The 15 Legends Announced; Developer Insight #2

[Houndy]

John Stockton's short shorts just got even shorter. That's right, when 2K Sports artists were rendering the exact look of the legends in "NBA 2K12," a few adjustments were made to make the game feel even more authentic. But 2K Sports didn't stop with John's virtual thread count as they not only went out and made uniform adjustments, they actually recreated match-ups from the 1960s complete in black and white, factored in all of the actual rules changes depending on the year, not to mention all of the sweet signature animations and shot packages that they added to capture every move in Pistol Pete's arsenal.

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/videoga ... =fullstory

[iPrototype]

DAMN IT! Beat me to it >.>

[Rob Owen]

The Legends in no particular order.

1. Oscar Robertson
2. Larry Bird
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Julius Erving
6. Patrick Ewing
7. Magic Johnson
8. Michael Jordan
9. Karl Malone
10. Scottie Pippen
11. Hakeem Olajuwon
12. Isiah Thomas
13. Bill Russell
14. John Stockton
15. Jerry West

WTF! Where is Chuck?

[StompTheCourt]

Yeah baby man so since they included the rules i hope this means the hand check rule is disabled in retro mode
and I kept saying this was the reason why they were doing it like this but everyone disagreed with me

After selling over 5 million copies of "NBA 2K11" thanks to the nostalgia (and hang time) of Air Jordan

[The X]

Jerry West is the most intriguing to me. I'm curious to how well they re recreate him.

[XPviper]

They should have added David Robinson istead of Pippen, but except this I'm happy with what they chose for this mode. Can't wait to play Wilt's 100 game on 2k12

[StompTheCourt]

They should have added David Robinson istead of Pippen, but except this I'm happy with what they chose for this mode. Can't wait to play Wilt's 100 game on 2k12

nah Robinson was kind over rated in my opinion just sayin, but regardless he is in the game so really don't matter we will still have him

[JaoSming]

Yea, I don't believe for a second that fans had any say in what legends they were going to include.

Teams by Year

1964-65 Celtics
1964-65 Lakers
1970-71 Lakers
1970-71 Hawks
1970-71 Bucks
1970-71 Lakers
1971-72 Lakers
1971-72 Knicks
1984-85 76ers
1984-85 Bucks
1985-86 Celtics
1985-86 Hawks
1986-87 Lakers
1986-87 Celtics
1988-89 Pistons
1988-89 Bulls
1990-91 Lakers
1990-91 Blazers
1990-91 Warriors
1992-93 Bulls
1992-93 Hornets
1993-94 Rockets
1993-94 Nuggets
1994-95 Knicks
1994-95 Magic
1995-96 Bulls
1995-96 Sonics
1997-98 Jazz
1997-98 Lakers
1997-98 Jazz
1997-98 Spurs
2001-02 Kings

Teams by Teams

1984-85 76ers
1990-91 Blazers
1970-71 Bucks
1984-85 Bucks
1988-89 Bulls
1992-93 Bulls
1995-96 Bulls
1964-65 Celtics
1985-86 Celtics
1986-87 Celtics
1970-71 Hawks
1985-86 Hawks
1992-93 Hornets
1997-98 Jazz
1997-98 Jazz
2001-02 Kings
1971-72 Knicks
1994-95 Knicks
1964-65 Lakers
1970-71 Lakers
1970-71 Lakers
1971-72 Lakers
1986-87 Lakers
1990-91 Lakers
1997-98 Lakers
1994-95 Magic
1993-94 Nuggets
1988-89 Pistons
1993-94 Rockets
1995-96 Sonics
1997-98 Spurs
1990-91 Warriors

So that's
2 Bucks, Jazz, Hawks, and Knicks Teams
3 Bulls and Celtics Teams
and 7 Laker Teams

That depends on whether or not teams from the same year are separated or not, but still, I wanted to have a historic Association, but with this many duplicates, I dunno.

[Mavs4Life]

Roookie Chuck should be in the game

& Wilt looks great. As for the black & white....

I wonder if Kobe will have a fro or not on the 97-98 Lakers team.

I'M HYPE FOR THIS GAME.

[Born2Ball]

Roookie Chuck should be in the game

& Wilt looks great. As for the black & white....

I wonder if Kobe will have a fro or not on the 97-98 Lakers team.

I'M HYPE FOR THIS GAME.

I hope rookie chuck is in he better be lol

[Andrew]

That's a decent selection, should be fun to play through. I kind of like that they didn't just go with all Finals match-ups, since noteworthy games can and do happen at any point of the season. I would've thought that Wilt's 100 point game would be in the mode but I wouldn't be surprised if there were an achievement/trophy for scoring 100 in a game with Wilt either in the NBA's Greatest challenge or in an exhibition game.

WTF! Where is Chuck?

Barkley isn't a fan of video games at all and doesn't have much interest in appearing in them. They can't include him without his permission, he's not interested in granting his permission, therefore no Chuck.

[TGsoGood]

This mode should be played with the player lock on... because it wouldn't make sense to play as stockton and malone twice or jordan and pippen... I hope they make it to where u can only be that one legend inside of this mode

[Andrew]

I'm not sure everyone would be up for that, not everyone enjoys being locked to one player. It's a fun idea for the mode but I'd make it optional myself.

[Rukawa_11]

Wooow, nice list, i'm excited about the rosters!

[OldFoolStyle]

The only way the 1984-85 76er's make more sense than 1982-83 is if they do somehow have Barkley in the game. Doc, Moses, Toney and Jones were all much better their championship year, and that was one of the best all time teams. Or even one of the earlier years, you lose Moses but get Chocolate Thunder and a much better Dr. J.. Given that this is supposed to be Dr. J. at his best, Why go for the ass-end of his career?. Also why give Kareem the ass-end of his career?. The Showtime Lakers should be Magic's challenge, Kareem should be late 70's early 80's versus Bill Walton, Wes Unseld or Moses Malone.
Realy, this makes no sense to me. Are they realy going for the later and lesser 76er's eam just to include Sedale Threat, Leon Wood and some generic placeholder starting PF?.
On the other hand, nice to see TC, Moncrief, Lister, Pressey and Peirce. Fun underrated team, and it will be interesting to see how the rotations are done with the 84 Bucks not having an actual PG.

[Andrew]

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. And if Sir Charles is indeed in the game, you'd think he'd be one of the featured legends. Strange.

[beau_boy04]

My observation:

1. 94-95 Magic: will be a very fun team to play with. Shaq during that season he averaged 29.3ppg, 11.4rpg, and 58%FG and his sidekick Anfernee Hardaway 20.9ppg, 7.2 apg and 51% FG

2. 84-85 Sixers: why choose this team for Dr. J challenge? I don't get it. He still averaged 20ppg, a 29y/o Moses Malone 24.6ppg and 13.1rpg. The only logic I see here for taking this team is if somehow they added rookie 21y/o Charles Barkley

3. 71-72 Lakers: why choose this team for Wilt "the Stilt" Chamberlain????? how can he score 100 points ???? he was already 35y/o. They should have choosen an earlier year for Wilt.

4. 92-93 Hornets: good team selection with Larry Johnson a 20/10 guy as well as Alonzo Mourning, another 20/10 player.

5. 97-98 Spurs: at least we gonna have the opportunity to play with these twin towers - David Robinson and rookie Tim Duncan. They both averaged over 20ppg, 10rpg and at least 2.5bpg.

6. 70-71 Bucks: why choose this team for Oscar's challenge? this is not Oscar at his best! he finished the season with 19.4ppg, 5.7rpg, and 8.2apg. However, I'm glad that we gonna see Kareem here. That year he averaged over 31.7ppg and 16.0 rpg.

7. 70-71 Lakers: I don't like this selection at all. We get a 32y/o Jerry West averaging 26.9ppg and 9.5apg, and an older Wilt Chamberlain (34y/o) averaging 20.7ppg, and 18.2rpg (wowW)

8. 93-94 Rockets: very good team selection. We gonna see Hakeem at his best! in his prime! and even better with his trademark moves "The Dream Shake" Hakeem averaged 27.3ppg, 11.9rpg, 3.6apg, 1.6spg, 3.7bpg, and 52%FG. Hakeem was a beast!

9. 93-94 Denver: 5 players with double digit. We get a 27y/o Mutombo averaging only 12ppg, and 11.8rpg and 4.1bpg. Not a very good selection.

10. 88-89 Pistons: we get the bad boys Pistons. They won the championship that year. Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Laimbeer and also an aging 32y/o Adrian Dantley, one of the best small forward in history.

11. 64-65 Boston: champion that year, i think their 7th consecutive championship. We get Bill Russell at 14.1ppg and 24.1rpg, Sam Jones their primary scorer at 25.9ppg, and Havlicek of course with 18.3ppg.

12. 64-65 Lakers: West at 31ppg, and Elgin Baylor 27.1ppg and 12.8rpg

13. 97-98 Utah: I don't get it. Why would they choose Karl Malone and John Stockton. That repetitive. Choosing Karl Malone was enough, why choose John Stockton when you are already getting him in Karl Malone 97-98 challenge mode? I don't get it. Maybe to save up some money???

14. 97-98 Lakers: 25y/o Shaq at 28.3ppg, 11.4rpg, 2.4bpg and 58%FG, and of course rookie Kobe Bryant in which he only averaged 15.4ppg.

15. 70-71 Hawks: We get Pete Maravich 23.2ppg, but their primary scorer is Lou Hudson 26.8ppg. I never heard of this guy before, this was the first time.

[Andrew]

The 1971 Bucks were the champions and the only time The Big O won a ring, so I see why they went that way. The 1972 Lakers were the champions and won a record 33 consecutive games, so they're a noteworthy team to say the least. I see what they were going for there. The 1994 Nuggets were huge underdogs who upset the top seeded Sonics, though they didn't face the Rockets in the Playoffs so that is kind of an unexpected selection.

[koberulz]

Are they going to do the WWE thing of releasing the Warriors and Kings as DLC later, or is preorder going to be the only way to get them?

[vegil]

I'm happy that I won't have to add that much cyberfaces, but it seems a bit stupid at the same time. I think 7 lakers teams are too much. I really wanted to see the likes of Mikan, Petit, Cousy, Gilmore, Miller, Archibald, Walton, Sabonis. And I can't believe they left out 01 Iverson. I think he was the fan favourite...

[Andrew]

Are they going to do the WWE thing of releasing the Warriors and Kings as DLC later, or is preorder going to be the only way to get them?

No mention as yet but hopefully they will go that route.

[homicide1550]

I wanted Chuck and Reggie!

[koberulz]

Are they going to do the WWE thing of releasing the Warriors and Kings as DLC later, or is preorder going to be the only way to get them?

No mention as yet but hopefully they will go that route.

Anyone on Twitter answering questions?

I'm really not planning on preordering this year, between the inevitable wait for the official patch, the delay before unofficial patches come out, and the fact that I'm still in January of year one of Association with only two of the Jordan challenges completed in 2k11, but if it's the only way to get those teams, I might have to go for it.

Want to get it from the US this year, too. Avoid missing logos and whatnot.

[gabolifal]

I don't understand a little thing: this legend mode will be all about just playing one game with each character? I think recreating historic moments is what made this mode fun, not jut playing somo cool/fun/even random matches. I don't know I would like better if they made like 3 or 5 classic players only and made the mode just like the Jordan on 2k11.
I mean, they will recreate 30 teams, if they made more 3 players, each one playing 10 moments would be more fun.

[The X]

Some intriguing choices & some disappointing omissions.

Happy about the following:

- '87 Lakers (a must)
- '86 Celtics (a must)
- '86 Hawks (had to get Nique in there)
- '72 Lakers (a must)
- '72 Knicks (although '73 version would've been better)
- '85 Bucks (an underrated selection)
- '95 Knicks (although '93 version would've been better)
- '95 Magic (a must)
- '91 Blazers (should've won title)
- '93 Bulls (a solid choice but where are '93 Suns?)
- '93 Hornets (a fun choice)
- '96 Bulls (a must)
- '96 Sonics (although I would've preferred '94 version to match up against '94 Nuggets)
- '71 Bucks (a must with a young, dominant Lew Alcindor)
- '94 Rockets (a must, shame we couldn't also get '95 version so he's with Drexler)
- '94 Nuggets (a good choice in theory, but only if you have them matched up against '94 Sonics)
- '89 Pistons (a must)
- '89 Bulls (good to match up against Pistons)
- '65 Celtics (a must)
- '65 Lakers (a must - West & Elgin in their primes)
- '71 Hawks (Pistol Pete )
- '91 Warriors (Run TMC)
- '02 Kings (would've liked '00 version with White Chocolate too

A bit meh about the following:

- '87 Celtics (already got a better team in '86 version and if we wanted a 2nd Celtics team thengive us the '81 version with a younger Larry)
- '85 76ers (why give us this version & not the '83 version that won the title? If we get Barkley, why not give us a slightly later version?)
- '91 Lakers (what the?)
- '98 Jazz (why give it to us twice and especially when '97 version is better)
- '98 Spurs (I understand the choice & at least we get The Admiral, shame he's slightly past his prime)
- '98 Lakers (give us 'the '00 version instead)
- '71 Lakers (they gave us '72 version, I'd prefer a re-tooling '71 Celtics with rookie Dave Cowens & led by Jo Jo White & John Havlicek)
- No '62 Royals (when Big O averaged triple double for the season)
- Where is Wilt's 76ers? (a travesty in itself )
- No Shaq in '00 (would've been nice to re-create my version of Lakers getting beaten up by '02 Kings)
- No Barkley or early 90's Suns (but hey, didn't expect that)
- No Reggie & mid 90's Pacers (a bit of travesty, no point playing against Knicks & Magic without Reggie)
- No '77 Blazers & '77 76ers (that's a game we all want to re-live when the Doctor was still in his prime)
- I know they got no right to be in there, but I'll mention them anyways - no '95 Lakers (since they added other fun teams, Ced, Eddie, Van Exel, Divac, Peeler, that's as good as it gets )

I mean, they will recreate 30 teams, if they made more 3 players, each one playing 10 moments would be more fun.

I disagree. I didn't even get through 2 or 3 Jordan challenges. Just boring trying to take every shot with MJ since 8 minute quarters. I want to dominate with Pip, not MJ. I like what they've done, even though I'd prefer to see a few different teams in there.