NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
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 advice to retro gamers, namely to always follow your nostalgia.
One of the best decisions that I’ve made for my basketball gaming habits in recent years – with a considerable assist from Dee, of course – is to break the monotonous cycle of grinding up a MyPLAYER every year in the latest game. Clearly, I’m not sick of the MyCAREER experience, as my ongoing game in NBA 2K14 proves. What I am tired of is being hurtled back to square one on an annual basis, in games that I’m just not enjoying as much as many of their predecessors. Realising that, and revisiting some old favourites both solo and co-op, has reignited my passion for retro gaming.
What’s interesting, however, is that I’m not only playing my all-time favourites. In fact, in tandem with expanding my collection of basketball video games, I’ve been seeking out titles that I haven’t played before, or didn’t have the best first impression of, to see if they find a place in my rotation. There are many factors that drive me to give a particular game a shot. Perhaps Dee and I played it, and I decided that I’d like to spend some more time with it solo. It might have a rare appearance of a Legend, or a unique mode. Beyond that though, my nostalgia for a particular style of gameplay, or a specific era in NBA history, is often what steers me towards my latest retro kick.
For example, in late 2022, I was set to attend my twenty-year high school reunion. I was looking forward to catching up with some old friends and acquaintances, and the anticipation of the evening along with the discussion and planning of the event in our Facebook group had me reminiscing about the year 2002. That meant flipping through some old yearbooks, listening to Spotify playlists of the hits of that era, and of course, revisiting a couple of the basketball games that I was playing back then. Not only did it allow me to create new memories with a selection of old favourites and ultimately gain even more appreciation for them, but it’s exactly what my nostalgia was craving.
Needless to say, it’s not always that personal. Usually my nostalgia is driven by an interest in investigating whether a certain game is just how I remember it, or because something has reminded of the season or era that it’s set in. I follow and subscribe to several excellent social media and YouTube accounts that post memorable trivia and classic NBA highlights, and that trip down memory lane might inspire me to extend my stay courtesy of the virtual hardwood. Underrated moments from Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards years are likely to encourage me to dust off some 2002 and 2003 season titles. Great 90s highlights may get me in the mood to play classic NBA Live.
Because retro gaming is a relative term – at least in my view – this can also include the mid to late 2000s, and even the early to mid 2010s. In fact, seeing as it had been seven years since the game came out, my NBA Live 18 kick last year was retro in a sense! Not only that, but until the servers were shut down, I was playing Ultimate Team with my squad of 90s Legends, making it even more of a throwback. Dee and I have also played some co-op games of NBA Live 18 thanks to Parsec and the Xbox App, using NBA teams. At this point, enough time has passed for some of those 2018 season lineups to be nostalgic, and it was fun to play with younger versions of today’s stars.
As I alluded to, I’ve become quite fond of doubling up on nostalgia. My efforts to roll back the rosters in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 are an example of that, allowing me to turn a game that’s retroactively become a favourite into a title that reflects multiple seasons; if only in a minimalist sense. The same goes for the makeshift classic teams I’ve been able to assemble in NBA Live 10. Obviously, between the historical content that’s in NBA 2K by default and so many roster mods, there are more authentic ways of playing with classic teams. However, I can’t simultaneously indulge my nostalgia for various retro squads and NBA Live 10 by playing any other basketball game!
That’s why it’s vital to follow your nostalgia to the fullest. Yes, if I were in the mood to throw it back to the 2003 season, I could fire up NBA 2K25 and play with the Kobe Era rosters. Indeed, people who aren’t retro gamers would likely suggest that, while also wondering why I’d want to dust off NBA Live 2003 or another “ancient” game. Simply put though, I don’t enjoy the gameplay as much in NBA 2K25, and the Eras rosters sadly lack authenticity. I’d prefer to double up on my nostalgia, either through playing a game set in the season I feel drawn to, or one where I can play with those lineups through modding, comprehensive or minimalist. I just find it more appealing.
Mind you, “appealing” might be underselling it! It’s become very addicting to play classic games that I enjoy, with rosters that are even older. From rolling back the rosters in NBA 2K6, to makeshift classic teams in NBA 2K6 and NBA Live 10, to connecting with Dee to play with 1992 and 1997 rosters in NBA 2K10 or the 1996 mod for NBA 2K13, to taking a break from MyCAREER to stage the Retro Series matchups in NBA 2K14 PS4, I’ve become hooked on mixing and matching the gameplay experience that I’m seeking with the era I want to revisit. As for college games such as NCAA Basketball 09, I’m definitely opting to use the classic teams!
Although it’s been impossible to completely resist the temptation to tinker with the games I’m revisiting to create makeshift classic teams or even roll the entire league back to an earlier season, my nostalgia will also lead me to play games with their original rosters. Indeed, I enjoy it when my nostalgic interest in a particular season ends up aligning with my enthusiasm for revisiting a game set in that campaign. A recent example would be 2009 – or the late 2000s in general – and sessions with NBA Live 09 and NBA 2K9. It’s been fun to throw it back to an era that I enjoyed, with a couple of games that I’ve come to like a lot more after giving them another chance.
Once again, my nostalgia for specific games and seasons ebbs and flows. I have my favourites that I always seem to return to eventually, but I’m not solely stuck in the one era. As I said, when my high school reunion was coming up, it took me back to 2002. The 25th Anniversary of The Last Dance made me nostalgic for 1998, whereas I might normally opt to revisit the 1996 or 1997 seasons on the virtual hardwood. Games such as NBA Live 16 and NBA Live 18 have inspired me to revisit the more recent past, even though it’s not my favourite era in NBA history. Highlights on social media have pushed me towards the mid to late 2000s, early 90s, and even the 80s.
In fact, a couple of documentaries about the ABA have piqued my interest in a league that went defunct eight years before I was even born! The prospect of putting together an ABA mod for NBA Live 06 PC has allowed me to combine video game nostalgia with an interest in the history of basketball. Is it a project that will interest everyone? Will it be as sought after as a major mod for NBA 2K25? Definitely not, but that’s not my concern. I want to make something for a treasured game that I want to play, which was once the main motivation for modding. I suppose in that sense, I’m also following my nostalgia for a bygone time in our community that produced some amazing mods.
It’s interesting what becomes nostalgic to us many years later. Obviously, the second Chicago Bulls threepeat is the peak of my basketball nostalgia. It was tough to see MJ in a Wizards jersey during his second comeback, and it wasn’t a fun time to be a Bulls fan to say the least. And yet, those years are oddly nostalgic now! Likewise, while I prefer the Bulls’ rise back to relevance in the mid 2000s and the short-lived Derrick Rose era to their years dwelling in the basement, those underdog squads with future breakout stars like Jamal Crawford and Tyson Chandler, and forgotten role players such as Eddie Robinson, are strangely quite fun to revisit in video games nowadays.
Above all, I’d like to encourage retro gamers to not be dissuaded from following their nostalgia. Although retro basketball gaming is an established niche interest that has become increasingly popular as gamers begin suffering from NBA 2K fatigue, it does still draw some scorn and pushback. “Why are you still playing that?” “You can play with those teams in (the latest NBA 2K)!” “Those graphics are terrible!” “That game was and is rubbish!” It’s close-minded to believe that no old basketball game remains playable. Frankly, it demonstrates that recency bias results in the same myopia that nostalgia is frequently accused of! It’s such a weird thing to try to shame people for.
Retro basketball gaming is no different to retro gaming of any other genre. Yes, older titles do show their age in some way, but there’s something about them – the rosters, the aesthetic, the gameplay experience – that continues to resonate with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the minority; play what you want, and what you enjoy. If you feel your nostalgia drawing you back to an old favourite, follow it! The worst that can happen is that you decide it’s not worth playing after all, and put it aside again. Ignore the armchair psychobabble about being stuck in the past; it’s just a video game! It’s the same as re-watching one of your favourite films or TV series for the umpteenth time.
If your nostalgia is telling you to give an old game a second shot, or take a break from a new release to enjoy an all-time favourite, or something else prompts you to revisit the NBA of yesteryear in an interactive manner, follow that instinct. I guarantee that it’s more fun than grinding, or pretending that the latest game is better than it is. For all the accusations that everyone cyclically hates the new game and pretends an old one was better, there are plenty of gamers desperately doing the opposite. If you’re not enjoying the latest NBA 2K, or the modern NBA, then don’t be afraid to follow your nostalgia! It’ll take you where you need to go to enjoy real and virtual hoops alike.
