I'm proud to say I played every incarnation of these games. And yes... I was impressed by the very first ones. Although some stood out more than others. Dr J vs Larry Bird I paid .50 cents for at a Big Lots in the late 90s. I can't imagine how much it would go for now. It was actually a different version of what you see here. It was very smooth & played well on my Atari 7600. Way ahead of it's time & more in line with Double Dribble or NBA live 95. Double Dribble was the first game to have cutaway scenes when you dunked. You could dunk from the 3 point line if you did it from the bottom or top of the screen. Otherwise free throw dunks were possible from the foul line. This game was PEAK basketball when it dropped. Bulls vs Lakers/Blazers & the NBA Playoffs Series - This started the "modern" basketball trend. The way I saw it was the programmers who went to EA started putting stars on the players so you could control them. The "B" button became standard to switch players. All the things that ended up in "Madden", Live, MVP Baseball, etc, & then ended up in the 2K series - started here in what was called "EASN." NBA Jam: Still to this day the greatest basketball Arcade game ever made. We spent many hours at Tony's deli playing this. Also I used to know all the codes, JOR, or BBBBB, would unlock certain things in the game. If you had Tournament Edition on the SNES you had to beat all the teams once, & then after that, things got MUCH harder. You had to play a PERFECT game - or else you lost. This was the era of the game cheating to win at all times. At my peak I don't think anyone could have beaten me at this game. Run & Gun: I loved this game at the time but it had a short shelf life. It played hard in the Arcades but the SNES port was weaker. I still played it a lot - however it lost popularity due to the weak port & died on the vine. I still miss those days & played it as recently as last month on emulators. NBA Live 95: This was THE GAME. Ask anyone. You'll see it in the comments. Basketball had ARRIVED in all it's glory. I played it for hundreds of hours. All my players were custom, from whatever school I said so. I averaged 200 points a game & had 6'10'' Behemoth pounding the Power Forward glass. I had a 5'7'' white haired guy with a 99 slam dunk as a PG. Jordan rode the bench as my 2 alter egos (1 all 99's & 1 with more realistic stats) dropped tons of points - 1 averaging 60 points a game. This was the beginning of the end for me though as other games just all started to look alike. NBA Street: This game kept the spirit of NBA Jam alive with updated Playstation graphics. We played this for a little bit but by this time all the games were starting to merge & there were too many brands doing too little things. NBA 06: The PS2 was on top of the world & I remember having MVP 05 & NBA 06. Some would call this the golden era of sports games because even Madden 06 is remembered as a great year. MVP Baseball was the best game ever (All due respect to the Griffey's). Then you had NBA 06. A masterpiece that basically every game is based off of today. You could call plays, use special abilities, make trades, draft players. I had a lot of fun with that game. Steve Kerr saying "That shot is unconscionable - only a young Jon Starks would take that." when you would pull up to the line on a fast break would kill me. Starks is my favorite player - but for Kerr to then turn the Golden State warriors into a logo shooting fast break team would prove him a hypocrite. You'll notice every other game after this is pretty much a carbon copy of each other with zero innovation. I had a ton of hope for video games in the late 90s. Now they all look the same. I guess we were spoiled.

Fun fact: Everytime these games were released we used to say “the graphics are amazing!”

im 40 years old and played many of these games when they came out and let me tell you young ppl something funny, these games look horrible to you now but back when a lot of these games first came out, they looked so realistic to us. 🤣 im laughing so hard looking at the graphics of these games. you guys have it made today. this was a great trip down memory lane

NBA Live 95 will always have a place in my heart

Ultimate Basketball and Street Hoops my favorites...

I remember seeing Run and Gun 2 in arcades. I use to think that spin move was the realest thing in the world

I remember playing Jordan v Bird, Lakers v Celtics, NBA live and NBA shootout 98. Then I stopped playing games and went back in 08 with 2k and still playing 2k to this day. Such great memories and the games today are unbelievable.

The miraculous thing is at the time each of these games came out they were the ish

2k2 for Dreamcast had the most fluidity of gameplay in that era. Both Dreamcast Football and Basketball were cutting edge, such a highly underrated system.

Man I remember playing a lot of the old games but I was in love with NBA Jam T.E. and NBA Live '95 - '97

NBA Street Vol 2. was damn near perfect. I was an NBA Live guy, but I worked at 2k Games during the development of 2k4 and 2k5. The shot stick, the crossover on the stick, a lot of the stuff we put in the game then is still there today. :)

I loved NBA Jam, NBA Give n' Go, and NBA Street Volume 2. Double Dribble on NES was my first.

i'm 45 and remember most of these game. everytime a new game caneout i thought this is as good as it gets. my favorite was techmo super nba basketball for super nintendo. thanks for making this video, this old man felt like a teenager again

It was NBA Live from 95 to 2000. Then 2k started the takeover. Dreamcast really got it right with those. Took a couple years to get em going, but it was on.

1986 double dribble looked really good for 86 looks like a nice Indy game or something props to that development team

I just love seeing games from the past. Some are better than the newer ones ngl. Great video!!👏🙂

Live 95 was the game changer for me. It was the first game I could remember that had the full NBA roster and they introduced that unique camera view and the spin move. We wore our Sega Genesis out. 😂

NBA hangtime got US hooked to the N64 for weeks. Even as non Americans. Gameplay was just perfect.

Seriously, NBA Jam changed the game when it came out. It was so good. And I played hundreds of hours on NBA Live 95 and 96. They all seemed so good at the time

Tecmo NBA Basketball was my second basketball game (Double Dribble being the first) and that game STILL holds up today.

i loved the Nba In The Zone series especially when they added the 3point contest and slam dunk

My mates and I played the hell out of NBA JAM TOURNAMENT EDITION. Score 2 in a row ...”He’s heating up ..” score 3 in a row ...” HE’S ON FIRE ! “ and the net burns 🔥...a 90’s Classic for me

As a part Japanese guy, thank you for including Slam Dunk (9:10, 9:30, 10:33, 11:36) as I played two of the four listed. But regardless, if anybody doesn't know Slam Dunk, it is the best and most popular anime in the history, coinciding with the Bulls dynasty and popularizing the sport in Japan. That anime/illustrator needs to be enshrined to Basketball Hall of Fame.

Jason Kidd doing a 360 at 21:47 took me out lol. So many memories with these games though, love it!

Street Hoops was such a good game! Perfectly captured the culture of early 2000s basketball. I’m pretty sure you would play on famous street courts across the country and one of them was the Run N Shoot in Atlanta we used to go to irl!

Man watching this video and seeing 10+ basketball games a year coming out compared to the 1 a year we get now really makes me appreciate what we had back then.

Ultimate basketball nes will forever be the best basketball game in my head, the music, the cut scene for the dunk is etched in my mind.

NBA LIVE 95 was a Favorite of mine and NBA JAM💥💯💥

Run n Gun 2 in the arcade was an awesome experience

30:37 someone definitely has the sliders up, he shot a 3 wit Shaq and made it 😂😂

I like how some games in the 70's and early 80's looked better than some games in the late 80's and 90's

Those early 'NBA Live' installments were so fun. Still remember going on fast breaks with two good dunkers where you would go up for a 360° dunk but throw an alley-oop to your teammate who would also do a 360 and dunk it...good times. lol

Yo!! What a trip down memory lane. Friend's use to go at it in Coach K College Basketball, had soo many of these. Thanks for taking the time to put this together!

It's amazing how sports games went from simple button gameplay, like that seen on the Nintendo, to more advanced presentation styles and real time physics after the PS2 and Xbox. Lol, the NBA 2k series on the Dreamcast looked so realistic when it came out. Everyone I knew couldn't drop the controller, we were so in awe at how good it looked. Now there's the PS5, damn time flies.

While realizing that Slam Dunk is an old cartoon, I suddenly realized that I was an old person who had fun playing games from 1995.

1992 NCAA Basketball was the first 3D basketball game and blew my mind when I was just 15 years old. The Cheater Team was Georgetown since they had both Dikembe Mutumbo and Alonzo Mourning.

I'll never forget the first time I played NBA street. It was the first PS2 game I ever played and it BLEW my mind. I miss being amazed/excited by things.

NBA JAM in the arcade was the best. The graphics and it was 2vs2 made it so much fun. NBA jam and virtual fight in arcade version were my addiction while my friends were drinking and on drugs. Lol

Literally my entire childhood. All starting with Lakers vs Celtics.

Tecmo Super NBA Basketball on the Super Nes was the GREATEST game ever made for me. 😎🏀

I’m 48… thank you for the ride down memory lane. Great evolution…

Double dribble and Tecmo Basketball where a huge part of my early childhood gaming!

0:54 i cannot believe i saw gameplay of NBA 2k79

I grew up playing Lakers v Celtics on DOS and Takin it to the Hoop or Turbo Grafx 16. Huge shout-out for showing both of em! And thanks for giving me a trip down memory lane 🙏

NCAA basketball... Who remembers Hewlitt (?) from off the bench for Kentucky. Half court shots all day ⌚️👈

Man TV sports basketball was so underrated. I remember editing all the rosters to the current rosters at the time. Full statistics. Ability to play a whole season. It was nuts.

Man I cant lie...the 90s were the golden years of basketball game innovation. Wish it could go back to that level of progress 🤦‍♂️

EVERYTIME I see videos like this it always snaps me back into the mindset of just how spoiled we have become with graphics. I see kids complaining all the time about graphics in newer games… QUIT COMPLAINING and be happy we get to see how incredible the graphics jump every few years

28:55 College Hoops 2K8 Most under-rated basketball game ever, I remember there servers stayed up till like 2013

NBA Live 2003 was the reason i found love for basketball. I wish I could play it again, I tried everything, it won't run :/

NES FAVS: Double dribble Arch rivals Kerr was unstoppable on shootout 98

Hoops, In the Zone and Streets had the Best Dunk packages and Action experiences

Man these take me back to a great time in my life as a kid..

When you see it all in sequence, NBA Live 95 was so amazing for its time.

NBA Steetz Vol.2 is still the greatest basketball game of all time.

Wow!!!! For me..... it started with double dribble then it was Lakers vs Celtics then it was Live 95 then it was In the Zone then it was NBA2K... Damn how far we've come

Thanks so much for this! Double Dribble, Live 95, and 2K2 hold a special place in my heart. The nostalgia 😌

Im 42 and started playing on Atari as a small kid. Double Dribble on NES, then Lakers vs Celtics, Bulls vs Blazers also on Sega. Then came NBA Live and NBA Jam. Once we got to 2K it was a wrap. They put the basketball games on lock. March Madness was okay because of Dick Vitale. 2K in 06 was the demise of the rest. I started on Xbox and went to Playstation and never looked back.

Never knew there was an Inside Drive 2000, I thought it started with 2002 on the Xbox

Double Dribble my first Bball game. 2K on Sega Dreamcast 1999 changed it forever. No competition since for 2K.

Started playing video games in 1982.......this is crazy.....just watched my whole life in 34 min.

7:25 and 10:28 my all time favourites. Unmatched. what a time it was to be a kid in the 90's 😌

Cool to see all the options we had to choose from to get our basketball fix back on the days. This video speed up once we got into the PS4 era.

Virtua NBA was ahead of its time. The graphics are insane and way better than the ones in the 2000s.

I remember when live 95 came out and thinking this is the most amazing thing ever. Looking back at it now I can’t believe I was so impressed

Arcades were always far above the consoles. Today...I guess there's a reason we see no arcades anymore. Consoles got really advanced above arcades right around when the Sega Dreamcast, Original XBOX, and PS 2 came around. Since then, the graphics and framerates exceeded arcades.

Seeing makes me miss when we had more than one basketball game to look forward to coming out every year.

One game you missed is looney tunes basketball on the SNES! I loved that game when I was a young'n.

Couldn't begin to explain how epic Double Dribble was for it's time! Then NBA JAM Omg

Double dribble will always be my fav

Awesome vid!! I played many of these growing up. It is great to see video game basketball evolution!!!

Thank you for memory lane🙂

Loved playing Dr. J vs Bird on my Atari 800 and Double Dribble in the arcade.

NBA Live 95 and Coach K are classics. I remember I wanted the Scottie Pippen game

IMO Run and Gun is the most underrated of all these games. It was the perfect mix of arcade and simulation for the time. It was NBA 2K ten years early.

Played Soo much of NBA Showdown back in the day. I think it was King, (bulls) who was shooting 3s all day.

Man it was great that there were so many options back in the day and now adays you have basically one game for each of the major sports

my first basketball video game was Double Dribble. It was released in 1986 but I started playing in 1992 when my father bought our first Nintendo family computer. My favorite at the time was Super Mario Bros, Adventure Island and Battle City. From then on I was crazy about video games and been playing NBA Live 1998 up to 2008. I've played tons of basketball video games but when I happen to play NBA 2K9 in an internet cafe, it's over. It's beyond expectations. NBA 2k def is the dopest basketball video game ever to date, in my own experience per se.

Man basketball nightmare unlocked memories for me!

NBA jam extreme 1996 was so good!😎 How come NBA jam on fire edition (2011) isn't on this list?😮

My top 5 5. NCAA Basketball Super New (You could spin the court with a dunk) 4. March Madness 2010 3. Live 96 Super New 2. Live 97 PlayStation And the greatest bball game of all time is 1. Live 2003 (The perfect blend of sim\arcade. Legends including 4versions of Jordan.The best sound track in basketball history. Revolutionary graphics.)

NBA Street vol. 2 still one of the best sports games ever.

I remember David Robinson Basketball. The two best players outside of Robinson were Bullseye Bond and Air Allnight.

1986s Double Dribble seems to be way ahead of it's time. Voices, character animation, colorful sprites...

NBA shootout series for ps1 was my sh!t ... I loved how the cam zooms in on dunks, layups, or blocks. And the players were bigger here than NBA live.

Double dribble will always hold a special place in my heart..the corner 💣 3 is legendary.

Run and gun (1993) and Street slam (1994) are still good games. 10 years ahead of their time!

In my teenage years all we played was NBA 2k and NBA live . I don't remember the other basketball games from the 90's

NBA Hangtime is the greatest and its no contest. Perfection.

Gotta love the sounds back then lol. Awesome videos. Good times

They need to make another basketball street game asap street hoops was dope and nba streets was also🔥🔥🔥

2007 was when we finally saw and felt fluidity in the basketball games

I’m an old gamer and me and my friends were BLOWN AWAY by Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA playoffs on the Sega Genesis in 1992. We thought we were in the future, 😆

Great compilation, but I missed a few titles: Drazen Petrovic Basket (1989) ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX and PC Golden Basket (1990) ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX and PC PC Basket saga (1993 - 1998) PC

i've played so many of these games..ive been gaming since the atari 2600. Run N Gun is still probaly my favorite basketball game of all time

Street Slam,Nba Jam 2010 (the commentator Tim Kitzrow was amazing in this game),Hoops 96,Run and Gun 1 and 2,Nba Street vol.2 and vol.3 are superb but Nba Jam Tournament edition Arcade (1995) is still my favourite.Boomshakalaka!

Tv Sports basketball on the Amiga! Making teams and playing against my friends for hours!

Wow beatboxing was actually part of the NBA Live 2002 soundtrack.🤣 20:29

It started to get better by 2002. Once 06 hit the graphics started getting better and better

NBA 2k came in with a bang in 2000. NBA courtside and inside drive were very underrated for their times. Stree Vol. 2 was insane. EA NBA Live took the rain in 2004. NBA Live 06 was revolutionary to me. 2k definitely took over in 2008 and never looked back. Top 5 games NBA Street Vol. 2 Live 06 2k10 2k16 2k3