Wayback Wednesday: Lights Out Screensaver & NBA Jam TE

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: NBA Live 95 SNES vs. Genesis

Part of me – specifically, my most nostalgic inner child – desperately wants to pretend that the console war between Nintendo and Sega in the 90s wasn’t as petty as the dust-ups over PlayStation and Xbox over the past two decades. I’d like to say that platform warfare in the 90s was all in good fun whereas all the bickering over the 21st century consoles is Serious Business, but that’d be a lie. Sega’s marketing infamously boasted that “Genesis does what Nintendon’t“, while Nintendo hyped up “playing with power” and even welcomed fan art of Mario humiliating Sonic in its official magazines!

Putting aside my own inherent bias as a Nintendo kid and accepting that it may sound wishy-washy, from the perspective of gamers, I think we all benefitted and had a great time regardless of which big corporation we flew the flag for. Both the Genesis and Super Nintendo have classics in their libraries that are still fun to play to this day. It’s also interesting to compare and contrast the different versions of games that appeared on both consoles (and sometimes, they were completely different games!). The SNES and Genesis version of NBA Live 95 are largely the same, but there are some key differences between these 16-bit releases. Let’s take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: 24/7 Mode in NBA 2K

There are many features, modes, and concepts in basketball video games that are older than we may recall. To that point, MyCAREER has been a staple of NBA 2K since its debut as My Player way back in NBA 2K10; a game released in 2009. For that matter, the story-driven approach to MyCAREER has been the standard for over ten years now, debuting in NBA 2K14 Next Gen and appearing in almost three times as many games as the original version of the mode. In short, a single player career mode is nothing new at this point.

However, the concept is even older than that! While we didn't get a fully-fledged NBA-oriented career experience until 2009, earlier games did experiment with single player campaign modes. Indeed, NBA 2K branched out into this area very early on in the series, introducing 24/7 mode in ESPN NBA Basketball (aka NBA 2K4). It was relatively short-lived as it was phased out after NBA 2K7, but it stands as a creative concept that undoubtedly paved the way for modern career modes. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: NBA 2K8 Retrospective (Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3)

The tagline of NBA 2K8 was "It's like that". I find it extremely appropriate, though I guarantee it isn't for the reasons that the marketing department at Take-Two intended. Instead, "it's like that" are the frustrated words that run through my mind whenever I give NBA 2K8 a chance, and it disappoints me once again. Not to spoil the entire retrospective before I get into it, but if NBA 2K6 or NBA 2K7 had been the games to get me into the NBA 2K series - and they may well might've been, had I given them a fair chance back in the day - NBA 2K8 could've turned me off of it again.

Indeed, I'm prepared to call it one of the most overrated games in the entire series. The only reason I hesitate is because after looking at some contemporary reviews, it seems that the criticisms and unfavourable comparisons to its predecessors were being made back then, too. GameTrailers' review even went so far as to call it a serious step backwards, and I'm inclined to agree. It's unfortunate because the game does have a lot of good bones and enticing features, but for me, it's been a major retro basketball gaming disappointment. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Rolling Rosters Back One Year With Mods

Two of the most exciting modding ideas for basketball video games are bringing an old favourite up to date, and winding back the clock in new games with a detailed retro season mod. There's something truly enchanting about a mod so comprehensive that you almost forget that several years - or indeed, decades - separate the game and the season that the roster mod is set in! In comparison, roster mods that just involve rolling the rosters back one year may seem like a more humble affair, particularly if they're completely minimalist and don't include any court, jersey, or logo updates.

And yet, these projects can be immensely satisfying to create and play with! There are reasons that for as long as we've been able to meaningfully customise rosters - with or without the aid of external tools - we've had the idea of rolling back a game's rosters to the previous campaign. In short, it's a combination of some of our favourite aspects of playing and modding basketball video games, to the point where a season needn't be particularly old or established as nostalgic for us to want to re-create it. It's a way of changing things up, so let's look at a popular way to go back, that goes way back!

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Ben Gordon, My Post-MJ Favourite

Just as the Chicago Bulls remain my favourite NBA team all these years later, my all-time favourite player will always be Michael Jordan. However, although MJ is the player that got me and so many of my fellow 90s kids into basketball, my interest in hoops doesn't end with him. Sure, I may have some quibbles with the modern game, and certainly the discourse that's being led by so many talking heads with highly questionable agendas, but I'm still passionate about real and virtual basketball alike. In short, I didn't drift away from the sport when MJ hung up his Air Jordans.

Of course, maintaining my interest in the NBA as my beloved Bulls fell from grace and MJ rode off into the sunset - temporarily once again, and then for good - required a change in how I approached my fandom. I'd never had trouble enjoying other stars and teams, but with the Bulls nowhere near contention, that interest beyond "my" team became even more important as far as remaining invested in the NBA. While MJ would remain my all-time favourite player, I needed a new active favourite to cheer for. In time, that would become Ben Gordon. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: The One in NBA Live 18

There's a simple reason that I've had far more to say about the career modes in NBA 2K than their counterparts in NBA Live. While I've played MyCAREER in several NBA 2K games - in some cases finishing multiple seasons - I've yet to play through a single NBA campaign in Rising Star or The One. I've tried them out so that I can at least offer up some informed impressions, but I wasn't hooked by them. Granted, the gameplay in the eighth generation NBA Live titles was a major factor here! When I did spend time with NBA Live 15 and NBA Live 18, it was in Ultimate Team.

However, since revisiting eighth gen NBA Lives with fresh eyes and an open mind, I have developed more of an appreciation for them. That's not to say that I completely disagree with my previous criticisms or consider them classics, but I've noticed some of their strengths. This goes for modes as well as gameplay, as I've made a point of giving both a chance to make a new impression. I found myself revisiting The One in NBA Live 18, and while the mode does have some issues and weaknesses compared to MyCAREER, I actually had a good time with it. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: NBA 08 by Sony Retrospective

At the beginning of 2024, I decided that I'd attempt to dip into the collection at least once per week, and spend some time with a game that I hadn't played very much. I'll admit that between getting hooked on other games, content creation, and of course other responsibilities, those plans fell by the wayside after a couple of months! Still, it was a fun idea, one that I'll revisit in the future. In any case, while I was in the midst of those efforts back in January, one of the games that I fired up was NBA 08 for PlayStation 3.

I'd already covered NBA 07 not long before that, concluding that while it lacked depth and wasn't as realistic as other 5-on-5 sim games, it was still capable of being fun on the sticks. I noted some of its novel and innovative features, as well as the importance of offering an alternative to the big two brands in basketball gaming. I also delved into some of the challenges and drawbacks the game faced, owing to its exclusivity. Would NBA 08 be more of the same, or would it step up and challenge NBA Live 08 and NBA 2K8? Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: NBA Live 16 Free Agents Back in Uniform

To say that the roster customisation options in the eighth gen NBA Live releases were a disappointment is a massive understatement. After all, they were missing entirely until a patch added roster editing to NBA Live 18, and even then, the functionality was botched and buggy come NBA Live 19. Still, it's far easier to set up a custom roster or fantasy scenario in those two titles, compared to the first three releases on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Indeed, outside of the official roster updates - which are no longer available - Dynasty mode is the only way to see players in a new jersey.

It's also the only place that you'll see the selection of Free Agents that are included in NBA Live 16. To that point, there are some veterans still in the game that, if we could create custom rosters, would've allowed us to set up some fun scenarios. It can still be done in Dynasty, but with the limitations of the salary cap and an inability to edit jersey numbers, re-creating lineups is quite a challenge. Nevertheless, I've been able to place some of those NBA Live 16 Free Agents back in a uniform that they once wore, correct number and all. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: The Missing Steal Button in NBA Live PC

As a young basketball gamer back in the 90s, I grew up with some true classics. They weren't perfect of course, and there were aspects of those games that confused and annoyed me. Over the years, as I've come to learn more about video game design and the hardware that allows us to play games, certain choices and limitations have made a lot more sense. That includes why the early NBA Live games on PC didn't have a steal button, unlike their Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and PlayStation counterparts. I touched upon the reason when I discussed the history of keyboard controls, but the matter deserves a deeper dive via a video essay. Let's take a look back...way back...

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[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Creating Michael Jordan in NBA Live 96 PC

Today, I'm forty. I've been alluding to it in articles and on the NLSC Podcast, and finally, the day has come. It's a confronting realisation that I'm now technically middle-aged, but then again, I've been leaning into a few Grumpy Old Man opinions for a while now! Of course, that invites some armchair psychologist to dismiss those views as blind nostalgia, born of a desperate desire to cling to my youth and a time when everything felt simpler. Joke's on them, though; I was born to be a retro gamer, and I was going wayback before I was even thirty, let alone forty!

Snark aside, it is my birthday and a milestone one to boot, so I'd like to do something fun to mark the occasion. With that in mind, I've been mulling the possibilities as the date drew nearer. I could revisit a favourite game. A couple of the features that I'd already planned would also certainly fit with the reflective nostalgia of another trip around the sun. In the end though, I decided that I'd reminisce about something that combines a favourite game, my all-time favourite player, and the hobby of modding: creating Michael Jordan in NBA Live 96 PC. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: NBA Action

Several years ago now, during a discussion in the NLSC Forum, I saw someone refer to "that awful NBA Action show". I was quite surprised - shocked even - and ready to disagree! As a young fan in the 90s who eagerly anticipated the latest episode of NBA Action every week, I was puzzled to see it described in such unflattering terms. The more I thought about it though, the more it made sense. It was no longer the show it had once been. There was a new host, and new segments. Most importantly, it didn't have the same relevance in the digital age.

In short, if you weren't watching NBA Action before the mid to late 2000s, then you didn't see the show at its peak. Anyone who is accustomed to getting NBA news and highlights on demand may understandably struggle to see its value. It'd be like trying to convince someone who never watched golden age episodes of The Simpsons that it's one of the best comedies in history. Like The Simpsons though, NBA Action was a must-watch for me in the 90s, and I'm confident that many basketball fans around my age will say the same. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Street Hoops Retrospective

There was a time when multiple studios threw their hat into the ring with basketball video games, providing a choice beyond the brand leaders such as NBA Live and NBA 2K. Of course, while that era is nostalgic now and many of us miss having a plethora of hoops games, the market glut definitely wasn't sustainable. Not every game ended up being a big enough hit to spawn sequels or a series, often for very good reasons. Still, there are some overlooked gems and interesting releases that became cult classics and personal favourites for gamers who grew up with them.

As I've expanded my collection, it's been fun to experience games that I overlooked back when I was primarily playing NBA Live, NBA Jam, and NBA Street. Even the titles that lack the polish of the all-time classics are still fun to revisit, and they're definitely fascinating to dive into all these years later. That's an apt summary of Street Hoops by Black Ops Entertainment! Like its spiritual sequel, AND 1 Streetball, this 2002 release for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube is rough around the edges, but unquestionably had ambitious ideas and potential. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Mouse Controls in Basketball Games

I've observed some unusual gatekeeping when it comes to PC gaming, basketball or otherwise. There are some people who feel that multi-button gamepads are a console idea; that a true PC gamer uses the keyboard and mouse for their controls. I'm not a fan of gatekeeping at the best of times, but this particular stance has always puzzled me. As someone who grew up playing games on PC in the 90s, joysticks, gamepads, and steering wheels were all highly desirable among hardcore gamers. Peripherals were as much a thing for PC as they were for consoles, if not more so!

Of course, by that time, mice had basically become a standard peripheral. I don't know anyone who had a home computer in the 90s - one that was manufactured in that decade, at any rate - that wasn't using a mouse. Beyond their use in navigating the operating system, they were also gaming devices. Indeed, the point-and-click genre of adventure games is based entirely around the use of a mouse; it's right there in the name! With that being said, they weren't the ideal peripheral for more action-oriented titles such as sports games, yet mouse controls were actually supported on the virtual hardwood. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: The Midseason Rosters of Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside

Now that roster updates are common and viable on all platforms, we're accustomed to midseason moves being officially represented in video games. In the 90s and into the early 2000s however, we generally had to make our own roster updates, even on PC. As such, there have been many brief stints and short-lived lineups that don't appear in any official rosters due to occurring midseason, and being over by the time the next game is released. Outside of those rare official updates, the only way we'd see games reflect midseason rosters would be revised and re-released editions, and late launches.

That brings us to Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside, a Nintendo 64 exclusive released in 1998. Indeed, that is the key factor that sets it apart from other 1998 season titles such as NBA Live 98 and NBA Action 98/NBA Fastbreak '98. Whereas those games were released in late 1997 ahead of or around the beginning of the season, NBA Courtside came out after the calendar rolled over to 1998, and thus features midseason rosters. To that end, it captures a unique snapshot of the 1998 season, with some stints and lineups that you won't find in any other games. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: The Fictional Rookies of NBA 2K12

Fortunately, there haven't been too many lockouts in the history of the NBA. To that point, only two of them have ever ended up cancelling games, and we've yet to see an entire season lost to an unresolved labour dispute. We have seen lockouts affect video games however, whenever they've been released as scheduled despite a stoppage. The most obvious effect is that those games have launched with previous season rosters, rather than including the offseason moves and a new rookie class that we normally expect to see. This in turn has presented some issues, and necessary workarounds.

For example, the 16-bit version of NBA Live 96 included the expansion draft, as well as codes to easily replace Roster Players with rookies (and Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and assorted Legends!). Only one player in NBA Live 99 - Peja Stojakovic - could win Rookie of the Year in Season mode, though the official PC patch did add the Class of 1998, and any created rookies were also eligible for the award. NBA Full Court Press also received an official roster update. And then, there's NBA 2K12, and its fictional placeholder rookies that stood in for the Class of 2011 until the lockout was lifted and a patch was released. Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: The End of Franchise Mode in NBA Live 2000

To quote Ferris Bueller's Day Off - a classic film that I surprisingly haven't referenced more often in my various articles - "life moves pretty fast". That may not sound like a particularly profound piece of wisdom, but it is funny how a date that once seemed so futuristic is suddenly the present. In the 90s, the future draft picks in the 2000s that were being thrown into trades seemed so far away. Of course, back then the Year 2000 sounded incredibly sci-fi in general. Then it arrived, and apart from some very old computers rolling back to 1980 on their calendar, 2000 felt very much like 1999!

Around the turn of the millennium, we received one of the all-time great basketball video games: NBA Live 2000. The crowning achievement of the original NBA Live development team still holds up, especially the PC version which also brought us the first iteration of Franchise mode. Sim heads had been longing for multi-season play, and after NBA Live 99 gave us a small taste of the concept, Franchise in NBA Live 2000 truly delivered the goods. With the ability to play or simulate up to 25 seasons, we could reach the once faraway year of 2024! Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Was 2008 The Weakest Season For Basketball Games?

As much as I miss having multiple annual releases in the basketball gaming space - especially when we had at least three or four companies throwing their hat into the ring - it clearly wasn't sustainable. The quality of those games was inconsistent across the board, and it didn't help that some of them were console and regional exclusives. To that point, it's no wonder that many series didn't last nearly as long as NBA 2K, or even NBA Live. Still, it was great having so many choices that brought their own ideas to the table, and there were usually at least one or two fantastic games each year.

Nominating the best or strongest year in basketball gaming is tough; in fact, that's a topic that Dee and I might have to tackle on the podcast, with the community's input. If we're talking about the worst or weakest season for basketball games though, I do have an answer that - while obviously subjective - I am confident in. After going back and reviewing NBA Live 08, NBA 2K8, and Sony's NBA 08, I believe that 2008 is the frontrunner for the weakest season for basketball video games. I certainly wouldn't expect everyone to agree, but I have my reasons. Let's take a look back...way back...

[boxMAN29]

Funny thing is: ESPN NBA 2K5 has 2 fictional rookies on the Atlanta Hawks, they are Tony Williams and Marcus Johnson so 2K12 isn't the only 2K to have fake rookies

[Andrew]

Interesting, looks like it was done to pad the roster out to the minimum of 12, presumably because the Hawks didn't have enough players under contract at the game's roster cut-off date. I'm guessing they turned into superstars for a few gamers!

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: Lights Out Screensaver & NBA Jam TE

Considering that it's one of my all-time favourite basketball video games, it should be no surprise that I've covered NBA Jam Tournament Edition several times in Wayback Wednesday. The PC version is particularly special to me, as it's one of the very first hoops games that I bought. Indeed, I still have my original copy, which is fortunate as it seems to be a rare and expensive collectible nowadays! In any case, I've discussed so many aspects of NBA Jam TE in detail, from retrospectives of the game, to Kevin Edwards' incorrect portrait, to theories about ratings.

However, apart from a fleeting mention in the aforementioned retrospective, I've never really talked about the Lights Out screensaver that came with NBA Jam TE PC. As a young, hoops-crazed PC gamer back in the 90s, it became a source of frustration for me, as I was never able to install it. This wasn't a case of technological illiteracy, as I've been tinkering with computers since the age of eight or so (is it any surprise that I got into IT?). Rather, it's an apparent mistake with the included documentation, one that I've long sought a solution to. Let's take a look back...way back...