Tag Archives: Retro Rosters

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 whether to create 1996, 1997, or 1998 season rosters, as I consider future modding projects.

As I’ve said before, in order to stand the best chance of completing any major roster projects that I attempt moving forward, I need to pick an idea that I’m invested in, for a game that I want to play. When it comes to the games that I’d most like to play and mod, NBA Live 06 PC is definitely one of the frontrunners. As far as roster projects, I’d prefer something nostalgic over a current season update. This includes an Ultimate Jordan roster, various classic team rosters, and if I can assemble the appropriate assets and viable placeholders, at least one complete retro season mod.

To that end, I have a few seasons in mind. My work with NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 has demonstrated how 2006 season games can be effectively rolled back a few years, and such projects can be made even better on PC with all of the modding capabilities. I’ll always be drawn to the idea of bringing the 90s into a 21st century favourite though, but that raises the question of which year. Being a 90s kid and Chicago Bulls fan, the 1996, 1997, and 1998 seasons are all prime candidates when mulling the possibilities for retro rosters. However, even if I were to create all of them for NBA Live 06 PC or another game, I’d still need to pick one to start with. So: 1996, 1997, or 1998 rosters?

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As a somewhat overlooked game in the NBA 2K series, it’s always nice to see NBA 2K10 receive new mod releases, even all these years later. Thunder Shaq, who has been doing excellent work with his Ultimate Retro Roster project for NBA 2K20, has put together a minimalist 2007 season mod for NBA 2K10. This project can potentially be expanded upon, if the necessary art updates are sourced. I’m a big supporter of minimalist roster projects, for NBA 2K10 or otherwise, so I’m delighted to see more of them in the community’s mod releases. Check out the roster at the link below!

Thunder Shaq
2006-07 Season Roster File

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #546 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K25 has been out for about a couple of weeks now, which means the annual honeymoon phase is drawing to a close. To that end, this week we join the community in following up on our first impressions with a rundown of our key likes and dislikes of the game so far. It’s still mostly good news in our book, but we’re not quite ready to declare it the best NBA 2K ever as some of our fellow gamers are. We also recap a co-op session in which we took on Dwight Howard’s Magic with Derrick Rose’s Bulls using the LeBron era rosters, leading us to reflect on those two squads. Finally, a new segment makes its debut, inspired by a surprising observation while playing NBA 08.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:27 — 43.2MB)

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #545 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K25 is out now, so this week, we join the community in sharing our first impressions of the gameplay! Our time on the sticks has revealed a number of pros and cons, though we certainly reserve the right to change our minds as we continue to play the game and it receives updates. As such, we’ll definitely have plenty more to say in the coming weeks and months! In the meantime, we give our views on ProPLAY, dribbling, shooting, player movement, and everything else that has jumped out at us so far, good or bad. We also reflect on some of the pre-release footage proving to be misleading, and feeling considerably better about NBA 2K25 once we got our hands on it.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:25:38 — 59.2MB)

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!

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 the duality of MyNBA Eras.

Look, I realise how annoying it can be when someone qualifies their criticism with compliments. After all, it can come across as disingenuous, or too timid to stand by critique. Unfortunately, when the discourse is rooted in finding contrarian gotchas to dunk on someone who has dared to criticise what you like, it’s a necessary evil. On top of that, when it comes to a feature such as MyNBA Eras, credit where credit’s due. It’s a fantastic concept with some great features that once seemed like a pipe dream. I don’t want to downplay that.

However, there is a duality to MyNBA Eras. It’s impressive in so many ways, and yet rather underwhelming in others. There are aspects that feel lazy and lacking, despite the fact that a ton of hard work and effort has gone into the mode. The ambition is admirable, but there are examples of putting the cart before the horse. There’s depth to the experience, but there’s also quantity over quality. In short, MyNBA Eras is indeed awesome, but there are ways that it could and should be better. Some of them may be easier said than done due to matters of licensing, but to that point, it makes the mode simultaneously comprehensive and half-baked. This is the duality of MyNBA Eras.

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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 long-running modding practice of rolling back rosters to the previous season.

Two of the most exciting modding ideas for basketball video games are bringing an old favourite up to date, and winding back the clock in new games with a detailed retro season mod. There’s something truly enchanting about a mod so comprehensive that you almost forget that several years – or indeed, decades – separate the game and the season that the roster mod is set in! In comparison, roster mods that just involve rolling the rosters back one year may seem like a more humble affair, particularly if they’re completely minimalist and don’t include any court, jersey, or logo updates.

And yet, these projects can be immensely satisfying to create and play with! There are reasons that for as long as we’ve been able to meaningfully customise rosters – with or without the aid of external tools – we’ve had the idea of rolling back a game’s rosters to the previous campaign. In short, it’s a combination of some of our favourite aspects of playing and modding basketball video games, to the point where a season needn’t be particularly old or established as nostalgic for us to want to re-create it. It’s a way of changing things up, so let’s look at a popular way to go back, that goes way back!

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PatTheHead’s comprehensive retro roster pack for NBA 2K13 continues to celebrate the history of Olympic Basketball. Indeed, the latest version takes us right back to the beginning of basketball’s inclusion as a medal sport, with rosters for the 1936 Games in Berlin!

Notably, James Naismith – the inventor of basketball, of course – was invited to the Games and presented the medals to the winners. To that end, the roster replaces Barack Obama in the White House visit cutscene in Association mode with Dr. Naismith! Accordingly, Pat would like to give a shout out to Maravich for providing a spot-on face update.

As I mentioned in the bulletin for the previous release, in addition to Olympic rosters, the pack features a host of retro season mods, including rosters for the NBA, ABA, BAA, NBL, and ABL. There’s also a 2024 roster if you’d like to bring NBA 2K13 up to date.

Head over to the release topic in the Forum for the download links and further previews! Once again, Pat also makes a point of sharing interesting historical facts and trivia about the seasons, leagues, and Olympic Games featured in his rosters, so history buffs will definitely want to check it out. As always, hats off to Pat and everyone else keeping classic games alive with new mods!

The basketball tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games may be in the books, but you can still get your fill of international competition on the virtual hardwood! Following on from the previous release, PatTheHead has added a 1964 Olympic mod to his comprehensive retro roster project for NBA 2K13.

As previously mentioned, the project not only includes Olympic rosters such as the new 1964 mod, but also a variety of retro rosters for the NBA, ABA, BAA, NBL, and ABL. There’s also a current 2024 season roster, for gamers who’d like to update NBA 2K13 for the modern day. The game continues to hold superbly over a decade later, so I’d definitely recommend giving it a look!

Head over to the release topic in the Forum for the download links and further previews of this fantastic project. Additionally, Pat makes a point of sharing interesting trivia along with previews of the rosters, which basketball history buffs will definitely enjoy! As always, shout out to PatTheHead and everyone else keeping old favourites alive with fantastic mods that are available free of charge. With a new generation of modding set to tip off on PC with NBA 2K25, it serves as a great example for the community.

As we tip off August, it’s an excellent opportunity to get caught up on some of the latest uploads to the NLSC YouTube channel! As always, Dee and I have been playing a variety of basketball video games both separately and co-operatively, and sharing highlights from those sessions. Here are a few of our highlight reels that went up in late July.

Following on from our session with NBA 2K10 using 1997 season rosters, we rolled back the clock to 1992 with another fantastic roster mod. This time, we took on the New Jersey Nets with the Portland Trail Blazers, which turned into a spectacular dunking exhibition by Clyde Drexler and Jerome Kersey! Once again, we were reminded of how NBA 2K10 is an overlooked gem.

Our next Parsec session saw us connect to play NBA Live 2000, taking on the Indiana Pacers with the New York Knicks. As we discussed in Episode #538 of the NLSC Podcast, it was a game that reminded us of just how amazing NBA Live 2000 PC was (and still is), and led to some interesting comparisons to the original NBA 2K, which we played right afterwards.

Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 PS4 MyCAREER continues, as I’m past the All-Star break and heading towards the 2019 Playoffs. To that end, I compiled the highlights from Games 51-60. As always, I’m not just spotlighting highlights that I produced with my MyPLAYER, but also some of the CPU’s best moments as well.

Dee shared an action-packed highlight reel from NBA 2K13 PC, using 2001 rosters to stage a showdown between the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. As you’ll see, Dee produced some extremely authentic highlights using that young Kings team, led by Chris Webber and Jason Williams.

Finally, we connected for a long session with NBA Street Vol. 2, ahead of discussing The Run: Got Next on this week’s podcast. It was a reminder of why it’s one of the most popular basketball video games of all time, and indeed, many gamers’ pick for the best hoops title we’ve ever seen.

Check out all of the latest uploads to the NLSC YouTube channel below! If you haven’t already subscribed to the NLSC on YouTube, then we certainly invite you to do so! We’re always uploading highlights in addition to the podcast, the weekly countdown of Top 10 Plays, retrospectives, video essays, and more. As always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, and we’ll try to get them into the rotation!

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As spotlighted in a bulletin earlier this year, PatTheHead has a fantastic long-running roster project for NBA 2K13 that’s continuing to expand. With this year’s Olympic Games in Paris looming and international competition on the minds of basketball fans, the latest release includes a timely addition, namely rosters for the 1980 Games in Moscow.

The roster features all of the teams that competed in the tournament, as well as the United States who boycotted the 1980 Games. This obviously sets up some What If scenarios, as the best amateur players from around the world 44 years ago can go head-to-head on the virtual hardwood, with Team USA notably including several future NBA Legends.

If the NBA is what you’re after, the project also includes a 2024 season update. Not only that, but you’ll also find a variety of retro rosters for the NBA, ABA, BAA, NBL, and ABL! Pat’s roster project is well worth checking out if you’re still playing NBA 2K13 – a strong releases in the series – so head over to his release topic in the Forum for the download links and further previews. As always, shout out to PatTheHead and everyone else making an effort to keep old favourites alive and fun to revisit with new mod releases!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #534 of the NLSC Podcast!

We had a blast this past week playing a co-op game of NBA 2K10 PC over Parsec, using a 1997 season roster. We reflect on how the game is an overlooked gem, and the brilliance of retro season mods in general. Indeed, it seems there’s more and more interest in revisiting classic games and memorable seasons with retro roster mods recently, and we’re all for it! To that end, this week we join the community in discussing what’s been drawing us to old favourites and classic seasons in the NBA. We also talk about the importance of appreciating history and note how video games play a role in that, as well as touch on the need to debunk ridiculous narratives such as the recent hit piece on Michael Jordan.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:10:38 — 48.9MB)

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #530 of the NLSC Podcast!

If a basketball video game featuring modern technology but a past setting – from rosters to modes to presentation – was ever to be released, which year would you want it to be? This week, we join the community in sharing our choices of legendary seasons to re-live on the virtual hardwood. We also react to the announcement of NBA Superstars, an upcoming arcade basketball game in the style of NBA Jam. What do we make of the gameplay in the trailer, and can it fill a void in the basketball gaming space? We also discuss having interactions with former NBA players on social media – both positive and negative – and provide a PSA for our fellow basketball gamers who may be having a rough time right now.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:03 — 55.3MB)

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!

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 my recent habit of creating and playing with makeshift classic teams – and other minimalist rosters – while retro gaming.

There are multiple ways in which I can indulge my NBA nostalgia. I can simply revisit an old game and play with rosters that are now a time capsule. For over a decade now, the NBA 2K series has provided a plethora of historical content, from classic teams to All-Time squads to the Decade All-Stars. There are also mods that I can download, or I could always create my own retro rosters in one of my favourite games. In short, if I feel like taking a trip down memory lane on the virtual hardwood, it can be done with impressive accuracy.

As such, I will absolutely do all those things! However, cobbling together makeshift classic teams has become a consistent part of my basketball gaming over the past year or so. I’ve also tinkered with the rosters of old games I’m dusting off by rolling them back to the previous season, or creating minimalist Legends squads. It may sound highly unnecessary when there are games that already provide that content, not to mention strange that I’m not opting for more accuracy with a full retro mod. However, I’ve had a blast incorporating some minimalist modding into my retro gaming. There’s an undeniable appeal to assembling something new with only the content on hand.

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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 revisiting NBA Live 2002, and creating some makeshift 90s teams.

Minimalist modding has become a staple of my retro gaming. It’s a way to indulge nostalgia in multiple ways: the mechanics and aesthetics of my chosen game, the teams that I assemble, and the process of modding. I do also enjoy simply playing with the default rosters, or a roster update set in the same season as the game, for a more authentic step back in time. However, the creativity of minimalist modding so often steers me towards discovering what I can do with the content that’s available in any game that I’ve chosen to revisit.

In games such as NBA 2K6 and NBA Live 10, it’s difficult to go back to the 90s with any makeshift classic teams, at least without creating a bunch of players. After all, by that point, most the stars and role players who were active in the 90s had retired. Not all of the big names had signed on to be Legends around the time of NBA 2K6, and NBA Live 10 doesn’t have any historical teams or players at all. However, since NBA Live 2002 came out closer to the 90s and includes several stars from that decade, is it possible to cobble together some retro teams? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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You may recall that Wiscard Rush released a 2009 season roster for the PlayStation 3 version of NBA Live 10 back in November last year. He wasn’t quite done with the project though, as v2.1 of the roster is now available!

In addition to rolling back the league to Opening Night 2008, the roster now also features fixed player ratings for greater accuracy. Wiscard Rush has also corrected some team lineups, added a few extra players who were inactive but still on rosters at the beginning of the 2009 season, fixed a handful of jersey numbers, and updated all player accessories as necessary. All in all, it’s an even more comprehensive retro roster for NBA Live 10, combining the setting of NBA Live 09 with the enhancements of its successor.

You can download the 2009 roster for NBA Live 10 PS3 here! Note that it will work fine on both an original PlayStation 3, and the RPCS3 emulator. As a few people have asked about it, there’s no Xbox 360 version of the roster in the works, owing to the difficulty distributing saved files for 360, and a lack of emulation compatibility.

Congratulations once again to Wiscard Rush for the excellent work on this project! With March Modness underway, hopefully we’ll continue to see a variety of uploads for NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, across all platforms.