Retro(game)spective - Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City

Every day Ben “Ben Pack” Pack or one of his brave compatriots will play a retro game, and break it down for you. That’s right, every day. To complain about us eventually missing a day or suggest your own, go ahead and comment below the article, or email us at retrogamefunclub@gmail.com.

2/13/2011

The Game: Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City

Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice.

Release Year: 1994

Skewes: SNES

So what’s it like: I've played a lot of terrible games recently, so I decided instead of picking a random game of title alone I would go back and revisit one of my favorite games as a child. Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City seems like one of those freeware games based on concept alone, like Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden, but it is an actual video game that people were paid real money to make and people paid real money to play it.

Boom shaka-laka

The evil Dr. Maximus Cranium has stolen various members of the NBA, and it's up to Michael Jordan (not the police, or say, the military) to rescue them. He must travel around the windy city (Chicago (that's where his basketball team was (the Bulls))) and rescue various nameless NBA players from all sorts of monsters, robots, and various other non-threatening foes. You do this by doing what MJ does best. Throwing an endless supply of basketballs at things until they explode.

Oh no! Michael Jordan's worst enemy... the press!

This game doesn't control great, it's hard and very unforgiving; but it has a real charm about it. The ridiculousness alone that an athlete is defeating giant robots by throwing balls at it is enough reason to play it and see for yourself. There are puzzles that must be solved by dunking for christ's sake. Maybe the developers didn't put a ton of time into the game, with passwords like 12345678999 or 99999999999, but so what? Do yourself a favor and find a way to play this game.

The many faces of Michael Jordan.

Should you go back: Hell yeah.

Should this game be remade: Yes, in a way. Take someone and put them in a similar situation... I'm thinking something along the lines of “Kanye West: Trouble in Downtown London.”