NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
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 reminiscing about NBA 2K8 making a cameo during the story in NBA 2K19 MyCAREER.
MyCAREER stories have undoubtedly been hit or miss. From the way they impact the gameplay experience to the quality of the stories themselves, some have managed to enhance the mode, while others have unfortunately detracted from it. For me, “The Way Back” – the story of NBA 2K19’s MyCAREER – was one of the stronger tales. It took us along a very different path to the NBA, with some genuinely captivating story beats. Sure, there’s a glaring plot hole that could’ve easily been avoided with only a slight change to the ending, but even that makes it interesting!
With that in mind, “The Way Back” is definitely one of my favourite MyCAREER stories. It also helps that the developers got creative in adding interactive elements beyond the usual gameplay. Not only did we have character and dialogue choices, but there were also hoops-related activities ranging from a barnyard pickup game to mini basketball at a fair. This also includes a memorable tribute to the history of the NBA 2K series, as our MyPLAYER ends up playing NBA 2K8 during the course of the NBA 2K19 MyCAREER story. Let’s take a look back…way back…
First of all, a quick recap of “The Way Back” for those who don’t remember, or didn’t play NBA 2K19 MyCAREER. Basically, your MyPLAYER – inexplicably named AI – has to take the long road to the NBA after going undrafted. Beginning in China, he ends up in the G League, where he clashes with the villainous Marcus Young who also aspires to make it to the big time. After being backstabbed by Young and cut in disgrace, AI finally gets his shot at the NBA with the help of his college teammate Corey Harris. Along the way he meets a love interest, is mentored by a former NBA player he admires, and learns a thing or two about patience, humility, and being a pro.
Again, I think it’s one of the best MyCAREER stories, and it’s a shame that we can no longer play it now that the game’s servers have been shut down. If nothing else, it’d be fun to replay those mini-games and interactive sequences in NBA 2K19 MyCAREER, including the game of NBA 2K8. So, how does that come about? After an exhibition game between AI’s fictional Shanghai Bears and a team of NBA Stars featuring Corey Harris, AI and Corey are catching up over dinner. At Corey’s urging, they explore the city, and end up in an arcade. AI points out an NBA 2K8 arcade cabinet; something that never existed as far as I know, but for the sake of the story, let’s pretend it did.
After calling it a “classic 2K” – a ranking that I’m inclined to dispute – they reminisce about spending countless hours playing it in their dorm. While the timeline may seem off considering that NBA 2K8 was released in 2007, and the setting of NBA 2K19 MyCAREER would mean the two were in college in the 2010s, this is immediately explained by AI mentioning that the game originally belonged to Corey’s brother, and that “everyone was too cheap to buy the new console”. Putting aside the unfortunate connections to the currently all-too-common “you’re broke” rhetoric, it’s realistic that a bunch of college students would be stuck with an old console one of them brought!
Corey taunts AI by suggesting that it was the one game that he let him win at, banter that naturally prompts them to sit down and play some NBA 2K8. That is to say that we get to play some NBA 2K8, right in the midst of NBA 2K19 MyCAREER! It’s a short game as the quarter length is set to two minutes, but we can play it through to the end and defeat Corey (i.e. the CPU). We can’t change any gameplay options, and we’ll always be taking on the Boston Celtics with the Houston Rockets. Both the 2008 Celtics and 2008 Rockets are classic teams in NBA 2K19, so it’s a safe bet that that’s the reason NBA 2K8 was the old release chosen to make a cameo in MyCAREER.
The really cool part of this interactive sequence is how the gameplay and visuals resemble NBA 2K8…well, for all intents and purposes. Let’s begin with the visual effects. Not only is there a filter resembling a CRT screen – something that’d be more common in 2007, and college students might still be stuck with years later in addition to an old console – but the textures look much less detailed and lifelike compared to NBA 2K19’s regular graphics. The overlays and scoreboard are retro, though they admittedly resemble the ones from NBA 2K7. I do believe it’s still meant to be NBA 2K8 with those rosters, but it’s probably why they simply refer to it as a “classic 2K”.
While the throwback visuals and repurposed classic teams set the scene, perhaps the most impressive aspect of this glimpse of NBA 2K8 in NBA 2K19 MyCAREER is the gameplay. During this sequence, the controls mimic the ones found in NBA 2K8. That means no right stick dribbling; it’s purely the old Shot Stick. Obviously those aren’t the controls that I normally prefer, but I appreciate that they were portraying NBA 2K8 so authentically. As a mini-game purely intended to break up the usual MyCAREER experience with a bit of flavour content, they could’ve gotten away with having contemporary controls. Instead, they went the extra mile to be era-appropriate.
It’s especially impressive because as far as I can tell, they didn’t just emulate NBA 2K8 (or NBA 2K7 for that matter) within NBA 2K19 MyCAREER. Again, the overlays are a mismatched re-creation – though obviously still appropriately of the general era – rather than the actual assets. Even with the filter, the player models are far more detailed and realistic than the NBA 2Ks of the mid-2000s, and you can also see modern animations. If someone can prove otherwise than I’ll certainly admit to being wrong, but all signs point to the developers successfully “de-making” the NBA 2K19 gameplay and graphics to feature NBA 2K8 as part of the MyCAREER story.
Even though NBA 2K8 isn’t one of my favourite releases in the series, I really enjoy that they did that. With NBA 2K19 being celebrated as the series’ 20th anniversary, I like that they found a way to pay tribute to an earlier title with such authenticity. It’s a clever use of licensed historical content. It was a good way of fleshing out the back story of AI and his former teammate, with a scenario that you could definitely see happening with college kids in the early 2010s. And of course, it was an unexpected but certainly welcome interactive sequence in the midst of a long story cutscene. It may not have been completely necessary, but it was nevertheless an excellent touch.
Win or lose, the story will advance, with Corey either good-naturedly celebrating his victory, or showing grace in defeat. Indeed, no matter what the outcome, the story ends up using the NBA 2K8 showdown to underscore one of the themes of “The Way Back”, that being AI’s need to grow up and be less self-centred. Indulging in nostalgia from their college days establishes AI and Corey’s friendship and what they have in common, but also demonstrates how they’re different and have grown apart. Corey has matured, while AI hasn’t. To that end, that game of NBA 2K8 ends up having a narrative purpose on top of being a fun throwback and added interactivity for us.
Incidentally, this is where the story ends in The Prelude. As such, apart from another dialogue option, the NBA 2K8 showdown with Corey Harris is the last interactive part of that pre-release glimpse of MyCAREER in NBA 2K19. In hindsight, it was a good place to put a bookmark in “The Way Back”, giving us the option of picking up the story as AI arrives in Los Angeles if we choose to keep using our MyPLAYER from The Prelude. Considering that we had the ability to earn VC and upgrade that pre-release MyPLAYER – and that playing through MyCAREER once unlocked the ability to skip the story in future playthroughs – it was a good idea to do just that.
The ability to access and play a game in whole or in part within a sequel – what TV Tropes refers to as an Embedded Precursor – definitely isn’t unheard of. Super Mario Bros. 3 included the original Mario Bros. as a multiplayer mini-game. You can play Maniac Mansion within its sequel, Day of the Tentacle. Beating the original Donkey Kong arcade game is necessary to finish Donkey Kong 64. It’s not very common with basketball video games, though. Notably, the NTSC release of NBA Live 06 for the PlayStation 2 included a stripped-down, emulated version of NBA Live 95 for Sega Genesis. Mind you, for legal reasons, all of the players had to be made fictional!
Thanks to licensing an array of classic teams, NBA 2K19 was able to provide a more authentic flashback to NBA 2K8 as part of its MyCAREER story. It’s obviously not as accessible as other examples of Embedded Precursors, since not everyone plays that mode. Once again though, it was a very quick glimpse of an earlier game in the series, simply intended to be flavour content and a fun mini-game to make “The Way Back” more interesting. It also tied nicely and logically into the story, providing a means of both exploring the protagonist’s character and setting up a scene that underscored one of the main themes. It’s both enjoyable to play, and an excellent storytelling device.
Could it have worked if different classic teams were used to simulate another earlier game in the series? Sure, but NBA 2K8 is a better fit for the timeline. Is it actually NBA 2K8, considering the NBA 2K7 overlays and the fact it’s only referred to as a “classic 2K”? I’d say the 2008 rosters make it fairly obvious that it is; the developers just employed some creative license, perhaps because NBA 2K7’s blue colour scheme is nicer. Am I reading too much into its relevance to the plot, like I’m in high school English class? The “it’s not that deep” crowd will no doubt say yes, but I stand by my literary analysis! In short, it was a fun throwback that made a great story even better.
