Basketball Video Games

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five side effects of players going unlicensed, some of which you may not be aware of.

The vast array of historical content in NBA 2K is more than we could’ve dreamed of in the late 90s and early 2000s. Even the Legends and All-Decade teams that came along in NBA Live 2000 were obviously a big deal in their day. While there are issues with accuracy and detail, having retro content in the games is better than not having it at all. With that being said, players that remain unlicensed are definitely conspicuous by their absence. I’m sure that you’re aware of the key names, with Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Rasheed Wallace, being among the most frequently mentioned.

Their absence has an obvious effect on the historical content that has been included, and what can’t be included. The 2000 Portland Trail Blazers and 2004 Detroit Pistons don’t look complete without Sheed in the lineup. We didn’t get any challenges based on the 1993 NBA Finals in The Jordan Challenge, as they’d be pointless without Sir Charles. As it stands, the ’85 76ers were an oddball retro team, as Chuck was a rookie on that squad. There are other teams that won’t be officially included because Miller, Barkley, and other players are unlicensed. That’s widely known and understood, but there are other side effects of 2K being unable to come to terms with certain players.

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the oldest rookies in NBA history, and their subsequent video game debuts.

One of the interesting oddities about early iterations of MyCAREER is that you were able to set your age. This meant that if you wanted to role-play as an established pro that was finally making their way to the NBA, then you could effectively make that part of your bio. These days, your MyPLAYER avatar has a fixed age that fits their back story, that generally being a young player coming out of college. It makes sense, but considering that there have been many rookies that are new to the league but not to professional basketball, it’s a shame that such an option is no longer available.

Of course, we still see real examples of latecomers to the NBA in the official rosters, and there have been some noteworthy stories over the years. I’ll admit that since I’ve entered my 30s, I have a greater appreciation for the NBA’s oldest rookies, especially in an era where there seems to be a Logan’s Run approach to veteran players. In fact, referring to them as the “oldest rookies” feels rather strange now that I’m older than they were at the time! Between these rookies being the oldest debutants and some of the games that they were featured in, this is definitely one for the “old heads”. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with a look at my basketball video game collection, as of 2022.

Back in March, I tweeted out a photo of my entire physical basketball video game collection, with some follow-up screenshots of the digital releases I own. I’m proud of my collection and satisfied in how I’ve been able to amass it, so I was pleased with the reception. While collecting is something that I do for my own enjoyment – and create content for the NLSC, of course – I was naturally hoping that my fellow hoops gamers would be impressed and get a kick out of the photo. I wanted it to inspire nostalgia, intrigue, and yes, a slight touch of good-natured envy. I’d say mission accomplished!

Given the old maxim of a picture being worth a thousand words, I could just leave it at those Tweets. However, I would like to talk a little more about my basketball video game collection, and provide a comprehensive listing as it’s impossible to get every title to be clearly visible in one photo. There are also a few digital releases that I didn’t display in my follow-up screenshots, including a couple I neglected to mention since they’re standalone releases and not on a digital platform such as Steam, Xbox Live, or the PSN Store. Finally, it’s been almost seven years since I wrote about my basketball video game collection, and I’ve been able to make some exciting additions since then.

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Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five provides five examples of coincidental names in various basketball video games.

Something that I’m sure is readily apparent across my various articles is that I’m a fan of interesting trivia and obscure tidbits. Whether it’s the players that appeared in more video games than real NBA games, phantom stints captured on the virtual hardwood, rare features, or other unusual facts, I find them fascinating, and enjoy talking about them. Strange and humorous coincidences would definitely fall under that umbrella. To that end, today I’m talking about coincidental names that I’ve encountered in various basketball games over the years.

Generally speaking, the default rosters of an NBA game likely won’t have too many coincidental names. At least, nothing out of the ordinary, or anything that doesn’t reflect a real life coincidence, such as the time there were two players called Marcus Williams in the NBA. “Coincidence” is also a word that we use, shall we say, quite flexibly. Sometimes “coincidences” have flimsy connections, or are in fact deliberate and thus not coincidental at all. To that point, I’m taking some liberties with the term, as I suspect some of these coincidental names were intentional. They are fun though, so if you’ll indulge me, here are five coincidental names that I’ve encountered.

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at ten more players who became familiar faces in strange places.

With decades of NBA history and basketball video games to draw upon, are you surprised that I’m up to the sixth instalment in this series? For the uninitiated, this series looks back at stars and other noteworthy players who are usually associated with a particular team, having spent most of their career or enjoying the most success there, only to move on to another team where they looked very out of place. They are the familiar faces who wind up in strange places. This is in contrast to the players that become familiar faces back in familiar places, which is a different series altogether.

As I always explain with both series of articles, I’m looking back at these strange and sometimes forgotten stints from the perspective of basketball video games. This is keeping in line with our content – we are a basketball gaming site and community, after all – and as I always say, I love the interactive almanac aspect of retro basketball gaming. Not all of these stints can still be seen in games due to roster updates (or a lack thereof), but at some point, they were represented on the virtual hardwood. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at another ten players that became familiar faces back in familiar places.

If you’ve been checking out my Wayback Wednesday features for some time now, you probably know the drill when it comes to this topic. For those who are new or perhaps missed the first four instalments, this is a series in which I profile stars and other noteworthy NBA players who returned for a second stint with a team that they previously played for. In other words, they’re the familiar faces back in familiar places. It’s a counterpart to my familiar faces in strange places series, which profiles players in stints that were unusual and sometimes forgotten.

As always, I’m looking at these familiar faces back in familiar places through the lens of basketball video games. I do so because we are a basketball video game site, and as I’m so fond of saying, basketball video games serve as interactive almanacs. When you’re a retro basketball gamer, you’ll often stumble across familiar faces in familiar places and strange places alike, reminding you of stints that may not be talked about all that much. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on what it’s like when we aim for stats and records on the virtual hardwood.

Not to sound like a grumpy old man or anything, but there’s a big emphasis on stats and records in the NBA these days. That’s not to say they weren’t ever relevant, or something that fans and players alike never cared about. Wilt Chamberlain was very much aware of his stats and records, so this mentality predates the three-point era, let alone the past couple of generations. However, it does seem like everyone is obsessed with numbers these days – including rather obscure statistical achievements – to the point where actually winning games and even championships seems secondary.

It’s interesting how this mentality also applies to basketball gaming. Of course, we’ve long used hoops games to put up crazy numbers, leading to a big night for players in real life to be referred to as a “video game performance”. A handful of video games over the past couple of generations have even challenged us to put up stats and beat NBA records for Trophies and Achievements. The funny thing is that it’s not always easy to post ridiculous numbers on the virtual hardwood, or to replicate the feats of NBA greats and record holders. Also, while it’s fun to try alone, chasing records and stats can be a disastrous approach in online play, coming at the expense of winning.

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Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is Part 5 in an ongoing series listing players that appeared in more video games than actual NBA games.

Due to the interactive almanac aspect of basketball video games – yes, there’s that phrase again – they’re a great way of remembering players long after they’ve retired. If you spent a lot of time poring over the rosters in old games, either while modding or perhaps playing a franchise game, you might even find that you’re able to recall the names of benchwarmers from years ago, without even firing up those titles. Even if you can’t recall them off the top of your head, once you dust off an old game and start browsing the rosters, even the most obscure names will likely come back to you.

Indeed, you’ll probably only recall some of the most obscure names because of the time you spent on the virtual hardwood. As is evident by this being the fifth article covering this topic, there are a number of players who made their way into the official rosters of video games despite never actually playing in the NBA. If you follow the NCAA or foreign leagues, some of these players may be familiar due to their stints and accomplishments elsewhere. Most of us probably remember them as names in the Free Agents Pool, or on the deep bench in the default rosters. Those players do have some interesting stories though, especially when they end up being in multiple titles.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #418 of the NLSC Podcast!

Mad as it may seem, we were compelled to revisit NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360 this week. It’s as rough as we remembered, and doesn’t hold a candle to NBA Live 06 on the same platform, which was a far more fun game to dust off! The College Hoops 2K8 Tournament has also been a blast to play and to watch, with the Sweet 16 almost in the books. After catching up on some recent stories from NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, we discuss house rules when playing against the CPU. What’s the best way to ensure fairness, and challenge? In this week’s mailbag, we’re talking about ideas for offline modes and content. As you might expect, the community isn’t just about the online experience these days!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:28:37 — 61.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is Part 3 in an ongoing series where I look at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

Yes, it’s time to take a look at another five players who only made appearances for certain teams on the virtual hardwood! As much as old basketball games can serve as interactive almanacs, they do lack context that tells the whole story. The snapshot of the NBA that they preserve may just be a fleeting moment, which doesn’t always make them a reliable reference. Of course, if you’re working on a retro roster project, you’ll probably be using a resource such as Basketball Reference instead. Then again, it’s not infallible, either.

Indeed, one of the players that I’m discussing today had a “phantom stint” that isn’t adequately explained over on Basketball Reference. On top of its inclusion in a video game serving as a reminder, this article will probably end up being one of the few places online that mentions it; hooray for search engine visibility! It’s not the only interesting story though, and the five players that I’m covering here in Part 3 are not the final examples of players who are members of the Phantom Stint Club. That means more instalments of this series in the future, but for now, here are five more stints seen only in games. A couple of the names will probably be a surprise!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #417 of the NLSC Podcast!

Our College Hoops 2K8 Tournament is set to tip off! Talking about college basketball games leads us to ponder whether EA Sports’ best move would be to revive their NCAA series before they attempt another comeback with NBA Live. We also reflect on the madness of collecting retro basketball games, the size of our respective collections, and the current prices in retro video game stores and on eBay alike. We’re also interested in spending more time with a cancelled Sega Genesis game starring Shaquille O’Neal that was leaked a few years back. This week’s mailbag topic is all about picking our All-Virtual Hardwood teams. We share our selections, along with the community’s picks.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:37:03 — 67.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five basketball game features that are unusually rare.

Over the years, certain features and design choices have become standard in NBA-licensed video games. While that may seem counterproductive to creativity, it does establish some norms, and in turn, quality control. As much as it was fantastic to have so many different basketball games on the market several years ago, there were some titles that fumbled the basics due to trying their own approach when an optimal design had been devised. On the plus side, when it did work out, games included some nifty features when their developers thought outside the box.

Sadly, many of these creative basketball game features were short-lived, making them unusually rare in the genre. The two biggest brands in the basketball gaming space, namely EA Sports and Visual Concepts, have also dabbled with creative ideas that have only made it into a few titles. In many cases, it’s one-and-done for these features, making a game noteworthy for being the only appearance of an unusually rare mode or function that seemingly should’ve become commonplace. They’re the features that we find when we revisit old titles, leaving us to wonder why they didn’t last. It may be that they weren’t that popular, but it also feels as though some weren’t given a chance.

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at some of the more unusual Roster Players that have been featured in various games.

If you’ve played sim basketball titles from the 90s, you’ll be familiar with Roster Players. They’re the fictional placeholders that stood in for the players that couldn’t be licensed to appear under the NBA’s agreement with the NBAPA. Most famously, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were Roster Players in several games. For those who are unaware, the term comes from the names that those players were usually assigned. EA Sports used “Roster Player” in NBA Live, but similar terms such as “Roster Guard” and “1 Forward” were also used in place of real names.

Although Roster Players are no longer used to replace active players, they are still utilised to fill out the lineups of classic teams in NBA 2K. On top of that, some rather unexpected players have been replaced by Roster Players in various games over the years. I’ve discussed the phenomenon of Roster Players in a previous article, but this week, I’m covering some unusual examples. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #416 of the NLSC Podcast!

In an exciting development, NBA Live 2001 enthusiasts Nate and Roger are on Parsec, which means a 2v2 showdown is in our future! Speaking of Parsec, our recent sessions have given us a new appreciation for a couple of often-criticised games in the NBA Live series. Our NBA Jam: On Fire Edition Tournament also wrapped up, and it ended in spectacular fashion. Dipping into our collection as we often do leaves us wondering: which three games would we take with us to an island we’d be stuck on indefinitely? We share our answers, and open up the mailbag to see which games the community would pick. With February drawing to a close, we also look ahead to March Modness.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:32:26 — 63.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of gripes that I’ve had with menu and presentation elements in various basketball video games.

When it comes to my basketball video game gripes, issues with the menu or the presentation usually aren’t at the top of the list, unless something is particularly bad or frustrating. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the visual elements of basketball games, but if the gameplay experience is enjoyable, I can usually make allowances for graphical quibbles. Of course, the bothersome nature of gripes and pet peeves isn’t necessarily proportionate to their overall importance. Even if you’re well aware that something isn’t a big deal, it can still bug you all the same.

To that end, over the years I have had some gripes with aspects of the menu design and presentation in various games. I do still stand by some of them as they reflect personal preference and taste (or maybe lack thereof, as the case might be), but others simply reflect stubbornness. In some cases, they’re the final straw for a game that I just didn’t like the vibe of. And yes, at least one that springs to mind had an effect on functionality in addition to spoiling the presentation. Mind you, sometimes it’s the little things that really make a game, or conversely detract from it. As such, here are five menu and presentation gripes I’ve had. I’m sure I’m not alone with some of them.

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