The game of basketball is globally dominant in today’s society. This also includes basketball video games, where fans of all ages can play as their favorite players, past and present.
This includes playing as the G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan. Yes, we’ve all seen him on the cover of the popular game NBA 2k23, and to play as Jordan is incredible, especially for us older fans.
Why? Well, back in the 1990s, Jordan suddenly stopped appearing in video games. Instead, you had a player that looked similar to Jordan and was usually dubbed “Player 99.”
This brings up the question we, as 90s kids, have been asking since we were little… Why did Michael Jordan stop appearing in video games? If you’re a 90s kid, or a younger kid who’s pondered this question, look no further.
In today’s Fadeaway World article, we will get to the bottom of why the great Michael Jordan suddenly stopped appearing in basketball video games.
The Video Game History Of Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan did not get his video game start in the famous NBA 2k11 series that showcased MJ on the cover. No, Jordan debuted in a video game back in the 1980s during his rise in popularity.
In 1988, Electronic Arts, which previously developed the famous video game in 1983, One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, came out with a sequel titled Jordan vs. Bird: One on One. In this game, you played as either Michael Jordan or Larry Bird in a game of one-on-one, hence the name.
There was also a three-point contest where you could play as Bird and a small dunk contest where you played as Jordan. This game was great for fans to finally be able to play as the most exciting player in the game of basketball at the time.
The next video game Jordan appeared in was a series of games that started in 1989 and went up to 1993. Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs was the first game in the series released by Electronic Arts.
This basketball video game was a five-on-five game, and Jordan appears as a playable character on the Chicago Bulls. The next game in the series is Bulls vs. Lakers and the NBA Playoffs, then Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs, and Team USA Basketball.
The final game in the series was NBA Showdown. After the series ended, Electronic Arts rebranded their basketball games into a title many gamers know very well: NBA Live. NBA Showdown would be the last NBA game to feature Jordan in the 90s.
These games were great in the way the players seemed to appear as the real NBA stars. Certain players had signature moves, like Jordan’s baseline air reverse dunk, and other players had gear like their real counterparts, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wearing goggles.
Then there was 1992’s NBA All-Star Challenge by Acclaim Entertainment. This was a game where you could play one-on-one games, a shooting contest, a game of H-O-R-S-E, a free throw tournament, and a tournament of champions, where one player takes on a bunch of other players. Of course, Jordan is one of the playable players.
The next series of games Jordan appeared in during the 90s was the Tecmo NBA series. First, there was Tecmo NBA Basketball, which was released on the Nintendo, and then Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, released on both the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis.
The thing with Tecmo Super NBA Basketball was the Super Nintendo version had Jordan in the game, and in the Sega Genesis version, Jordan was absent.
After these games, no NBA game would see a playable Michael Jordan character until 2000, when NBA Live 2000 introduced Jordan as a player you could play in a one-on-one game. So, this brings us back to our initial question… Why did Michael Jordan stop appearing in video games?
The answer is quite simple, actually. Jordan opted out of the Players’ Association license, meaning he wanted control of his likeness. There you have it. The reason Jordan turned into “Player 99” was because he wanted to have a say in who used his likeness.
Because of this reason, there were a few basketball-type games that came out in the 90s that featured Jordan; they just were not NBA-related games. This means Jordan worked with these companies and gave the approval to use his likeness in the games.
These games include the side-scrolling action game released by Electronic Arts, Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. This game plays as Jordan throwing different types of basketballs, including a flame ball and ice ball, to try and save his (unnamed) teammates who were kidnapped right before Scottie Pippen’s All-Star charity game.
The next non-NBA game in the 90s that featured Jordan was Michael Jordan in Flight, made by Electronic Arts for DOS. The game featured no licensed NBA players, as the only real player was Jordan.
The game was a three-on-three matchup with no crowd, and it did feature cut scenes of MJ himself. The last game was Space Jam, which obviously was made to go along with the hit movie. Space Jam was made by Acclaim Entertainment, and you played as Jordan and his team of Looney Tunes in a three-on-three basketball matchup.
These games were it for Jordan in the 90s, as every 90s kid famously remembers Jordan being absent in the wildly popular NBA Jam. Still, as mentioned earlier, The G.O.A.T. would return in NBA Live 2000 and other games like NBA Street and NBA Street Vol. 2 in the 2000s.
Then, NBA 2k11 came out with Jordan as the cover athlete, and he’s been a big part of each 2k game ever since.
90s kids may have had to play without Michael Jordan for a few years in video games during the 90s, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have fun playing all those wonderful basketball video games.
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