As reported by SEGA SATURN, SHIRO!, Saturn hacker Malenko, who created Saturn romhacks (For lack of a better word) Drift King ’97 and NBA Jam TE Walrus Edition, discovered two never before seen or reported on secret characters in NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, who seem to be exclusive to the Saturn version for whatever reason. The first, and most exciting, is NBA Jam’s legendary announcer, Mr. BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA himself, Tim Kitzrow. (Who was also featured in other sports titles like NFL Blitz, NBA Showtime, NCAA College Slam, and Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball) The other is some guy named Fox. (We’re sure he’s a nice guy)
To anyone’s knowledge, the existence of these characters has never been revealed by anyone after all this time. Who knows if even Tim Kitzrow himself was aware? (UPDATE: He was not.) Malenko discovered this just from perusing the Saturn game’s hex data and finding curious entries within the character data area, which allowed him to figure out the secret codes for both characters.
Check in after the break for the secret codes to play as these two special guests.
To play as these two, make sure you enter these names and birthdates at the name entry screen while holding L or R.
- Kizrow: KIT – June 8th
- Fox: FOX – August 3rd
So far, Malenko couldn’t find any sign of these two being in any other version of the game, having checked every other port besides the Atari Jaguar version. It’s not yet known why only the Saturn versions contain these two. It’s certainly not even known who the heck Fox is. Perhaps someday, the answers to all these mysteries will materialize…?
Special thanks goes to Malenko as well as SEGA SATURN, SHIRO! for reporting on this news as well as uploading the above video of the two hidden characters in action. Check out their article here for more info.
If you have NBA Jam: TE for Sega Saturn, try out these two and tell us what you think in the comments below. Were they on fire?
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