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 taking a look back at basketball games that saw updated releases, and other unusual editions.
Official patches are a touchy subject in gaming discourse nowadays. Many gamers believe that games are released with less polish because they can be fixed post-launch with patches, including day one updates. Gamers have also grown weary of constant updates, especially when patches are often several gigabytes in size. These concerns and criticisms are understandable, and I generally share them. At the same time, it’s inevitable with games becoming larger in scope. Furthermore, it’s preferable to a time when games rarely received patches on PC, and never received them on console.
Of course, even before patches existed in their current form and were generally PC-exclusive, games did receive fixes and updates. From different revisions of arcade ROMs to a second run of discs and cartridges containing a newer version of a title, many games back in the day received updated releases. This included being re-packaged as some kind of special edition: classics and bestseller lines, compilation packs, and so on. To that end, there have been some updated releases and unusual editions of basketball games over the years. Let’s take a look back…way back…
I’ll tip things off with Tecmo Super NBA Basketball. You may recall that this game included Michael Jordan. Then again, you may recall a player named Guard Bulls in his place. Either way, you’re correct! The original release with the serial code of XM features MJ, and was released in North America and Europe. An updated version with the serial code NA replaced Jordan with the aforementioned roster player, possibly due to his deal with EA that led to Michael Jordan in Flight and Chaos in the Windy City. Notably, while the XM and NA versions were both released in the US, Europe only received the XM version, while Australia only ever received the NA copies.
Reggie Lewis was also replaced by Forward Celtics in the new version. Additionally, as documented over on The Cutting Room Floor, some minor cosmetic changes were made to the game’s introduction. Both the replacement of Jordan and Lewis, and the small updates to art assets, are great examples of the differences that you can find in updated releases of old basketball games. As I covered in a previous feature, Tecmo NBA Basketball for the NES contained several inaccuracies with numbers, heights, and weights, which were corrected in an updated revision of the game. Once again, Michael Jordan was also removed in the later version due to a lack of likeness rights.
The same fate befell NBA Jam, only with Charles Barkley. Chuck can be found in the original arcade release and the first version of the ports for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, but he was removed in later copies for those consoles as Midway no longer had permission to include him. Beyond addressing any issues with likeness rights or correcting errors in player data, revised releases also provided an opportunity for a game to include updated rosters. Between the different revisions of the arcade release and all of the home ports, you’ll find that different versions of NBA Jam and NBA Jam Tournament Edition reflect trades and signings, and replace players accordingly.
As I’ve mentioned in several articles, one of the most infamous updates can be found in the fourth revision of the arcade version of NBA Jam TE. The cancelled trade of Robert Horry for Sean Elliott was reflected in this revision, though their portraits and jerseys weren’t properly switched. As I’ve also previously covered, removing Blue Edwards from the Bucks in the home port and replacing him with Kevin Edwards on the Nets resulted in Kevin erroneously using Blue’s portrait in the PC and PlayStation versions, seemingly carrying over a mistake from the SNES prototype. As they were released later, the PC and PS1 versions also feature updated 1995 season rosters.
Roster updates, bug fixes, and other revisions are interesting changes to note, but not necessarily unusual for updated releases to make. It’s far less common to see later copies of basketball video games make significant changes to their branding, but it has happened. Most recently, after being revealed as the cover player for NBA 2K18, Kyrie Irving – then of the Cleveland Cavaliers – demanded a trade. By the time the game was released, Kyrie had been sent to the Boston Celtics. To that end, the day one patch replaced the original boot screen – which you can still see if you fire up NBA 2K18 without the patches – while second run copies featured updated cover art.
This wasn’t the first time that a cover player had been traded before their game had been released. Stephon Marbury was a New Jersey Net when he signed on as the cover player for NBA ShootOut 2002 by 989 Sports. However, the day before the game was officially announced, the Nets and Suns went through with a deal they’d agreed upon in June, which sent Starbury to Phoenix for Jason Kidd. The original cover art featured Marbury in a Nets jersey, which was ultimately replaced by a new shot of him in a Suns uniform. As far as I’m aware though, the game launched with the updated artwork, though the Nets cover often appears in promotional materials.
A similar situation occurred with Konami’s NBA in the Zone 99. The original cover art featured Glen Rice in a Charlotte Hornets uniform, but by the time the game was released, he’d been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. This resulted in a new cover with Rice sporting a Lakers jersey, though the label on NTSC Nintendo 64 cartridges still featured the action shot from the original artwork. Since the PAL version came out a couple of months later, the label was replaced with new artwork that removed Rice in favour of the NBA in the Zone 99 logo in front of a basketball texture. 2K weren’t so lucky with the timing of Kyrie’s trade demand and the NBA 2K18 cover.
So, that covers updated releases. What about unusual editions? Long-time gamers may be familiar with EA Classics, a range of games that EA re-released at a lower price point. They weren’t all EA properties – in some cases, they’d simply bought the re-release rights to games from other developers and publishers – but the line did make several popular EA and EA Sports games available much cheaper. If you jump on eBay and other online stores that carry old PC games, you’ll find a handful of NBA Live titles that were re-released under the Classics brand. You might also stumble across some other re-releases that were distributed in a particular country or region.
For example, there was the Black Diamond Game Series re-release of NBA Live 99 PC, as pictured above. From what I can gather, it was a line similar to EA Classics that was packaged by Rainbow Entertainment, an Australian company that was better known for distributing VHS and DVDs. I don’t recall seeing it on shelves back in the day, but it does appear they secured the rights to re-release several EA titles in the late 90s and early 2000s. At the time, they were an affordable way to pick up a title you’d missed out on. These days they’re fun collectibles, in part because their box art makes them look a little like bootlegs. Despite that appearance however, they are legitimate.
Another interesting aspect of these PC re-releases is that they’d often include official patches that had been distributed online. The Black Diamond Game Series version of NBA Live 99 PC includes the first official bug fix and roster update patch, though it must be located in the patches folder on the CD-ROM and installed separately to the game. A similar concept to updated releases on console, this was quite handy in an era where not everyone was online, or necessarily knew how to go searching the internet for video game patches. EA also released the EA Sports Mania pack for PC, featuring NBA Live 99, NHL 99, Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf, and Triple Play 2000.
There have been some other unusual or at least non-standard editions of basketball games throughout the years. Many of them have been special pre-order packs with bonus content and collectibles, such as the Dynasty edition of NBA 2K13, or re-releases that include post-launch content, such as the Game of the Year edition of NBA 2K12. The latter is definitely worth seeking out on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, as it includes the Legends Showcase downloadable content that is no longer available through digital stores. Given how easy it is to lose the Dream Team in NBA 2K17 following the server shutdown, I wish that it had a Game of the Year edition, too!
Speaking of digital content and special/unusual editions, an All-Star Edition of NBA Live 19 was released in February 2019. It included clothing items for your player in The One, All-Star themed Ultimate Team cards, new players for Court Battles, and other digital bonuses. However, if you already owned the game and fired it up by March 22nd, you could still claim that content as well. An official patch also changed the title screen to that of the All-Star Edition, though a subsequent update has since restored the original artwork. It’s not as exciting as some of the other updated releases and new editions of games, though it’s unique in that it also affected original copies.
As with other genres, seeking out specific versions of basketball games can be a fun exercise for collectors. They also have a practical use for retro gaming given that they have different rosters, resolve bugs (or still have them, if there’s an advantageous or entertaining glitch), and sometimes include DLC or bonus content that’s no longer readily available. If nothing else, they can have some interesting covers and artwork; especially when the face of the game has been unexpectedly traded! As for the errors and roster updates that once had to wait for revisions and second run copies, it’s a reminder that while official patches can be annoying, they’re a far preferable solution.
Huge credit to The Cutting Room Floor for being an essential resource in researching different versions of basketball games! For anyone who isn’t familiar with the site, I highly recommend TCRF if you’re interested in cut content, prototypes, and other fascinating research into a variety of video games, new and old.
