Wayback Wednesday: The EA Sports Bio in NBA Live 2004

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday

Wayback Wednesday is a weekly feature that comes out - as the name would imply - every Wednesday. It's your midweek blast from the past, inckuding features and retrospectives on old basketball video games, old NLSC feature articles and editorials published as-is with added commentary, and other flashback content. This is a central discussion thread for the feature, in which I invite you to post any feedback along with your responses to each column's topic. A link to the latest article can always be found here in the first post, along with a link to the complete archive.

• Complete Archive

Latest Feature

August 15th, 2018: The EA Sports Bio in NBA Live 2004

In these days of microtransactions for ratings boosts and cosmetic items alike, the notion of receiving rewards for simply playing a game seems rather quaint. Likewise, the idea of having to unlock additional content rather than it being openly promoted as a selling point, either by having it readily available out of the box or perhaps as a pre-order exclusive, seems delightfully retro. That's how it used to be though, with most content either being unlocked by completing some objective, earning points for an in-game shop, or in some cases, punching in a code.

For their range of 2004 season games, EA Sports introduced a new initiative that was intended to reward gamers, as well as provide an incentive to buy more than one title. That initiative was the EA Sports Bio, a feature that was exclusive to consoles. Even though it was intended to drive sales and put the squeeze on the competition, it was an initiative that benefited gamers even if you only purchased one title, as I did with NBA Live 2004. It's an interesting concept that inspired features in later games, so let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

November 11th, 2015: Wade One of NBA Live’s Most Successful Cover Players

This week, we’re tipping off the new Wayback Wednesday feature with an article from ten seasons ago, when Dwyane Wade was a rising star on the way to his first NBA championship. Wade’s heroics in the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals had punched the Miami Heat’s ticket to their first NBA Finals appearance, and in doing so, he became the third player to reach the championship round the same year as gracing the main cover of NBA Live. Before the Finals tipped off, I wrote an article noting the distinction, and wondering whether he would indeed become the first main NBA Live cover player to win a title in the same year.

Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

November 18th, 2015: NBA Jam Tournament Edition PC Retrospective

In this week’s Wayback Wednesday, I’m taking a look back at the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition, with some unscripted commentary on a game I played a few years ago. Building on the success of the original game, NBA Jam Tournament Edition – often called NBA Jam TE for short – brought updated rosters and a few new features to the table, all in all proving to be a worthy follow-up to an all-time classic. As I’ve been sitting on this footage for a while and I’ve wanted to do more video content here at the NLSC, it seemed like a good way of providing a retrospective of one of my all-time favourite basketball video games. I hope you enjoy it!

With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgCP5oblHOk

[deihatein]

I already said my thoughts about the video. Looking forward for more content like this!

[Andrew]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[[Q]]

I actually owned this game on PC as well as SNES. I liked that the PC version had better graphics, and updated rosters & logos (but unfortunately no jersey colors)

[Andrew]

I still remember the "Dunk from anywhere" code for SNES: Left, Right, A, B, B, A. It's a different code for the PC version, which I finally discovered when my family got the Internet back in 1997.

[[Q]]

That was the best cheat code. Dunking from 7 point hotspots from the backcourt

It sucked that there wasn't enough time to put more than one or two codes in

[Andrew]

Yeah, you had to be quick. I also remember that among my friends, there was a code of honour when it came to the cheat codes. We decided we could use them, but if one of us messed up and had no cheats activated while the other one did, we'd start again so we could at least fight fire with fire.

[[Q]]

Oh man, cheat codes... those were pre-internet when you'd have to find them in "cheat code magazines" on newsstands or in cheat code books at the local library

[Andrew]

Exactly. That's why I didn't find the code for the PC version until years later. The SNES one didn't work, no matter how many times I tried it, just in case.

[Andrew]

November 25th, 2015: The NBA Live Domain

For those who are unaware, I didn’t found the NLSC – then the NBA Live Series Center – way back in 1996. That was the work of Tim, Lutz, and Brien, and it was their efforts that inspired me to create my own NBA Live website: the NBA Live Domain, or NLD for short. Yes, I was definitely inspired by the NLSC in a lot of ways.

There were a lot more NBA Live fan sites back in the day, especially as everyone tended to host their own patches. Generally speaking, you don’t see a lot of sites like that anymore. We’re obviously still around…now covering NBA 2K and basketball games in general as well as NBA Live…and you’ve also got Operation Sports, with their excellent coverage of the entire genre of sports games. Beyond that, most sports gamers seem to provide content through YouTube and other social media platforms.

So, with this being Wayback Wednesday, and given our ongoing celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of NBA Live, I thought I’d offer up some reflections on my old site. Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

December 2nd, 2015: Microsoft Complete NBA Basketball Retrospective

It seems that the retrospective of NBA Jam Tournament Edition PC that I posted a couple of weeks ago was well received, and I certainly had fun producing it. As such, I’ll be creating some more video retrospectives of older basketball video games, and featuring them in future editions of Wayback Wednesday. I’ve got a bunch of games in mind, some of which you may remember and some you may not, which I’m looking forward to dusting off and discussing in detail.

However, for this week’s Wayback Wednesday, I’m looking back at an old release with a written retrospective, rather than a video feature. That’s because the title I’m discussing today doesn’t actually have any gameplay to show, so it doesn’t exactly lend itself well to a video retrospective. That release is Microsoft Complete NBA Basketball.

It’s not the type of title that we’d normally cover in detail here at the NLSC, but for me, is does have some nostalgic value. Hopefully, you’ll find it to be an interesting change of pace. With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

December 9th, 2015: NBA All-Star Challenge Video Retrospective (Super NES)

If you enjoyed my look back at NBA Jam Tournament Edition on PC, good news! I’ve got another video retrospective for you this week. This time, I’m taking a look at NBA All-Star Challenge, developed by Beam Software and published by LJN back in 1992 for the Super Nintendo. It’s a game that I picked up for a few bucks when searching for old NBA games on eBay; it piqued my interest as it’s a game I never played in the 90s, so I wanted to check it out. Since playing it, I’ve mentioned it a couple of times in the Friday Five and on the NLSC Podcast, as I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to discuss it in more detail.

Is NBA All-Star Challenge an all-time classic? Well…not exactly. Nevertheless, it is an interesting game to look back on. With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9BOQ_VxZA

[[Q]]

Man, this was the 3rd SNES game I got and I agree it was underwhelming vs the 5 on 5 games, but it did offer a bit of variety if you got tired of playing one mode. LOL at those dunking attempts, which I fond only seem to work going straight from the short corner or from the top of the key for the reverse jam which was a nice touch (this was back when reverse dunks were considered cutting edge).

[Andrew]

Yeah, I found that with some angles, it just wasn't worth trying. I couldn't help doing it though, to show how awkward it was.

[Andrew]

December 16th, 2015: Less than Thunderstruck

I had intended to post another video retrospective for this week’s Wayback Wednesday, as I’m really enjoying making them. However, I’d like to spend a little more time with it, as I’ve wanted to talk about this particular game in more detail for some time now, and I want my video content to continually improve. As such, I’m now looking to release the video next week; in the meantime, I’ll repeat my hint from last week’s Podcast, and say that it’s a game that has three different titles. Happy guessing!

So, for this week, I’m taking a look back at an old article that I posted back in 2008. The article – “Less than Thunderstruck” – is an opinion piece that I wrote a week after the Seattle Supersonics formally became the Oklahoma City Thunder, and unveiled their new logo. Following the article, which I’m presenting as-is, I’ll provide some commentary as we look back on that topic, all these years later.

Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

December 23rd, 2015: World League Basketball Video Retrospective

As promised, I have a new video retrospective for this week’s Wayback Wednesday! Today, I’m taking a look back at an old favourite of mine that I’ve wanted to talk about in more detail for some time now. It’s a basketball game for the Super Nintendo called World League Basketball…well, the game that I own is called World League Basketball, anyway. Depending on where you lived when this game was released in 1992, you might have known it as NCAA Basketball, or perhaps Super Dunk Shot.

It’s a game that was, in some ways, ahead of its time, and it’s definitely worth reminiscing about. With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWTNnw1IM8

[Pdub]

Excellent video! I loved NCAA basketball back in the day. I don't remember it looking so pixelated, though, probably because I was playing on the SNES. I actually had no idea that it was released with 3 different names.

[Andrew]

Thanks Pat! I'm pleased with how it turned out, feel I'm getting the hang of a few things.

I was actually the same, from the PAL perspective. I had no idea there were three different versions until years later, and always assumed that they'd only made a fictional global basketball league game, rather than it being a workaround for not being able to sell NCAA games internationally.

[Andrew]

December 30th, 2015: LeBron James in NBA Live 2004

Today, LeBron James turns 31. I don't feel comfortable calling him one of the league's elder statesmen just yet, mostly because I'm only a couple of months older than the King, and I'd like to avoid any "elder" labels for as long as I can. Nevertheless, at this point LeBron James is well-established as one of the league's marquee players, biggest attractions, and all-time greats. He's been one of the top players in basketball - and a candidate for being the top player in basketball - for over a decade now.

At times, it feels like the last decade or so has flown by very quickly. All of a sudden, here we are watching an NBA where LeBron James is in his thirteenth season. Like the great players that came before him, he's become an institution. As such, if you're a younger fan, it might be difficult to imagine him as an up-and-coming rising star, The Next Big Thing. Of course, when LeBron made his NBA (and NBA video game) debut back in the 2004 season, he was exactly that. With it being Wayback Wednesday, and also his birthday, I wanted to take a look back at early virtual LeBron, specifically his presence in NBA Live 2004.

Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

January 6th, 2015: Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball Video Retrospective

It’s time for another video retrospective, and this week, I’m taking a look back at a game that I’m not particularly fond of. In fact, it would easily make my shortlist of the worst basketball video games ever made, quite probably coming in at number one. That game is Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball, a futuristic arcade hoops game starring the former Bad Boy Piston as the commissioner of a league in the year 2030, in which he’s fired the referees and thrown out almost all of the rules.

An unusual and potentially entertaining concept, it didn’t exactly pan out, perhaps explaining why there aren’t any other basketball video games starring Bill Laimbeer. With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

phpBB [video]

https://youtu.be/EpvlcTtDbOE

[Andrew]

January 13th, 2015: Replay Professional Basketball

While there have been a few basketball management/text sim games released over the years, they’ve never matched the popularity of the prominent gameplay-based titles, such as NBA Live, NBA 2K, and NBA Jam. A few of them are still around, including some that are free to play online, but they don’t command nearly as much attention as the games that actually feature on-court action. It’s only natural: most people want a fully interactive experience, with franchise and career modes, and online head-to-head play against their fellow basketball gamers.

And yet, there’s a contingent of basketball enthusiasts who would be content to sit back and watch a virtual representation of the sport, adopting more of a coaching or management role. As such, the prospect of an NBA licensed management sim is brought up every once in a while. I’ve never had much interest in that subgenre myself, as I’d prefer to be in control of the action, but I’ve dabbled with a sim game before. That game was 1991’s Replay Professional Basketball, created for DOS by Thomas R. Mink, and it’s the subject of this week’s Wayback Wednesday!

Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

January 20th, 2015: Old School Basketball Video Game Music

Sometimes, I’m surprised at the outrage over the soundtracks in basketball video games. Sure, not everyone has the same taste in music, but suggestions that a soundtrack completely ruins the game feel like an exaggeration. After all, if the gameplay and game modes are more than satisfactory, isn’t that what should matter the most? You might as well suggest that the colouring and details on the main menu spoil the game…and yes, we’ve done that too.

The more I think about it though, the more I realise that the music in basketball video games is significant in its own way. An appealing soundtrack clearly resonates with basketball gamers, and that’s evident by how much it’s tied into our nostalgia for older titles. Whether you’re firing up an old game to play it again, or you’re looking up old video game music on YouTube, as soon as you hear those opening bars, you’re taken back to a time when you loved that game, and played it for hours on end.

We all have our own favourites, both in terms of soundtracks and the games they’re attached to, so for this week’s Wayback Wednesday, I wanted to talk about some old school basketball game music that always make me feel nostalgic. So let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

January 27th, 2015: Ramblings of a Disappointed Bulls Fan

I'm still working on some new videos for Wayback Wednesday and our other featured content, so this week I'm digging into the archives to look back at another old article. This is a lengthy piece I wrote about the Chicago Bulls in the wake of Ben Gordon's departure in the offseason of 2009, something that I certainly wasn't thrilled about at the time. A fair bit has changed since then, so I thought it'd be interesting to post it again, and provide some follow-up opinions and commentary.

As usual, I'm presenting the article more or less as it was originally published. That means if I come across any grammatical or punctuation errors, I'm curbing any urges to edit them, and running with the piece as-is; the only changes I've made are the addition of some images to break up the text, and a correction of a misspelling of LaMarcus Aldridge's name. My apologies if it's a bit of a difficult read, but as always, it'll hopefully highlight my improvement as a writer.

With that said, let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

February 3rd, 2016: NBA Live 2001 Easter Egg - Sub in The Clown

Beyond bugs and glitches in the programming itself, a common cause of video game crashes is the absence of required files, or the presence of damaged or corrupted ones. Delete a file, or try to modify it in a way that renders it unusable (or unstable), and you're bound to see a crash. If you've ever tried some more advanced modding for NBA Live or NBA 2K, then chances are you're very familiar with how trial and error, missing a step in the procedure, or simply tinkering with a sensitive game file can swiftly send you back to the desktop.

However, not all errors will cause lock-ups and crashes. When certain textures or model files are missing, some games will simply load a placeholder instead. In NBA Live, this has usually taken the form of pink, white, multi-coloured, and even basketball textures being loaded in place of missing faces and shoes, as well as a generic headshape if one can't be found. In NBA 2K, it's tended to be a blank, white texture. Way back in NBA Live 2001 though, EA Sports had a rather novel take on a stand-in texture: a clown face.

It's one of the more amusing Easter Eggs that has been included in NBA Live, so let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

February 10th, 2016: NBA Live 08's Hidden Historical Teams

Throughout the history of video games, most titles have had a secret or two to discover. Of course, for as long as gamers have been searching for hidden secrets and extra content, urban legends and hoaxes have also been making the rounds, leading to many wasted hours looking for something that isn't there. Basketball games are no exception, and the fact that some games have featured hidden and unlockable content has naturally led to rumours of all sorts of secret players, teams, and other features, none of which were actually true.

Outside of a supposed hidden and unlockable dunk contest, one of the most popular rumours in NBA Live over the years was that by completing certain objectives, you could unlock historical teams. Of course, to include historical teams in the first place, EA Sports would need to secure the likeness rights for a lot of players. As such, retro teams didn't become a reality until 2K Sports finally added them in NBA 2K11 via the Jordan Challenge, and they've managed to keep a bulk of their historical content in the game up until today. However, it appears that EA Sports was actually trying to do something similar, back in the days of NBA Live 08.

It's arguably one of the most interesting Easter Eggs we've ever discovered, while poking through the files of a basketball video game. So let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

February 17th, 2016: Michael Jordan in Flight Video Retrospective

February 17th marks the birthday of my all-time favourite basketball player, Michael Jordan. Since this week’s Wayback Wednesday coincides with MJ’s birthday, and I’ve been eager to do another video retrospective for a while, I figured it was a good time to look back at an old game featuring His Airness: Michael Jordan in Flight. Released exclusively for PC DOS back in 1992, it may seem primitive today, but for its time, it was quite technologically advanced.

Whether or not you’re a big fan of Michael Jordan, I hope that you’ll enjoy my video retrospective of another noteworthy, and somewhat unique basketball video game. With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

phpBB [video]

https://youtu.be/fjChcG2D0CE

[Andrew]

February 24th, 2016: NBA Live 2004’s Extra Teams

These days, we’re used to extra content in basketball video games, such as the historical squads in the NBA 2K series. While NBA Live currently doesn’t include any historical content outside of Ultimate Team (aside from retro jerseys, of course), the series used to feature All-Star teams comprised of players from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, along with a pool of Legends that could be placed on the current rosters. Of course, that’s not counting the historical teams that were intended to be in NBA Live 08, which were ultimately scrapped.

NBA Live 2004 featured the usual lineup of Decade All-Star Teams, which incidentally is the last time that Michael Jordan has (officially) appeared in an NBA Live game to date. However, NBA Live 2004 also featured two other bonus teams: the Charlotte Bobcats, who weren’t set to join the NBA until the following season, and the Spanish National Team. The former was revealed before NBA Live 2004’s release and available out of the box, while the latter had to be manually unlocked.

It was a somewhat unique situation as far as bonus content in NBA Live is concerned, so let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

March 2nd, 2016: Oklahoma City in NBA Live 09

The relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City and their subsequent re-branding to the Thunder happened quite quickly during the offseason of 2008. On top of outrage and contempt, not only from Sonics fans but a lot of NBA fans in general, the rushed move also resulted in logos and jerseys that most people didn’t particularly care for. Disdain and animosity towards the Oklahoma City Thunder seemingly persists to this day, even after the team lost to the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals.

As you might imagine, the hectic relocation led to a late reveal of the Thunder’s designs, which ultimately had an impact on NBA Live 09. Because the official unveiling happened so late in the production cycle of NBA Live 09, EA Sports were forced to use placeholder branding for the Thunder, rather than their real logos, jerseys, and colours…at least initially. In the intro video for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 09, there’s even a clip of Kevin Durant wearing a Seattle SuperSonics jersey.

It was an unusual situation, so let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

March 9th, 2016: The Expansion Draft in NBA Live 96 SNES

As I discussed in a previous edition of Wayback Wednesday, league expansion can lead to some unique features being added to NBA video games. Such was the case with NBA Live 96, with the league's expansion across the border into Canada and the addition of the Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors. When the Grizzlies and Raptors joined the league twenty years ago, an Expansion Draft was held to help them fill out their rosters, as is the norm. The twenty-seven other teams were able to protect eight players, which needless to say limited the pool of available talent outside of the deeper squads.

In most versions of NBA Live 96, the rosters were updated for the 1996 season with Class of 1995 rookies and offseason transactions. This wasn't the case with the Super Nintendo version of NBA Live 96, which was missing the rookies (though there were codes to unlock them, along with Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and some bonus Legends), and also did not account for major moves like the Chicago Bulls' acquisition of Dennis Rodman, nor the results of the Expansion Draft. What the SNES version of NBA Live 96 did have was the unique feature of the Expansion Draft itself.

Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

March 16th, 2016: Rappers in NBA Live 2003

Basketball video games have had their fair share of hidden players over the years, from the secret characters in NBA Jam to the dummied out and unlockable players in NBA Live and NBA 2K. In the case of NBA Live 2003, there were six players who were unlockable via codes, all of whom were rappers.

Granted, they weren’t as useful as the hidden rookies in NBA Live 2004, or the dummied out historical players in NBA Live 08. Nevertheless, the rappers in NBA Live 2003 were kind of a cool bonus, and could still be put to good use in special roster patches, such as the NBA Live Street mod. To unlock them, users simply had to input specific codes as the last name in Create-a-Player.

Do you remember which rappers were included in NBA Live 2003? Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

March 23rd, 2016: NBA Live Championship Celebrations

A little while back, a visitor requested that we upload the championship celebration videos for NBA Live 95 through NBA Live 2000 to our YouTube channel. I finally got around to doing that last week, capturing the videos from the PC versions of those games while using the correct champions for each season. If you’ve subscribed to our channel then you may have already seen them, but I thought I’d also talk about them a little bit for this week’s Wayback Wednesday.

When CD-ROM became the popular format for video games back in the 90s, replacing floppy discs and cartridges, titles of all genres began making use of bigger and better quality media files, especially full motion video. In the PC and PlayStation versions of NBA Live, real NBA footage was used in both the introduction and championship celebration sequences. These days, it’s preferable to have elaborate cutscenes that utilise in-game assets, but back in the day, these videos were both a novelty and a fitting way to cap off a virtual championship.

Fancy a trip down memory lane? Then let’s take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

March 30th, 2016: Failing to Mod NBA Jam TE on PC

I’ve mentioned NBA Jam Tournament Edition a few times in previous features, as it’s one of my all-time favourite basketball video games, and in my opinion, one of the best arcade hoops games ever made. Appropriately enough, it was the subject of my first video feature for Wayback Wednesday. In that video, I mentioned that I once tried my hand at modding the game, as I wanted to replace Ron Harper with Michael Jordan.

Although I wouldn’t actually discover and get into the patching scene until my family first connected to the Internet in 1997 and I subsequently found the NLSC, those attempts to modify NBA Jam TE were an early indication of my interest in tinkering with basketball video games. I wasn’t successful in my efforts, and having looked into the matter again now that I know a bit more about modding, it unfortunately doesn’t appear to be feasible…at least with the PC version.

So, for this week’s Wayback Wednesday, I’m taking a look back at my early attempts to mod NBA Jam Tournament Edition on PC, as well as my more recent investigations. Let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

April 6th, 2016: NBA Live’s Face in the Game

While there’s still a long road ahead of the NBA Live series following its reboot with NBA Live 14, it has made some promising steps, and demonstrated some really good concepts. Something that I believe NBA Live 16 actually did a lot better than NBA 2K16 was the manner in which it allowed players to scan their faces into the game. I still haven’t been able to get NBA 2K’s face scan to work properly; conversely, I’ve found the NBA Live companion app much easier to use, and the results were very impressive.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that the NBA Live series has allowed players to put their faces into the game. The PC versions of NBA Live have obviously allowed for the creation of custom face textures through patching, but two games in the series – NBA Live 2000 and NBA Live 2001 – have actually facilitated the creation of custom faces in-game. The feature was called Face in the Game, and it actually worked quite well.

It’s an often overlooked feature from a time when EA Sports were being extremely innovative with the NBA Live series, so let’s take a look back…way back…

[Andrew]

April 13th, 2016: Kobe Bryant in NBA Video Games

Kobe Bryant is set to play his final NBA game today, as the Los Angeles Lakers wrap up their 2016 season against the Utah Jazz. It marks the end of a long and successful career for one of the best players in the history of basketball, and the only player to suit up for the same NBA team for twenty seasons. Despite the fact that Kobe Bryant was often as reviled by NBA fans as much as he was loved, there’s been much nostalgia and celebration as his career has drawn to a close.

His long NBA career has meant that Kobe Bryant has appeared in numerous basketball video games over the past couple of decades. In fact, former teammate Shaquille O’Neal may be the only player with more official appearances in NBA titles, as he played nineteen years in the league himself, and has continued to be featured as a Legend following his retirement. So, as Kobe Bryant’s last NBA game looms, I thought I’d take a look back at his history in video games.

Kobe has of course appeared in every NBA title since he entered the NBA, but I’m just going to focus on some of the highlights here, kind of a glance back through the years. With that said, let’s take a look back…way back…

[[Q]]

Great move by 2K on that cover.
I remember getting my mom to get me Action 98 (Even though I already had Live 98) because it had Kobe on the cover and Chick Hearn at the announce table. I kept trying to play it, hoping it would be good, but Live 98 was just superior in every way. The worst was the inability to edit player jersey numbers after trades. That made me so mad.

[Andrew]

I'm looking at doing a retrospective on the games of the 1998 and 2000 seasons, because I've been able to get my hands on a few of them. I'd agree though, at the time NBA Live was definitely out in front.

[Andrew]

April 20th, 2016: NLSC Art from the Archives

As you may have seen, we're currently celebrating the 20th Anniversary of NBA Live - a little past the date, but we want to finish what we've started - in a series of features that include retrospectives, in-depth articles, and even some patch releases. More of that content will be on the way shortly, with a retrospective of NBA Live 2001 being the next feature up. However, the NLSC itself has an anniversary coming up in the not too distant future. As of August, we'll have been around for twenty years ourselves, in one form or another.

I expect that we'll have some kind of celebrations, with some special content to mark the occasion. We might also look to spruce up our design a bit, as it's been a few years since our last major renovation. The idea of freshening up our look prompted me to look back through the archives, both for ideas that will allow us to pay homage to our heritage in any new designs, as well as to simply take a stroll down memory lane.

Care to join me? If so, let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

April 27th, 2016: Hidden Players in NBA Live 96 SNES

The inclusion of several hidden players in the Super Nintendo version of NBA Live 96 is a trivia note that I've mentioned in a few previous columns, including my look back at the game's Expansion Draft feature. I've also mentioned my intention to talk a little more about those hidden players, and this week's Wayback Wednesday seems as good a time as any.

Hidden players have been found in several basketball video games over the years. A few rookies were hidden in the default rosters of NBA Live 2004, and were unlockable via a code (or DBF editing on PC). Poking around in NBA Live 08's database uncovered some unused historical teams. The NBA Jam series famously features several secret players that you can play with, and against. And, if you use RED MC to open up the rosters for recent NBA 2K games, you'll find a few players that have been deactivated and removed from the active roster.

However, NBA Live 96 on SNES features one of the largest selections of unlockable hidden players that we've seen in a basketball game. How did that come about? Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

May 4th, 2016: Charles Barkley in Basketball Video Games

With this being May the 4th, the iconic Star Wars franchise is what a lot of people around the world are talking about and celebrating today. It's a little difficult to tie that into basketball - though Chewbacca's size would probably make him pretty dominant in the paint - so I decided to take a look back at this day in NBA history for inspiration. In doing so, I was reminded of Charles Barkley's 56 point, 14 rebound game on May 4th 1994, which helped his Phoenix Suns to eliminate then-rookie Chris Webber's Golden State Warriors 3-0 in the first round of the Playoffs.

When it comes to elusive figures in basketball video games, the first player that we tend to think of is Michael Jordan. As I've discussed in a couple of previous articles, MJ was missing from the various NBA sim games during his second run with the Chicago Bulls, and aside from some rare, specially produced arcade cabinets, he's never been featured in NBA Jam. However, while Charles Barkley did appear in NBA Live towards the end of his career, he was similarly absent - or replaced by a Roster Player - in a number of releases.

It's one of those things from basketball gaming history that's interesting to revisit, because it just doesn't happen with today's stars and modern releases. With that said, let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

May 11th, 2016: Thoughts on EA's Next NBA Sim Game

It's been revealed that NBA Live 17 won't be shipping in the Fall of 2016 as expected, as a new console version of NBA Live will instead be dropping in early 2017. Naturally, this has led to disappointment and speculation that the series will be moving in a completely new direction, abandoning the AAA model in favour of being a mobile-only game. At this point, those of us who are interested in seeing NBA Live improve and succeed are anxious to hear more concrete details about the future of the series.

NBA Live's hardships and setbacks over the past six years are well-documented. They include the cancellation of NBA Elite 11 and NBA Live 13, poor reception of NBA Live 14, and a postponed release for NBA Live 15, to say nothing of Metacritic scores. As we find ourselves in familiar territory, I've dug into the archives and found an article that I wrote about the future of the series back in April 2011, when we discovered the series would attempt a relaunch with a game that would eventually be the cancelled NBA Live 13. As with previous articles I've revisited, I'm presenting it as-is (aside from a couple of images), and following it up with some commentary.

So, what was my take back then, and have my thoughts changed? Well, let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

May 18th, 2016: Long-Lost NBA Live 2002 Preview Screens

The next game that I'll be looking back at as part of our 20th Anniversary of NBA Live celebrations is NBA Live 2002. As I'll discuss in more detail in my retrospective, NBA Live 2002 was a controversial release, as it was the first game in the series to be console exclusive and also had its fair share of issues. At the same time, it's also a game that I managed to have a considerable amount of fun with back in the day, and I kind of have a sentimental attachment to it, as it was the first new NBA Live game that came out after I took over the NLSC in August 2001.

On a recent dig through my archives, I uncovered a collection of NBA Live 2002 preview screenshots that were posted on the NLSC all those years ago, but had since gone missing following a couple of hosting and design changes. I'd previously searched high and low for them, but I just couldn't seem to find them anywhere. Now that they've turned up, I thought it might be fun to exhibit them again, especially with NBA Live 2002 being the next game I'm posting a retrospective on. It's also a reminder that NBA Live's graphics have indeed improved over the years.

So, what did basketball video games look like in 2001? Let's take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

May 25th, 2016: Double Dribble Video Retrospective

I'm long overdue to do another video retrospective for Wayback Wednesday, and a recent incident involving Family Guy inspired me to cover a game that's been on my list for a while: Double Dribble, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Double Dribble is a game by Konami that a lot of you have probably heard of, and it's a hoops title that I wanted as a kid, but never actually played until many years later. Having played the game since as an adult, I certainly have a few thoughts on it that I'd like to share with my fellow basketball gamers. Since it's recently come up in gaming news and been thrust back into the public eye, now seems like an opportune time.

It's a significant basketball video game in its own right, one that's worth revisiting if only for its memorable animated dunking cutscenes. With that said, let's take a look back...way back...

phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGkHMI7ry1A

[Andrew]

June 1st, 2016: Stephen Curry in NBA Live 95

With Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors advancing to the NBA Finals, the MVP and his team are obviously looking forward to the prospect of repeating as NBA Champions. Topping off their 73-9 season with the Larry O’Brien trophy will certainly add to their claim of being the best team of all-time, though any match-ups with great teams of the past can obviously only happen in basketball video games. Various simulations in NBA 2K16 have tried to judge how Michael Jordan and the 1996 Chicago Bulls would fare in 2016, but how would Curry perform in the mid 90s? Say, if he were patched into NBA Live 95, taking the place of his father, Dell?

As it happens, I’ve done just that, and put together a video recapping the results. So, how does Stephen Curry fare when he’s dropped into NBA Live 95, with the Golden State Warriors of 1995? Let’s take a look back…way back…

phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=163XCkCTen8

[Andrew]

June 8th, 2016: NBA Live 95 Patching

For as long as the NLSC has been around, so has the NBA Live patching community. In 2008, patching - or modding, as it's more frequently called these days - finally came to NBA 2K, when NBA 2K9 became the first game in the series to be released on PC. As a community, we've been able to do some amazing things for both NBA Live and NBA 2K: comprehensive multi-season roster mods, enhanced textures for team and player art, and even changes to the animation files, to name but a few. We've hit some roadblocks along the way - as NBA 2K15 and NBA 2K16 modders can attest - but it was pretty difficult back in the days of NBA Live 95, too.

Thanks to the efforts of our founders, Tim, Lutz, and Brien, it was possible to create custom rosters for NBA Live 95, and eventually, custom art files as well. Compared to what they were able to achieve with the editing tools for NBA Live 96 onwards, creating rosters for NBA Live 95 was much trickier, and a lot more finicky. Through going back and creating the Definitive roster patch for NBA Live 95 as part of our 20th Anniversary of NBA Live content, as well as putting Stephen Curry into the game for last week's feature, I was reminded of both the fun and the frustration of patching NBA Live 95.

With patching/modding being such a big part of what we do here at the NLSC, I thought it'd be interesting to look back at what the community had to work with in the early days. So let's indeed take a look back...way back...

[Andrew]

June 15th, 2016: NBA Live Halftime Shows

As basketball video games have continued to harness the power of improving gaming technology, we've expected more and more of them. While most of our desires have been centred on gameplay and game modes, presentation is an area that a lot of basketball gamers have wanted to see enhancements in over the years. While slick presentation will only briefly mask gameplay and game mode deficiencies, it's nevertheless important in terms of creating atmosphere, and adding those extra touches of reality that we tend to enjoy so much.

In the past few years, basketball video games have come to include very detailed and realistic TV-style presentation. Whether it's NBA Live 16's NBA on ESPN segments hosted by Jalen Rose, or NBA 2K16's pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows featuring digital versions of Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith, we've come to expect great production values that mimic a real NBA broadcast. Back in the day, of course, breaks in the action were spiced up in a far more modest manner.

Today, we're talking about the halftime shows that appeared in the early versions of NBA Live. Without any further ado, let's take a look back...way back...

[WithAuthority]

Nice writeup

[Andrew]

Thanks!

June 22nd, 2016: I Cannot Believe My Starting Five

The current NLSC Forum has been open since November 2002, archiving almost all of the discussion that’s taken place in this community for just about as long as we’ve had a message board. It’s seen its fair share of memorable and amusing threads, including users who believe modders owe them releases, unorthodox story threads, and one-sided conversations. It would also be remiss of me if I didn’t mention this thread, which gave our community a meme that is proudly displayed in the Joel Anthony Arena, home court of the NLSC Greatness in 2K Pro-Am.

However, for those of you who have been around the NLSC since the early days, you’ll remember that we used to have another Forum. It was closed when we elected to switch to different message board software, but I’m confident that it lives on in the fond memories of our longest tenured veterans. It was a smaller group of regulars who came together on those old boards, had a lot of fun discussions, and basically established our community of NLSC Forum denizens.

For those veterans, when it comes to memorable discussions, one thread probably stands out above all others: “I Cannot Believe My Starting Five”. Let’s take a look back...way back...

[zzcoolj21]

A.L. was right...
KG before being moved to his natural position

KG after