[eskayelle]

Dec. 10, 2020: Just ahead of the preseason, NBA Jam 2K21 TE is ready to play!  Head here to grab it!


Congrats to the Lakers, 2019-20 NBA Champs!
 
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a few thousand “words”…




 

[eskayelle]

What if I told you... there's a working beta?  With some big props to Mattrizzle and phonymike for the collaboration...

[Dzumeister]

I thought you were going to be done with these after 2K20! I'm really excited for this update. Are you adding a save file select screen? That Halftime report screen also reminds me of the 1993 game graphics... does that mean you're going to be taking stuff from that version? I remember that it had different tunes than Tournament Edition! Any plans to add WNBA players? Remember Carol Blazejowski?

I like that you're still adding new banners in! I think you should think about including references to the NBA Bubble, since COVID-19 had a huge impact on the season, and even BLM because of player protests.

here's some boxart:

[niuus]

What if I told you... there's a working beta?  With some big props to Mattrizzle and phonymike for the collaboration...

Holy shi-et, dude. This looks incredible.

Talk about taking NBA Jam TE SNES to the next level.
October 31, 2020, 05:22:30 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

What if I told you... there's a working beta?  With some big props to Mattrizzle and phonymike for the collaboration...

Holy shi-et, dude. This looks incredible.

Talk about taking NBA Jam TE SNES to the next level.

[eskayelle]

Hey, Dzumeister and niuus.  Thanks for the feedback!

Since these Jam TE hacks take quite a bit of time for me to get the portraits and roster updates going (I'm about 125 hours in on this project so far), I had set an internal “bet” with myself that if 2K20 TE got enough love such that there were at least 5,000 downloads between issuance and end of the season, I’d consider working on a 2K21 TE.

Between here and the NLSC Forum, the darn game hit around 8,000 grabs, so a big thanks to the community for supporting it!

In any event, having seen the trend, I decided a couple months ago to quietly put something small together for a 2K21 release.  I was projecting to issue by Christmas but am waiting to see how the free agency period shakes out.  Primarily, the game will be a roster update and quite a few portrait replacements, but – with a bit more mentoring this go-around from heavy hitters like phonymike and Mattrizzle -  I’ve got a few more features in this year’s game to definitely make it worth a look.  You hit on one of them... the ability to save secret player records.

The game will also have nods to various current events (including a nod to Kobe similar to Anthony Davis' one in the Finals), plus some shilling on my part with respect to some of my other projects.  Here's a few more screens to keep folks interested:











I don't have plans to add any female players this go-around (admittedly, I haven't added any since my first Double Z Mod).  Would totally be up for adding a heavy hitter like Elena Della Donne, but I don't think the limited body sprites and head options do the WNBA players much justice.  Plus, I'm not much of an artist, so a head sprite would likely come out pretty atrocious.

Thanks as well for the boxart -- Don't forget to add a "TE" to the image!

[Dzumeister]

Thanks as well for the boxart -- Don't forget to add a "TE" to the image!

Done.


Will you only be able to save secret player records?

[Mattrizzle]

It's been a blast assisting you with this project, eskayelle! Nice to see some of the fruits of my labor!

Will you only be able to save secret player records?

No. You can still save up to 16 standard records, as in the original game.

[eskayelle]

Thanks! It's definitely been a fun experience collaborating and learning even more about the innerworkings of the game!



64 secret players coming soon!

[Dzumeister]

Any other big changes compared to 2K17/2K20/Double Z?

[eskayelle]

Good question!  Here's a snippet from the current readme that tracks the biggest changes:

Code: [Select]

::::Title screen edited to reflect 2K21.
::::Team roll call screen and center court edited to reflect 2K21 in NBA Jam TE logo.
::::Various roster updates.
::::Various player replacements.
::::Various portrait updates.
::::Various sound replacements.
::::New banners.
::::Attract mode text edits ("ATTENTION NBA FANS" screen and features screens).
::::Ending text and end credits text edits.
::::New secret players.
::::Expanded secret player table AND allowed for record saving and campaign mode play.
::::Team select screen allows backward cycling through player combinations.
::::Update to play full announcer sound clips.
::::Team campaign order revised for 2019-20 season.
::::Benny the Bull, in all his red glory!
::::End of quarter/game shoe and tile dimming bugfix.
::::Options menu color bug fix.

Here's the final tally of secret players; admittedly, I don't currently plan to swap any of these out.

Code: [Select]

::*****PLAYER CODES*****
::Hold Start and press Y when entering each initial for the following:
::Hakeem Olajuwon - " HO_ "
::David Robinson - " DR_ "
::Karl Malone - " KM_ "
::John Stockton - " JS_ "
::Dominique Wilkins - " DW_ "
::Larry Johnson - " LJ_ "
::Dirk Nowitzki - " DN_ "
::Scottie Pippen - " SP_ "
::John Starks - " J_S "
::Reggie Miller - " RM_ "
::Kevin Hart - " KH_ "
::Jeremy Lin - " JL_ "
::Hulk Hogan - " HH_ "
::Patrick Ewing - " PE_ "
::Horace Grant - " HG_ "
::Kenny "The Jet" Smith - " JET "
::Dikembe Mutombo - " DM_ "
::Clyde Drexler - " CD_ "
::Dennis Rodman - " D_R "
::Carmelo Anthony - " CA_ "
::Larry Bird - " LB_ "
::Magic Johnson - " EJ_ "
::Michael Jordan - " MJ_ "
::Charles Barkley - " CB_ "
::Shaquille O'Neal - " SO_ "
::Vince Carter - " VC_ "
::Jean-Claude Van Damme - " JVD "
::Yao Ming - " YM_ "
::Kobe Bryant - " KB_ "
::Kevin Garnett - " KG_ "
::Tim Duncan - " TD_ "
::Rambo - " SLY "
::Bill Laimbeer - " BL_ "
::Benny the Bull - " BNY "
::Mark Turmell - " MJT "
::The Flash - " DC_ "
::Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - " KAJ "
::Johnny Cage - " MK_ "
::Johnny Lawrence - " KAI "
::Klay Thompson - " KT_ "
::Steph Curry - " SC_ "
::Damian Lillard - " DL_ "
::Russell Westbrook - " RW_ "
::Nikola Jokic - " NJ_ "
::Anthony Davis - " AD_ "
::Kawhi Leonard - " KL_ "
::Alex Caruso - " AC_ "
::Jimmy Butler - " JB_ "
::Kyrie Irving - " KI_ "
::LeBron James - " KNG "
::Paul George - " PG_ "
::Kyle Lowry - " K_L "
::Joel Embiid - " JE_ "
::James Harden - " JH_ "
::Blake Griffin - " BG_ "
::Giannis Antetokounmpo - " GA "
::Ja Morant - " JM_ "
::Chris Paul - " CP_ "
::Trae Young - " TY_ "
::Luka Doncic - " LD_ "
::Pau Gasol - " P_G "
::Dwayne Wade - " D_W "
::Steve Nash - " SN_ "


[heyuimintojsus]

Can't wait! Are you able to adjust the heights of players now?

Oh, and BTW boo Lakers!

Go DUBS! 

[Dzumeister]

You were able to edit the center court this time? That's awesome, I can't wait to see what the logo will look like!

I'm intrigued by what you mean about "full announcer sound clips"... does this mean we can expect new Kitzrow phrases? Please make sure we keep BOOMSHAKALAKA  Getting some from NBA Jam XXX again would be hilarious, too, like if on the turnover/steal, the announcer goes "GRABS HIS JOHNSON" or even "HE'S F****** UP" 

[eskayelle]

I wanted to keep true to the source material, and I'll always confess to being no pixel artist, so my graphic changes have been intentionally fairly subtle:



Funny you should mention "BOOMSHAKALAKA".  It was never in the original SNES TE, so I had originally put it back into all my mods.  My buddy and I ripped a ton of announcer clips from Wii Jam, so I had added an "Air mail special!" clip to 2K21.  In the process, I put a typo in the offset in my ASM and overwrote "BOOMSHAKALAKA".

BLASPHEMY!     So I quickly changed that offset and was back in business.   

So yeah, there'll be a number of updated sound clips, some slightly longer than previous ones (plus, Mattrizzle provided some code to prevent the original clips from cutting off too early... like "Razzle dazzl-").  I still don't feel certain XXX clips fit the spirit of what I'm trying to do (and some just don't make sense to me in the context of the gameplay), so I stuck to only a couple of my favorite sound bytes there and kept my bleeps.

Player heights are still a limitation, since there's only two sets of body sprites; we're still at "short" (about 6'3" and under) and "tall" (6'4"ish and up).

[Dzumeister]

It's been a blast assisting you with this project, eskayelle! Nice to see some of the fruits of my labor!
No. You can still save up to 16 standard records, as in the original game.

Any chance of you implementing backboard-breaking, like in the Old-School Edition hack?

[lionhats]

Awesome this is still being updated.

Personally I love the NBA Jam/Hangtime gameplay, but dont care for the players as I dont follow them IRL.

Thus we usually play as the Harry Potter/Chicken/Hilary Clinton characters; is there a romhack where the characters are all just mad crazy

[eskayelle]

Good question, and I fully get your note on the players.  I'm admittedly not a huge sports follower myself.  I know a couple folks are working on some personal hacks, but I'm not sure what the extent of their progress is or what kind of special players they're developing.

Most of the hacks I've seen/done tend to stick with a set of players and a subset of more wacky secret players, so there's likely not a 100% crazy character build.  The palette provided in game also provides some level of restriction there, unless you write code to work around it.

On this site, I'd say the wackiest is my original Double Z Mod, which comes with a couple former WWF wrestlers and some old-school '80s/'90s celebs.  There's a few other notable folks too...

You ever play Looney Toons B-Ball for the SNES?  It's got the wackiness of Merrie Melodies characters with gameplay somewhat close to NBA Jam.  You might find it a fun play, if you haven't tried it already.

[orlandojumpoff]

Loved the last one and thrilled you're working on another. I'm a magic fan... please tell me you added fultz (replaced Augustin as starting PG) and isaac (broke out as a defensive beast) - they're magic fans' current favorite players. Vucevic is alright and Gordon is expected to be traded so I'd rather have Isaac in there.

[Dzumeister]

Loved the last one and thrilled you're working on another. I'm a magic fan... please tell me you added fultz (replaced Augustin as starting PG) and isaac (broke out as a defensive beast) - they're magic fans' current favorite players. Vucevic is alright and Gordon is expected to be traded so I'd rather have Isaac in there.

If he doesn't make the starting lineup, I'm sure he'll be unlockable in the expanded roster either through completing a playthrough or by code

[eskayelle]

Tl;dr version: It depends...

Long version: The current beta's rosters are updated through 7/12, with some teams having 5 players and others as few as 2.  I've got about 15-20 new portraits developed in anticipation of trades and free agency causing some teams (like OKC right now) to have 6 or 7 players (and thus some current players needing to be removed/replaced.  That being the case, there's a portrait built for Fultz, but no final rosters will be set for a few weeks.

[RHZ]

Thanks a lot eskayelle for all your hard work with this game. I really enjoyed the last year's NBA JAM TE 2K20 hack you made. It's great to have a new one with the next season's updated roster and the improvements you've been working on! Really looking forward to it!

Just one question, it would be possible to have in game music like in the Sega Genesis version of this game or the SNES version of NBA Hangtime? If possible, it would be great.

Thank you!!