In 1996 Michael Jordan and the Tune Squad pulled off one of the greatest upsets in cartoon movie sports history by defeating the Monstars in the cultural phenomenon known as Space Jam. After nearly a quarter of a century, LeBron James will attempt to take that same team to glory in Space Jam: A New Legacy, which raises the question: what could a new Space Jam video game look like?
When the original Space Jam was released, Acclaim Entertainment (makers of the NBA Jam arcade classic) released a game based on the movie, and it was fairly terrible. At the time, GameSpot went so far as to say that "despite the use of much-loved Warner Bros. cartoon characters, Space Jam fails miserably in every category." If there's one lesson to take from the original game, it's that it needs to be completely scrapped.
There are several directions a new Space Jam video game could go, and all of them seem like winners if done well. While much of the game would obviously be focused on playing basketball, there's a lot that could be done in terms of a story mode (especially with there being multiple movies). Players could literally play out the events of the movie, or roam around in some sort of Looney Tunes semi-open world wonderland, completing various tasks that may or may not have anything to do with shooting hoops (something like South Park: Stick of Truth comes to mind). Maybe Bugs Bunny needs a hand getting past Elmer Fudd, or Tweety Bird is trapped by that pesky Sylvester... the list of possibilities is unending, and if they do end, there can always be DLC updates.
What Kind of Game Space Jam Should Be
Now the question is, what would a new Space Jame game look like? Do fans want a realistic 5 on 5 experience, or do they want more of an NBA Jam/NBA Street-style game? There's already a lot of titles that try to be as close to the real sport as possible, and part of the lore of Space Jam is just how cartoonish the whole thing is. There isn't a realistic way to make Michael Jordan's arm extend 30 feet in crunch time. A new Space Jame game should imitate the movie, and that means wacky power-ups, "game breakers," and whatever wild moves the cartoon characters pull off in the film.
Although a lot of attention should be put into the story mode for a game like this, online multiplayer gameplay could be a lot of fun, and potentially highly competitive. There could be multiple modes to satisfy those players who want to play more of a realistic version, free of boosts and cartoonish upgrades, and then another ranked mode for players who want to play Space Jam's new game in all of its glory.
While it may be tough to convince a studio to pour tons of money into a new Space Jam video game after the original flopped, the reality is gaming has come a long way over the course of the last 25 years. There's no reason to think that a Space Jam video game wouldn't have huge commercial success, and could open the door to other Looney Tunes-inspired sports games.
Source: GameSpot