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 reflections on and acknowledgement of a few of the little things that used to make basketball gaming special.
For many years, NBA 2K games included the code “payrespect“. By punching this code into the Cheats menu, it unlocked the iconic red, white, and blue ABA ball. It was a toggle option, so once the cheat was entered and unlocked, you could switch between the regular NBA and ABA basketballs as desired. Obviously, it paired well with the ABA throwback jerseys, as well as ABA alumni such as Julius Erving and George Gervin. Making it an unlockable option was the right approach too, as the code was neither permanent nor had to be entered every time you played.
I realise that this probably doesn’t sound like a very exciting feature these days. If we’re talking about historical content and deep modes and features, modern games have plenty of that! Not many NBA 2K gamers are clamouring for the return of those old school cheat codes or an unlockable ABA ball. However, it’s not just about being able to change up the basketball that’s being used on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. It’s about all the little things that we’ve had and lost in basketball video games, be it NBA 2K or NBA Live. The fact that they weren’t necessarily popular features that everyone misses is part of what made those little things so special in the first place.
The ABA ball and its very appropriate code is just one example. A recent comment on one of our YouTube videos reminded me of the option to choose different arenas for Play Now games; i.e., one that has no connection to either of the selected teams. I’ll admit that it’s a feature that I haven’t used very often myself, but I like the concept. It could be fun to take two modern teams and have them play on the 50s All-Stars court. If you’re using a Fantasy Teams mode, you may want to mix things up further with a different floor. Sony’s NBA series had unlockable retro floors and other fun arenas, including a hangar and cruise ship years before Live and 2K used those locations.
And of course, there are the courts that are accessed via cheat codes, like the rooftop court in NBA Hangtime; something we were excited to hear about in cheat books and magazines back in the 90s! An underwater court can be unlocked in the PlayStation version of NBA Live 98. NBA Live 99 and 2000 PC allow us to take the action to the blacktop by typing in “playground” while a game is loading. Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside even included a code for a disco court that was hilariously tough to play on. None of these bonus courts are absolutely essential, and most of us probably didn’t play on them all that often. They were just fun secrets to use every now and again.
Mind you, it wasn’t always about throwbacks and silliness. It could also be about authenticity. NBA Live 10 includes some impressive touches in that regard. Fans will boo certain opponents whenever they touch the ball, such as Vince Carter whenever he’s in Toronto. Of course, if you trade him back to the Raptors, they’ll change their tune accordingly. When Steve Nash is out of the game, he’ll sit on the floor rather than the bench, as he did by that point. He’s specifically programmed to appear there, so it’s not reliant on him being a member of the Suns. There were also animations – including signature celebrations – for players who were on their way out of the league.
Other nifty little things in old games provided useful functionality. One that springs immediately to mind for me is the ability to disable automatic roster reordering in NBA Live 2001. As in modern titles, NBA Live 2001 would normally automatically rebuild a team’s lineup after a trade or signing while customising the rosters. While that can be handy, it’s not always desirable. When working on a roster update, you might pre-emptively place players in the spot where you want their replacement to be after executing a trade, and prefer to have newly-signed players appear at the bottom of the roster without altering the lineup. That option facilitated those preferences.
It’s not a feature that everyone needs. Indeed, if you’re not a roster modder, it probably doesn’t sound useful or appealing. To that point, it may not be surprising to hear that the feature came courtesy of our co-founder Tim, who worked on roster mods before joining the development team at EA Canada! He knew that the people who’d have a use for the function would find it, and appreciate its inclusion. NBA Live 2001 wasn’t the game that many of us were hoping for, and after talking to Rod Reddekopp many years later, it’s certainly understandable why. Suffice it to say that it wasn’t due to a lack of care or effort, as little things like the option to disable roster reordering prove.
Sadly, that option disappeared after NBA Live 2001. It’s a perfect example of how when it comes to the little things, you don’t always appreciate them until they’re gone. The ability to control multiple teams in Franchise is another great example from NBA Live. It’s not something that we all did in every Franchise game, but people did use that functionality. Dee has spoken about it on our podcast, and how the continued absence of that feature following the revamp to Dynasty was a major factor in him and his brothers turning away from NBA Live. The inability to play co-op in NBA Live 14 and 15 is a more recent example of a disappointing multiplayer restriction.
At this point, it’s worth noting that the loss of little things that we like isn’t necessarily malicious, nor is it a case of incompetence. With the amount of code that needs to be rewritten every year, features of lower importance will fall by the wayside and end up on the cutting room floor, particularly if they don’t play nice with a vital new addition. Ideally, staple functionality will be left alone and remain intact, though unfortunately that hasn’t always been the case. Naturally there are times when difficult decisions need to be made because of the short development cycle for annual basketball titles, and sometimes those decisions may be wrong; or at least, undesirable for some of us.
Moreover, it remains disappointing, even if there is a reasonable explanation. Also, we no longer see the same kind of little things that delighted us in the past. This isn’t to say that there isn’t any care or attention to detail in newer titles. Recent NBA 2K games have had Qualify of Life features, some of which have even been patched in post-release. There’s a plethora of content and minutia therein that’s been accounted for. I can’t and won’t claim that specifically not including the ability to unlock an ABA ball, select the court in Play Now games, disable automatic roster reordering, or the absence of the other little things I’ve mentioned, are deal breakers in modern titles.
And yet, those little things are what I’d point to if I was asked why I believe that older games were made with more love and appreciation for their audience. Sure, when it comes to a lack of goodwill, then microtransactions, season passes, and the general disposability of modern releases are much bigger issues. The point is that the little things that I’ve mentioned were added just because they were fun ideas that would be appreciated by gamers; even if it was just a niche portion of the userbase. These days, if it isn’t a selling point that can be promoted, if it probably won’t be widely popular, and certainly if it doesn’t generate any revenue, then it’s highly unlikely to be added.
Granted, priorities need to be set during development, and once again, the little things that aren’t absolutely necessary are going to be first on the chopping block. As I said, if any of the above examples are absent, it’s probably not going to be a deal breaker for most of us. And yes, as some people like to remind everyone, game development is a business, and so cost and revenue does become a factor at some point. Lest I be written off as ungrateful here, I’ll acknowledge that we have a ton of content, deep modes, and an array of options including gameplay sliders in NBA 2K. Of course, MyNBA Eras and the historical rosters are plagued by an overall lack of authenticity!
Obviously, I’d prefer that those issues be resolved before adding any minor function that we can do without. In fact, I’ll take that content as it is over adding an ABA ball or arena selector! Once again however, it’s not about any of the specific little things that I’ve mentioned, as cool as it would be to see them. It’s about modern titles having a feeling of corporate sterility. That may be inevitable given the scope of games these days and the need to focus on what’s most important, but the inclusion of those little things spoke to the art of game design. It wasn’t all about charts, numbers, and profits. There was a genuine effort to make an entertainment product as fun as it could be.
When it comes to slightly more substantial content such as multiple courts in the old Blacktop modes, that’s been turned into live service content; available seasonally and only in MyCAREER’s open world, so don’t miss out! Similarly, MyTEAM has the customisation and general premise of old school custom teams, only it involves loot box mechanics and microtransactions, not to mention it’s gone once the servers are shut down. The same goes for MyCAREER now, even the offline/NBA side of things. When games are being designed to dazzle, make money, and then be thrown away for their shiny new successors, fun and useful little extras likely aren’t making the cut.
Incidentally, it could be argued that the absence of little things was an even bigger problem with eighth gen NBA Live. Even the better NBA Live releases during that generation were too barebones, and could’ve benefitted from going the extra mile with small but much-appreciated features in lieu of NBA 2K’s bevy of modes and content. Instead, they were doing the bare minimum. The retro jerseys in NBA Live 18 and 19 are an example of that. Instead of the wide array of uniforms the series once boasted – and NBA 2K thankfully still does – they only included the throwbacks that were worn during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. That’s technically sufficient, but still disappointing.
In all fairness, NBA Elite 11 set the series back for years to come. Getting gameplay right was understandably the top priority, though sadly NBA Live fell short there anyway. Now, I’m not saying that listening to everything that we long-time gamers were telling them would’ve guaranteed success, but I maintain that EA did themselves no favours by shutting us out. Everything from the “streamlined” franchise mode, to chasing a “new, younger demographic”, to putting a Madden producer in charge of the series, to ignoring feedback and refusing to add the little things, demonstrates the same corporate sterility that’s afflicted NBA 2K; albeit without the depth or quality.
It speaks to how games like NBA Live and NBA 2K became much more of a curated experience. Many of the little things that have disappeared over the years have been about customising the games, and playing them how we want, when we want. We’ve even lost staple options that we had in the 90s, such as being able to change the rules! Gaming has also changed, not only in terms of being big business, but also in what the key demographic is interested in. With that in mind, I suspect that developers don’t have the same creative freedom they once did. If nothing else, the suits won’t approve of anything that could potentially interfere with maximising recurrent revenue profits.
As a result, I’ve developed a much greater appreciation for those little things, and I enjoy it whenever I encounter them in older titles. Perhaps we took them for granted, though we can’t be blamed for the way that studios and publishers began prioritising profits over artistry and gamer satisfaction. And so, when I saw that comment about selecting arenas for games in Play Now, it got me reflecting on the unlockable ABA ball, the more whimsical cheat codes, and the other ways that games have gone that extra mile. And you know what? Although I felt a little wistful, it also made me smile. Even if we’ve lost some of them, even if they never return, I’m glad that we had them.
