Tag Archives: NBA Live 96

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 details in old games that I miss.

Even though I’m nostalgic for my earliest basketball gaming memories and believe that many old titles are still extremely enjoyable today, I won’t pretend that the genre hasn’t come a long way. Indeed, even within the first few years of being a basketball gamer, I was seeing and reaping the benefits of some impressive innovations. While I haven’t been entirely satisfied with the on-court experience in the current generation of NBA 2K titles – to put it mildly – the games are as deep as they’ve ever been, with some cool features that I could’ve once only dreamed of.

With that being said, there are some details in old games that have disappeared over the years, and I certainly miss them. In all fairness, I can’t argue that all of them are absolutely vital, or that their absence actively detracts from my enjoyment. In fact, some of them had already fallen by the wayside by the late 90s or early 2000s, so they’re absent from many of my all-time favourite games over the past two decades. Of course, while they may not be necessary for a basketball game to rank among the all-time great releases, they were still special. They undoubtedly helped establish my love of basketball gaming, so I do miss seeing these details from those old games.

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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 it being 30 years since I first rented the Super Nintendo version of NBA Live 95, shortly after getting my SNES.

Since 1996 was the year that I really got into basketball and basketball gaming, 2026 marks the 30th anniversary of several firsts in my hoops fandom. As such, I’ve felt inspired to reflect on those memorable milestones in becoming a hardcore fan of both real basketball and the virtual hardwood. Back in January, I reflected on it being 30 years since I bought the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Come June, I reminisced about the 1996 Chicago Bulls, and how seeing my favourite team win an NBA Championship solidified my love of them and the sport.

That brings me to the 30th anniversary of a couple of other memorable moments for me back in 1996: my acquisition of a Super Nintendo, and subsequent rental of the SNES version of NBA Live 95 from my local video store. NBA Jam Tournament Edition had been a great introduction to the virtual hardwood with its pick-up-and-play arcade gameplay, but after playing NBA Live 95 SNES, I fell in love with the simulation style as well. Again, hitting the 30th anniversary of all these milestones definitely has me feeling nostalgic, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 how every basketball video game is someone’s first, and how that’s connected to issues with repetition.

The longer that you’re a fan of something, the more difficult it is to not become at least a little cynical and jaded. It’s incredibly difficult to top the excitement we felt when everything about our hobbies and interests was fresh and new. Indeed, it’s why when we experience something delightful after being a fan or enthusiast for a long time, we’re inclined to describe that joy as “feeling like a kid again”. Whether it’s getting hooked on a video game, seeing your favourite team win a championship, or watching a successful reboot of a nostalgic TV show, it’s a wonderful feeling!

Of course, there are reasons that we become jaded and cynical, and it’s not just a case of aging into a grumpy older person. I mean, I can’t deny that that happens, but it’s not just the years, but the experiences within them. As far as NBA 2K is concerned, take modes like MyCAREER and MyTEAM for example. The journey to superstardom or a stacked fantasy squad can be an absolute blast the first few times that you travel that path. After a while though, it begins to feel repetitive. Starting over from square one quickly becomes more of a chore. It’s an issue that many long-time gamers would like to see future titles address, but there’s a catch here: it’s always someone’s first game.

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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 old school roster modding techniques that – for the most part – stopped being necessary in newer titles.

When it comes to modding – roster or otherwise – there are some techniques that have remained fairly similar across decades of games, and even between different series. With rosters, the ratings and other attributes need to be accurately assigned so that players perform as expected. Many of the basic techniques of modding textures and models for faces, jerseys, courts, logos, arenas, and so forth apply to multiple games, though the specifics and necessary tools may certainly differ. If nothing else, while there may be some unique steps, there’ll be familiarity in the process and results.

Mind you, there have also been some noticeable differences as basketball games have become more sophisticated, and changed their file formats. As someone whose entry into roster modding came with NBA Live 96 for PC, I can absolutely attest to that! To that point, I enjoy looking back at how the hobby has changed throughout the years. I’m undoubtedly glad that changes to the games have made roster modding easier, but I’ll admit that I do have nostalgia for the techniques we had to use in the early days. It inspired us to problem-solve and to be creative in our solutions; something I believe that these five old school roster modding techniques demonstrate! Let’s begin with…

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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 another look back at the hidden players in NBA Live 96 16-bit, and determining whether they’re truly in the game.

One of the most famous old school basketball video game secrets is the presence of hidden players in the 16-bit versions of NBA Live 96. Whether you were playing on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, you could unlock the Class of 1995, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, and some all-time NBA greats, simply by entering their name in Edit Player. The game would then automatically fill out all of their ratings and attributes, allowing you to add those missing and bonus players in a flash. Suffice it to say that it’s a core memory for many basketball gamers in the 90s!

Of course, some people mistakenly remember the feature being present in NBA Live 95, but hey, it was over 30 years ago now! In any case, whenever I post about NBA Live 96 on our socials, there’ll always be comments reminiscing about unlocking the hidden players. To that point, if I mention Michael Jordan’s absence from NBA Live throughout the years, there’s usually at least one person pointing out the method of playing with him in NBA Live 96. My argument is that it doesn’t count as an official appearance, but is that an accurate statement? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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It’s time for another round-up of recent uploads to the NLSC YouTube channel! Since the last bulletin, Dee and I have been playing an assortment of games, including NBA The Run, which has produced plenty of highlights. I’m a little behind in uploading some of the videos I’ve had planned, but Dee has been consistently sharing some of our best virtual hardwood moments.

We’ve had a lot to say about NBA The Run before and after its release, and while we have our criticisms, it’s also produced several highlights. In addition to including some of the highlights in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, Dee has been showcasing the gameplay in both the beta and full versions of NBA The Run via a handful of reels.

Some of Dee’s other uploads include highlights from our four and five-player games of NBA Live 95 and NBA Live 96 for Super Nintendo, and four-player head-to-head showdowns in NBA Hangtime and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, from our Sunday Parsec sessions with wiscard_rush, KidKash202, and KingKongFresh00. You can also find highlight reels from NBA 2K11 PS2, NBA Jam 2004, NBA Live 2000, NBA Live 09, NBA Live 10, and NBA Bounce.

As I mentioned, I’m overdue to share highlights from my solo basketball gaming sessions, but I did upload a preview of the work-in-progress ABA roster for NBA Live 06. It’s a project that I’m aiming to spend more time on during the offseason, with an eye to getting a release out as soon as possible. I also uploaded highlights from a makeshift classic teams showdown in NBA Live 10, featuring the 2006 Nets and Suns.

Catch up on all of the recent uploads below! As always, please subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel if you haven’t already. In addition to gameplay highlights, there’s also the weekly Top 10 Plays, full episodes of the NLSC Podcast, and the occasional video essay or retrospective. Additionally, if you have any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, please let us know and we’ll try to get them into the rotation!

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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 1996 NBA offseason.

Another NBA offseason is upon us, and it’s off to an interesting start! Kawhi Leonard is heading back to the Toronto Raptors, while LeBron James has announced that he’ll return for his 24th season, but it won’t be with the Los Angeles Lakers. Though the offseason ultimately slows down and hardcore hoop heads get a little anxious waiting for the new season to begin, these big moves at the beginning always make it exciting. I was already planning on reminiscing about the 1996 NBA offseason this week, but these major stories involving multi-time All-Stars make it an even more apt topic!

You see, the 1996 NBA offseason was a big one, and certainly memorable for me. I was still a fairly newly-minted basketball fan, fresh off of seeing my favourite team win a championship. As such, it was my first experience really following along with the proceedings. Several big names switched teams in 1996, and although that didn’t stand in the way of the Chicago Bulls completing the Drive for Five, that offseason ultimately still played a large role in shaping the future of the NBA. As it’s been 30 years since the 1996 NBA offseason, let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 how I’m not too excited by the fact that NBA 2K27 previews are coming very soon.

July is right around the corner, which means another NBA 2K preview season is looming on the horizon. Naturally, we’ll be covering all of the NBA 2K27 news and previews as they’re posted, both with bulletins summarising the key information and by discussing the latest details on the NLSC Podcast. As always, it’ll be interesting to see what the developers have cooked up this year, and to join Dee in providing some trustworthy analysis and commentary before and after release. To be perfectly honest however, I wish that I were more excited about seeing those NBA 2K27 previews.

That’s not to say that I’m completely disinterested, or that I won’t be locked in as we cover the preview season. Yes, I’ll be getting NBA 2K27 for content and collection purposes, and ideally I’ll end up enjoying it as well. Unfortunately, after the last three NBA 2K games, I’m not entirely optimistic that I will. That dulls my enthusiasm for the forthcoming NBA 2K27 previews, as I’m not expecting to see any of the changes and additions that would get me excited about this year’s release. Of course, my lack of excitement could actually work in my favour. By tempering my expectations I’ll either avoid disappointment, or in the best case scenario, be surprisingly delighted.

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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 ways that it’s getting hard to update old basketball video games.

As someone who originally got into modding basketball video games by updating NBA Live 96 more than a year after it had been superseded, I’m never going to tell anyone that they shouldn’t work on older titles! There’s novelty in updating an old favourite for the current season, combining today’s rosters with classic gameplay. Of course, it’s fun to go the other way too, winding back the clock in a new game so that we can virtually revisit and play through a nostalgic season with modern mechanics. I’ve found joy and satisfaction in tackling both kinds of projects over the years.

With that being said, continuing to update old favourites years and indeed decades after their release will only ever get tougher. Needless to say, this isn’t a new issue. Speaking from experience, choosing to mod an older release over a recent one has always meant that you’ll soon encounter technical limitations, demographic shifts, and other potential deterrents. Again, that’s not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t continue to play and update a favourite that stands the test of time. If you’re still having fun and are satisfied with what can be done, that’s ultimately what’s important. Nevertheless, if you’re looking to update older games, it would be wise to keep these things in mind.

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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 1996 Chicago Bulls, and their impact on my early basketball fandom.

30 years ago yesterday, the Chicago Bulls wrapped up the 1996 NBA Championship with an 87-75 victory over the Seattle Supersonics. It’s overwhelming to think that three decades have passed since the end of that iconic 1996 season, which saw the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan ascend to the top of the basketball world once more. To put it into perspective, at this point the Bulls’ fourth title is closer to the Boston Celtics’ eleventh title than it is to today. In other words, Michael Jordan is to young basketball fans nowadays what Bill Russell was to me back in 1996.

Allow me to pause for a moment to deal with the existential dread of realising that! With that being said, 2026 marking the 30th anniversary of anything that happened in 1996 has had me feeling warmly nostalgic for that time. After all, 1996 was the year that my casual interest in basketball became fully-fledged fandom – some might even say an obsession – and the Chicago Bulls winning the championship was undoubtedly a huge part of that. And so, this week I’m reflecting on both my basketball fandom, and one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #633 of the NLSC Podcast!

No matter the genre, online gaming undoubtedly has its ups and downs, depending on what you’re playing and who you’re playing with! To that point, this week we reflect on two very different online basketball gaming experiences. The first is the recent open beta for NBA The Run, while the second is our latest four and five-player Parsec sessions with NBA Live 96 for Super Nintendo and NBA Live 10 for PlayStation 3. We also have some further impressions of NBA The Run to share ahead of its release next week. We’ve still got our concerns about the game, but we’re keeping our minds open and fingers crossed for a successful launch, and are hoping for some fun times on the virtual blacktop.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 35:15 — 24.6MB)

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.

This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is another demonstration of the artistry of the dunk, with players pulling all kinds of tricks out of their bags and putting each other on posters. Things also get a little cartoonish – dare I say looney – with the number one play in the countdown! There’s also a great play from a four-player co-op session of NBA Live 96 for Super Nintendo, another glimpse of high-flying action in NBA The Run, and some awesome mods and historical content on display. 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 #632 of the NLSC Podcast!

Although we’ve been playing basketball video games for decades now, the hobby is still capable of surprising us. To that end, what are some of the biggest surprises – both positive and negative – in basketball gaming in 2026? This week we’re sharing and discussing what amazes and astonishes us when it comes to the virtual hardwood, from the quality of the games and modern design philosophies, to the lack of competition and changes in community attitudes. That includes touching on the shift in modding culture, and the general discourse when it comes to basketball gaming issues. Our listeners also weigh in with what surprises them the most – for better or worse – with basketball video games today.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 58:50 — 40.8MB)

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!

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 time that Stephen Curry was briefly rated 99 Overall in NBA 2K16.

Sunday marked ten years since Stephen Curry was named the first unanimous Most Valuable Player in NBA history. We can certainly debate as to whether he should’ve been the first, as there’s been some questionable MVP voting over the years; even when the “correct” player won the award. However, I’d suggest that even if Curry shouldn’t have been the first, he was nevertheless absolutely deserving of the honour. He had a tremendous season, with both he and the Golden State Warriors breaking records. Of course, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers spoiled the ending!

A month before the Cavaliers’ 3-1 comeback became the story that defined the 2016 season however, Curry and the Warriors were obviously the talk of the league. Their impressive campaign and Curry’s individual brilliance naturally inspired debate about ratings and rankings, which also carried over to the virtual hardwood. In the wake of taking home a second-straight MVP and in unanimous fashion, Stephen Curry was boosted to 99 Overall in the official rosters for NBA 2K16, in an update that came through ten years ago yesterday. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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…

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