Tecmo may have permanently cemented itself into the hearts of sports gamers with Tecmo Bowl/Tecmo Super Bowl (NES), but the company also dabbled into a rather lively, arcade-style game of hoops with Tecmo NBA Basketball (NES) and Tecmo Super NBA (Genesis/SNES). Besides the out-of-control rips, there wasn’t much in the way of defense, which made for awesomely insane shootouts that produced deep triple-digit scores.

At E3, Tecmo announced plans to bring back the run-and-gun action with Tecmo NBA Unrivaled, which will pay homage to the old school b-ball games with a “contemporary retro design to this generation of high definition gaming.” Nice. NBA Unrivaled rocks the full NBA license, 2009 season stats, logos, and jerseys. Some of the more interesting features include:

• Momentum Bar: Gauges how well the crowd is pleased with your team’s performance. The happier you make them, the better your squad will play thanks to a stats boost.

• Multiplayer: Compete in Player vs. Player, or 2 Players vs. Computer (on one or two separate consoles).

• Difficulty Level Balance: Depending on your team’s stats, the difficulty level will be tuned to accommodate for a more fun and challenging experience.

As with recent retro-updates such as Contra Rebirth and Mega Man 9, Tecmo NBA Unrivaled will be available as a download on PSN and XBLA. A date hasn’t been announced, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it isn’t too far off. King James for threeeeee!