From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #630 of the NLSC Podcast!
Entering 2026, we had some plans and goals for the virtual hardwood. Since we’re rapidly approaching the middle of the year – no, don’t ask us where the time went – we decided to check in on how those plans are going! To that end, this week we’re joining the community in discussing our basketball gaming habits so far in 2026, from the selection of titles that we’re playing to the modes that have kept us hooked. We also recap a fun Parsec session with the Snes9x Super Nintendo emulator featuring a five-player co-op game of NBA Live 95 that was an absolute blast, and an intense four-player head-to-head showdown in NBA Hangtime that was ultimately decided in overtime.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 52:14 — 36.2MB)
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!
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 In the Zone mechanic in the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 07.
As you may know, NBA The Run will feature a mechanic called In the Zone. For more on that, be sure to tune in to the latest episode of the NLSC Podcast, where Dee provides his in-depth impressions of the upcoming game! Unsurprisingly, it’s not the first time that a basketball video game has used that well-travelled term for being locked in and performing at a high level. It was the name of Konami’s sim-arcade hybrid games, and it’s the title of an extremely catchy track from Midway’s NBA Hangtime. And of course, In the Zone was a mechanic in NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360.
Although NBA Live 07’s mechanic sprang to my mind when I first heard that NBA The Run would be using the name for its power-up, at this point, I think it’s safe to lay claim to the moniker. Not only is it a common term, but the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 07 was a terrible release that few gamers would care to revisit, so its take on being In the Zone is largely forgotten. With that being said, Wayback Wednesday is as much about digging into the forgotten history of the virtual hardwood as it is celebrating our most nostalgic memories, so let’s take a look back…way back…
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 NBA ShootOut ’97, aka Total NBA ’97 in PAL regions.
The first NBA ShootOut was an admirable effort by a brand new studio to provide an alternative to EA Sports’ established series of basketball games. However, as I noted in my retrospective of that game, it ultimately fell short of NBA Live 96 PC, which remains my pick for the best 1996 NBA sim title. Having recently spent more time with the PlayStation version of NBA Live 96, I’d also have to say that EA beat Sony on its own platform! Nevertheless, it was nice to have options; something that many of us greatly miss in light of NBA 2K’s virtual monopoly over the virtual hardwood.
To that end, when we had more developers throwing their hat into the ring with basketball video games back in the day, a few of them didn’t just stop at one. They made an effort to establish their own NBA series with annual releases to compete with NBA Live. Obviously it was ultimately NBA 2K that succeeded in dethroning EA’s game, but there were other commendable attempts along the way. That brings us to NBA ShootOut ’97, aka Total NBA ’97. Did Sony Computer Entertainment’s second hoops title improve upon the first NBA ShootOut? Let’s take a look back…way back…
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
Every entry in the NLSC Top 10 Plays represents a joyful moment playing basketball video games. This has perhaps never been more apparent than in this week’s top play, where you’ll see the Live 01 Legends reacting to an absolutely awesome alley-oop from their showdown in NBA Live 2005! Some minimalist modding is also on display in that highlight, which is always great to see. The rest of the countdown is packed with great dunks, slick moves, and other exciting moments from eight different games ranging from NBA Hangtime to NBA 2K26. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies being in the NBA – and video games – for 30 years.
It’s funny how even though the Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies have been in the NBA for 30 years now, a part of me still thinks of them as “new” teams. After all, the Charlotte Bobcats came along in 2004. Of course, now that they’re the Hornets again and have reclaimed their history from 1988 to 2002, the New Orleans Pelicans have retroactively become the league’s newest team. Furthermore, 1996 was the year I became a hardcore hoop head. As such, the Raptors and Grizzlies were in the league when my interest in basketball really took off.
However, I was a casual fan before then, so I was aware that they were new. My first basketball video game – NBA Jam Tournament Edition – is set before they entered the league, and thus doesn’t include them. It wasn’t until I picked up NBA Live 96 that I played a game that featured the two expansion teams. As the youngest clubs during the early days of my fandom, they continued to feel new for years afterwards. All this is to say that it’s now been 30 years since the Raptors and Grizzlies were newcomers to the league and video games! Let’s take a look back…way back…
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
It’s been said before, but the only highlights in basketball that can truly compete with a spectacular dunk are ridiculous shots and game-winners. This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays once again proves that to be true, with a couple of incredible buzzer beaters taking the top spots. Of course, there are also some jaw-dropping jams on display, along with great two-way plays and a nifty reverse layup. Additionally, seven different games are featured in the countdown, from NBA Hangtime through to NBA 2K26. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
One of the best parts of the NLSC Top 10 Plays is that it’s a weekly reminder that older hoops titles needn’t be forgotten. People in the community are currently meeting up weekly to play NBA Hangtime, and those sessions have delivered another exciting alley-oop for the countdown. Elsewhere, NBA Live 19’s servers may be gone, but the spectacular moments live on. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as five different basketball video games are featured in this week’s array of poster dunks, two-way plays, and other great virtual hardwood highlights. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
There’s never a dull moment when it comes to the NLSC Top 10 Plays, but it’s always special when something rare and unique happens on the virtual hardwood. That certainly describes the #1 play this week, a sequence that gives a whole new meaning to the term “lucky bounce”! The rest of the countdown brings the goods too, as you’ll find the usual assortment of exciting dunks, flashy passes, and other smooth moves that leave defenders in the dust. Five different games are featured this time around, from NBA Live 95 all the way through to NBA 2K26. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
A wild alley-oop from our NBA 2K9 Association, a re-creation of one of the top dunks of the 1998 season in ESPN NBA 2Night 2002, and a modded-in Anthony Edwards doing his best Spider-Man impression in NBA 2K16. That’s just a small sample of the spectacular moments you’ll find in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays! A total of six different basketball video games are providing poster dunks, ankle-breakers, big swats, and more, in another countdown that signals it’s time to hit the virtual hardwood. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 NBA Jam 99.
After Acclaim snatched the NBA Jam moniker away from Midway, they attempted to continue the series with NBA Jam Extreme. Although losing the iconic brand was naturally a blow, Midway nevertheless released their own superb follow-up to NBA Jam Tournament Edition in NBA Hangtime. To that point, while Acclaim had the name, Midway boasted the superior game. With that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that Acclaim sought to change up the formula with NBA Jam 99, moving away from an arcade style and adopting more of a sim or sim-arcade hybrid approach.
Of course, while that differentiated it from previous NBA Jam titles and Midway’s new arcade hoops games, it also placed NBA Jam 99 in direct competition with the NBA Live series. However, Acclaim didn’t completely abandon the series’ roots with NBA Jam 99, as it included an arcade mode. While true sim-arcade hybrid basketball games have their place and I’ve come to appreciate them, NBA Jam 99 wasn’t a good take on the concept. Indeed, it was proof that Midway deserved the name that they coined far more than Acclaim did. Let’s take a look back…way back…
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
Poster dunks and buzzer beaters are on the menu in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays, and we’re confident that what the community has served up will be to everyone’s satisfaction! There are also some fun scenarios on display thanks to modding and in-game customisation alike, from retro and Olympic rosters to fantasy franchise teams and Ultimate Team squads. Six different basketball video games are featured this week, from NBA Hangtime right through to NBA 2K26. Ready to get hyped for another weekend of basketball gaming? Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 NBA Jam Extreme.
I remember the excitement I felt when I saw a promotion for NBA Jam Extreme in a magazine. NBA Jam Tournament Edition had already solidified my love of Jam, so I was naturally keen on the prospect of a new game with updated rosters. The promo used the game’s cover art: a shot of Shawn Kemp soaring to the rim and throwing it down over Hakeem Olajuwon. The Reignman was actually my cousin’s favourite player growing up and thus I’d become a fan of him as well, so making Kemp the face of NBA Jam Extreme gave it some extra coolness right out of the gate.
And then of course, there’s the name itself: NBA Jam Extreme. Back in the 90s, the word EXTREME often implied that something was cool with a capital C (or a capital K, because again, it was the 90s!). In short, twelve-year-old me had ample reason to be hyped for a new NBA Jam game. As it turned out though, I never got to play NBA Jam Extreme back in the day, as I instead moved on to NBA Hangtime. Honestly, I’d have to say that that was for the best! Nevertheless, it was interesting to finally get my hands on NBA Jam Extreme all these years later. Let’s take a look back…way back…
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.
Can you believe it? We’re tipping off Year 5 of the NLSC Top 10 Plays, and as you’d expect, we’re doing so in style! As usual, variety is the name of the game, with seven different titles in the countdown ranging from NBA Hangtime to NBA 2K25. There’s also a dazzling array of highlights, from breathtaking alley-oops to flashy and powerful poster dunks to wild buzzer beaters. The 2025 NBA season may be rapidly drawing to a close, but as always, the community exemplifies that old Nike slogan: basketball never stops. Please keep the awesome submissions coming, but for now, let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 Dennis Rodman and his changing hair colour on the virtual hardwood.
For decades now, it’s been common to see NBA players with prominent tattoos. Other players have made fashion statements through their hairstyles, sometimes bleaching or colouring their locks in some way. Jeremy Sochan is an example of both, sporting ink and adopting some very colourful looks during his three year NBA career. To that point though, Sochan brings to mind another power forward that once played for the Spurs, wore #10, and was infamous for his numerous tattoos and ever-changing hair colour. I am of course referring to Dennis Rodman!
The Worm’s unique style and unapologetic self-expression at times overshadowed his brilliance on the court, but there was no denying his popularity in the 90s; especially after he was traded to the Chicago Bulls and became an integral part of their second threepeat. Naturally, Rodman’s counterpart on the virtual hardwood was expected to capture this look, which was indeed achieved through unique textures and models. Quite impressively however, several old games also went so far as to give Dennis Rodman changing hair colour as well. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 midseason rosters in Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside.
Now that roster updates are common and viable on all platforms, we’re accustomed to midseason moves being officially represented in video games. In the 90s and into the early 2000s however, we generally had to make our own roster updates, even on PC. As such, there have been many brief stints and short-lived lineups that don’t appear in any official rosters due to occurring midseason, and being over by the time the next game is released. Outside of those rare official updates, the only way we’d see games reflect midseason rosters would be revised and re-released editions, and late launches.
That brings us to Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside, a Nintendo 64 exclusive released in 1998. Indeed, that is the key factor that sets it apart from other 1998 season titles such as NBA Live 98 and NBA Action 98/NBA Fastbreak ’98. Whereas those games were released in late 1997 ahead of or around the beginning of the season, NBA Courtside came out after the calendar rolled over to 1998, and thus features midseason rosters. To that end, it captures a unique snapshot of the 1998 season, with some stints and lineups that you won’t find in any other games. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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