If you miss the old NBA Jam games, this new Harlem Globetrotters game looks like a slam dunk

basketball game
(Image credit: Acclaim)

I'd have bet money that the Harlem Globetrotters were founded in the 1960s or maybe the '70s, but nope: today I learned the madcap basketball exhibition team has been around for a solid century, formed in 1926 as The Savoy Big Five (and in Chicago, not New York).

To celebrate 100 years of baffling basketball trickery, the Globetrotters have unveiled a new game: Super Basketball Classics, a retro-style basketball game filled with trick plays and slam dunks. Here's the teaser:

Super Basketball Classics | Reveal Teaser - YouTube Super Basketball Classics | Reveal Teaser - YouTube
Watch On

"From playground rivalries to cheat-code-style moves, Super Basketball Classics Featuring the World-Famous Harlem Globetrotters reimagines basketball as both competitive arcade action and pure spectacle," says developer Acclaim.

Article continues below

"Whether players are running a full season, challenging friends head-to-head, or dazzling the crowd with over-the-top Globetrotter performances, every match is designed to feel like a show."

Unfortunately, the teaser shows more of the real Globetrotters in action than it does actual gameplay, but the screenshots and gifs on the Steam page are promising: the throwback looks remind me of classic 16-bit games like NBA Jam, and Acclaim promises the game is filled with "over-the-top moves, alley-oops, half-court bombs, and dunk animations that feel straight out of a Globetrotters performance."

That's an easy layup for me: I never saw the Harlem Globetrotter's live but when I was growing up they always seemed to be on TV, torturing the poor Washington Generals with their trick plays—and I'd jump at the chance to step into their shoes and do a bit of fancy footwork myself.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.