Tag Archives: World League Basketball

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 Fast Break, a PC basketball game developed by Accolade

Over the years, thousands of classic video games have been made available to buy digitally. Game preservation is important, and it’s fantastic that GOG (and to some extent, Steam) are keeping retro favourites alive. Of course, securing the rights to certain games is tricky when the studios that made them cease operations, or they’re bought out by other companies. When it comes to sports games, licensing makes it even more difficult. These two factors are why we don’t see too many old basketball games being re-released on digital platforms; especially those that are NBA-licensed.

However, there is one “ancient” basketball game that – as of writing – is available to purchase on GOG and Steam: Fast Break. Developed and published by Accolade for MS-DOS and Commodore 64 in 1988, and Amiga, Apple IIGS, and Mac in 1989, it’s a contemporary of Electronic Arts’ Lakers vs. Celtics and Jordan vs. Bird. The rights to Fast Break and other Accolade titles ended up with Ziggurat Interactive, who re-released it in 2021. So, what is Fast Break like, and how does it compare to other pioneering basketball video games? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 fictional players in sim basketball games.

By definition, sim basketball games are anchored in reality. Unlike arcade games, we don’t expect or desire to see mascots and other secret characters being playable on team rosters. However, we are invited to create fictional scenarios through fantasy drafts and the trades and signings of our choice in franchise play, as well as the card collecting and old school custom teams modes. We can also inject NBA Legends and classic teams into the current NBA, play inter-era exhibitions, and mod in fictional characters. The All-Time Teams in NBA 2K are ready-made fantasy scenarios, too.

In other words, sim games aren’t always serious business, or about playing with real rosters, be they contemporary or historical. That is still the default starting point, of course. Any breaks from reality that we see are either at our discretion, or intrinsic to the concept of a specific mode. Furthermore, these fictional scenarios still involve real players. We’re generally not clamouring to see completely fictional characters inserted into modes where rosters are expected to reflect reality; at least to begin with. With that being said, we have seen fictional players who aren’t placeholders take part in modes based around the real NBA. I certainly have mixed feelings about that idea.

Read More »

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 Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, primarily focusing on the Super Nintendo version.

Despite being old enough to have played it when it was new – or at the very least, recent – Tecmo Super NBA Basketball is another classic hoops title that I didn’t play until years later. As you may know from our podcast and my previous articles, I didn’t become a hardcore basketball fan and gamer until the mid 90s. This means that my introduction to the virtual hardwood was through games such as NBA Live 95, NBA Live 96, and NBA Jam Tournament Edition, rather than the likes of Double Dribble, Lakers vs. Celtics, Bulls vs. Blazers, and of course, Tecmo Super NBA Basketball.

I’ll admit that this made it difficult to truly appreciate those games the first time I played them. After all, they felt like inferior versions of games that I was actually nostalgic for! I respected their place in the history of the genre, but it was tough to get into them. They were intriguing though, and over the years, I’ve given those classics another chance. This has led to some fun retro gaming sessions where I’ve come to see why they’re so beloved, and discover aspects that were ahead of their time. That includes Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, so let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #576 of the NLSC Podcast!

Although we mostly play and primarily cover NBA and NCAA licensed basketball video games, there have certainly been some classic releases that lack their high profile branding, as well as real teams and players. This week, we join the community in recalling some of our all-time favourite unlicensed basketball video games. We also name a handful of favourites that only licensed one or two real players, starred fictional characters, or otherwise didn’t have anything to do with the NBA or NCAA. As we discuss, these games inspired us to use our imaginations, created many Virtual Hardwood Legends, and sometimes included impressive features and gameplay mechanics.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 53:42 — 37.2MB)

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!

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 Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs.

As I’ve mentioned in previous Wayback Wednesday retrospectives and other articles, my introduction to basketball gaming was through NBA Jam Tournament Edition, NBA Live 95, and NBA Live 96. To that end, I don’t have the same nostalgia for the NBA Playoffs series – EA’s forerunner to NBA Live – as people who got into hoops and the virtual hardwood earlier than I did. The massive jump that took place with NBA Live 95 made it difficult to truly appreciate its predecessors at first, but as I’ve collected them and given them a proper chance, they’ve definitely grown on me.

I’ve jumped around a little as I’ve covered these classics for Wayback Wednesday. I tipped things off with the Olympic spinoff Team USA Basketball, went back to the beginning with Lakers vs. Celtics, and then most recently profiled NBA Showdown. Since chronological order is already out the window and a retrospective is overdue anyway, I figured I wouldn’t waste any more time getting to Bulls vs. Blazers! The final game to bear the “NBA Playoffs” branding may have been surpassed by its successors, but it’s still a classic release. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #528 of the NLSC Podcast!

A recent interview with EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson bleakly hints at a future where games are riddled with intrusive ads. We’ve already seen attempts at this before, but as you can imagine, we’re not thrilled at the possibility of it becoming commonplace! However, most of this week’s show is dedicated to the deadeyes from downtown on the virtual hardwood, as we join the community in reminiscing about the best three-point shooters in the history of basketball video games. We also recall the players that we preferred to overwrite when customising the rosters in classic titles, whether we were making current roster updates or putting ourselves and our friends into the NBA.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:08:51 — 47.6MB)

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!

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 basketball video game manuals.

It’s getting harder to reminisce about physical media without sounding incredibly out of touch, and far older than I am. However, as consumers battle corporate giants over digital ownership and bemoan the disappearance of content from streaming services, I believe that more and more people are beginning to understand why many of us have been clinging to physical media for as long as we can. It’s not simply a case of wistful nostalgia, or a refusal or inability to get with the times. While digital media has the advantage of convenience, physical media offers posterity, and tangible ownership.

But yes, there’s also undeniable nostalgia with physical media, particularly video games. There was something special about going to the video store, browsing the shelves for a game to rent, and choosing one that would be yours to play…at least temporarily! Needless to say, it was even better when you bought a game. Not only was there no time limit to the fun, but you also had the box or case to admire. And inside the box or case, depending on the game, there were manuals, maps, charts, and so on. We’d enthusiastically pore over these materials well before we even dove into gameplay, including hitting the virtual hardwood. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #521 of the NLSC Podcast!

Could an unlicensed basketball video game possibly provide a viable alternative to NBA 2K, assuming that it had great gameplay, deep customisation and sharing options, a robust franchise mode, and a price tag of $39.99 USD? This week, we join the community in discussing this very intriguing idea, while drawing comparisons to old titles such as World League Basketball and other unlicensed sports games. It’s safe to say that there’s interest in the concept, but certainly some valid concerns as well. We also take a look back at NBA 2K8 for PlayStation 3 following a co-op Parsec session that sadly ended far too abruptly, and share an encouraging injury update with our listeners.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:46 — 52.4MB)

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 interest in college basketball video games, particularly EA’s NCAA series.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles and on our podcast, I didn’t grow up playing college basketball games, as issues with international licensing rights prevented them from being released outside of North America. With no PAL versions of the games, it was usually unfeasible to import them, since they wouldn’t work on the hardware that I own. Of course, college basketball itself isn’t as popular in Australia as the NBA or our own NBL are, so I’ve always had a more casual interest in the NCAA anyway. At the same time, I was intrigued by college basketball video games.

After all, I loved playing with the fictional players in World League Basketball, which of course was originally a college hoops title that was rebranded for PAL regions. I also read previews of NCAA games with a degree of envy, my interest piqued by mechanics such as momentum meters, the ability to shatter the backboard, and the inclusion of classic teams. When a friend gifted me his old PlayStation 3 back in 2019, I was finally able to add a few college basketball games to my collection. It was satisfying to track them down and finally check them out after all this time, as well as write about them. Recently however, they’ve been getting more time in my rotation.

Read More »

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 a time when certain basketball video games were regional exclusives, and/or had late releases.

The basketball gaming landscape has changed drastically since our choices were whittled down to just NBA Live and NBA 2K, culminating in a virtual monopoly for the latter. When a handful of developers and publishers were throwing their hat into the ring with hoops games, we received a variety of titles of varying quality, but most brought something interesting to the table. Of course, not every game was available worldwide. While NBA Live and NBA 2K stood as examples of global brands, other games were regional exclusives, usually only released in North America.

On top of that, if other regions did receive a particular game, it might not be until several months later. It may seem like a terrible marketing decision to release an NBA game well after the season has tipped off, but there are titles that have come along quite late in a campaign, even with their domestic release. Indeed, not even NBA 2K and NBA Live have been immune to late releases, if only outside North America. It’s an interesting difference in the way that basketball video games used to be handled, so let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 a countdown of my Top 25 favourite basketball video games, in celebration of another milestone here at the NLSC.

On Saturday, I celebrated my 22nd year of running the NLSC. It’s been a long ride with plenty of ups and downs, but I’m still very glad that I accepted the gig when Tim moved on to work at EA Sports, and that I stuck it out through some rough patches to enjoy the good times. To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to rank my Top 25 favourite basketball video games. This being my 22nd Anniversary as webmaster/admin of the NLSC, I was originally going to pick my Top 22 games. Top 25 has a better ring to it though, and it also serves as a belated 25th Anniversary celebration for the site itself!

Before we get to the countdown, let me emphasise once again that it is a Top 25 of my favourite basketball video games; not the Top 25 best hoops titles. That’s a different list, and if I were being more objective, there are games I’m listing here that wouldn’t make the cut. Because I haven’t spent as much time with certain NBA 2K, College Hoops, or NCAA Basketball/March Madness titles, I don’t have as much of an affinity for them, though that may well change in the future. I haven’t “forgotten” about those great basketball video games, but they haven’t become one of my personal favourites (as yet, anyway). With that being said, here are my Top 25 virtual hardwood classics!

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #469 of the NLSC Podcast!

With March Madness underway, there’s no better time to talk about college basketball video games! This week, we’re joining the community in reflecting on our history with NCAA on the virtual hardwood, listing some of our all-time favourite college basketball titles, as well as a couple of regional variants. We also provide an update on the latest action and results from our NCAA Basketball 10 Parsec Tournament, and discuss plans for some College Slam content. Revisiting the possibility of college basketball video games some day making a return, we wonder whether an NCAA title would be EA Sports’ ticket back into the basketball gaming space, or if Visual Concepts would just swoop in and steal their thunder once again.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 50:30 — 35.0MB)

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!

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 lists five features that didn’t originate in NBA Live or NBA 2K.

From the mid 90s through to today, NBA Live and NBA 2K are the two biggest names as far as sim basketball games are concerned. Obviously NBA Jam and NBA Street were the top dogs in the arcade space, and there have been other series of sim titles that have produced quality releases. However, when we’re talking about the brand leader in NBA licensed sim titles, it’s been NBA Live and NBA 2K for more than a quarter of a century, with the latter taking the crown from the former during the 2000s. Of course, it hasn’t been a competition for quite some time.

Nevertheless, being the two biggest names/brand leaders in sim basketball games has meant that many of the innovations in the genre did originate with either NBA Live or NBA 2K. To that end, they’ve ended up borrowing ideas from each other, which as I’ve long maintained is actually a good thing when it comes to features that should be staples of a sim game. Of course, there are also some great features that we take for granted that didn’t originate in NBA Live or NBA 2K. Some of them are older than we think, appearing in one of their predecessors, while other times it was one of their contemporaries that beat them to the punch. Either way, another game did it first.

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #458 of the NLSC Podcast!

To all of our listeners, Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings! We’ve got a very festive episode for you this week, as we’re reflecting on why we’re thankful for basketball video games, and what basketball gaming and modding has meant to us throughout the years. From our very first games that tipped off our love of the hobby, to the landmark releases and innovations that blew us away, there’s plenty that we’re grateful for. In this week’s mailbag, we join the community in sharing some of our favourite holiday memories on the virtual hardwood, including the hoops titles that we received as gifts.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:35 — 55.7MB)

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!

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 Virtual Stadium Technology in the early NBA Live games.

In our desire to see games and gaming technology constantly improve, we obsess over specifications. This isn’t a new phenomenon, of course. One only needs to look back at the console wars of the 90s, where the number of bits and jargon such as Sega’s “blast processing” were thrown back and forth in the eternal fanboy debates. These days, we’re also aware of the most popular game engines, and the use of technology that we hold in high esteem is often celebrated. We also speculate on how it could help the games we’re interested in. “If only NBA Live had used Frostbite!”

It’s interesting to see how the engines and tech of different basketball games have been hyped through the years. Eco-Motion may not have lasted, but it was definitely well-received in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Conversely, although EA Sports’ IGNITE engine worked out well for other titles, it didn’t make NBA Live better than its predecessors. The Playmaker Engine in NBA Live 13 sounded good on paper, but the game shaped up so poorly that it was cancelled. And then, there’s NBA Live’s Virtual Stadium Technology. What did that entail? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »