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 unexpected retro kicks.

As I said in my first Friday Five for February 2024, I’m not going to stop retro gaming anytime soon! It’s a habit that I’ve picked up again with the help of Dee, and I’m quite grateful for that, as grinding up a new MyPLAYER year after year had become an absolute chore. We’ve connected to play a number of different titles over Parsec these past few years, with some of them becoming staples of our co-op rotation. In many cases, I’ve also been inspired to revisit these games solo, leading to some fun sessions and more than a few Wayback Wednesday articles.

Of course, not every game that I revisit turns into a retro kick. I’ll have some fun with it, and then it’s back on the bench, so to speak. However, other games do capture my interest and become regulars in my basketball gaming rotation. These unexpected retro kicks take me by surprise, but I’m always delighted when they happen. Quite often, it leads to me spending time with a game that I didn’t play much when it was new, if at all. As someone with a predisposition to enjoy retro gaming, it’s never too late to give games a second chance and make up for lost time. I have been surprised by some of the titles that ended up hooking me years later though, such as these five.

1. NBA Live 10

When I reflect on the basketball video games that I’ve gone back and forth on over the years, I’ve probably reconsidered NBA Live 2003 the most. All these years later, my stance is that it’s flawed and not everything I wanted it to be, but I still like it. To that end, NBA Live 10 is kind of in the same boat. I’ve never been as critical of it as I was NBA Live 2003, but it’s a release that I soon grew weary of, and ultimately stopped playing in favour of continuing my NBA Live 06 Dynasty. I felt that the second patch for NBA Live 10 did more harm than good, and there’s some merit to that. At the same time, I may have just been unlucky enough to have had a few rough games.

After all, it’s been a staple of my Parsec sessions with Dee, both co-op and head-to-head. We’ve been able to put the Fantasy Teams mode to great use, assembling fun squads and makeshift retro teams that have produced fantastic highlights and highly enjoyable virtual hardwood clashes. That fun has carried over into my solo sessions, and while I do recognise the game’s shortcomings, its strengths became far more apparent during my unexpected retro kick. I couldn’t get enough of it, including tinkering with its rosters to create a bevy of Wayback Wednesday content. I never hated NBA Live 10, but revisiting it did retroactively make it an all-time favourite.

2. NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4

I know I’ve told the story in a few other articles and on the NLSC Podcast, but it adds important context that explains why NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 – an outstanding release – became one of my unexpected retro kicks. I was still warming up to the NBA 2K series in 2013, even though I’d had a blast with NBA 2K13 on PC. As a long-time NBA Live gamer, I was also excited to see the series finally coming back, and hoping for the best. It didn’t exactly work out that way, and even before both games came out, I saw some NBA 2K developers and reps taking a victory lap on social media. Their jeering rubbed me the wrong way, and I felt sour heading into NBA 2K14’s release.

To that point, I found fault in everything. The feel of player movement, the new story in MyCAREER, MyGM being RPG-based and utilising VC to unlock basic functions; nothing satisfied me, and I quickly put the game aside. Now, amidst my pre-emptive sourness are some valid criticisms, but when I gave the game a second chance on a whim back in 2021, it won me over at long last. I’ve now sunk as many hours into it as just about any other basketball game, playing into my sixth season of MyCAREER. The quality of NBA 2K14 Next Gen doesn’t make this an unthinkable retro kick, but my initial attitude and experiences definitely make it an unexpected one in hindsight.

3. NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360

Based on a couple of comments on our YouTube channel when I was in the midst of a retro kick with NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360, at least one person was dismayed to see it. To them, I can only say: sorry, not sorry! Snarky responses aside, I do understand that the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06 wasn’t a beloved release, and does have a number of issues. However, when you look past those issues, there’s a surprisingly solid and fun basketball game! It’s impossible to say that without sounding like an NBA Live fanboy looking back with rose-coloured glasses, but for a long time, I was just as dismissive of it as most gamers. And then, I revisited it with an open mind.

That’s how I came to appreciate what a leap in graphics it was, and how good some of the player faces and environmental details still look. Adjusting the sliders improved the action on the court, speeding it up and reducing some of the cheap fouls. Playing around with some roster editing set up several fun exhibition games, which was all that I was looking to play. Yes, the lack of depth is a valid criticism that I share, and it’s not the best game on the sticks. Realising that the gameplay experience was better than I’d thought for so long led to NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360 becoming one of my most unexpected retro kicks, though. I’m glad that it did, even if one viewer wasn’t!

4. NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360

Ten years ago, if you’d told me that the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6 would become one of my favourite basketball video games, I’d have been highly sceptical to say the least! It definitely holds that status though, after a period of it being one of my most unexpected retro kicks. As I’ve noted many times before, I’m not a fan of the original Isomotion dribbling controls that, in my view, NBA 2K stubbornly stuck with for far too long. Approaching those older NBA 2K titles with more patience and an open mind has allowed me to get used to it, but it’ll never be my preferred approach to dribbling controls. In critiquing those games, I’d still call Isomotion a key drawback.

Despite that, I really, really enjoy playing NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360! I recall being unimpressed with the PlayStation 2 version when I gave it a shot back in the day, but again, I wasn’t used to Isomotion. The inclusion of Charles Barkley kept drawing me to the Xbox 360 version, and the more time I spent with it, the more I appreciated the depth of its modes and gameplay; even without my ideal dribbling mechanics. I’ve enjoyed several NBA 2K games after giving them a second look with fresh eyes, but they’ve usually been more recent titles, and they don’t necessarily become favourites or extended retro kicks. As such, NBA 2K6 is a game that really took me by surprise!

5. NBA Live 18

Like NBA Live 2003, I’ve gone back and forth with my overall opinion of NBA Live 18 over the years, to the point where I’ve absolutely been too harsh on it at times. In fact, when I revisited NBA Live 18 for Wayback Wednesday, I strongly disagreed with some of the earlier comments that I made when I reviewed the game for our 25th Anniversary of NBA Live celebrations. I did have fair criticisms, particularly when it came to modes and content, but I seemingly forgot how much I’d enjoyed my journey through Ultimate Team using 90s Legends. In fact, after giving up on NBA 2K18, NBA Live 18 was frequently in my basketball gaming rotation for the rest of its cycle.

With that being said, I wouldn’t say that NBA Live 18 became an all-time favourite, and previous revisits hadn’t inspired me to bring it back into my rotation. And then, Dee and I played it over Parsec using the Xbox App, and had a fun session that I’d suggest surprised both of us! I had to see if it was a fluke, or perhaps the product of it being a co-op game. Playing through a few challenges in Ultimate Team reminded me of the fun I’d had with it back in 2018, which in turn left me reconsidering what I’d written in my aforementioned retrospective review. I definitely wasn’t expecting that, but as with the other unexpected retro kicks, it was a joy to be surprised in that way.

For those who enjoy going wayback with old favourites or giving games you didn’t like the first time around a second look, which titles surprised you the most? Did any of them become unexpected retro kicks? Let me know 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.