Summary
The 2023-24 NBA season is underway after the Denver Nuggets conquered the league a few months back. Despite the excitement about Victor Wenbenyama coming into the league and a number of massive trades,NBA 2K24hasn’t been able to keep up with the sport.After the latest entry was review-bombedand not exactly loved by critics, all fans can do is look back at the times when NBA games were absolute masterpieces. All the way back in 1973, the sport got its first adaptation on the first-ever video game console: the Magnavox Odyssey. Needless to say, both the sport and gaming as a whole have come a long way since then.
Over the course of the last few decades, players have seen the action-packed sport translated into a variety of video game series, from player-specific projects to season chroniclesto more unconventional projects such asNBA Street, which took the game and many of its most iconic players to the street-level of playing for a different vibe. For fans, there are several aspects of the game that need to be covered for an effective, worthwhile game rendition. These vary from a worthwhile season mode to fantasy basketball to having the wide variety of moves, dunks, tricks, and styles players have exhibited and perfected over time. With all this in mind, there are several games of the legendaryNBAthat simply dunk on the rest.
Updated July 09, 2025, by Michael Llewellyn:Although the basketball genre is largely dominated by the NBA 2K series, revisiting simpler games can be a lot of fun, as gameplay was prioritized before microtransactions and costly add-ons became a staple of every sports game. This list is updated to include another classic that’s still just as playable today as it was in the 1980s. Additionally, this list features updated tags with cover art.
14Double Dribble
An Arcade Classic For 8-Bit Machines
Double Dribblewas a popular game in arcades and an even bigger success on home consoles due to its easy-to-learn gameplay and impressive visuals. While it achieved great success on the NES, the Amiga port was considered the most arcade-perfect version, but that launched in 1990.
The home console version had some advantages over the arcade original. Players could play full quarter matches, closer replicating the feel of a proper basketball game. However, it does not feature real-life players, and there are only four unlicensed teams to choose from: Boston, Chicago, LA, and New York. That said, in the 1980s, console players took what they could get, and a bit of imagination can go a long way with the suspension of disbelief.
13Arch Rivals
An Arcade Basketball Game That Brings The Fun And Ignores The Rules
Arch Rivalsis a comedic basketball ball with fictional characters and a disregard for the rules. Players can punch or perform a flying leap at their opponents and take the ball without getting a penalty. This was a lot of fun and hilarious moments in two-player games with friends in front of an arcade machine or a console.
WhileArch Rivalswas launched on NES and the Game Gear, the best versions in the 1990s were the 16-bit versions launched on the SNES and the Megadrive/Genesis. However, theMidway Treasuresline featured the most Arcade-accurate version with better visuals and animations. The arcade version also includes the hilarious shorts-pulling diving move absent from the console versions.
12EA’s NBA Live 95
An Easy To Pick Up And Fun Basketball Sim
WhereArch Rivalswas a pure arcade experience with silly moves and rule-breaking, EA’s firstNBA Livetitle was a more serious affair with great visuals and real-life players and rosters. It features an isometric 30-degree viewpoint that givesNBA Live 95an almost three-dimensional look. The SNES and Megadrive/Genesis versions looked and played the same, but the Sega port featured a more up-to-date roster.
NBA Live 95is easy to pick up but featured a lot of depth at the time with its command of multiple basketball players in the match, coaches, and co-op gameplay that offered a solid change to versus gameplay modes.
NBA Jam, like Arch Rivals, is developed by Midway, balancing arcade-style gameplay with real-life basketball players in two-on-two games. The characters get gameplay boosts called “On Fire” after scoring three consecutive baskets. Unfortunately, it didn’t feature two of the biggest names in the NBA at the time, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.
However, the fast-paced and frantic gameplay is great in single-player modes but even better with friends, makingNBA Jamone of the best basketball games of the 16-bit era. While it may not have had as many features asNBA Live 95, it definitely offered more long-term enjoyment when playing with friends.
The ‘02 edition of the NBA live series proved to be an unexpectedly seminal entry in the long-running series. Released back when the Nets were still in New Jersey, the cover has the league’s then-top point guard Jason Kidd on the cover and made history when its popular hip-hop-centric soundtrack became the first video game soundtrack ever to reach platinum sales status.
The game’s seminal status can be traced to it being one of the first releases to unveil a freestyle control system, allowing faster-paced, less monotonous gameplay on the court. For players at the time, this key gameplay update immediately put this release leagues ahead of any live game to have come before simply because it was more efficient in making room for more tricks and skills from the players depicted in the game.
One of the finest sports games released that year, players also had the addictive fun of the Franchise Mode, which allowed fans to put a team together and develop them over multiple seasons, as well as a more standard Season Mode to enjoy. A key release in the then-ailing franchise,NBA Live 2003, remains influential to this day. The developers also learned from its few mistakes,ensuring more varied, colorful commentary became the norm in later editions.
The fifthNBA 2Kgame was special for a number of reasons. The most obvious one was the name change, featuring ESPN and removing 2K. But what made this game stand out from the rest was the introduction of a game mode that would change the approach to NBA games to this day. 24/7 allowed players to create their own basketball player, being able to fully customize their physical appearance.
Right after entering the game, a journey across the United States brings the players to compete in tournaments or street pickup games. The opponents vary between NBA stars and streetball players. Games feature different one-time challenges in which the player will be asked to perform a certain way. For example, getting a certain number of dunks. As is a given nowadays, this mode includes an attribute progression that unlocks more animations and accessories. There is also a rank progression in which the player improves his reputation, unlocking events and bosses to challenge in a game.
The gameplay is also excellent, with special emphasis on how it tries to beless arcade and more simulation, making it quite difficult and even frustrating at times. The passing and dribbling was the biggest upgrade from previous entries. Of course, it also has online and local multiplayer, quick play, franchise mode, and the possibility of selecting between playoff matches, regular season, practice, and streetball games. It was a complete game, although its difficulty at the time could have been problematic for players.
NBA 2K13is widely remembered for introducing a handful of colorful features to the franchise. One of its best calling cards was having both the 1992 and 2012 USA Basketball teams. But what this game welcomed that stays to this day is the All-Star Weekend and the Shoe Creator. It was in this game that the fans could first play the Rising Stars Game, the All-Star Game, the Slam Dunk Contest, and the Three-Point Contest.
On the other hand, the Shoe Creator proved to be a massive success. The shoe game has been closely tied to the NBA for a long time, and it was massive for fans to be able to create and customize their shoes in any way they wanted to with all the popular brands at the moment in the league. Combined with one of the greatest soundtracks ever and a considerable graphics improvement, the game just felt entirely different.
Gameplay-wise, the game introduced a massive number of animations, endorsement options for MyCareer, interviews, and a more realistic AI. All these subtle changes kept piling up to become one of the best basketball games ever made, especially for the fans of not only the sport but the NBA culture as well.
Following on from the universal goodwill surroundingNBA 2K16’s League Mode, NBA 2K17 took what had worked in its predecessor and cranked it up a notch. The result was one of the most addictive and expansive takes on team management ever put into a video game.
Along with being able to relocate teams, tack expansion teams on, and potentially even build an unrecognizably new and different league within the game, this 2K release also has one of the series’ finest MyCareer Modes. With an effective storyline penned by Creed scriptwriter Aaron Covington and on-point character performancesfrom movie stars such as Michael B. Jordanand Matt Walsh, this game’s MyCareer Mode boasts everything players tend to seek out in a story-focused, sports-gaming experience.
Overall, while2K17didn’t reinvent the wheel, it did spruce up many of the great qualities of its predecessors, providing a flashy, effective look at the thrills and spills of playing ball on the hardwood court. Fans who bought the Legend Edition also got a special cover with Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant front and center; interestingly,this was not the last time a 2K game focused on ‘The Black Mamba.’
Another game-changing release for the sixth generation of consoles,NBA 2K2saw the series finally step away from being a Sega exclusive for the Dreamcast console. This move permanently altered the series' trajectory, especially considering the monumental success of consoles such as the PlayStation and Xbox over the years.
NBA 2K2sported several thrilling new features at the time that have since become the widely expected norm in sports gaming. These included features such as playablelegends of the sport from yesteryear, such as Larry Birdand Wilt Chamberlain, player-specific abilities, and a wide range of moves on the court. The result was a game that ensured 2K remained at the forefront of basketball gaming to this day. Impressing fans and pundits alike, the game also provided a wide variety of fun game modes to sift through, including exhibition, season, playoffs, and fantasy basketball, which allowed players to form their own teams and play through entire seasons.
Sporting then-Philadelphia 76ers fan favorite Allen Iverson on the cover; the game more than lived up to his action-packed playmaking style on the court. While it might not look like much compared to more modern, advanced installments, the 2K era fully launched here, making it one of the most important releases in NBA gaming history.
Surely, the standard was high afterNBA 2K11, but 12 managed to deliver yet another masterpiece. It was the first game to feature legends such as Kevin Harlan, Clark Kellogg, Steve Kerr, and Doris Burke as commentators. With this also came the replays, halftime shows, fully customizable camera angles, and stats during games. It really became as close as it gets to a televised NBA game.
The true highlight of this entry was the NBA’s Greatest game mode. In this game mode, players could recreate historical moments and play with the likes of the Showtime Lakers or the Bulls' dynasty, among many other teams and basketball legends. Not only that, these teams and players could be used outside this game mode.
The cherry on top was the MyPlayer mode return and the debut of Create a Legend. Similarly to MyPlayer, this mode allowed players to play the entire career of a real player instead of a customizable one.
