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 that I’ve shelved and abandoned my basketball video game saves over the years.

For a franchise or career mode gamer, there’s nothing better than getting hooked on a title and seeing a season (or several) through to the end. As I’ve said before – and I stand by it – completion is what we make it on the virtual hardwood. When it comes to sim games in particular, I don’t believe that it’s necessary to win a championship – or even just finish an entire season – to have enjoyed a title and feel that you got your money’s worth out of it. In fact, I’ve yet to play through at least one season from start to finish in several of my all-time favourite basketball video games!

That’s not to say that I don’t wish that I did, or that I wouldn’t be open to doing so as a retro basketball gaming experience now. Moreover, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t try to finish seasons in those old favourites. Unfortunately, those attempts were derailed, and so countless saves ended up being shelved and eventually abandoned. Mind you, while some abandoned and lost saves represent wistful What Ifs, others either were successfully completed, or I had very good reasons to quit while I was ahead! I’m sure this is something that many basketball gamers can relate to, so let’s look a look at five reasons I’ve shelved and abandoned saves, along with a few memorable examples.

1. Soured on the Gameplay

Our opinions of basketball video games can and will change. There are games that I didn’t care for the first time I played them, yet came to really enjoy after giving them a second chance. Conversely, there are games that I liked at first – or at least, I tried to make the best of them – but ultimately soured on. Maybe an official patch made a few undesirable changes, or perhaps the annoyances that I was trying my hardest to put up with simply became too frustrating to endure. Whatever the case, in that moment, I had to shelve those games. I may come to nostalgically appreciate them later on, but at the time I was done, which in turn meant that it was curtains for any of their saves.

That didn’t necessarily mean that I deleted them – though that certainly happened, and I’ll get to that shortly – but souring on a game obviously meant abandoning any season I had in progress. It’s what put an end to my Minnesota Timberwolves Franchise in NBA Live 2003. These days I can enjoy NBA Live 2003’s gameplay for what it is, and I’ve always appreciated the innovation of Freestyle Control. However, back then I desired a more realistic style of gameplay. I did my best to make the most of it, but I finally reached a point where I couldn’t pretend that I was having fun, so I pulled the plug on that Franchise. It’s proof that modes do matter, but gameplay is paramount.

2. Lost Interest in the Scenario

Even if I’m enjoying a title’s gameplay, I may end up losing interest in the scenario that I’ve set up. Some ideas are better in theory than they are in practice. I’ve found this is particularly true of scenarios that are a bit too silly or unorthodox. Other ideas are good, sensible, and could’ve worked, but the way I went about setting them up didn’t give them the best chance to succeed. Sometimes, I don’t feel the necessary connection to or affection for the virtual team that I’ve chosen, making it difficult to stay invested. Bad timing is also a major factor. I don’t mind having a few games on the go, but if I’m really hooked on other saves, fleeting fancies don’t stand a chance.

My Jazz Franchise in NBA Live 2002 is one of my go-to examples here. The idea of trading for Scottie Pippen, swapping John Stockton for Mike Bibby, and making Karl Malone a bench player, seemed like a hilarious idea for a wacky franchise. However, the novelty wore off very quickly! Watching Celtic Pride encouraged me to start a season with Boston in NBA Live 99; a well-intentioned idea, but given my desire to play full-length games and seasons, maybe a Playoff would’ve been smarter and more successful. A failed game is hardly the end of the world, and I’m glad that I gave those ideas a shot, but they’re reminders that well-planned scenarios pan out much better.

3. Damaged & Lost Files

I learned the pain of lost files as a kid getting into computers way back in the 90s. Back in primary school, we all had our own floppy disks for computer class (again, it was the 90s), and I had at least two disks fail on me and become unreadable. Looking back, it was rather suspicious, but in any event I discovered just how volatile storage media could be. This was later reinforced by our family PC going through a couple of failed hard drives. Although I’d learned to back up my files by that point – including video game saves – I wasn’t always doing so as often or as meticulously as I should’ve been. As such, many memorable saves I’d love to still have are sadly now long-lost.

It’s frustrating to think that I could’ve easily preserved those saves, but didn’t due to a lack of care and foresight. To that point, some saves were lost because I overwrote or deleted files, mistakenly believing that I was done with them. My NBA Live 2004 Chicago Bulls Dynasty is an unfortunate example, though in my defense I did trade in my original PS2 disc and needed to clear space on my memory card. It’s not always (completely) been my fault, though. Since I didn’t reinstall NBA 2K17 for PlayStation 4 prior to online support ending, I can’t download the data to convert my MyCAREER to an offline file, rendering it useless. If not for that, I’d still be dusting it off today!

4. Release & Enjoyment of a New Game

Saves can be shelved and abandoned for positive reasons, too. There has been many times where I’ve played a game right up until the release of its successor, continuing my journey in my mode of choice because I’m enjoying it so much. Whenever the new game has delighted me though, it’s usually bad news for any saves that I have going in its predecessor! Needless to say, this is a good problem to have. Obviously, losing saves through carelessness has taught me to do a better job of hanging onto those files in case I want to return to them. Whenever I’m impressed by a new game however, that likely won’t be for a while, and some files may be unofficially retired.

Of course, enjoying the title I’m currently playing and being captivated by a mode often makes it challenging to move on in the first place. Indeed, even when I’m not dreading starting over in MyCAREER or MyTEAM, having to abandon saves and familiar gameplay for an unproven experience that could potentially disappoint me heavily contributes to my New Game Blues. With that being said, any time that I’ve immediately warmed up to a game and subsequently embarked on a new journey, it’s eased the pain of shelving last year’s saves. Furthermore, as long as those saves don’t require online support, holding onto them facilitates fun retro gaming down the road.

5. Achieved a Sense of Completion

In the best case scenario, the reason that I’ve abandoned saves or left them on the metaphorical shelf is because I’ve achieved a sense of completion, and feel done with them. That’s not to say that I’ll delete them; again, experience has taught me to keep files whenever possible! Nevertheless, I’ve been comfortable stepping away from them indefinitely, feeling that if indeed the journey has come to an end, it’s reached a satisfying conclusion. That said, as long as I have a working file, I’ll always consider picking up where I left off. Once again, that’s annoyingly become impossible with MyCAREER saves in newer NBA 2Ks, but fortunately other modes remain playable.

Speaking of MyCAREER saves though, my NBA 2K19 game is a prime example of permanently shelving a file owing to a sense of completion. Until I went back to NBA 2K14 on PS4, it was my most successful MyCAREER game, as I played into my third season and qualified for enshrinement into the Hall of Fame. To that end, I wanted to see the Hall of Fame ceremony before any unforseen misfortune prevented me from doing so. With the release of NBA 2K20, a feeling of completion, knowledge that I could still use that MyPLAYER online, and awareness that access to the file would eventually disappear along with the servers, I was comfortable putting a bow on it.

Basketball gamers, what are some of the reasons that you’ve shelved and abandoned your saves? Do you have any lasting regrets about having done so? 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.