''Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City'' is a 1994 side-scrolling action video game developed by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

and published by

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for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...

. The game was released in North America on November 21, 1994 and in Europe on March 11, 1995. A

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

version was planned, but never released.

Gameplay

The game played much like other two-dimensional platform games of its time, collecting keys and defeating enemies with a variety of different techniques. The player controls

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

on a quest to save the rest of the players for an All-Star charity game, who have all been kidnapped. The player attacks enemies using different

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

s, each with its own ability; for example, the freeze ball can freeze the ground and create a slippery surface, the bomb ball makes a large explosion, and so on. The player must find keys throughout the game to unlock different doors and rescue teammates. Michael can also

slam dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

for a secondary attack. This is also used to activate power-up baskets and various checkpoints along the way.

Plot

A little before the

Scottie Pippen Scotty Maurice Pippen Sr. (born September 25, 1965), usually spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the ...

charity game, Michael Jordan's teammates are abducted by mad scientist Maximus Cranium. The protagonist must save them before it is too late.

Development

Reception

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' gave the game a positive review. While they acknowledged that the blatant

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

is annoying, and criticized the controls as extremely difficult, they gave the game a positive recommendation based on its varied gameplay and "intense, complex levels". ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...

'' commented on the game stating that "Michael has some cool moves" and noted the game's "good graphics" and that the "play control seems loose at times" and that it had "generic platform game enemies with simple AI". A reviewer for ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' gave it two out of five stars, commenting that "the backgrounds are redundant, the mazes repetitious, and the action never improves for 24 mind-numbing levels. Kudos for the original concept, but again, Jordan should have stuck with basketball."

Super Play ''Super Play'' was a British Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) magazine which ran from 1 October 1992 to September 1996. Overview ''Super Play'' covered in great detail the role-playing video game genre. Many of these games were ne ...

gave the game an overall score of 83/100, noting the game having many levels and sub levels, in which he concluded: "A high-quality platform game, hidden under a bizarre plot and a great deal of licensing. A pretty rare thing these days and all the more laudable for it. Hooray!" In September 1997, ''Nintendo Power'' had 12 staff members vote for the ten worst games of all time, with ''Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City '' placed at seventh worst. The article said the game was not too poor, but was a waste of a license.

References

External links