Speaking with Multiplayer, NBA Jam creative director Trey Smith shared the inspiration behind the digitized faces of the upcoming Wii remake. According to Smith, tne of the key features of the original NBA Jam was the ability to tell who each individual player was from a distance. "You could tell who each [player] was," said Smith, "and that was something really key to us." He added that the team behind the new Jam worked closely with series creator Mark Turmell, who currently works with EA Tiburon. "He spent time with the team, and really kind of talked to us about it," said Smith, adding that Turmell shared "a lot of the stories" about the visual style of the first game.

And, if you like the crazy, 2D faces used for each player model as much as we do, there's more good news. Smith confirmed that NBA Jam will include a big head mode. "Wait until you see big head mode, because that's where we really start playing around with it." He concludes that the team wanted to be "as true to the original NBA Jam as possible, but using all the bells and whistles we have in the last 17 years since it came out."

Whatever the team is doing, it seems to be working.