Tag Archives: NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

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.

As is often the case, this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is a fantastic mix of the old and the new. Not only are nine different games on display from NBA Live 10 through to the upcoming NBA The Run, but we’ve got updated rosters in older games, and all-time greats doing their thing in modern releases. It’s the Legends that ultimately have bragging rights this time around though, as Wizards Michael Jordan and Larry Bird demonstrate why they’re two of the best to ever step onto the hardwood, real or virtual. 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.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #629 of the NLSC Podcast!

Last week, Play By Play Studios held a closed beta for NBA The Run, their upcoming arcade streetball game set for release in June 2026. Derek had the opportunity to take part in the closed beta, and so this week, he’s sharing his detailed hands-on impressions of the game, breaking down the key positives and negatives while also making some recommendations for how it could improve. We also read out the community’s thoughts on what they’ve seen of NBA The Run so far. While there’s definitely excitement for the game, not everyone has been impressed by the latest gameplay footage. We also once again touch on the importance of not letting hype get in the way of constructive feedback.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:01:30 — 42.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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!

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 couple of games are making their debut in the NLSC Top 10 Plays this week, including a title that won’t be out until June! A high-flying highlight from NBA The Run soars into the countdown, courtesy of the closed beta that took place this week. You’ll also find the flashy play that Dee and I discussed in Episode #628 of the NLSC Podcast, which came from our session with the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 2K11. Additionally, five other games provide the goods with poster dunks, breathtaking alley-oops, and clutch shots. 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.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #622 of the NLSC Podcast!

There’s a lot of fun to be had taking on the CPU solo or co-operatively in basketball video games, especially with the range of modes at our disposal. However, head-to-head play is also a blast, and we have countless memories of epic battles with friends, family, and online opponents. This week, we join the community in recalling the best players that we’ve ever faced on the virtual hardwood, and some of the lessons that we took from those showdowns. We also recap a fun game of NBA Live 2000 PC that demonstrated just how superbly it holds up more than 25 years later, and touch on some of the downsides of skill-based mechanics when it comes to realism and lucky plays.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 54:12 — 37.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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!

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.

Although we’ll never complain about a countdown packed with dunks, we love to see variety in the NLSC Top 10 Plays! In addition to some spectacular slams, this week brings us flashy trick shots, great defensive plays leading to fast break buckets, fantastic alley-oops, and another ice-cold gamewinner. Seven different titles are on display this week ranging from NBA Live 2004 right through to NBA 2K26, and you’ll also see some excellent mods being enjoyed. Ready to get hyped for another weekend on 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.

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 thoughts on finding basketball gaming’s answer to Tecmo Super Bowl.

Tecmo Super Bowl is undoubtedly an iconic video game. Fully-licensed NFL teams and players, well-designed gameplay, stat tracking, and the dominance of virtual Bo Jackson, all helped cement it as a legendary release. That legend has only grown over time, thanks to emulation facilitating a modding scene that has kept the game dutifully updated and enthusiastically played right through to today. When it comes to a cult following in the retro gaming and modding scene, Tecmo Super Bowl is right up there with the original Doom games.

Basketball is my sport however, so I’m left wondering: is there an equivalent retro hoops title to Tecmo Super Bowl? For that matter, could there be? Obviously, there are a handful of old favourites still being updated, but these days those titles rarely approach the same vintage as Tecmo Super Bowl. It stands to reason. It could be argued that sim basketball games that hold up decades later didn’t come along until the mid 90s, or even the mid 2000s. Once they evolved to that point, we ended up with several great releases that remained moddable and playable years later. With that in mind, which titles could potentially be basketball gaming’s Tecmo Super Bowl?

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In case you thought johnz1 was kidding about updating NBA Jam: 2020s On Fire Edition throughout the 2020s or until he grows weary of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition – unlikely as the latter seems – V5.1 of the mod is now available! As with the previous release, it works with both the RPCS3 emulator and jailbroken PlayStation 3s. Please note that the mod is only available for PS3, and no Xbox 360 version is available or planned.

Although NBA Jam: 2020s On Fire Edition is intended to be a “best of the 2020s” total conversion rather than a current season roster, V5.1 does include some updates for the 2026 season. Specifically, the 2026 Hawks, Celtics, and Raptors have been added, and James Harden has been moved to the Cavaliers. A handful of players have been removed to make way for new additions, the roster order has been changed for a few teams, and new artwork has been added including remastered player faces and other enhancements. Please note that the new release is essentially treated as a brand new game, so save files for previous versions of the mod unfortunately won’t work with V5.1.

Full release notes for NBA Jam: 2020s On Fire Edition V5.1 can be found below. Download the mod here in the release topic, where you’ll also find additional information, previews, and updates. Shout out as always to johnz1 for pioneering NBA Jam: On Fire Edition modding, and keeping this and his other amazing projects going!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #614 of the NLSC Podcast!

Who are the most dominant players when they’re controlled by the CPU in basketball video games? This week, we join the community in discussing some of the most unguardable players that we’ve encountered on the virtual hardwood over the years, at least when they’re in the hands of the AI. Whether it’s an issue with the engine, or their ratings are slightly overdone or completely inaccurate, these stars and role players alike have given us fits on the sticks. We also reflect on the frustration of not always being able to light it up with those same players ourselves, and mention a few players who haven’t been as dominant in video games they really should be.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:03:25 — 43.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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!

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.

The NLSC Top 10 Plays on a Thursday? That’s right! Since this week’s countdown is also this year’s Christmas episode, we’re shifting things around on the schedule as we did for our Halloween special back in October. We’ll be back to the usual Saturday “timeslot” for the first Top 10 of 2026, but in the meantime, we’re celebrating the festive season with poster dunks, crazy alley-oops, and wild shots. Even Santa himself makes an appearance as six different games gift us an array of virtual hardwood highlights, setting the mood for some holiday hooping. 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.

The virtual counterparts of some of basketball’s biggest names are featured in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays! Michael Jordan, who makes multiple appearances. Kobe Bryant. LeBron James. Steven Hunter. Alright, that last one is a little out of place, but as in real life, role players can produce some spectacular moments in video games. Indeed, it’s how they become Virtual Hardwood Legends! In any case, this week’s countdown features another ten plays to get you hyped up for a weekend of basketball gaming, with four different titles on display from NBA Live 2003 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.

Earlier this week in Episode #607 of the NLSC Podcast, Michael Jordan and Victor Wembanyama were named as players to show a budding basketball fan to get them hooked on hoops. Very appropriately, the virtual counterparts of both players are featured in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays, alongside other stars past and present. Whether you enjoy alley-oops, poster dunks, ankle-breakers, big blocks, trick shots, or gamewinners, our latest countdown is sure to delight you…and as always, fire you up for a weekend on 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.

A fantastic mod continues to get even better, as johnz1 has released V4.0 of NBA Jam: 2020s On Fire Edition for the PlayStation 3 version of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition! As previously noted, this isn’t a current season update for NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, but is instead meant to be a “best of the 2020s” roster.

With that being said, V4.0 of the mod does include some updates for the 2026 season. Specifically, the Orlando Magic have their new logo, court, and uniforms, some of the Class of 2025 rookies have been added including Cooper Flagg and VJ Edgecombe, several headshots have been updated, and a couple of teams’ squads are now based on the mid 2020s.

Full release notes for NBA Jam: 2020s On Fire Edition V4.0 can be found below. The mod works best and is certainly easier to install on the RPCS3 emulator, but it can also be installed on a jailbroken PS3 if you have the knowhow. As with previous releases, V4.0 is essentially treated as a new game, so unfortunately any save files from older versions of the mod can’t be carried over without causing problems.

Download V4.0 of NBA Jam: 2020s On Fire Edition here! For more information and previews, check out the release topic here. johnz1 continues to do some amazing work breathing new life into an outstanding game, so hats off to him once again for the latest release, and a big thanks for making it available to everyone free of charge.

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Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five times that Halloween has had a presence in basketball video games.

Back in June, I let a Friday the 13th pass without a Friday Five topic related to bad luck or the number 13. Admittedly that’s because I’ve already gone to that well a few times and didn’t have a fresh topic in mind, but since then, one has actually occurred to me. I’ll have to wait until next year to use it since we won’t have another Friday the 13th until then, but in the meantime, I can mark another famous date here in the Five: Halloween! Since Halloween has fallen on a Friday this year, I thought it’d be fun to look at how the holiday has been celebrated on the virtual hardwood.

As I’ve noted when I looked back at some creepy moments in honour of Halloweens past, horror and basketball video games don’t usually go hand-in-hand. Well, I could cynically refer to how scary it is that microtransactions have become so accepted, or the twisted tale of how there’s a monopoly in the space, but that kind of snark isn’t what I’m going for here! In any case, there are examples of basketball video games getting into the spirit of the spooky season, which include both sim and arcade titles. While they may not be anywhere near as frightening as a horror game packed full of jump scares, this Halloween content has been an extra treat for basketball gamers.

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Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five reasons why both NBA Playgrounds and NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 fell short of the best NBA Jam titles.

When Saber Interactive announced NBA Playgrounds back in 2017, we were excited and intrigued. EA Sports had allowed the NBA Jam series to fall dormant once again following the masterpiece that was NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, so NBA Playgrounds appeared poised to be a worthy spiritual successor. Both it and NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 reportedly sold quite well, though critical reception was mixed. I did have some fun with both NBA Playgrounds games, but I was definitely somewhat underwhelmed by them. To that point, I’m on record as calling them a poor man’s NBA Jam.

That was once impossible to say without receiving pushback, and accusations of being an NBA Jam fanboy blinded by nostalgia. However, there’s no denying that NBA Jam pioneered the genre of arcade basketball games, setting the bar with success that speaks for itself. There are a few lacklustre releases in its lineage – primarily the ones developed by Acclaim – but the best NBA Jam titles remain the gold standard. NBA Playgrounds had good intentions, but in terms of becoming the NBA Jam of a new generation, both the original and the sequel came up short. Here are five reasons why NBA Playgrounds ultimately failed to equal or surpass the best NBA Jam games.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #600 of the NLSC Podcast!

It’s the 600th Episode of the NLSC Podcast! A huge shout out to all of our listeners and the NLSC community at large for continuing to support all of our content throughout the years! To mark the milestone, this week we’re simply getting on the mics to chat about basketball gaming. We share our latest thoughts on NBA 2K26, and reflect on some of the other games that we’re currently playing, including our NBA 2K9 Association. We also once again touch on the joy of Virtual Hardwood Legends, discuss how realism can sometimes feel unrealistic in basketball video games, and share some interesting roster trivia about real players and their virtual counterparts alike.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 49:32 — 113.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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!