Hey Xbox game fans, Windows Phone Central is back with another exclusive and professional-quality Achievement guide. This time we tackle the Windows Phone version of NBA Jam from EA Sports. Whether you’re a Jam veteran or new to the series, our guide will help you knock the game’s Achievements out as quickly and easily as possible, though it’ll still take just over 30 hours to unlock the final one.
Earning NBA Jam’s Achievements also unlocks a variety of characters, but several of the game’s most outlandish characters can only be accessed via secret codes. We’ve got those for you too, right after the break. Boom shaka laka!
Unlocking the Hidden teams
When you select the ‘Play Now’ option from the main menu, you’ll be prompted to enter your initials before choosing your team. To unlock the secret teams, enter these initials:
- DEM: Unlocks the Democrats (Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton)
- MAS: Unlocks the Mascots (Rufus Lynx, Rumble the Bison, Rocky The Mountain Lion, G-Wiz, The Raptor, Bango the Buck, and Mavs Man)
- OGJ: Unlocks the Original Jam Team (Mark Turmell, NBA Jam’s creator and Tim Kitzrow, the announcer)
- REP: Unlocks the Republicans (George W. Bush, Sarah Palin (barf!), John McCain, and Dick Cheney)
Once unlocked, the secret teams will appear between the Washington Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks in the team selection menu. You only need to enter each code once; the teams stay unlocked even if you change your initials.
These teams are only playable in Play Now and Multiplayer modes, not Career mode. However, if a team’s mascot is part of the Mascot team, then unlocking the Mascot team makes that mascot appear as a playable member of that team in Classic Career.
Three teams can only be unlocked by earning specific Achievements:
- ‘Buzzer Beater’ Achievement: Unlocks the Beastie Boys (Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock)
- ‘100 Club’ Achievement’: Unlocks the EA Mobile team (Ryan Winterholler, Josh Valensi, Sean Chapel)
- ‘Southwest Division represent’ Achievement: Unlocks Stickman team (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow)
Single-game Achievements
These eight Achievements can be earned during single games in either Play Now or Classic Campaign modes. For all of the Achievements in this guide, you’ll want the difficulty set to Rookie and Controls to Arcade. Most of the single-game Achievements are easier to get with Quarter Time set to five minutes, but you can get all but ‘Century Scorer’ with two minute quarters.
Because you’ll have to play a whopping 222 Classic Campaign games to get all of the Classic Campaign Achievements, I recommend going for the single-game Achievements in Classic Campaign mode, not Play Now. A character with high DNK, STL, 2PT, and 3PT stats such as the Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett will make several Achievements easier.
Buzzer beater - Hit a Buzzer beater shot to win the game.
Unlocks: Beastie Boys team, George Gervin, Mark Price
This is probably the hardest Achievement in the game, but it’s not that bad. A ‘buzzer beater’ is a thrown shot (not a dunk) that goes through the hoop at the end of the fourth quarter after the clock has already hit zero. Not only that, but the shot must actually cause you to win the game ; if your score was high enough to win before throwing the ball, it won’t count.
The ideal time to go for ‘Buzzer beater’ is during the very first Classic Campaign game because the difficulty rises incrementally in subsequent games. But this is Achievement takes eight minutes to attempt (four quarters at two minutes each) and is easy to fail, so you might want to hold off until your second Campaign playthrough (when you’ll have mastered the ropes of the game) before you try for it. Picking a character with high 2PT and 3PT stats will help too.
The key to setting up a buzzer beater is keeping your score tied or only one point below the opponent's score throughout the entire match. Every time they score a goal, you need to score your own, and vice versa. To keep your AI partner from scoring points, have him pass you the ball (blue button) whenever he gets it.
Once the last 15-30 seconds of the final quarter nears, hold the ball and avoid the enemy until the timer reaches one second, then throw the ball. If it makes it through the hoop and causes you to win, you’re all set! Also, you can still get a buzzer beater if the game goes into overtime.
Century scorer – Score 100 Points in 1 Game.
Unlocks: Dan Majerle, Magic Johnson
To get 100 points, you really need the quarter length set to five minutes. For the points to count, you must personally score the baskets, not your partner. Always have him pass to you or set you up for alley oops. If he does score some baskets, you’ll just need to score an extra shot to make up for each one.
Double Up - Beat the CPU in a game by doubling their score or better.
Unlocks: Brad Dougherty, Nick Anderson, Mitch Redmond
Like ‘Buzzer beater,’ this one’s easier with two minute quarters. As your score gets ahead of the opposing team, they will become more aggressive. Just do your best to steal and block as much as possible. During your many Campaign games, you’re bound to come out with double the enemy’s score eventually.
Fired Up - Get On Fire 4 times in a single game.
Unlocks: Chuck Person, Larry Johnson
Whenever you personally score three baskets in a row without the enemy scoring a basket, you’ll ‘get on fire,’ signified by the basket catching on fire. The key to catching on fire is to steal or block the ball and take possession while on defense.
Losing points to Goal Tending violations doesn’t count against you catching on fire; only the enemy scoring baskets does. At minimum, you’ll want to catch on fire once per quarter. But you can do it more than once if you catch on fire early in a quarter and then quickly lose the fire.
Glass cleaner – Grab 10 rebounds in 1 Game.
Unlocks: David Robinson, Scottie Pippen
A rebound happens when a player throws the ball at the basket and misses, and then someone catches it before it hits the ground. It doesn’t have to bounce off the rim or backboard. This can happen while you’re on either offense or defense.
It’s hard to specifically try for rebounds. Just set the quarters to five minutes, throw the ball a lot (trying to catch your own missed shot), and swoop down on both your partner’s and enemy’s missed throws like a hawk. Choosing players with low 2PT and 3PT stats could help a little.
High flyer - Perform 10 successful alley-oops in one game.
Unlocks: Happy Face basketball, Camera Hog privilege, Dr. J
Alley-oops – when you jump into the air and your partner throws you the ball for a dunk – are so much easier on Windows Phone than in the Xbox 360 games.
When your partner has the ball, run close to the basket and hold the green button to jump into the air. Unless your partner had already started to dunk, he’ll throw you the ball and you’ll alley-oop it. If you find yourself with the ball and you want to alley-oop it, just pass with the blue button before initiating the alley-oop.
Sticky fingers - Steal the ball 10 times in one game.
Unlocks: Bowling basketball, Lava basketball, Kenny Anderson
To steal the ball, stand close to the opponent ball carrier and press the blue button. You will reach for it and hopefully grab it. It’s tough to steal consistently, so just do your best to get in front of the ball carrier every time after you score a basket. Longer quarters and players with high STL ratings can make this easier.
Throw it down, Big man - Dunk the ball 10 times in one game.
Unlocks: Globe basketball, Cobalt basketball, Rany Seikaly
You should get this without even trying for it. Dunks score more consistently than throws anyway. Use a character with a high DNK stat if you need help.
Multigame/Campaign Achievements
To get all of the game’s Achievements, you’ll have to play through Classic Campaign a total of six times: once with each of the six division’s teams. One playthrough consists of 37 matches. With two minute quarters, that will take approximately five hours. So you’re looking at 30 hours to complete all six playthroughs!
The only other general advice I can give you is to beat it with the eastern divisions (Atlantic, Southeast, and Central) first. The Unlimited Turbo privilege you’ll get after those three playthroughs will make the final three run-throughs easier since it only benefits the player, not the AI. The western divisions’ reward of 1 Shot Fire benefits both sides.
Atlantic Division represent - Beat the Atlantic Division Legend Team in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: John Starks, Patrick Ewing, Kevin McHale
You must be butter - Go on a 10 game win streak in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: Big Head mode privilege, James Worthy, Dennis Rodman
Since the first 10 games are easier than the ones that follow, you should try to get this at the beginning of the Campaign instead of later on. If you reach the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter and expect to lose, quit the match. Select Classic Campaign, say No to resuming, and (I believe) you’ll be able to restart the match without it counting as a loss.
Southeast Division represent - Beat the Southeast Division Legend Team in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: Manute Bol, Dominique Wilkins, Spud Webb
Central Division represent - Beat the Central Division Legend Team in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: Bill Laimbeer, Isaiah Thomas, Scott Skiles
Grand scorer - Score 1,000 Points
Unlocks: Danny Manning, NBA Jam basketball
Only points that you personally score count towards this Achievement, not your partner’s points. If you average 50 points a game, you should get this around the 21st Campaign game or so.
Northwest Division represent - Beat the Northwest Division Legend Team in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: Kevin Johnson, John Stockton, Karl Malone
Southwest Division represent - Beat the Southwest Division Legend Team in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: Stickman team, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith
Pacific Division represent - Beat the Pacific Division Legend Team in Classic Campaign.
Unlocks: Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Glen Rice
100 Club - Win 100 games.
Unlocks: Bryant Reeves, EA Mobile team
Since one campaign consists of 37 matches, you should get this near the end of your third playthrough.
Eastern Conference Domination - Beat Classic Campaign with a team from each division in the Eastern Conference.
Unlocks: Unlimited Turbo privilege, Larry Bird
Western Conference Domination - Beat Classic Campaign with a team from each division in the Western Conference.
Unlocks: 1 Shot Fire privilege, Orlando Magic Shaq
NBA Domination - Beat Classic Campaign with a team from each division in the NBA.
Unlocks: USA basketball, Clyde Drexler
Whew! At long last, you can now use Clyde “The Glide” on the Portland Trail Blazers, assuming you’re not totally burned out on the game already.
Xbox 360 version
Get in on the Jam
NBA Jam is currently exclusive to Nokia Lumia phones. Windows Phone 7 devices with 512 MB of RAM can play the game, but Windows Phone 8 devices will require 1 GB of RAM. Whether or not you have a Nokia device, don't miss our informative review!
NBA Jam – $2.99 – 211 MB – Store Link
