Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five basketball game features that are unusually rare.

Over the years, certain features and design choices have become standard in NBA-licensed video games. While that may seem counterproductive to creativity, it does establish some norms, and in turn, quality control. As much as it was fantastic to have so many different basketball games on the market several years ago, there were some titles that fumbled the basics due to trying their own approach when an optimal design had been devised. On the plus side, when it did work out, games included some nifty features when their developers thought outside the box.

Sadly, many of these creative basketball game features were short-lived, making them unusually rare in the genre. The two biggest brands in the basketball gaming space, namely EA Sports and Visual Concepts, have also dabbled with creative ideas that have only made it into a few titles. In many cases, it’s one-and-done for these features, making a game noteworthy for being the only appearance of an unusually rare mode or function that seemingly should’ve become commonplace. They’re the features that we find when we revisit old titles, leaving us to wonder why they didn’t last. It may be that they weren’t that popular, but it also feels as though some weren’t given a chance.

1. All-Star Teams Customisation: NBA in the Zone 98 & 99

Unfortunately, as of 2022, roster customisation in basketball games is still missing so many basic features. Create-a-Team is long gone. We’re still yet to see the ability to enter Draft information and certain other biographical data for created players. The ability to clone players is unusually rare, and generally limited. Another feature that would be extremely useful – but few games have offered – is the ability to modify the East and West All-Star teams, and when applicable, the Rising Stars squads. I’ve only encountered two games that allowed All-Star team customisation: Konami’s NBA in the Zone 98 and 99, which were renamed NBA Pro 98 and 99 in PAL regions.

It’s a little strange to see at first. The East and West All-Stars traditionally feature the rosters from the previous year, at least until official rosters update them accordingly. Of course, that wasn’t common when NBA in the Zone 98 and 99 were released. By default, the All-Star teams in NBA in the Zone 98/99 are filled with players that never were nor ever would be All-Stars, but they were merely placeholders. Even though NBA Live 98 and 99 are the superior titles across the board, that ability to modify the All-Star teams in NBA in the Zone 98 and 99 was a great idea. It really shouldn’t be such an unusually rare feature, but it did make those games from Konami unique.

2. Hanging on the Rim: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside

Dunking the ball in a basketball game has traditionally been an automatic sequence. Some games have experimented with shot timing on dunks, such as the two NBA Playgrounds titles, and the new mechanic when holding down on the right stick in NBA 2K22 Next Gen. Personally, I’m not a fan of either of those mechanics, but I’ll admit that it does sometimes feel like a wasted opportunity when dunking is just a matter of pressing a button and letting an animation complete, or breaking out of it with a pass or adjusted shot. An obvious way to add some extra control to dunking is to allow us to hold onto the rim for longer by continuing to hold down Shoot.

The only game that I’ve played where this is possible is the Nintendo 64-exclusive release, Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside. There may be some others on platforms that I don’t own, but considering the sheer volume of basketball games that I do have in my collection, I feel confident in saying that even if there was another release that included that ability, it’s still an unusually rare feature. It’s probably because it can result in a technical foul, and it’s possible the NBA doesn’t want to encourage kids to hang on the rims of home systems that aren’t designed to withstand it. Whatever the case may be, it’s surprising that only one well-known basketball game has featured it.

3. Complete or Cancel a Trade: NBA Live 2000

I remember talking to a member of the NBA Live development team many years ago, and bringing up my fondness for this detail. This unusually rare function was only featured in the first iteration of Franchise mode, in NBA Live 2000 PC. The developer seemed slightly puzzled, asking if it was really necessary. In hindsight, that was a red flag that NBA Live’s Franchise mode would never have the depth that was hinted at when it made its debut; even after the Dynasty revamp. While it’s a function that a franchise mode in a basketball game can work well enough without, it shouldn’t be so unusually rare. After all, there’s a very practical purpose for having such a function.

For those who are unaware, the “Complete or Cancel” dialogue box in NBA Live 2000’s Franchise mode allowed users to propose a trade, see if a team would accept it, and then choose to either complete or cancel the deal. It might seem like cheating to some, but I always saw it as a way of negotiating a deal and finding out what the CPU would agree to in principle, and then either negotiating further, exploring other trade possibilities, going through with the deal, or changing your mind. The negotiations in NBA 2K’s MyGM sort of played out that way, and a trading block feature was better at fielding offers. Nevertheless, it was a really good idea that we’ve only seen once.

4. Dynasty Cutscenes: NBA Live 2004

These days, when someone mentions cutscenes in a basketball game, you’ll probably think of MyCAREER stories before anything else. If you’re an older basketball gamer like me, two other types of cutscenes will come to mind: the “Courtside Comedy” cutscenes in NBA Live 2003, and the Dynasty cutscenes in NBA Live 2004. Both are unusually rare, though in the case of the former, that’s for good reason. I know that there are people who enjoy those comedic scenes, and I won’t deny that they’re very memorable. I don’t think they’re the right tone for a sim game however, and it speaks volumes that NBA 2K hasn’t tried anything like that outside of MyCAREER stories.

However, it’s much harder to justify Dynasty cutscenes falling by the wayside. The only basketball game they appeared in was NBA Live 2004, the year that Franchise was revamped into Dynasty. NBA 2K’s MyGM mode has featured some semblance of cutscenes during negotiation mini-games, but they’re relegated to the background. It stands as another unfortunate example of how EA Sports had a tendency to go all out with certain aspects of NBA Live, only to halt progress or even remove an awesome feature soon afterwards. NBA 2K never really jumping on the idea in the same way makes it an unusually rare feature in franchise modes, albeit one that’s recalled fondly.

5. Chant Creator: College Hoops 2K8

I’ll admit that I have mixed feelings about flavour content in basketball games. On one hand, sometimes it’s something that needn’t be a priority, and its presence leaves you to wonder if its implementation took time and effort away from a far more important aspect. On the other hand, those little details can really make the experience on the virtual hardwood special, particularly when they enhance the atmosphere. I’d suggest that the Chant Creator in College Hoops 2K8 falls under the latter category. Sure, it isn’t necessary, but school spirit and chants are staples of college basketball. It makes sense that a college basketball game would seek to give users control over chants.

Besides, College Hoops 2K8 is a detailed game that holds up extremely well, so it made sense that the team at Visual Concepts tried to pack as much into it as they possibly could. EA Sports were doing the same thing with the March Madness/NCAA Basketball series, though it never had a Chant Creator. In fact, as far as I’m aware, College Hoops 2K8 is the only Triple-A basketball game that includes such a feature. It’s something that you can take seriously if desired, but needless to say, you can use it to assemble some truly ridiculous chants. As with the other features that are unusually rare, it makes College Hoops 2K8 further stand out as a unique basketball game.

What are some other unusually rare features that you’ve enjoyed in a basketball game (or select few titles) over the years? Are there any in particular that you’d like to see brought back? Let me know in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Unusually Rare Basketball Game Features appeared first on NLSC.