NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
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 ESPN NBA 2Night.
Although Konami has produced some classic releases that earned them a reputation as one of the most iconic video game developers, the virtual hardwood was never their best genre. That’s not to say that their basketball games have all been terrible. Indeed, their sim-arcade hybrid titles that include Run and Gun, NBA Give ‘n Go, NBA in the Zone, and NBA in the Zone 2 are nostalgic favourites for many long-time basketball gamers. They provided an experience that found a good middle ground between the more serious approach of NBA Live, and the over-the-top style of NBA Jam.
However, as sim-oriented basketball games were improving and becoming deeper and more realistic in the late 90s and early 2000s, Konami’s releases were soon outclassed. From gameplay and graphics to modes and features, they fell short of NBA Live, as well as new contenders in the space such as the emerging NBA 2K series. At the same time, Konami’s NBA games did find an audience, and some of them had their good points; or at the very least, a few interesting ideas! For better or worse, ESPN NBA 2Night is a great example of that. Let’s take a look back…way back…
