Best Arcade Game of 2011

The easier it has become to make games available without the physical disc, the more and more games we see sitting in our download queues. So it should be no surprise when this award came up that some great titles that hold up without the stigma of being “arcade titles.” One of the undeniable favorites is an old school that was brought back to life, and also the winner of our Arcade Game of the Year: NBA Jam: On Fire Edition.

Gone are the days of the actual arcade, at least in the form that it once existed. But the games haven’t gone away. NBA Jam has been around since 1993, and there were some years in between then and now that the developers would probably like to forget. In 2011, the game came back in its classic form.

You know what basketball has always been missing? Players who light on fire. Well, NBA Jam: On Fire Edition puts that into the game. Along with some fast-paced game play, an official NBA license, and great competition that will have you slamming controllers out of your friends’ hands as quickly as Dwight Howard slaps a layup out of the air. No easy buckets.