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 suggests five activities to help you freshen up your basketball gaming experiences.

I’m the last person who’ll scold you about stubbornly sticking with what you like. I’m absolutely a creature of habit, prone to returning to my old favourites rather than try something new. And hey, as long as you’re having fun, that’s the most important part of all recreational activities! There’s a reason I go on those long kicks such as playing through multiple seasons in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, assembling makeshift retro teams in NBA Live 10, or going back to my NBA Live 06 Dynasty if I’m not feeling the latest game. Indeed, it’s why I’ve stuck with franchise and career modes for years.

Of course, it’s nice to change things up when you’re weary of what you’re playing. This is why I advocate for a variety of deep modes in basketball games, and if they’re there, giving them a look whenever you’re getting bored. However, if you’re looking for a change of pace without diving into a whole new mode, there are many activities that you can do in basketball games that are, at the very least, fun palate cleansers. If you enjoy them, then you may want to make them a regular part of your basketball gaming, combining them with a mode if possible. Otherwise, these activities are ideas to keep in mind if you’re in a rut, and want to mess around on the virtual hardwood.

1. Create New Retro Teams With Default Assets

As a bitter old head stuck in the past – or so social media tells me – I love playing with the retro teams in my favourite NBA 2K games that have them. Sure, they can be lacking in detail and authenticity, but I still have a good time playing with and against teams from yesteryear. There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy classic teams in NBA 2K, but I personally prefer to match up teams from the same year, or the same era if the rosters are essentially identical (i.e. the 1986 Celtics vs 1987 Lakers is more or less a historically accurate matchup). To that point though, with roster editing, we can create some brand new historical matchups, and we don’t even need any new assets!

Sure, full retro season mods and rosters that properly update the classic teams are fantastic. However, for the purposes of exhibition play, we can utilise what’s already in a game. The 1996 Bulls can turn into the 1995 squad very easily, while the 1993 team can be updated for 1994 just as simply. There are limitations as far as accurate team art and the available players, but you’ll find that you can turn the existing retro teams (or even the current clubs) into different classic squads. Rolling a team back or forward a year may only take a few minutes, and then you’re good to go. I’ve even done this with the Fantasy Teams mode in NBA Live 10, and it’s always a blast.

2. Update Games With Minimalist Modding

There’s great novelty in bringing an old favourite up to date with current season rosters. It’s been a staple of our community since the very beginning, when Lutz continued to update the NBA Live 95 rosters through the 1998 season. Those projects are a major undertaking, and while they’ll always be welcome releases, they’re not the only way to have fun with an older title. Depth and accuracy are essential if you’re creating a proper current roster mod for an old game, but not necessarily for your own enjoyment. As with creating new retro teams with existing assets, some minimalist modding can freshen up exhibition play without worrying about all the little details.

Let’s say you’re playing NBA 2K16 or NBA 2K17 – possibly because you prefer them to more recent releases – but you’d like to play a few once-off games using current rosters. While there has been significant turnover in the league in the years since, there are also a number of active players who can be found in those games. As such, you can move them around and update a handful of teams – or even just two if you have a specific matchup in mind – and play with minimalist current rosters. Complete roster and branding accuracy doesn’t matter here. It’s just adding some current season lineups to an old game, and taking advantage of gameplay that you perhaps prefer.

3. Play With EuroLeague Teams

This is one of those activities that I’m sure has already occurred to a number of hoops gamers, and thus may not be a fresh experience for everyone. However, I’ll raise my hand and admit that I’ve frequently overlooked the EuroLeague teams when they’ve appeared in NBA 2K. It’s not that I don’t respect or appreciate the EuroLeague, but I don’t follow it very closely. If NBA 2K ever included teams from the Australian NBL, I’m sure that there are many people who wouldn’t find it as appealing as I would, due to a lack of familiarity. Of course, a lack of familiarity means freshness and a change of pace. If you’re a long-time NBA fan, you may recognise a few familiar faces, too.

Whenever I’ve felt like playing a quick game in NBA 2K14 or another title featuring EuroLeague teams, I’ve started giving them more of a look. It’s fun using a mixture of players that I’m not familiar with, remember from their NBA days, or recall being highly-touted prospects. You’ll also notice some fun pre-NBA cameos for players such as Luka Doncic and Nikola Mirotic! I’ll also suggest playing with WNBA teams here; especially given the attention to detail in making them play differently to the NBA teams in NBA 2K. Obviously there are WNBA-oriented modes in the newer games, so if you end up enjoying the experience, you can extend it beyond Play Now.

4. Utilise Fantasy Rosters & Scenarios

There are multiple ways of playing out fantasy scenarios. You can have a longer experience by customising franchise modes with the historical and all-time teams, or holding a fantasy draft. If you want to freshen up your basketball gaming with some shorter activities, then there are plenty of options as well. The NBA Live titles with Fantasy Teams/Quick Pick Play allow you to assemble a variety of themed squads. NBA 2K’s All-Time Teams offer pre-made fantasy scenarios, whether you want to use them in exhibition or season play. You can obviously mix and match retro teams to play out inter-era “What If” questions that permeate/plague basketball discussion.

Alright, that’s a bit cynical. They’re interesting questions, and video games provide us with the opportunity to speculate in an interactive way. Beyond that, with the amount of historical content in NBA 2K, you don’t need to create players and mod in faces to set up inventive fantasy scenarios. Put all your favourite Legends on your favourite team, and try to dominate the current NBA. Alternatively, sprinkle a few all-time greats into the current rosters and play with a mix of eras. Replace Stephen Curry with Magic Johnson, or swap Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitzki. Not everything needs to be serious, or working towards a goal. Just have fun with some wild and creative rosters!

5. Revisit A Game You Hated/Overlooked

Here’s one for retro basketball gamers, or anyone interested in becoming one. The obvious personal example for me is NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. I revisited it to produce some Wayback Wednesday features, and fell in love with it. I was also able to develop a deeper appreciation for NBA Live 10, and rethink my stance on the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06. There’s something to be said for giving games a second look with fresher eyes and without the expectations that come with a new release. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll change your mind, or that you’ll completely disagree with your prior criticisms. Sometimes a game is bad, or simply doesn’t appeal to you.

It’s rewarding when you do find a new retro kick though, or finally get something out of a game that you didn’t like or put aside for whatever reason. Personally, the reasons that I overlooked and/or disliked certain games usually came down to my expectations for them, an unfortunate negative first impression, preferring a competing title (or trying to give NBA Live a chance, as is the case with some eighth generation NBA 2K games), or preference for a different platform. I’ve also become more open to games that weren’t “my brand” – which for a long time was NBA Live – so I’m all for taking a break and revisiting some games to see if there’s something more to them.

What do you do to keep your basketball gaming fresh? What kind of activities do you prefer to indulge in if the experience is getting stale? 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.

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