In the 1990’s the Charlotte Hornets were, in a word, cool. Anyone who was anyone in middle school absolutely needed to get their hands on a Hornets Starter jacket for its eye-catching teal and purple look that was as popular as it was unmissable. But it wasn’t just the unique team apparel that made the team so popular, and so many NBA fans’ second-favorite team, there was another key factor: video games.
Specifically, NBA Jam, a game which saw the Hornets boast one of the coolest default rosters in the game. Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues, famous for their Grandmama persona and 5’3” height, respectively, were joined by Alonzo Mourning, one of the best young stars in the game at the time. So, naturally, as a full-on Hornets fan who loved NBA Jam, my go to player was always renowned sixth man Dell Curry. With a nod to Defector and their brilliant series, join us as we remember a video game guy.
What Was NBA Jam Tournament Edition?
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition is the premiere version of the NBA Jam franchise, itself perhaps the most beloved sports game franchise ever for gamers of a certain age. A game from arcade giants Midway and Acclaim, NBA Jam was part basketball and part street fight, with players able to pull up for three only to be pushed violently off the ball by the opposition with no whistle.
Featuring two-on-two action, NBA Jam became famous for the fast-paced, frenetic style with long range shots and twenty-foot leaps for thundering jams the norm. Most famously, the game featured the iconic phrases “he’s heating up,” and “he’s on fire!” when the same player scored two then three straight buckets.
Catching fire would also make the player nearly unstoppable, with just about any shot inside the offensive half of the court going in with a good release point. This scorcher remained until anyone, teammate or opponent, scored to break-up the streak, allowing for massive scoring runs once you caught heat.
Who Was Dell Curry?
A career Guy, beloved by fans of the Hornets for his decade plus of service to the squad. His high water mark came right before the release of NBA Jam: Tournament Edition when he was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year during the 1994 season as the most valuable player not in a team’s starting lineup in the league.
A shooting guard by role and playstyle, Curry was a long range threat for the Hornets. In an era when the idea was that only some players needed to be capable from downtown, Curry spent nearly the entirety of the 90’s providing reliable rotational scoring for Charlotte and shooting over 40-percent from three.
Of course, even for those within the Queen City, Curry is better known today for something he did off the court by having and raising NBA superstar Seth Curry. And also Seth’s brother Steph, who has had a pretty successful NBA career himself.
Dell Curry In Video Games Through The Years
Curry made his video game debut in a release by a different 90s video game giant in Tecmo Super NBA Basketball. Due to the length of this career throughout the birth and boom of sports video gaming, Curry has a long career on virtual courts, spanning the birth of the NBA Live series up to the emergence of early NBA 2K games, as well as the various other short-lived series that emerged in the late 90s. Like nearly every NBA player over the last 40 years, Curry is also now featured in modern 2K games through the wonderful Eras feature.
Curry was available in multiple NBA Jam titles, up to the Game Boy Color release NBA Jam 2001. He also has been a part of other looser, arcade style series as well, like NBA Hangtime and NBA Playgrounds.
Let’s Remember Dell Curry In NBA Jam
Like all great Video Game Guys, Curry wasn’t himself a singularly dominant player who you simply had to include in your lineup every time. To be very honest, there was little reason for any player looking to optimize their Hornets lineup to ever look beyond the game’s default trio of Mourning, Johnson and Bogues, all of whom were more capable players on the NBA Jam court than Curry.
What’s more, even unlocking Curry (and teammate Hersey Hawkins) required work, with players forced to unlock them using a 90’s gaming classic: a title screen button-press code. Players who didn’t know that using the unlock code and entering JAM for your initials instead had to take the long road, unlocking expanded rosters by defeating all 27 teams in the game.
I didn’t care a lick for the naysaying, Curry had a spot on my team every time, usually paired with Zo or Grandmama, though sometimes I was known to keep things small with a Curry-Muggsy pairing. While Curry’s attributes weren’t the best by any stretch, a big fat red number showing just how lacking the game’s designers found parts of his game to be, I spent innumerable hours of my life with Curry as my stretch threat, always ready to sink a clutch three when the defense doubled on a soaring Mourning.
While big slams were always the name of the game, as a tiny little chucker myself I was always drawn to the guys who could make it rain from deep. While Dell may now be a distant second when it comes to long range ability in his own family, none of that mattered in the 90s when he was a reliable bucket in the corner. The combination of an on-fire Curry on offense using his turbo boost to shove anyone and everyone off the ball, while Mourning was ready underneath to keep the torch lit by any means necessary, even flagrant goaltending, was the spark that powered many a Hornets run of dominance on the NBA Jam courts.
While Curry may not have been the actual best player on the team, you could make a correct argument that even Hawkins would have been better in the deep threat role given his much better long range rating, it was Curry who won my heart and who will always hold a place of affection in it. That the real world Dell went on to father my future Favorite of All-Time is just a nice bonus.
