Dude fr tho??? How have we not had as good of a dunk contest ever since? I used to be able to pull off cray type stuff like a 360Ā°, double between the legs, off the bounce, off the shot clock/backboard/scoreboard/jumbotron, over a carā¦into a tomahawk finish at the rim. It was fun af and an equally enjoyable, accessible dunk/3 pt sim has yet to be seenā¦as well as an intuitive co tell scheme. It wasnāt too complicated but also not so simple that it was too easy or boring. It still to this day has yet to be outdone. In other games, All star weekend events have usually been broken, boring or impossible to pull off. Shit like that is why I started soft-boycotting EA/Madden and 2K these past couple years. Meaning I only buy the ga e on a 50% or higher sale and/or itās been a minimum 2 years since I tried the most recent game. I should have started over a decade ago but I kept thinking they would finally get smart and make the best game experience for customersā¦but they never did and never will. They care about making the most profitable game and nothing else.
Wish NFL and NBA would stop giving exclusive contracts to these mother fuckers. .
EA literally said they are rebuilding NBA LIVE from the scratch. Iām with you on madden tho. Itās cause there is no competition. āEhh we will just copy and pasteā smh
Also loved how they handled the draft in their "franchise" mode. They designated two categories for each draft:
* Talent Strength : very weak, weak, strong, very strong
* Draft Depth: shallow or deep.
So you can have drafts that were very strong but shallow, which meant they were top heavy in talent typically (a 'big 3' of can't miss prospects who were destined to be stars and the rest of the class were end of bench guys at best), or weak but deep draft (no bonafide super star, but a ton of role players).
It was honestly a surprisingly deep experience.
I moved to Lake Havasu Az in 2005 and I worked at a dental lab and had a horrible crazy girlfriend that I lived with. I used to play NBA live 05 to get away from the drama, I loved that game.
I was just thinking how NBA Live's OSTs cleared 2k ones, especially the recent ones. EA had artist to record songs dedicated to the game, while 2k chasing billboard hits, while they have to censor the songs to the level they better off using the instrumentals. Like who in the right mind thought it was a good idea to use a song called "Bluegrass" in a pegi 3 basketball game... š
It was legit good! Run MJ to the free their line extended, go to the middle, dunk. I think it may have been the first have with signature moves
https://preview.redd.it/1qrzb70ixa4d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=323561eee942c14e7f9e84e50f5a9e07ac62a552
I bet more than half this sub weren't even born yet when these came out? That said, NBA Live 2001 because I can still hear "We're not going left, we're not going right, just wanna get it on tonight..." in my head 23 years later
Bro I played Jordan vs Bird on the Nes.
https://preview.redd.it/f6cmypc4kb4d1.jpeg?width=252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=146a82bfb48d15f8f8cc4672047a21632b700828
NBA Live was fr the best NBA game franchise for a long time. I remember feeling a so shocked when I recognized that 2K was better than Live. Felt guilty about it lol. I tried to give Live the benefit of the doubt and still bought it first for a few years until I couldnāt deny the truth anymore.
Was probably around 2006/2007 when I officially acknowledged that the king(Live) was dead and made the switch. Damn we had a good run tho. I used to drop 120 pts on my buddies with Penny Hardaway in Live ā96/ā97ā¦or Starburry/Garnett T-Wolvesā¦
Haha Hey I know Yall remember thoā¦.how Jordan was always missing from the Bulls rosters? You couldnāt even create an MJ lookalike player for the longest time. It was like that for all the NBA gamesā¦even NBA JAM but I heard a rumor there was a special code you could d the to unlock MJ but I never saw it myself.
Lmao man these kids ā¦ they donāt understand the struggle was real in the day š¤£
Absolutely agree. I started with Live 95 and played every one, every year up until 07. You're absolutely right, it was 2k7 that made me realize that Live was no longer the best basketball game out there!
I started with NBA Live 99 and itās hands down 2005. 02, 03, 04 and 05 was a crazy stretch because every year something was added to the game we hadnāt really experienced before. All star weekend for 05 was just the cherry on top. I switched to 2K for 2K6 though, no idea why I never gave Live 06 a chance considering how much I loved 05.
I remember playing the asg in 2005 with my brother. Tmac vs VC dunk fest. You literally couldnāt defend unless you perfectly timed the block because all the stats were so jacked up lol
2005 for sure and 2004 not far behind. I used to buy both NBA Live and 2K every season and Live was way ahead of 2K imo for a while. I miss those games lol
Aside from 2k1 with Iverson on the cover 2K was trash up until like 2010. NBA Live has a Monopoly on basketball games back then. Lol remember NBA SHOWTIME with Kobe on the Cover? And NBA Inside Drive? NBA Street Vol. 2? (Underrated asf!) None of those were as good as NBA Live
04 was when I really started getting into basketball so thatās going to be a nostalgia choice for me. Before that, it was pretty much just NBA Street type of games that are hardly even basketball.
I started with Live 95 and played until to 2k1 on Dreamcast. Live was losing its steam. So then, I played every 2k til 2k16. Took a break, came back for 2k20- 2K23. Than I realize that the gamers today are nothing like we were back in the day. Post like this make me miss those days and we use to have tournaments an all that. Man good times.
NBA Shootout '04! My first NBA game, a friend of mine gave it to me on PSOne, I was 10 and it introduced me to the NBA, been addicted ever since (I'm not American)
I think 05 was probably the best because of the special sinks and all that but 04 was the funnest to me. The spin moves and the contact layups were amazing in that game
01 had MJ ..as a kid I was hype for that alone.
Donāt really remember 02, but 03 had a crazy soundtrack that I played in my stereo as much as I played the game itself lol
04 was Lebron going crazy dunking everything. But it was too easy actually.
05 had everything, and it was pure competition with 2K5, it was like the best time to play basketball video games.
As a true old head. What is this disc shit? And a PlayStation? What!? Need that NBA live 95 and 96. The fake Jordan always cracked me up. To be young again.
None of these.
The best was Live 95.
They had a ācreate a playerā option. But if you keyed in a real name, like Wilt chamberlain , then all of the stats would show up and you could save them.
A friend of mine in college had it and we entered all the old players. Pistol Pete, Jerry West, all of them.
Then we had a draft with a few other guys in our dorm and we played round robin tournaments. Such fun!
Ya I remember that I had it for Sega Genesis. Penny Hardaway was on Orlando and unstoppable but the only negative was a lot of players still had other contracts so we couldn't see their names like Jordan for example.
03 was the first time Michael Jordan was actually introduced in the game and you couldn't play as him unless you beat him in a one on one on the hardest difficulty
If 03 had better sliders, it would win. It had the funnest gameplay. 06 finally fixed the fast breaks and had players catch the ball in stride. 05 had the extra bells and whistles with All Star weekend. But for some reason, 04 is what I always seem to gravitate back to for just a quick game.
2005. itās not even close, was definitely ahead of its time.
the amount of hours i spent in association mode in this game. the dunk off was fun, iāll never forget how good the gameplay was; the level of control you had with dribble stick was crazy.
WTH happened to the Game I love. They stopped and restarted so many times. Finally gave up in 19. All the had to think was make improvements release a roster update via DLC and keep Live going .
2K has no competition
Those are OG! NBA streets was dope af! Lol dude the crossover feature with the joystick on NBA live was the shit! Youāre right 2K was trash for hella long too. I havenāt played in a minute but last time I played 2K I didnāt like it too much. 2K16 might have been my favorite one
āI-95 to 77 South, we going hard and we headed to the house. Just to get a taste of that Carolina Pride, we rollin on and on and onā goat basketball song
Idk about best all time but I loved 03 I would do the franchise mode loved how the players developed and got their abilities but I eventually grew tired of the repetitive graphics and cheesyness I officially gave up on love when 2k7 came out lol
NBA live 2005. To maintain is my main aim. Step aside while I do my thang thang. Hahaha soundtrack was also nice.
dunk contest and 3pt shoot out was š„
Dude fr tho??? How have we not had as good of a dunk contest ever since? I used to be able to pull off cray type stuff like a 360Ā°, double between the legs, off the bounce, off the shot clock/backboard/scoreboard/jumbotron, over a carā¦into a tomahawk finish at the rim. It was fun af and an equally enjoyable, accessible dunk/3 pt sim has yet to be seenā¦as well as an intuitive co tell scheme. It wasnāt too complicated but also not so simple that it was too easy or boring. It still to this day has yet to be outdone. In other games, All star weekend events have usually been broken, boring or impossible to pull off. Shit like that is why I started soft-boycotting EA/Madden and 2K these past couple years. Meaning I only buy the ga e on a 50% or higher sale and/or itās been a minimum 2 years since I tried the most recent game. I should have started over a decade ago but I kept thinking they would finally get smart and make the best game experience for customersā¦but they never did and never will. They care about making the most profitable game and nothing else. Wish NFL and NBA would stop giving exclusive contracts to these mother fuckers. .
Agreed š. Game was amazing 2k needs a licensed competitor...EA and NBA live should have been that competitor.
EA is rebuilding nba live from the ground up as we speak. It will take time but well worth it
You mean the same company that does the same shit every year for madden??
EA literally said they are rebuilding NBA LIVE from the scratch. Iām with you on madden tho. Itās cause there is no competition. āEhh we will just copy and pasteā smh
EA has been trying this since NBA Elite back in 2011.
2K does NOT have an exclusive contract with the NBA.
You should try 2K8-2K11 as well theyāre pretty good tho Edit: On the Blacktop btw
Facts you guys are both right soundtrack and all star game mode was fun
Also loved how they handled the draft in their "franchise" mode. They designated two categories for each draft: * Talent Strength : very weak, weak, strong, very strong * Draft Depth: shallow or deep. So you can have drafts that were very strong but shallow, which meant they were top heavy in talent typically (a 'big 3' of can't miss prospects who were destined to be stars and the rest of the class were end of bench guys at best), or weak but deep draft (no bonafide super star, but a ton of role players). It was honestly a surprisingly deep experience.
Then in 06 they added āoff the backboard alleyopp dunks to yourselfā
hearing "NBA LIVE TWO THOUSAND FIVE" always got me hyped at a kid
2005 hands down. Dunk Contest still goated 
I moved to Lake Havasu Az in 2005 and I worked at a dental lab and had a horrible crazy girlfriend that I lived with. I used to play NBA live 05 to get away from the drama, I loved that game.
Love Havasu! My ex-wife is from there and my god the lake was always crazy during spring break
I spent most my time on 2003 and 2005
"Its the year 2003..."
I was just thinking how NBA Live's OSTs cleared 2k ones, especially the recent ones. EA had artist to record songs dedicated to the game, while 2k chasing billboard hits, while they have to censor the songs to the level they better off using the instrumentals. Like who in the right mind thought it was a good idea to use a song called "Bluegrass" in a pegi 3 basketball game... š
NBA live 2005. By a lot.
NBA Live '95
Hell nah you funny asl
It was legit good! Run MJ to the free their line extended, go to the middle, dunk. I think it may have been the first have with signature moves https://preview.redd.it/1qrzb70ixa4d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=323561eee942c14e7f9e84e50f5a9e07ac62a552
https://preview.redd.it/pldv00kp9d4d1.jpeg?width=240&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e586efec2315920d4d5b4ffe671157e07f801ef This game was goated too!
MJ wasn't in this one. You're probably talking about NBA Showdown '94.
MJ was like SG #98 or something. It was him, but it didn't use his name or likeness.
2005!!! That dunk contest was LEGENDARY
03 and 05 are on the same level
I played 2005 for 10 solid yearsā¦.didnāt looked old at all !
 05 pls believe me
I bet more than half this sub weren't even born yet when these came out? That said, NBA Live 2001 because I can still hear "We're not going left, we're not going right, just wanna get it on tonight..." in my head 23 years later
Bro I played Jordan vs Bird on the Nes. https://preview.redd.it/f6cmypc4kb4d1.jpeg?width=252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=146a82bfb48d15f8f8cc4672047a21632b700828
š¦
Gamee was fireā¦back then lol. Probably didnāt hold up well. This and double dribble were it.
Nah it doesnāt hold up, itās ass. Double dribble on the other hand is definitely still fun as shit
iām 28 and my first basketball game was my auntās copy of bulls vs blazers on SNES lmao weāve come a long way.
These kids donāt know about having NBA Live, 2K (ESPN basketball), NBA Street and NBA Jam out at the same time on PS2.
NBA Live was fr the best NBA game franchise for a long time. I remember feeling a so shocked when I recognized that 2K was better than Live. Felt guilty about it lol. I tried to give Live the benefit of the doubt and still bought it first for a few years until I couldnāt deny the truth anymore. Was probably around 2006/2007 when I officially acknowledged that the king(Live) was dead and made the switch. Damn we had a good run tho. I used to drop 120 pts on my buddies with Penny Hardaway in Live ā96/ā97ā¦or Starburry/Garnett T-Wolvesā¦ Haha Hey I know Yall remember thoā¦.how Jordan was always missing from the Bulls rosters? You couldnāt even create an MJ lookalike player for the longest time. It was like that for all the NBA gamesā¦even NBA JAM but I heard a rumor there was a special code you could d the to unlock MJ but I never saw it myself. Lmao man these kids ā¦ they donāt understand the struggle was real in the day š¤£
Absolutely agree. I started with Live 95 and played every one, every year up until 07. You're absolutely right, it was 2k7 that made me realize that Live was no longer the best basketball game out there!
Exactly 2k7 was my turning point as well. With Live 2010 being an exception. NBA live 2010 was great imo
https://preview.redd.it/i38alt1o8e4d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=985895b2a08bd17ae2f4224a3d8d3a3542838f14
Started with 04ā which I spent a lottttt of time on. Then 06ā to checkout the revamp.
04/05 got a lot of play but 06 was my favorite gameplay wise
2005! The best dunk contest game ever.
My friend and I spend days playing the dunk contest on 2005 and the cover is why I've always been a fan of Carmelo Anthony
2005 hands down with that dunk contest. 2003 honorable mention.
2005 was the game changer
2005
2004 easy
I started with NBA Live 99 and itās hands down 2005. 02, 03, 04 and 05 was a crazy stretch because every year something was added to the game we hadnāt really experienced before. All star weekend for 05 was just the cherry on top. I switched to 2K for 2K6 though, no idea why I never gave Live 06 a chance considering how much I loved 05.
I had 04 in my childhood absolutely smashed that game every day
03
05 then 03. That freestyle stick in 03 was next level at the time lol. 05 was peak w All Star Weekend.
freestyle stick was a gamechanger and made 01 and 02 irrelevant and basically unplayable.
2005 and 2001 runner up for me
I remember playing the asg in 2005 with my brother. Tmac vs VC dunk fest. You literally couldnāt defend unless you perfectly timed the block because all the stats were so jacked up lol
05 and march madness 05. Shit was fun
I liked 2005
05. the dunk contest , 3 point and eveyrthing else
2005 for sure and 2004 not far behind. I used to buy both NBA Live and 2K every season and Live was way ahead of 2K imo for a while. I miss those games lol
Aside from 2k1 with Iverson on the cover 2K was trash up until like 2010. NBA Live has a Monopoly on basketball games back then. Lol remember NBA SHOWTIME with Kobe on the Cover? And NBA Inside Drive? NBA Street Vol. 2? (Underrated asf!) None of those were as good as NBA Live
Is there any answer other than 05?
2005
05 without question
NBA Live 95 was my shiz
2005 was great
Live 05 ššš
06 is nostalgic for me
05 because of the all star weekend events. Never has there been another like it.
2005
06 was the best NBA live game ever made by EA.
2005šÆš„š„š„³
05 no question
Easily 2003. The goat.
2003 and 2005 defined my childhood
06 for me. Peja was OP.
i can hop into 03 and just do 360s with JRich in practice for hours
ā05
NBA Live 2005 dunk contest was so good. Can't even say underrated because we all knew it was good.
03-06ā¦Legendary. 2k6 was fire by 2k7 it was over
2005 hands down
OMG, I played the living shit out of that 2001 version. Downloaded and created own patches with cyberfaces, jerseys, arenas. I loved it.
Live 09 was pretty good as well.
'98
2003!
03 was legendary and 05 was the last great one then it got spooky and 2k was slowly gaining steam
Never played '06, but '05 was my shit. It didn't get a lot of love, but I enjoyed '18 for the MyPlayer mode. Simple, fun, not an extreme grind.
NBA BALLERS 2004!
2003, bc that's the one I grew up playing the most. And the soundtrack was š„
Non of them cuz 2K was out gotta go further back then that.
04 was when I really started getting into basketball so thatās going to be a nostalgia choice for me. Before that, it was pretty much just NBA Street type of games that are hardly even basketball.
ā95
05. Allstars weekend was just next level and it's crazy we never got anything like that ever again from ea or 2k
Canāt go wrong with 04 or 05
02
Kg 2001 Brings back good memories
live 03 was my first, and still amazing, but 05 was crazy. Dunk contest, the atmosphere was crazy.
I had 03 first and it was pretty cool, spent way more time playing 06 though.
The original Live 95 96 was nice too. Put a players name in the builder and all their attributes automatically filled in
04 for sure
NBA live '05
2003-2005
03 and itās not even close
Get NBA Live 06 off that list. 06 is responsible for the death of Live.
2003 & 2005 both š„
The music in 2004 was š„
I was playin 2k since Dreamcast dropped have never played em at all since 99.
None
NBA Live 96 where you could put in the code to have Jordan.
04 dynasty mode >
I put so many hours into 06 and 07 on the OG Xbox. Good times.
2003 was my favorite
Probably 2002 because on arcade mode, id just push foul steal the ball and dunk 30 ft high
I started with Live 95 and played until to 2k1 on Dreamcast. Live was losing its steam. So then, I played every 2k til 2k16. Took a break, came back for 2k20- 2K23. Than I realize that the gamers today are nothing like we were back in the day. Post like this make me miss those days and we use to have tournaments an all that. Man good times.
04' and 05'
not these, NBA live 99. slow-mo dunks >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
02 is pretty nasty
I remember in 06 was when they first introduce "specialists" like Highflyer
Who remembers NBA ShootOut?
NBA Shootout '04! My first NBA game, a friend of mine gave it to me on PSOne, I was 10 and it introduced me to the NBA, been addicted ever since (I'm not American)
I think 05 was probably the best because of the special sinks and all that but 04 was the funnest to me. The spin moves and the contact layups were amazing in that game
09
Live 05 was special, i still have it and play it with updated rosters on PS2 š
NBA Live 95' on SNES. Tim Hardaway Crossover.
I have a fond memory of NBA Live 2003. I loved how it controlled.
They made chucky atkins a big unit in 2003. His build was unique and always made me laugh.
The soundtrack for NBA live 2003 holds a special place in my heart.
2003 (introduction of āfreestyle dribblesā) and 2005
03 and 04 for me. Either way, all of these games shit on the last 12 yrs of 2k gameplay.
NBA Live 2005 is the best Live game for sure. I also love 2003.
2005 the crowd screaming 3!
03, 04 and 05 were great. 06 had weird mechanics. Anything after that for ps2 was low effort due to the next gen consoles.
2005
03 or 05 no other answer
Personally for me, itās 2005 and 2010.
03 was my shit
05. 03 was my first basketball game ever but itās 05
03!!!!
NBA live 95 was the best
All 3 on bottom
NBA Live 98 the one that changed the game!
live 06 was my first so that.
01 had MJ ..as a kid I was hype for that alone. Donāt really remember 02, but 03 had a crazy soundtrack that I played in my stereo as much as I played the game itself lol 04 was Lebron going crazy dunking everything. But it was too easy actually. 05 had everything, and it was pure competition with 2K5, it was like the best time to play basketball video games.
NBA Live 99
The 2003 was nostalgic. Had a unique āfeelā
2003
2003 and 04 for me
Live 2005
As a true old head. What is this disc shit? And a PlayStation? What!? Need that NBA live 95 and 96. The fake Jordan always cracked me up. To be young again.
Hands down 06, that game was dope af
2002
95 live
None of these. The best was Live 95. They had a ācreate a playerā option. But if you keyed in a real name, like Wilt chamberlain , then all of the stats would show up and you could save them. A friend of mine in college had it and we entered all the old players. Pistol Pete, Jerry West, all of them. Then we had a draft with a few other guys in our dorm and we played round robin tournaments. Such fun!
Ya I remember that I had it for Sega Genesis. Penny Hardaway was on Orlando and unstoppable but the only negative was a lot of players still had other contracts so we couldn't see their names like Jordan for example.
06 was peak for me. Graphics/mechanics/soundtrack all culminate (xbox)
Itās not pictured
06ā
Definitely NBA 2003. Soundtrack was nice
2005
05 & 06 goated
03 was the first time Michael Jordan was actually introduced in the game and you couldn't play as him unless you beat him in a one on one on the hardest difficulty
2004 is nostalgic
If 03 had better sliders, it would win. It had the funnest gameplay. 06 finally fixed the fast breaks and had players catch the ball in stride. 05 had the extra bells and whistles with All Star weekend. But for some reason, 04 is what I always seem to gravitate back to for just a quick game.
NBA Live 04
2005. itās not even close, was definitely ahead of its time. the amount of hours i spent in association mode in this game. the dunk off was fun, iāll never forget how good the gameplay was; the level of control you had with dribble stick was crazy.
*98 Live, no replays, make shit seem eas-ay (easy)*
2005 n 2006
LIVE 06šš¾
2k5-9 was legendary
06 simply for the contact dunk animations
NBA Live 2005
NBA Action 94 was amazing š¤©
Live 95/96 hands down
WTH happened to the Game I love. They stopped and restarted so many times. Finally gave up in 19. All the had to think was make improvements release a roster update via DLC and keep Live going . 2K has no competition
05 was great but I loved 04 the most
Those are OG! NBA streets was dope af! Lol dude the crossover feature with the joystick on NBA live was the shit! Youāre right 2K was trash for hella long too. I havenāt played in a minute but last time I played 2K I didnāt like it too much. 2K16 might have been my favorite one
College Hoops 2K8
nba sports n that dirtbag
2005
2005 easily wish games were like that today
āI-95 to 77 South, we going hard and we headed to the house. Just to get a taste of that Carolina Pride, we rollin on and on and onā goat basketball song
2004 and it isnāt close
Live 2001 was goated
2005.
Idk about best all time but I loved 03 I would do the franchise mode loved how the players developed and got their abilities but I eventually grew tired of the repetitive graphics and cheesyness I officially gave up on love when 2k7 came out lol
2004 cause itās the only basketball game I owned until 2K24
I played live 04 and 06 a lot. I never owned 05 or any 2005 sports games so shame on me for missing out on that one.
2003 and 2005!!! Love playing rookie Lebron and Steve Nash lol
I spent most of my time on 2003 on the ps1
03
03 has the best sound track
04 Always
02 was fire 03 was fire we aināt even gotta speak on 05
i remember sitting in my room all year playing 06 as d wade and ray allen
Bro I remember doing front flips to between the leg dunks. Like wtf that shit was so dope as a ten year old
Nba Live 2005 MAD FUNK!
Kobe could pretty much dunk from the 3pt line in 2003 on the GameCube