Here's a hilariously bizarre layup for all mid-1990s NBA/video game fans:

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crazy amounts of backstory here. It all starts with a largely forgettable NBA Jam ripoff called Barkley Shut Up and Jam, released for Sega Genesis, SNES, & Atari Jaguar in 1994:

As you can see, it's basically a street-oriented, poor man's Jam. Games like this are typically lost forever in the annals of bad 16-bit-era gaming history, but in 2008 an indy game developer called Tales of Game's Studios augmented the original Barkley and created Japanese role-playing game called Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa. An excerpt from the Wikipedia article on the game:

"The game takes place in a post-cyberpocalyptic New York called 'Neo New York', after a 'chaos dunk' causes the death of millions.

Twelve years before the game, Charles Barkley, in order to win his first game attended by his then-infant son Hoopz Barkley, performs the first Chaos Dunk—and inadvertently kills almost everyone present. As a result, basketball was made illegal and nearly all great players were killed in 'The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041' (a.k.a 'B-Ballnacht')."

The story goes on to include Michael Jordan as Barkley's nemesis and the game's antagonist, among other ridiculous twists. Here's the game's official trailer:

The game is actually freeware, so you can actually download it for free and embark on Barkley's epic journey. Also, check out this insanely detailed FAQ/walkthrough of the game, for those who want a John Stockton-esque assist in the gameplay.

(Extra-Special Hat Tip to Josh Levin in this week's Hang Up and Listen podcast, for spotlighting the Barkley Gaiden.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Just For Fun, Layups, No Math Required. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.