From the 90s, Michael Jordan seemed invincible. As soon as he played a close game, as soon as he participated in an NBA Final, no one could stop him from winning. Well almost. Because there is an opposition that he has never been able to win over the buzzer. At least in NBA Jam. If you were playing this game with the Chicago Bulls against the Detroit Pistons and you had a winning shot to take at the last second, you couldn’t win.
What had only been a conspiracy theory for years has just been confirmed. By the creator of NBA Jam, Mark Turmell, himself. In an interview with Ars Technica, he admitted to having rigged the game.
Originally from Michigan and a hardcore Detroit Pistons fan, the game’s lead designer admitted to scheduling the game so that the Bulls systematically miss their shots at the very end of the game when playing their best enemies.
“By making this game in Chicago during the peak of the Michael Jordan era, there was a big rivalry between the Pistons and the Bulls. But the only way I could get revenge on the Bulls when they got stronger was to affect their abilities against the Pistons.
And so I put in a special code that meant that if the Bulls took shots at the last second against the Pistons, they would miss those shots. “
The creator of NBA Jam finally confirms the long standing conspiracy theory that the game was programmed so that if the @ChicagoBulls took a last second shot against the @DetroitPistons it would always miss.
Mystery solved! pic.twitter.com/ugBw7cbx8k
— ᴀʀᴅᴀ Öᴄᴀʟ (@Arda) June 26, 2020
To be more precise, only a few happy gamers missed this type of shooting with Michael Jordan. MJ was only available on a limited number of arcade machines. But in the overwhelming majority, it was not possible to play with him. So it was other Bulls, like Scottie Pippen or Horace Grant, who missed these shots against the Detroit Pistons. In the name of all those who have become completely crazy after missing these shots and not understanding, no thanks, Mark. Truly not…
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