TV as big as that TV goes and it looks so much sharper than the N64 version. The animations are awesome. This game looks like NBA Jam TE for Saturn. It’s almost perfect. I personally don’t love the jerseys but that’s a personal complaint. The faces are the photorealistic technique they use in NBA Jam TE 32 bit ports and it looks good. The game play is not compromised at all. The only time I have every felt slowdown in the game is during last second shots from the opposing half of the court. Otherwise the game is smooth. The load times aren’t bad either, they are existent between every quarter but they feel faster than the Saturn port of NBA Jam TE and I think that’s pretty good. The music is amazing on the PS1 version. The buttons are fully customizable. The game feels amazing.
The AI is super challenging in the best way! One of the issues home ports of NBA Jam has is bad AI until you beat all 29 teams, but Hangtime for PS1 and PC don’t suffer from this. Sidenote, NBA Jam Extreme is the hardest fucking game ever. I don’t know if it’s because the controls are bad or what, but the AI is god-tier. Every game feels close and losable in Hangtime but the computer doesn’t rubber band cheat except when you miss a dunk with 20 seconds left. The only thing missing from all the NBA Hangtime ports are halftime highlights. NBA Jam TE had awesome halftime shows, especially for Saturn, with real footage of highlights. Hangtime just shows stats and highlights who the best player is for the half. Either way the games are so exciting and fun. If you can find a Playstation 1 version of this game, I would pick it up immediately. Thank you for indulging with my obsession with NBA Jam Style arcade basketball games. I think they are the pinnacle of fun and capture the creativity and joy of basketball better than anything that has come since. Peace!
J3Blackgamer 