We’ve all at some point questioned a video game about being rigged while struggling to defeat the big, bad boss level.
Well, it turns out if you ever made that claim while playing as the Chicago Bulls against the Detroit Pistons in the classic game NBA Jam, you were right!
Lead designer and programmer Mark Turmell recently admitted in an interview with Ars Technica that he snuck in a code that gave Detroit a big advantage over Chicago. Turmell said if a Bulls player attempted a buzzer-beater against the Pistons, the shot would automatically miss! Turmell also happens to be a longtime Pistons fan (shocker).
“Making this game in Chicago during the height of the Michael Jordan era, there was a big rivalry between the Pistons and the Bulls, but the one way I could get back at the Bulls once they got over the hump was to affect their skills against the Pistons in ‘NBA Jam’,” Turmell said. “And so I put in special code that if the Bulls were taking last-second shots against the Pistons, they would miss those shots.”
You have to at least respect the level of pettiness.
