Garbage-TimeMy Favorite Basketball Video Games
August 15 2007 11:38 AM Filed in: Rant
With yesterdays release of Madden 08, it made me
think about basketball video games. I've always had a
soft spot for basketball games ever since I was a
little boy. Here is a look at my personal favorites.
I remember the best thing about going on road trips with my parents was that I would be able to play a video game for 5 or 6 straight hours and then we would arrive at the hotel we were staying at. Long before Gameboy came out there were these little electronic handheld games, and my absolute favorite one was Jordan vs Bird. That game use to make road trips fly by. The game wasn't very complex there was a handful of images that showed up depending on which way you pressed the directional pad. This game is what made me so competitive, every time I lost to Bird I would get so angry.
The next two games are personal favorites because I was able to play against other people, which was very exciting because just playing against a computer can get boring. Arch Rivals and NBA Jams these two games ate up my allowance for a good 6 year span. These games were nothing like the league itself they were high pace two on two action that was just fun. The best part of the entire things is that I could beat other people it was a good experience when I won and a bad experience when I lost. I was still young and I wasn't a good loser or a good winner. I would complain when I lost and I would bask in the glory when I won. The one thing I remember most of all about NBA Jam is that Scottie Pippen was amazing like he was one of the best players in the game. I think if Jordan would have been in the game, no one could have beaten the Bulls.
Then there came a low no truly great video games were released for 10 years. I started my first year of college living in the dorms and I had one of the coolest roommates ever. Graham and I decided we needed to buy a basketball video game to occupy our time so we discussed the merits of the NBA 2k games and NBA live. We ended up choosing to get NBA 2k3. It was the greatest choice we both ever made. I think our grades suffered a little bit due to the late night games and constituent competition, but our lives were truly changed once we discovered the awesomeness of franchise mode. We would simulate all 30 seasons and see how many championships we could win. But the epic battles didn't begin until NBA 2k4. 2k4 changed the entire ball game due to the fact that you could run multiple franchises. We would both pick a team and they would usually be Utah and Atlanta, Than we would see who could win the most championships in one franchise. We met in the finals a bunch, and Graham would usually beat me, but it wouldn't ever stop me from trying to beat him, and when it did it was glorious because it was such a rare thing to happen. NBA 2k4 was the greatest video game ever in my opinion.
I remember the best thing about going on road trips with my parents was that I would be able to play a video game for 5 or 6 straight hours and then we would arrive at the hotel we were staying at. Long before Gameboy came out there were these little electronic handheld games, and my absolute favorite one was Jordan vs Bird. That game use to make road trips fly by. The game wasn't very complex there was a handful of images that showed up depending on which way you pressed the directional pad. This game is what made me so competitive, every time I lost to Bird I would get so angry.
The next two games are personal favorites because I was able to play against other people, which was very exciting because just playing against a computer can get boring. Arch Rivals and NBA Jams these two games ate up my allowance for a good 6 year span. These games were nothing like the league itself they were high pace two on two action that was just fun. The best part of the entire things is that I could beat other people it was a good experience when I won and a bad experience when I lost. I was still young and I wasn't a good loser or a good winner. I would complain when I lost and I would bask in the glory when I won. The one thing I remember most of all about NBA Jam is that Scottie Pippen was amazing like he was one of the best players in the game. I think if Jordan would have been in the game, no one could have beaten the Bulls.
Then there came a low no truly great video games were released for 10 years. I started my first year of college living in the dorms and I had one of the coolest roommates ever. Graham and I decided we needed to buy a basketball video game to occupy our time so we discussed the merits of the NBA 2k games and NBA live. We ended up choosing to get NBA 2k3. It was the greatest choice we both ever made. I think our grades suffered a little bit due to the late night games and constituent competition, but our lives were truly changed once we discovered the awesomeness of franchise mode. We would simulate all 30 seasons and see how many championships we could win. But the epic battles didn't begin until NBA 2k4. 2k4 changed the entire ball game due to the fact that you could run multiple franchises. We would both pick a team and they would usually be Utah and Atlanta, Than we would see who could win the most championships in one franchise. We met in the finals a bunch, and Graham would usually beat me, but it wouldn't ever stop me from trying to beat him, and when it did it was glorious because it was such a rare thing to happen. NBA 2k4 was the greatest video game ever in my opinion.
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