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 things that I loved about my NBA 2K13 MyCAREER with the Denver Nuggets.

NBA 2K13 is one of the games that I’d love to bring back into my rotation this year. Not only was it a fantastic release that was enjoyed by gamers who were already fans of NBA 2K, but it was the title that got me – a long-time NBA Live fanboy – into the series. The right stick controls provided familiarity, and enhanced the gameplay in an area that I’d argue was still a weakness for NBA 2K, even as it became the premiere NBA sim. It was well-balanced, a blast on the sticks, and offered deep modes that we could enthusiastically spend hundreds and indeed thousands of hours in.

Despite traditionally being a franchise gamer, MyCAREER was my mode of choice in NBA 2K13, rather than The Association. It turned out to be one of my all-time favourite basketball gaming experiences, so I’d say it was a good decision! Although I intend to spend some more time with the rest of what NBA 2K13 has to offer as I look to make it a part of my retro basketball gaming rotation, I definitely won’t rule out revisiting that MyCAREER save every now and again. With that in mind, I’d like to reflect on five things that I loved about my NBA 2K13 MyCAREER, all of which were undoubtedly key factors in me taking such a long detour from franchise gaming.

1. The Freshness of the Experience

I wouldn’t say that I was necessarily sick of franchise gaming when I took an interest in MyCAREER. I’d had a couple of failed attempts at Dynasty games in NBA Live 09 and NBA Live 10, but that was more about having some issues with the gameplay in those titles. Indeed, as much as I supported adding a career mode to basketball video games, I still saw myself as a franchise gamer. However, when I was playing NBA 2K12 in order to review it, I enjoyed messing around with My Player. I couldn’t fully get into NBA 2K12 because of its controls, but when I ended up taking a shine to NBA 2K13, I was inspired to play the mode that had previously piqued my interest.

The newly-renamed MyCAREER was naturally a different experience to the franchise modes that I’d been playing for years. I wasn’t able to make trades, tinker with my lineup, control multiple players, or do any of the other things I love about franchise gaming. However, stepping into the shoes of an NBA player and becoming a star was a fun new challenge! Again, I wasn’t bored of franchise modes, but MyCAREER in NBA 2K13 was offering a fresh approach to basketball gaming; something new to play and ultimately master. Sure, years later MyCAREER would become a rut that I’d get stuck in, but back in NBA 2K13 it was an intriguing novelty that had me hooked.

2. Feeling of Satisfaction While Improving

I’ve been highly critical of the rate of progression in MyCAREER over the years, for a couple of key reasons. One, the more times you have to start over in a new game, the more repetitive the process becomes. Two, the grind has become much worse in the name of generating recurrent revenue through VC sales to the point where going No Money Spent is now a painful slog. That wasn’t an issue when I was first getting into MyCAREER in NBA 2K13. That’s not to say that there shouldn’t have been a faster rate of progression or that the low starting ratings weren’t antithetical to the idea that you’re supposedly a top prospect, but the journey to stardom was more fun back then.

Of course, it wasn’t just about seeing my individual attributes and Overall Rating rise as I earned enough Skill Points to upgrade (as an aside, there was no VC in the PC version at the time). It was also satisfying to develop my stick skills in player-locked gameplay – something I didn’t do all that often as I frequently hit the virtual hardwood solo – particularly early on when my lower ratings gave me a smaller margin for error. As both my ratings and team chemistry increased, it felt rewarding being able to call for the ball more often, and make good things happen when the pass came. Improving little by little – both in my ratings and on the sticks – brought a sense of achievement.

3. Becoming a Point Guard

Because I modelled my MyPLAYER after myself – though I did add an extra inch to make him 6’4″ – I ended up with an avatar that wasn’t tall enough to play centre as I had in my local junior league. As such, I opted to make him a shooting guard, most likely due to my fandom of Michael Jordan and Ben Gordon. It worked out well at first, and I was promoted to the starting lineup in my 16th game, playing alongside Ty Lawson. A couple of games later however, Lawson suffered a knee injury that put him on the shelf for the rest of the season. Rather than starting Andre Miller in his place, virtual George Karl decided to give me the chance to run the team instead.

As it turned out, I greatly preferred playing point guard to shooting guard! For a start, I had the ball in my hands more often without needing to call for it. Mind you, it was still my goal to be unselfish with the ball, as I soon discovered that I really enjoyed setting up my teammates to score. As I became more proficient at dropping dimes and filling that column in the stat sheet, I began receiving the Dynamic Goal of breaking Fat Lever’s team record for assists in a single game. That certainly encouraged my love of assists, and I did break Lever’s record with a new mark of 24. Since then, I’ve almost exclusively created point guards for MyCAREER and its connected modes.

4. Emerging a Hero in the Playoffs

Compared to later games, my rookie numbers in NBA 2K13 MyCAREER weren’t out of this world. I averaged 10.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, and 10.4 apg in that first season; far from terrible, but much closer to pre-injury Gary Grant than Magic Johnson! Obviously my inexperience played a role here – more on that in a moment – but it also resulted in a certain amount of realism that wouldn’t be present in future MyCAREER games. In any case, I was just happy to have achieved a double-double average by the end of the season. My performance earned Rookie of the Year honours, but Andre Iguodala was still the star of the team, and in fact ended up being named the Most Valuable Player.

Needless to say, playing limited minutes off the bench at the beginning of the season impacted my averages on the year. Once we reached the Playoffs, I was starting over with a clean slate, allowing me to post some more impressive numbers right out of the gate. I saved my best for last though, averaging 27 ppg, 7.4 rpg, and 14.6 apg in the NBA Finals to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 4-1 series win over the Miami Heat. That also included a game-sealing three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left in Game 4, and then a triple-double as we clinched the championship in Game 5. It made for a great story, going from benchwarmer to promising rookie to the new star of a first-time champion.

5. Not Having Everything Figured Out Yet

At one point or another, I think all gamers have wished that they could forget their favourite titles so that they can experience them for the first time all over again. After all, there’s nothing quite like that first playthrough! Obviously there’s joy in revisiting old favourites as they welcome you back with the familiar, and using the knowledge and skills that you’ve developed through countless hours on the sticks to play them expertly. You can do that time and time again, and I love that! However, the novelty and thrill of encountering a game’s challenges for the first time, and figuring out the best strategies for success, is a one-time experience that’s uniquely fun and special.

To that point, I’ve been far more dominant in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER compared to NBA 2K13, thanks to going back to the former with years of experience under my belt. That’s still been a blast of course, but muddling my way through MyCAREER in NBA 2K13, not yet knowing all of the best on-court strategies or the optimal way of levelling up a player, brought me a different kind of enjoyment and satisfaction. Yes, it’s also fun to go back and employ what I’ve learned since then, but the need to figure everything out truly made NBA 2K13 MyCAREER an exciting journey. It wasn’t my best MyCAREER game, but it was the most important, and a truly unique experience.

Basketball gamers, what are the things you loved most about your all-time favourite virtual hardwood experiences? Can you relate to these reflections on my NBA 2K13 MyCAREER? 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.