Back in December, as part of a marketing push for the upcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy, the long-demanded sequel to the 1996 movie all about Looney Tunes characters playing basketball, Warner Bros. and Microsoft announced they would be collaborating on a tie-in video game. Not only that, but they were accepting suggestions and pitches from fans on what sort of game it would be. With the movie scheduled to release next month, the pair are ready to show off what the game actually is.
Simply titled Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game, Microsoft and Warner Bros. opted to go with a retro-inspired 2D beat 'em up game, one made to be deliberately reminiscent of 90s arcade games. As for who's actually making the game, it's Digital Eclipse, whose past work includes the Mega Man Legacy Collection (a compilation of the first six Mega Man games) and remasters of classic Disney games.
The companies do credit the fans who contributed to the game's existence: Narayan from India who won the youth-competition, and Ricky from the United States who won the adult-competition. It was the latter who suggested a classic beat 'em up game, which has been blended with Narayan's ideas for game mechanics.
Players will take control of LeBron James, Bugs Bunny, and Lola Bunny as they attempt to escape the Warner Bros. server, while fighting against an army of enemies sent by main villain Al G. Rhythm (played in the movie by Don Cheadle). It will initially be an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate exclusive from July 1st and will then become available for everyone from July 15th as a free-to-play title. Some details are still unknown, such as whether the game will feature co-op multiplayer (although the trailer indicates that it will) or what the free-to-play elements actually are.
In addition, there will also be three new Space Jam 2 themed Xbox wireless controllers, which will release on July 8th and retail for $69.99. The first is themed on the Tune Squad (aka the Looney Tunes), with it sporting carrot orange colors and part of the Looney Tunes logo. The second is themed on the antagonistic Goon Squad, with a purple and black color scheme, and the last one is based on the Serververse, the virtual space ruled by Al G.
Space Jam 2Â stars basketball player LeBron James as himself, where he and his son find themselves trapped within the Serververse. In order to save his son, he must put together a basketball team comprised of the Looney Tunes cast and win against Al G.'s own elite squad of players.
Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game releases on July 1st for PC and Xbox platforms.
Source: Microsoft