The ‘NBA Jam’ arcade cabinet is affordable now. Here are other classic games we need

NBA Jam is perhaps the most influential sports video game ever. The game was a smash success in the early ‘90s both in the arcade and on home console like Sega or Super Nintendo, spawning a variety of copycat games that aimed to take its “exaggerated realism” across other sports. While there hasn’t been a new NBA Jam released since 2010, the original continues to maintain its relevance to this day.

The children of 1993 always dreamed of one day owning the arcade version of NBA Jam in their own home. Now there is a somewhat affordable option to make that happen.

Pre-orders are now available for an NBA Jam arcade-style cabinet that will be released on July 15, 2020. It costs $499. My birthday is the week before, in case anyone was wondering.

The game comes wi-fi enabled, meaning you can play against your friends who also have an extra $500 laying around. The cabinet includes the original NBA Jam, the 1994 sequel NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and the 1996 offshoot NBA Hangtime.

Sadly, we still do not have a version with updated rosters, probably because the LeBron James and Anthony Davis team would be too amazing for our simple human brains.

Start saving money now. While we’re at it, here are some other old arcade games we’d love to own:

I used to play this game at the local Dairy Queen, but it cost a quarter per inning. I don’t think I ever played a full game. I loved it because of the use of real players, and I think it was one of the early adopters of player licensing. I could get the Nintendo version, but I loved playing the sit-down table-top version, and owning it would save me those quarters!

— David Fucillo

I want my fingers to bleed.

— Christian D’Andrea

I would go to Pizza Hut with my completed Book-It stamps. I would order my personal pan pizza and I would play this game until my parents dragged me out of the restaurant. Occasionally we would also go to Pizza Hut to get the promotional basketballs they offered. I’ll never forget mine that had every Big Ten school on it. Anyway, take me back to my elementary school days. I need it.

— Whitney Medworth

Was Centipede fun? Kinda. Was I weirdly good at it? Hell yeah I was. Maybe it was because no one else at the arcade wanted to play a bleep-y bloop-y game from 1981, but I dominated the leaderboards. I would love to own it and become an absolute master, even if only to impress myself.

— Louis Bien

They turned an entire dang cartoon into an arcade game! Was it a good game? No, of course not. But it was an interesting game, and since it cost like, two bucks to play at the arcade, and my elementary school aged self would die in approximately seven seconds, I’d love to see how it actually ends without spending enough money at the arcade to buy a used Kia.

— Matt Brown