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 Roster Players weren’t an entirely bad thing back in the day, and still have their charm now.

Even if you didn’t grow up playing basketball video games in the 90s, chances are you’ve heard the legend of Roster Players. The moniker – which comes from the naming convention they used in several games – refers to the fictional placeholder players that stood in for anyone who wasn’t licensed to appear. The name “Roster Player” is practically synonymous with Michael Jordan, since he was frequently replaced by such a player in games released during the mid to late 90s. Charles Barkley was another regular Roster Player, at least up until his final few seasons.

Big names and role players alike have been replaced by stand-ins when licensing issues prevent them from appearing. Ironically, while it’s often looked upon as a phenomenon associated with early basketball video games, it’s still happening today with NBA 2K’s classic teams and MyNBA Eras rosters. It’s hardly ideal – then or now – and so given the choice, we’d all rather see the real players in the game. However, while Roster Players may not be the most desirable sight to behold when we fire up a game, they’re not all bad! Here are five reasons why Roster Players weren’t (and still aren’t) a complete abomination, and indeed, can actually be fun in their own way.

1. They Were Better Than Missing Players

Now, obviously your mileage may vary on this point. It could definitely be argued that Roster Players were a distraction, and I’m sure some gamers would’ve preferred to simply go without the unlicensed players than have them be replaced by stand-ins. I can see that point of view and I don’t entirely disagree with it, as some of my all-time favourite games have foregone Roster Players in favour of choosing some suitable replacements. Of course, that leads to different inaccuracies, from the mere fact that a wrong player is starting to some replacements being out of position. In short, we want to play with accurate rosters, and Roster Players don’t exactly cater to that preference.

However, they do minimise the number of inaccuracies in the face of being unable to license certain players, as they keep the rest of the lineup intact and accurate. In many cases, Roster Players had ratings that allowed them to perform like the player they were replacing. They also facilitated viable lineups in games that required full 12-man rosters but had been released early in the offseason, before every team in real life had enough players under contract. Since NBA 2K11, Roster Players have allowed classic teams to be a reality. Sure, it’s not the best case scenario, but it’s still the most feasible workaround. It’s much better than outdated rosters, or not having historical content.

2. We Could Overwrite Them On PC

There wasn’t much we could do to get rid of Roster Players in console releases, apart from releasing them into the Free Agents Pool and then replacing them with a created player. In PC releases however, those placeholders were extremely handy, as they were ready-made to be overwritten with external tools. After all, they were right where they needed to be; they just needed to have their correct name and bio data, and a proper face assigned. With NBA Live 97 PC, we had tools that allowed us to edit career stats and assign custom portraits, but only for original players. To that end, it was preferable to overwrite the pre-existing stand-ins for players like MJ and Chuck.

Any new player you wish to add to NBA Live 95 needs to overwrite an original one, but thanks to All-Star Center #99, adding David Robinson to the West All-Stars was a painless process. Even when DBF files came along, we continued to overwrite Roster Player on the Bulls, as it was quicker and easier. A roster editor for NBA Action 98 also allowed us to overwrite 1 Guard with His Airness. Indeed, even the placeholders in NBA 2K11-NBA 2K14 PC are convenient to overwrite using REditor II and RED MC when fixing up the classic teams. Sure, we don’t want to see any missing players and fictional placeholders, but they can also be a timesaver when modding the rosters.

3. There Were Usually Only A Few Of Them

While Roster Players were not an uncommon sight in basketball games released in the mid to late 90s, the number of placeholders in any given title was usually low. There were a couple of games – including the Genesis version of NBA Live 95 and SNES version of NBA Live 98 – that featured more Roster Players than usual, as the timing of their release wasn’t conducive to a comprehensive update for the upcoming season. In most sim games that had updated rosters, the only regular holdouts were MJ and Chuck, with a handful of other notable absences due to rare circumstances. Arcade games like NBA Jam simply left out (or subsequently removed) unlicensed players.

In other words, we usually weren’t dealing with games full of Roster Players. In fact, thanks to the plethora of historical teams and all of the necessary placeholders we now have in NBA 2K, they’re far more common in modern games! Once again, there were some games that had to fill out teams with stand-ins because they launched at a time before the full rosters were set for the upcoming season, but still needed to include at least 12 players per team. Generally speaking though, we were only replacing one or two Roster Players in our mods for the early NBA Live games. Admittedly they were very prominent players, so the issue seems more prevalent despite that low number.

4. They’ve Become Interesting Trivia Years Later

As I’ve pointed out in a number of Wayback Wednesday retrospectives, even the aspects of old games that we’re not so fond of can still be oddly nostalgic. I doubt that anyone believes that having Roster Players take the place of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and other stars was a good thing, but mention the phenomenon to a long-time basketball gamer, and it’ll bring back some fond memories of old favourites. The fact that there was a time when the biggest name in the league wasn’t playable in licensed video games is obviously a significant part of the history of the genre. In other words, the mere concept of Roster Players is itself interesting basketball video game trivia.

Of course, there are specific examples and rare circumstances that are particularly interesting. I’ve already touched on a couple. Shaq being exclusive to EA Sports for the 1996 and 1997 seasons held him out of NBA Live’s competitors. David Robinson being the face of NBA Action ’95 removed him from NBA Live 95 PC. There are the aforementioned early releases leading to more placeholders than usual, and late pre-release roster updates leaving gaps in titles such as NBA Fast Break ’98. These are the things that stick in our minds all these years later, or perhaps greet us when we dust off games once more. Again, the oddities in old games are nostalgic in their own way.

5. Some Of Them Are Hilarious

I could probably just call this entry “look at what NBA in the Zone 2 did with its Roster Players”, because it’s the best example of the concept being hilarious. For those who are unaware – and as you can see from the above screenshot – NBA in the Zone 2 threw all caution to the wind when it replaced Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal with Roster Players. Oh sure, they may be M. Guard, C. Forward, and S. Center, and sporting incorrect jersey numbers, but we know who they’re meant to be. As if those initials weren’t enough of a dead giveaway, they clearly have the real players’ faces! Konami figured that simply changing their names was sufficient.

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that the NBA didn’t quite see things the same way! It’s a hilarious situation, from seeing those barely-disguised players with their real faces in the game to the utter gall of Konami doing it in the first place. After that controversy, Konami ensured that future Roster Players were as generic as possible. Other games likewise erred on the side of caution, and it’s always funny to see MJ replaced by a 6’4″ white guy who apparently skipped college according to his player card. And, since basketball gaming doesn’t need to be serious and realistic all the time – even in a sim title – it’s a blast to put that guy on the floor and dominate with him!

What are your memories of Roster Players in basketball video games, both positive and negative? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.