Getting on fire, and keeping it
A burning player runs on unlimited turbo, stops being called for goaltending, and starts dropping shots from places that had no business going in. It lasts until the other team scores. One answering bucket ends it, which makes trading baskets with the CPU the fastest way to waste the best thing in the game.
So heat up through defense. Push the CPU into long shots and swat them with a super block, turbo plus block: Space+K. Guard the key and most of their offense dries up, because layups and dunks are what actually go in. Yours too. Three inside buckets in a row is all the fire needs, and inside shots stay the safe bet even when your man can't shoot from outside.
Once you're lit, take threes until they stop dropping, then go straight back inside and keep the streak alive. The game doesn't play fair when you pull ahead: Computer Assistance is on by default and sharpens the aim of whichever team is losing. Score four more baskets while burning and the fire goes out by itself, so spend them.
Squad matters here. Shawn Kemp in Seattle and Dominique Wilkins in Atlanta heat up on dunks alone. Detroit gives you Isiah Thomas with speed and range next to Bill Laimbeer's defense, which covers both halves of the plan. Utah works the same way with Karl Malone inside and John Stockton outside. What you shouldn't do is chuck threes with a pure dunker; leave those to Chris Mullin or Scott Skiles.
The controls the game never explains
Shoot is K, and how long you hold it is what separates a swish from a brick. Let go at the very top of the jump for the most accurate shot, though that extra beat hanging in the air is also when defenders get their best chance to block or strip it. Tap it instead of holding and your player fakes, which also kills the dribble: after a fake you can't move, only pass or shoot.
What turbo is really for
Running with Space is the obvious use and it drains the meter fast, though the meter refills quickly once you stop leaning on it. Tapping the same button protects the ball and shuts down most steal attempts. Turbo also upgrades everything else: Space+L on offense throws a pass that's much harder to pick off, and the identical input on defense shoves the man in front of you, which sometimes knocks the ball loose and sometimes just clears a lane for your teammate.
Blocking, stealing and the one rule that punishes you
Steal with L when you're close; the ball flashes white the moment the other team touches it, which is your cue. Block with K, but watch the arc: catch the ball on its way down and you're charged with goaltending and they get the points anyway. If it's already hit the rim, it's fair game for anyone. And forget shoving dunkers out of the sky the way you would in the arcade cabinet. On Genesis/Mega Drive that barely works unless you're right on top of them, so block instead.
Power-up codes on the match-up screen
Every code below goes in on the Tonight's Match-Up screen, the one that appears the moment both teams are chosen. You have until tip-off to finish the input, and a message above your turbo meter tells you it landed. Miss the window and nothing happens, so start tapping as soon as the screen loads.
- Power Turbo: press KKKKK then hold K+Space+L until tip-off. Turbo never runs out.
- Power-Up Fire: press SpaceSpaceSpaceSpaceSpaceSpaceSpace then hold +Space+L. You stay on fire for the whole game.
- Power-Up Dunks: spin the direction control through full circles and never stop, press K thirteen times, then hold it until tip-off. Dunks from beyond half court, though it fails on players with the worst dunk rating.
- Power Intercept: same non-stop circling, tap any button fifteen times or more, then hold K+Space+L. Extra taps do no harm; the game doesn't mind if you go past fifteen.
- Power Up Defense: press KKKKK and hold on the fifth. Easier steals and goaltending that goes uncalled.
- Juice Mode: press K thirteen times, then hold Space+L. Everyone on court moves much faster.
- Shot Percentage: press K once, then hold K+Space+. Down isn't optional here, whatever the old promo poster claimed.
Turbo and Fire are the two that decide games. Intercept is honestly hard to feel during a normal match. Shot Percentage is the quiet one worth your time: it replaces the timer with the odds on your current shot, so a few minutes with it playing online tells you exactly where your player can score from and where he's throwing bricks.
One code instead of seven
Unlock every power-up at once
The match-up codes above have a shortcut, and it lives one screen earlier, on the initials entry where you normally type three letters before a game. Spell out S, N and K, holding Start on each letter:
- Cursor on S: hold Enter and press L
- Cursor on N: hold Enter and press Space
- Cursor on K: hold Enter and press L
That hands you the whole set without the frantic circling the individual codes demand, which matters more than it sounds: the dunk and intercept inputs are fiddly enough that most people give up on them halfway through the tip-off.
Fair warning. Unlimited turbo plus permanent fire plus half-court dunks turns a run through all 27 teams into target practice, and the scoreboard stops meaning anything. Save it for the nights you want to see how absurd the physics get, and play the 27-team run clean.
Who else is hiding on the initials screen
Twelve people who never played in the NBA are sitting in this game, and the way in is always the same: type the first two letters, move the cursor onto the third, then hold Enter and press the button listed. For QB and UW the third character is the blank space, so park the cursor there.
- Bill Clinton: ARK with K
- Al Gore: NET with Space
- Warren Moon, the Houston Oilers quarterback: UW with K
- P Funk, drawn from George Clinton: DIS with L
- Mark Turmell, the arcade lead: MJT with K
- Rivett: RJR with Space
- DiVita: SAL with L
- Kabuki: QB with K
- Air Dog: AIR with K
- Scruff: ROD with Space
- Weasel: SAX with L
- Chow Chow: CAR with L
Read the ratings on the team select screen with suspicion. A hidden character inherits the numbers of the man he replaces, but not his moves. Put Clinton in for Dominique Wilkins and the screen still shows full dunk ability, while the dunks that actually come out are nothing like Wilkins's. Spend the first quarter finding out what your pick can really do before you plan a game around him.
A few combinations do nothing but make a sound: GAP, JAZ and ZOB are the ones that fool people into thinking they've found something. There's no Jordan code and no Shaquille O'Neal code either, on any Genesis cartridge, so don't spend an evening hunting for them.