Arcade1Up brings big news for NBA fans to CES in Las Vegas

My goodness gracious this is exciting news.

If you are an NBA fan and a video game enthusiast of a certain age then you certainly are familiar with the legendary arcade cabinet, ‘NBA Jam.’

Once upon a time a dewy-eyed yet precocious Keith moseyed into the arcade off the food court at Eastland Mall in Evansville, Indiana and laid eyes upon the machine that would change the future of sports video games.

Countless quarters later NBA Jam would be ported to home consoles. And while the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions of the game would provide hours of fun, there was an authenticity absent that could not be recreated at home.

Well, the fine folks at Arcade1UP are set to provide you with the opportunity to recapture that authenticity.

Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show, the annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association in breathtaking Las Vegas, Nevada, Arcade1UP revealed that in the fall of this year you’ll be able to get rid of that ridiculous curio cabinet and put in its place an NBA Jam arcade machine.

Three games will be included, NBA Jam, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and NBA Hang Time. The senior vice president of licensing and business development for Arcade1Up, John Diamonon, did note that while the machines may be missing a couple of names from the original rosters, that could be remedied in the future.

“For NBA Jam vanilla, we currently don’t have rights for three players,” Diamonon said. “For Tournament Edition we have about 90% of the OG roster and Hang Time about 80-85% of the OG roster. It’s likely to ship this way with a possibility to update the OG rosters as we continue to attain rights.”

As cool as this is, and for someone like me things don’t get much cooler, here’s the coolest.

Wifi enable play for when my neighbors are too afraid to come by and get wrecked with KJ and Majerle? Yes, please.

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Arcade1UP, they produce gorgeous recreations of classic arcade games. Straight from their site:

“Arcade1Up machines stand at just under 4ft, each housing different classic arcade games, which come with immersive full-color hi-resolution displays and sounds. The cabinets also resemble the classic arcade joystick and button configuration you remember. Additional add-ons include a stool and riser– fully equipping users for endless hours of gaming!”

Some of their offerings include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Galaga. At CES they also announced that a BurgerTime cab is available for preorder.

If you read The Madhouse, and I know you do, RELIGIOUSLY, you’ll know I’m quite fond of retro video games. I’ve been very close to purchasing one of these machines in the past. NBA Jam may be the game that gets me to pull the trigger.

$399 is the price tag. Start saving your quarters!