NBA 2K6

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 reflecting on some retro modding, namely tinkering with rosters in the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6.

When I get hooked on a game – really hooked – it takes a while to get it out of my system. In fact, even then there’s a good chance that it’ll hang around in my rotation, if nothing else becoming a fallback option when I’m not sure what to play. If there’s any way that I can spice up those sessions with some modding – particularly minimalist modding – then that becomes part of my fascination with a game. Whether it’s putting together makeshift retro squads in NBA Live 10’s Fantasy Teams mode, or creating something more substantial, it prolongs my interest in a classic title.

That brings us to the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6. It’s a game that I’ve come to love long after it was released, as I noted when I covered it for Wayback Wednesday with a comprehensive retrospective. It’s been in and out of my rotation over the last couple of years, which eventually led me to tinker with its rosters. At first, it was just a way of getting more out of the game by setting up some fun scenarios, but I soon found myself dabbling with projects that I wanted to release publicly. It’s been a fun exercise so far, so let’s see how I’ve been going back…way back…to mod!

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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 courts used in Street mode and 24/7: Road to the EBC in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360.

Revisiting NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 on a whim has retroactively made it one of my favourite basketball video games. Way back in 2006, I’d been unimpressed by the PlayStation 2 version, but since coming to enjoy the Xbox 360 release, I’ve greatly warmed up to its sixth generation counterpart as well. Fittingly for a game that I overlooked for so many years, NBA 2K6 has also allowed me to develop more of an affinity for a mode I seldom bothered to play, namely Street. Yes, after all these years, JaoSming’s love of Blacktop and its predecessor mode finally rubbed off on me!

It undoubtedly helps that Street mode in NBA 2K6 boasted some fantastic locations to hoop in. They were also a part of 24/7: Road to the EBC, providing great backdrops to a fun and challenging barnstorming mode. Of course, it’s just as fun to assemble a couple of squads and hit the virtual blacktop (and in some cases, hardwood) for once-off showdowns. And so, just as I once took a look back at the memorable one-on-one courts in NBA Live 2003, today I’m giving the same treatment to the Street courts in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360. 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 the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 2K6.

Some 20 years ago, I picked up the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 2K6. Although I was a long-time NBA Live fan who was extremely satisfied with the PC version of NBA Live 06, I’d heard many good things about the NBA 2K series. Of course, for some reason, back then the PAL versions of NBA 2K were being released months after their North American launch. As such, on top of NBA Live being my brand of choice and preferring to play on PC besides, a midseason release didn’t offer much incentive to give NBA 2K a chance to win me over.

Nevertheless, while browsing at a game store sometime after the PAL release of NBA 2K6 in March 2006, the PlayStation 2 version caught my eye. I decided to try it, just to see what all the fuss was about. To be completely honest, I didn’t enjoy the game. It felt and looked too different from what I was used to, and the controls didn’t impress me. To that end, I very quickly returned it. Since then however, the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6 has become one of my favourite games, so I was interested to see if the PlayStation 2 release would finally win me over. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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You may recall that late last December, I released a 2005 roster for the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6. There were further enhancements that I could make to the project however, and to that end, V1.1 of the roster is now available!

Although the developers had already set ratings based on the 2005 season, I wasn’t satisfied with all of them. Combing through the rosters I noticed several players that were undercooked or had a questionable rating here and there, so I’ve gone through and fixed them. I also went ahead and created an “uninjured” version of the roster that’s better suited to Association play, since all of the key players are in the lineup.

Download the 2005 roster for the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6 here, and check out the release and support topic here in the Forum. Please see below for more information, including installation instructions. I won’t rule out any further updates, but I’m fairly satisfied with the project for now, so I’ll be moving onto some other minimalist rosters for NBA 2K6. Stay tuned for more info on those!

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At long last, and more than a couple of teases on the NLSC Podcast, I’ve put the finishing touches on my 2005 season roster for the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6, and it is now available to download!

This is a minimalist project in that it’s limited by what can be edited in the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6, but the roster includes final 2005 season lineups with twenty missing players added, a few ratings updates, and fixed dunk ratings and accessories for the Legends on the All-Decade teams.

The roster is the result of an extended retro kick with NBA 2K6, and a renewed interest in minimalist modding. Inspired by revisiting basketball video game manuals for Wayback Wednesday, the readme file is also a labour of love, with some extra information about the 2005 season and tips for achieving maximum accuracy with the roster.

Download the roster here, and check out the release and support topic here in the Forum. Please see below for more information, including installation instructions. Huge thanks once again go out to wiscard_rush for helping out with some final pre-release testing, to make sure that the file can be re-signed and transferred to another Xbox 360! I do have some other ideas for minimalist rosters for NBA 2K6 in the pipeline, so stay tuned for them coming in 2025, along with some other projects for old favourites on PC.

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In case this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays wasn’t enough exciting virtual hardwood action for you, Dee and I have uploaded another couple of videos! Dee has posted footage of a full game in NBA Superstars, while I’ve uploaded an NBA 2K6 Xbox 360 highlight reel featuring the 1992 Dream Team.

For those who are unaware, NBA Superstars is a new arcade basketball video game by Play Mechanix. It’s inspired by NBA Jam, right down to featuring the legendary Tim Kitzrow on commentary. Dee found the game at a local arcade, and took on the Los Angeles Clippers with his Boston Celtics. We’ll be talking about it on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, so stay tuned!

Since I began my retro kick with NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360, I’ve been tinkering with some minimalist roster projects. I have a work-in-progress roster featuring 20 new Legends – that’s as many as you can create in the game – and that facilitated a re-creation of the 1992 Dream Team’s famous scrimmage. It’s another example of how minimalist modding can still set up fun new scenarios in a variety of basketball video games.

Check out our NBA Superstars and NBA 2K6 videos below! As always, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel if you haven’t already, and feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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In case you’re not aware, Dee and I are frequently uploading highlight reels to the NLSC YouTube channel, spotlighting a variety of basketball video games that are in our rotations. The latest highlights feature NBA 2K6, NBA 09: The Inside, NBA Live 2004, NBA Live 06, NBA Live 09, and NBA Live 10.

As Dee and I discussed in Episode #516 of the NLSC Podcast, we’ve been on a major NBA Live kick with our Parsec sessions recently, which has produced some really fun co-op games featuring great highlights. Dee put together the reels for those games, which saw us taking on the Hornets with the Rockets in NBA Live 09, using LeBron James’ Cavaliers against Gilbert Arenas’ Wizards in NBA Live 10, picking up a clutch win over the Kings with the Warriors in NBA Live 2004, and staging a showdown between the 80s All-Stars and 90s All-Stars in NBA Live 06.

I’ve also uploaded highlights from my solo sessions against the CPU, including a game between the Nets and Thunder in NBA 09: The Inside, and a re-creation of the 2011 NBA Finals using a custom roster in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360. These videos represent two of my basketball gaming goals for 2024, namely dipping into my collection to play games that I haven’t spent enough time with, and creating fun scenarios using default assets and minimalist modding.

Check out all of the highlights from NBA 2K6, NBA 09: The Inside, and those four NBA Live titles below! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and as always, feel free to hit Dee and I up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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Catch up on the latest basketball gaming highlights that Dee and I have uploaded to the NLSC YouTube channel! Recent videos include our co-op game of Street Hoops, and a game of NBA 2K6 that I played against the CPU featuring a Draft Class showdown.

As we discussed in Episode #510 of the NLSC Podcast, Dee and I revisited Street Hoops for PlayStation 2 in a co-op game over Parsec. We were quite impressed with how well it held up, and what a strong release it was from a developer not known for their basketball games. The session produced some outstanding streetball highlights that’ll evoke memories of the AND1 Mixtape Tour from the early 2000s. Check out the action as we use the Highflying Homies to take on the Mad Bombers!

My NBA 2K6 game was played before my old desktop crashed late last year, so I’ve been sitting on the footage for a number of weeks! I was eager to put together a highlight reel from it, as I had a blast taking on the Draft Class of 2000 with the Draft Class of 2001. Jason Richardson was the star for me, and in looking to dunk as often as possible with him, he ended up putting on a show. As I said in my retrospective, NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 is a game that’s really grown on me, retroactively becoming one of my all-time favourites.

Check out both highlight reels below, and be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content! As always, Dee and I are open to suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, so by all means hit us up with those titles!

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That’s not a headline I ever anticipated using here on the NLSC, but it sums up the recent uploads Dee and I have made to the NLSC YouTube channel! From battling Flavor Flav in NBA 2K6 to some awesome 90s action in NBA 2K10 PC, we continue to have a blast with a variety of titles.

My 1-on-1 game with Flavor Flav in NBA 2K6’s 24/7: Road to the EBC mode was definitely something different! The game has been in my rotation for a while now, and after unlocking Flav’s Rucker Park challenge while getting some screenshots, I knew it would be something fun and unique for the channel. It definitely was a different time in basketball gaming!

Dee’s Blacktop game in the Next Gen version of NBA 2K14 features an array of high flyers, with Gerald Green throwing down a nasty jam that was featured in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week. It’s some of the best streetball action that you’ll find in a sim game, in a title that holds up superbly a decade later. Meanwhile, our co-op session with NBA 2K10 PC was a showcase for my recently-released fixed official roster. It was a joy to create highlights with some of our favourite stars of the 90s, including of course Michael Jordan.

Finally, with the 2024 season tipping off, I updated the rosters in NBA 2K14 PS4 – as much as possible – to stage a showdown between the Golden State Warriors with Chris Paul, and the Milwaukee Bucks with Damian Lillard. It was an exciting battle that ended in dramatic fashion, though perhaps not the way I would’ve liked!

Catch up on all of our recent uploads below! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and as always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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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 Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6.

As I’ve said before, as someone who grew up with NBA Live, it took me a while to truly get into the NBA 2K series. There was a sense of brand loyalty, but beyond that, I was accustomed to NBA Live’s approach to controls, gameplay mechanics, and modes. I remember trying out the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 2K6, and feeling somewhat underwhelmed. If nothing else, I disliked the Isomotion controls, which remained a barrier to getting into NBA 2K for years to come. I preferred to make the best of some rough NBA Live releases, rather than acclimate to a different game.

Obviously, I’ve had a change of heart! A handful of NBA 2K titles over the past decade now rank as some of my all-time favourite basketball video games. I’ve also been able to revisit older NBA 2K titles, and really enjoy them. One older 2K release that I’ve grown rather fond of is NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360. It seems only fitting, since I’ve also warmed up to the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06 after giving it another look. However, while NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360 may be slightly underrated at times, NBA 2K6 is definitely a stronger all-around game. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Happy Belated 60th Birthday to The Round Mound of Rebound! Since I put together a video re-creating the 1988 Dunk Contest to celebrate Michael Jordan’s birthday, I felt compelled to do something for Sir Charles as well. To that end, enjoy a highlight reel of Charles Barkley in NBA 2K6!

As long-time basketball gamers are painfully aware, Charles Barkley hasn’t officially appeared in many video games, with NBA 2K6 being one of the few following his retirement. He’s a member of both the 80s East and 90s West All-Decade teams in the game, and has a proper face and portrait, but he’s only referred to as Number 34 by the announcers. Nevertheless, he’s a lot of fun to use in NBA 2K6, especially when trying to re-create his signature coast-to-coast plays. Chuck was instrumental in mounting a comeback effort following an early deficit, rocking the rim with some fierce dunks along the way.

NBA 2K6 is a game that I’ve developed something of a fondness for – in no small part thanks to Chuck’s inclusion – so I expect that I’ll be covering it soon in Wayback Wednesday. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed these highlights! I also encourage you to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel, as Dee and I are frequently uploading videos, from highlight reels to retrospectives and other features. As always, let us know if there’s a game that you’d like to see us play over Parsec!