I must say that when revisiting NBA Jam I was surprisingly disappointed. I probably spent over 100 hours playing the Genesis version as a young lad, but testing every platform was borderline unbearable these last few days. I could barely finish a game. I could go on and on, and maybe I will, but I'll just get to the Definitive Version.

One last thing; I'm not saying the entire franchise is bad, just the original Jam, and it's not “bad” it just very clearly shows its age. NBA Hangtime and other releases are still really fun and can be played on much more capable hardware. I also played by myself so an experience with friends is most likely a good time regardless of the game's shortcomings.

If you still must experience this gem for yourself (not recommended) then Sega Saturn is just barely the Definitive Version of NBA Jam. As far as releases go the Jaguar is a great experience and probably has the best gameplay, but without player likeness I'm not even sure you can call it “NBA Jam”. It's more like “Basketball Jam”. It's way more engaging and entertaining to see Shawn Kemp's face as you deliver a gravity deifying dunk that puts Hakeem Olajuwon on the ground. Also, the practice mode on Jaguar is awesome, and I do recommend that.