A History of Basketball Video Games

Written by GT Staff  on June 07, 2006

Specials: A roundup of roundball.

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Giving It the Old College Try
If you thought NBA games were a rare thing 15 years ago, imagine college basketball games. Because of NCAA rules, no real players could be included, so most developers didn't bother with the college game. One of the first major NCAA games was NCAA Basketball for SNES, from Nintendo, the king of sports games (only they didn't realize it). There weren't a whole lot of teams, and the tournament was not the traditional 64 teams, but it fared well for its time. The visuals were a bit weird because of the quasi-3D design, but it made for a more entertaining and realistic game. A bit later on, now-defunct Mindscape released NCAA Final Four, which featured 64 teams to allow for one big tournament, but poor gameplay quickly forced it into the bargain bin. Sadly, these were the only two SNES games based on NCAA basketball.

The Genesis didn't see many, either, but in this case, one was all that was needed. EA, using a modified NBA Live '95 engine, created Coach K College Basketball. The game featured only 32 teams, but all were the major players of the era, all built into a huge season and post-season setup that blew everything else away. Not only that, using the Live engine meant they could create a fast-paced, exciting game with all the variables intact. It turned out to be one of the most iconic and popular basketball games the console ever saw, and even though EA wouldn't go back to college ball for a while, the game was good enough to last forever. Even now, it's one of the finest college basketball games made; it's withstood the test of time.

Coach K was the lone high-profile college hoops game in the 16-bit era, as it wasn't until 1997 that we saw another one from EA. Christened NCAA March Madness '98, this PlayStation exclusive upped the ante with more teams than ever seen previously, spanning basically every major conference. Using a Dynasty option, players could recruit to rebuild their programs through multiple seasons. The game was built upon the NBA Live engine, though EA was smart enough to make the gameplay more like the wide-open college style as opposed to the rough and tumble NBA style. A follow-up released the next year added more teams and better gameplay, along with the ability to recruit during the season as opposed to post-season, though its ambition was stunted a bit since the market for college hoop titles wasn't as strong.

Meanwhile, Sony got into the college hoops game, and unleashed their first, known as NCAA Final Four '99. The ambition of the title was evident - it was the very first NCAA game to feature all 300+ Division 1 teams, something EA had been unable to provide with their first two March Madness games. However, while MM was always based upon NBA Live, Final Four was designed by a completely different team with a different engine than SCEA's NBA Shootout series. Final Four introduced a unique shooting system which was based upon timing, using a meter which dictated peak time to release the ball. It was fundamentally flawed, however, as the system was far too easy to use and led to 100% shooting percentages, even on the hardest difficulty level. Up until the end of the PlayStation generation, both March Madness and Final Four battled it out, with no outside competition.

When the PS2 hit in 2000, there was a college basketball game for the console, from Sony, in NCAA Final Four 2001. However, while the game featured the full D1 roster and a huge Dynasty setup, it mirrored the other Sony launch sports games in being an utter debacle from a gameplay standpoint. Alas, the series only saw a couple more releases before Sony pulled the plug, beginning a purge of their struggling sports lineup. That left EA to its own devices, and that was a bit of a mistake too. Their first next-gen college game, March Madness 2002, had some solid gameplay based upon the NBA Live 2002 engine, and had plenty of teams, but it had one fatal flaw: no season or Dynasty setup. None. All you could do was play out an NCAA Tournament, meaning all the depth the series had provided a generation ago was washed away (in many ways, it's reminiscent of the gutting of NBA Live's 360 version). It was a disappointing game to say the least.

It was not long before EA had some competition to replace Sony - Sega. Heavily into their multiplatform strategy, their sports department finally went the college hoops route with NCAA Basketball 2K3, which hit the PS2, Xbox and GameCube. The Cube version is actually a very rare collector's item; after dismal sales of their other Cube sports games, Sega pulled the plug on support for the system, and recalled all copies of the game. However, some copies were sold before the recall and thus, it is one of the rarest titles for the system. The game itself borrowed from the NBA 2K engine and featured every college team. It also had an outstanding Legacy mode which let you either take your team to the top or create yourself as a coach and work your way up the ranks by choosing a mid-major team. The next season, the game was re-christened ESPN College Hoops, as part of the integration of ESPN which begun in the 2K3 line. In general, the series hasn't changed a whole bunch since then, at least in the current generation, as NCAA College Hoops 2K6 for Xbox 360 does have some next-gen stuff.

And what of March Madness? Due to Sega's entry, EA finally started taking the series seriously. March Madness 2003 finally included every Division 1 team, a huge Dynasty that compared to the NCAA Football version, and the inclusion of the brand-new Freestyle controls. The game was a bit more arcadey than Sega's hoops game, but it did provide a more exciting experience compared to the more dry, NBA-like College Hoops. Since that evolutionary step, the franchise has slowly improved, including features like Court General controls that let you call plays and change offensive & defensive setups on the fly. Most important of all, March Madness has provided an authentic, exciting simulation of college basketball, and as the series moves into the next-generation, it should provide even more thrills.

Evolving a Sport That Really Hasn't Evolved
As the game of basketball has progressed into its current forms with NBA 2K6 and NBA Live 06, we have seen reincarnation after reincarnation of the ankle-breaking sport. The free-throw system is an aspect that has definitely undergone many face lifts. Who remembers the good ol' days where shooting a free throw came down to stopping two scrolling balls--one horizontal, one vertical--near the middle of the cross-shaped structure? This was the basic method for shooting at the stripe for quite a number of years. However, the difficulty curve was hardly steep and wasn't necessarily conducive of real-life free throw percentages.

Near the start of the century, NBA 2K for the Dreamcast completely blew the aforementioned system out the water. Instead, gamers had to meticulously press equally on the trigger buttons on both sides, until the two cross hairs were lined up in the middle of the basket. Since the task relied on pressing pressure-sensitive buttons, trying to accomplish such a feat with a cheap third-party controller made doing so even more arduous. It was disconcerting for most casual gamers, but getting used to the system was possible with a little practice. Of course, developers could not stop there. The most recent system, found in both 2K6 and Live 06, uses a more lifelike representation of the way a free throw should be handled. Push down on the right analog stick...push up on the right analog stick. Simple enough, right? Not necessarily. This method certainly isn't for the faint of heart, as it makes a shot at the line nearly implausible. Free throws can't be this hard to make, can they? In fact, many would have a better chance making a three pointer against Shaq than a free throw. Needless to say, developers are always looking for new ways to tackle such a simple facet, and they have stepped up the difficulty curve quite drastically in the past few years - maybe a little too drastically.

While Sega was busy reinventing free throw shooting, EA saw the opportunity to bring in a little razzle dazzle. Starting with NBA Live 2003, EA made use of the oft-neglected right analog stick to revolutionize how you handle the basketball. Dubbed 'Freestyle,' the stick made it easy to pull off many complex tactics, such as crossover dribbles and the sort. It also made for a much easier time covering the ball, just flicking the stick to reach in for a steal, spread your arms, and the like. Since then, nobody really has tried too hard to outright rip off EA's methods, perhaps because it generally made for a more arcade-style of play, while their competitors have tried to make basketball games more in tune with the real thing. It'll be interesting to see what kind of innovations will come of the "right stick revolution."

Online play has also benefited basketball games. NBA 2K1 was the first to go online, with tremendous success, and EA came around a couple years later with the NBA Live series. Obviously Microsoft got involved; while NBA Inside Drive 2003 was criticized for not being playable over Xbox Live, it was made up for with Inside Drive 2004, which used the now-defunct XSN service to play a whole season against real people rather than a computer opponent. While other games have launched online leagues, Inside Drive took it many steps further and really set an example of what we could be seeing online in the next generation.

Many of the improvements over the years have been evolutionary steps. The wider use of an official license, building in season and franchise options, Internet play, and even the movement from technologically challenged games that could barely render one-on-one action were all slow baby steps to the sort of games we play today. Even now, many people believe basketball games still don't capture the real thing well enough, and no real 'Madden of hoops' has emerged as an all-out genre dominator. Which of course leaves it wide open for some insane concepts with all these fancy new machines that push the boundaries of technology.

What will become of basketball games in the future? It's already coming along thanks to both EA and 2K offering unique takes on the game, but as time goes along, you can count on the competition pushing each other to the limits, in the same fashion Madden used to go against the NFL 2K series. Imagine what's possible with the Nintendo Wii controller; perhaps the unique controller will let you mimic shooting the ball yourself, and force you to learn the proper technique for shooting a jump shot, a free throw, even a dunk. No one knows where we're headed, but it can only be exciting.