The kids today get to have basketball video games with crisp graphics and realistic gameplay. But for an entire generation of basketball fans, there was nothing like playing two-on-two with larger-than-life NBA players who had larger-than-normal heads.
NBA Jam was an institution of the video game console and arcade scene during the 1990s, and it made Tim Kitzrow an icon. More specifically, it made his voice an icon. While few people playing had any idea who he was, his “BOOMSHAKALAKA” dunk call and “HE’S ON FIRE!” three-pointer call were schoolyard memes repeated ad nauseum by 15-year-olds shooting hoops in their backyards.
Kitzrow has talked about the process of making NBA Jam and creating the legendary calls before. But he recently spoke with Paul McNally at The Escapist about those early days and how doing voice work for video games wasn’t exactly a lucrative business.
“It was $50 an hour,” Kitzrow said. “Same as the pinball. I’d go in, do a couple of sessions – maybe 15 hours total – and that was it. I wasn’t smart enough, savvy enough to know the business, to go, ‘Gee, these games make a lot of money, maybe I should make more than $50 an hour.’ I didn’t have an agent at the time.”
It wasn’t until later, when NBA Jam became a phenomenon, that he realized he’d probably left some money on the table.
“When the game came out, and I found out it made a billion dollars, that’s when I realised I’d made like 800-and-change, maybe something like that,” he said. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m probably being underpaid. I might want to raise my rate.'”
Even then, he received an icy response from many in the industry, who still didn’t see the value of doing voice work for video games. How far we’ve come.
Kitzrow seems to be doing just fine these days. He returned for NBA Jam Tournament Edition and eventually became Midway’s go-to for in-game commentary, appearing in NFL Blitz, NBA Showtime, and MLB Slugfest. He most recently provided commentary for Mutant Football League 2, which will be available in early December.