Old School Friday: NBA Live 95
We loved this game…
by Chris O’Leary
It happened over a decade ago, and I still remember it like I saw it yesterday. Scottie Pippen inbounded to Tim Hardaway, who busted it up the court, pulled up for a three, then dished off to an open Chris Webber at 15 feet out. Webber lost his defender with a spin move and found a double team waiting for him at the hoop. Undeterred, he pulled the dribble back to where he started and the double foolishly followed him, their mistake already made. A cutting Mitch Richmond could have just crushed the dunk and left it at that, but he decided to go reverse, then point at everyone on the court after the damage was done — you know, for humiliation’s sake.
With Shaq in the middle, the Golden State Warriors went 82–0 that season, steamrolling their way to the their first chip in 20 years. The win thrilled the capacity crowd, thousands of people who all looked alike, raising their arms in sequence. A few hours later, the team was dismantled and Chicago went on to have an undefeated season with a loaded team. Then Seattle. Then New Jersey, New York and both teams out in LA. I was the shrewdest GM, the best coach and the MVP of my team every season. I controlled it all with a controller in my hand, playing NBA Live 95 on the Super Nintendo.
I owned (as in owned) Live 95 for three and a half years, from the Christmas of ’94 until I finally coughed up the cash for a PlayStation in September of 1998. Over that time, I have no doubt in my mind that my brother and I became the world’s top two players at the game. Name the obstacle and one of us cleared it: 100-point games on three-minute quarters; 100-point victories; holding a team scoreless for quarters at a time; shooting 100 percent from the field for the entire game; never losing in the playoffs. We ran our pixilated competition off the court on the regular and we never got sick of it.
The magic of Live 95 lay in the fact that it didn’t matter that you knew you’d win by at least 40 every time you picked up the controller. After a while, the game wasn’t about how much you could win by, it was about how you won. Thanks to some primitive programming on the part of the EA Sports people, Live 95 was set up so that you could score on just about every possession. You could use any one of the following tactics to your advantage whenever you needed to:
• The spin move: Live didn’t have an actual spin-move button yet, but you could manually start to go right, bring the ball back, then go left (or vice versa), and your defender would pretty much chase you in a circle, giving you a lane that Oliver Miller could barrel his way through for a hoop (note the Old School Friday Oliver Miller Fat Joke).
• Drawing the double: As C-Webb did in the intro, all you’d have to do to draw a double is drive to the hoop. Bring your dribble back, and wait for two defenders to follow you. This almost always created an alley-oop, which was insanely easy to do. Just pass to the cutter and your work is done.
• Can’t miss three-point shooters: There were a lot of guys in Live who could stroke the three: Reggie Miller, Mark Price, Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin were all fine and reliable. When it came to money shooters though, two guys stood above the rest: Glen Rice and Mitch Richmond. Since Rice and Rock could both dunk and bury it from 30 feet and in, they were the shooting guards of choice in the game. It didn’t matter if they had their backs to the basket, if they were fading out of bounds or if they had a defender hanging off of them: Glen Rice and Mitch Richmond didn’t miss. Ever. 40-, 50-, and 60-point games were never out of the question with these guys. The best strategy was to have both guys on your team and have one of them come off the bench, so that you could sub one for the other after each quarter.
• Getting the ball back: The best way to run your score up and to keep the opposition’s point total low is to keep the ball out of their hands. To do this, you could either time the inbounds properly, which always resulted in a steal and quick layup/dunk, or try and draw the offensive foul. After years of practice, I was able to draw the offensive foul on random players running up the court by standing in their direction as they headed up the court. My player would disappear off the screen, then a second later you’d hear the collision and the whistle. I’d have the rock back quick enough for a transition trey or a dunk every time. This isn’t so much a credit to my skill as an oversight on the programmers’ part, who had players running in predictable straight lines up the court. It still made me feel like I was the man though.
There was a lot more to Live 95 than simply winning. If that was the only thing that was cool about the game, I’d have gotten sick of it after I won my second or third chip. The concept of playing a whole season with one team was brand new, as was stat tracking, the 3/4-angle on the court, and the NBA on NBC-like presentation that EA gave you. Combine that with the ability to trade any starters in the league for each other (that meant, for instance, you could trade Milwaukee Bucks’ starting PG Eric Murdock for Shaq), and you could run a dream team lineup against every team in the league for 82 games plus the playoffs.
Sure, with Live 06 you’ve got a game that’s vastly superior to its counterpart from eleven years back (man, I’m feeling old). But game recognizes game. When you’re tired of playing in the dunk contest with LeBron, check out the option on Live 06 to visit the old school. Check Horace Grant in his goggles; check the fade on Penny Hardaway, and notice how the shorts were still kinda small in the League back then.
The details are there, with a squint and a stretch of the imagination.
76 Responses to “Old School Friday: NBA Live 95”
Sep.29 at 10:17 am
Gilbert0 says:
That takes me back. in terms of gaming i still think the SNES reigns supreme. Nice write-up of a classic.
Sep.29 at 10:19 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
Great piece, but there’s one mistake: Live ‘06 is NOT superior to Live ‘95. Live ‘95 is still the best basketball video game ever made. If you played a season with (or against) the Spurs, Dennis Rodman’s hair would be a different color later on in the season. THat was the most advanced technology at the time.
Sep.29 at 10:38 am
J.E. Skeets says:
Great piece. Here’s my three Live “moments”: Live ‘96: Damon Stoudamire’s first-career triple-double (44, 15, 21)
Live ‘96: Any Chris Childs’ lay-up. (He’d inexplicably “fly” to the top right hand corner of the screen and score. Glitch!)
Live: ‘06: Baron Davis’ NBA Finals, game winning, fade-away three at the buzzer. (4-player run; pandemonium ensued.)
Sep.29 at 10:51 am
Gilbert0 says:
my favourite part of live 06 was the fact that larry hughes was practically unstoppable. odd. or maybe that was just me but he seemed to have a devestating array of tear drops, running jumpers and mid range fadeaways. he was impossible to stop from getting to the rim.
Sep.29 at 11:03 am
M.K. Petrik says:
Although I enjoy the feeling of nostalgia remember NBA Live ‘95, I just played NBA 2K7 on the X-BOX 360 and all I can say is . . . damn!
Sep.29 at 11:08 am
M.K. Petrik says:
As a previous owner of NBA Live 95 on the SNES my guy was Mark Price who just couldn’t miss. I recall a game where I must of went 20-20 from beyond the arc. But what was best about NBA Live ‘95 was that there was absolutely NO REBOUNDING because everyone could score. Plus the best dunk of the game was the one arm single pump gliding dunk (that you can probably see on the back of the Live NBA ‘95 box)
Sep.29 at 11:31 am
Mark says:
I’m speechless… nothing more can be said — it’s all in the memories. NBA Live 95 rocked… but then again, so did Techmo NBA Basketball on the SNES, TV Sports Basketball on the Amiga and Lakers v Celtics on the Commodore 64.
Those WERE the days.
I can say the same applies to playing FIFA 96 - it wees all over any newer iterations.
Sep.29 at 11:43 am
Thomas says:
live ‘96 - sonics were unstoppable, kemp was a 40, 20 and 10(blocks) player and payton was a 20 and 15 player, and for 3 pointers……detlef, hawkins and dale ellis, nuff said
Sep.29 at 11:45 am
Richie says:
me and my buddies were on the live 2000 for Nintendo 64. We custom created our squad from the people we balled with at our local park all the way down to look and skills. In one game, we scored 283 points, but the final score only allowed for 277.
Last year on Live ‘06, we were the wizards. I was larry Hughes and my boy was Gilbert. We were competing for MVP and flirting with quadruple doubles. 30 points, 11 assists, 12 steals and 9 boards on the hardest level.
Sep.29 at 11:57 am
Chris O'Leary says:
I think my favorite Live 95 moment was the last time me and my brother played against each other. He was the West all-stars, I was East. I overcame a ten-point defecit in the second half and buried a fading, turnaround three at the buzzer with Kenny Anderson to get the win. I immediately retired as the champ, with rematches out of the question. I think he’d have done the same to me.
Sep.29 at 11:59 am
Gilbert0 says:
Richie, I hate to be one of those guys, but wasnt hughes on the cavs in live 06?
Sep.29 at 12:03 pm
Derms says:
Live ‘95 is the G.O.A.T. bball game w/o a doubt. I love everything about that game. I remember battling my brother with the Celtics vs. the Rockets. The Dream dropped 103 on me, but Dee Brown was unstoppable and had 114. Still the most points I’ve ever scored on a video game w/ one player. Nice nostalgic piece homey.
Sep.29 at 12:06 pm
Myung says:
Good stuff, Chris…and all the people who left comments too…good stuff…next week, we need an NBA Live (we’re talking “Skiles and Shaq on the Magic” era) Old School article. As Lumburg would say, “That would be great…mmm’k?”
Sep.29 at 12:28 pm
wizeguy says:
live 95. the first of the series. before live it was nba showdown, another EA sports experiment that was “ok”. and before showdow, you can’t forget about celtics vs lakers, bulls vs. lakers, and bull vs suns. sega genesis of course! not even 27 teams available but 16 teams, the total number of teams that made the playoffs that particular year. so before live, lets give credit to the others that were on top before.
bulls vs blazers; jordans kiss the rim dunk or haikeem olajuwon’s tomahawk dunk. good times!!!
Sep.29 at 12:29 pm
FL1P says:
i had a game for PS1 called ‘Total NBA 97′ and Allen Iverson as a rookie could still the ball EVERY time….i played a complete season and he averaged 70…..Jerry Stackhouse added the other 25….i only scored with those two players the whole season (expect for i think 8 from Derrick Coleman)
Sep.29 at 12:45 pm
Dblizzy says:
Yeah i think Live 95 has to be the best basketball game of all time just because of the way it revolutionized the game. Every game that came after copied that REAL NBA season style with the commentators and everything. I remember the first time I played, on Sega Genesis, I used the Magic with Shaq and Penny. I went up for a lay up with Penny and i pressed the pass button by accident. I was about to get upset cuz I thoughta nice dunk when out of no where Penny threw the perfect lob pass to Shaq for a mid-air alley oop. That was the first of me and my friends many abuses of the instant replay feature. I know there are amazing technological advances in video gaming nowadays, but the “game” is never gonna change the way it did with Live 95… it even rhymed! BTW
Gilbert0 is right, Hughes is on the cavs in 06
and
he is f*cking unstoppable, he’s better than Lebron in that game.
Are we the only ones who noticed it?
Sep.29 at 12:48 pm
Rob Stewart says:
I remember going all out with Nickey and Eddie Jones with the lakers (pre-Shaq). I just bought 2k7 for ps2 and I’m loving it.
Sep.29 at 1:13 pm
t dot j. says:
oliver miller on live 96, no joke man ill drop 50 on anyone. tdottdottdottdot…….
Sep.29 at 1:30 pm
Dj says:
nba live moments: Live 95 - i was stuck in my grandparents house overseas one summer and i unearthed an SNES…or should i say…Super Famicom. That’s right, the japanese version. Finding NBA Live 95 was a total boon because it was in english. Mark Price baby. Live 2000 - lets see…scoring 20 points in one quarter with ervin johnson against my friend kyle (totally inexplicable), everytime shaq backed up and dunked over vlade, causing him to crash on the ground, finding a little known player named pedrag stojakavic back in the day and realizing he could shoot…. Live 2001 - My first ever dynasty team, first ever ring with the lakers and RON HARPER - NBA FINALS MVP!!!!! 7 steals!!!! Live 2005 - hitting 5 threes in a row, out of 7 overall in the last 3 minutes, to lead the 80s all stars to a thrilling OT win over my friend’s 90’s all stars Live 2006 - the friend i had who attempted to replicate kobe’s 81 game feat everytime he tried to play someone, shooting a three with kobe every single time down the court,
Sep.29 at 1:32 pm
Dj says:
oh, in a bulls-wiz rematch in 06 my friend will won on a last minute in OT shot by andre noiconi, where the computer somehow allowed him to inbounds him ball with sufficient time to shoot with 2 seconds left. I still get pissed thinking over it.
Sep.29 at 2:03 pm
allenp says:
Larry Hughes is totally ridiculous on Live 06. He’s not better than Lebron, but he’s pretty damn close. Cleveland is stacked on the slick in that game once you turn on Big Z’s scoring icon. That baby jump hook cannot be stopped. I really hope they fixed that in 07.
Sep.29 at 2:06 pm
Ron says:
Live ‘95 was great because you could just hold the turbo button and run up the court with miller, while running shoot from the 3-point line and be under the rim by the time the ball got there. Not only that, but the shot would wet everytime.
Sep.29 at 2:18 pm
Thomas says:
another cool thing about nba live, and i guess other series, but live has been the dominant one was discovering undeard of players that had skills. Like I remember in live’97 learning that steve nash had an amazing rating for a player with no hype at all (at the time)
Sep.29 at 2:25 pm
Richie says:
Gibert, you’re probably right, it must have been 05. my bad.
Sep.29 at 2:25 pm
Chris O'Leary says:
Yeah, I think they take gambles on players. It worked out with nash, but remember that Joe Smith feature in Slam when he played for the Warriors? It talked about how Smith was unstoppable, and that in the videogame, Smith led the Warriors past the Bulls. I don’t think anyone bought that, except for Kevin McHale.
Sep.29 at 2:28 pm
JLiG says:
I cant believe this article you guys are bringing back childhood memories its great. All i gotta say is sac town all t he way Mitch Rich hands down the nicest in the game. Flow’s like water. Yay area stand up please. RIP Andre Hicks
Sep.29 at 2:44 pm
steve p says:
i busted out live 95 a couple years back while my gf was getting ready for whatever we were gonna go do. so i had some time to kill. anyways i was playing and got fouled, and for some reason it just kept letting me shoot the freebies. i think i made about 100 of them before i got bored. maybe it was the hidden c webb free throw shooting competition.
Sep.29 at 3:08 pm
Rob Stewart says:
Live 00 on playstation I remember killing with some guy name turkoglu. No one had heard of him at the time. I used to do wild stuff with Eboy. The kings that year are my all time favorite team of any live game. i’d love to hear others all time favorite live teams and why.
Sep.29 at 3:31 pm
Rynn D. says:
Live ‘95 had great alley-oops and the slow motion feature was great for emphasis on two-handed 360’s. Other classics are: Lakers Vs Celtics for Genesis, Jordan Vs Bird, I think one was Michael Jordan’s Flight School for PC, 3DO Basketball (with fake players), and RUN ‘N GUN 1 and 2 in the arcade. Btw, NBA 2K7 is awesome. Live is dying.
Sep.29 at 4:12 pm
CASHVILLE says:
Damn bra, you just brought up some great memories. I had 95′ on Genesis and I remember that so called spin move and how easy it was to steal the ball. Someone correct me if I’m mistaken but I think that was the first game where you could get throwback players and lottery picks by just typing their names in the create a player mode. I remember Thanksgiving one year when my cousin and I damn near got in trouble because everyone was in the kitchen in a big circle about to say grace and we were back in my room trying to finish a double overtime game. I’m in school and I just had a kid so I gradually slipped out of the video game realm. I couldn’t even beat my grandmother now. I guess you have to grow up sometime no matter how much it sucks. Definitely one of the greatest of all time.
Sep.29 at 4:13 pm
boston's finest says:
correction: bulls vs blazers, not bulls vs suns
Sep.29 at 4:30 pm
boston's finest says:
favorite team the sonics. shawn kemp just dunked on anyone it was oh so cool! played a season and he averaged about 70ppg. got to the point that i got upset because their was no compeition whatsoever, even if i let the cpu just to an early 15-2 lead. but them sonics
johnson, kemp, schrempf, gill, payton and whenever there was a player movement, my bro and i always updated the entire game, all w/o a freakin’ memory card! lol
Sep.29 at 4:44 pm
Blue says:
How is Live 07? I haven’t seen any reviews for it or anything.
Sep.29 at 5:59 pm
defcentric says:
NBA LIVE 95 was the best basketball game of all time. one of my favorite things was how none of the 94-95 rookies were included in the game icsept of eddie jones on the lakers bench.
Sep.29 at 6:25 pm
Cordeazy says:
I wish my girlfriend could read this. I play Madden Seasons, and of course I go 16-0 every year. but its not about just winning, its about throwing for 500 yards in a game, and then going for 600 yards, while your running back has 300 yards on the ground. At the end of the Season almost everyone on my team goes to the probowl. It never gets old
Sep.29 at 7:00 pm
Mike says:
Didn’t you guys already write something on Live 95?
Sep.29 at 10:35 pm
Patrick says:
I think it was Live 04, when the jazz had Borchardt and Mo Williams and Raja Bell, but I would always pick them and roll on my buddies’ squads, just dunking with Bell and Williams at will.. then I’d match up Keon Clark with someone like Michael Redd to neutralize the shooting. Not realistic, which I think was the annoying part in losing to the Jazz.. Mo and Raja fo’ life!
Sep.30 at 12:58 am
Ryan says:
I baught this title immediatly after its release and played it every day. Non-stop. About 6 or 7 years later I noticed my friend had ‘95 for Sega Genisis still lying around. I challenged him to a game and he accepted. We all have our “finest Live moment” and mine came that day. My fr4iend was West All-Stars and I was East. Down by two with a few seconds left, I put the ball in Mark Price’s hands and let the clock tic down until I swished a three on him with no time left. Both of us being the basketball fans we were, we both bust out into hysteria. We both looked at each other and laughed at the very thaught of NBA nostalgia. That day, with that three made by Price braught back so many memories of being 12 years-old, being NBA nuts and knowing that Mark Price was once one of the better shooters in the L. We then both wondered what ever happened to him.
Sep.30 at 1:14 am
Jet says:
Remember when PCs were like 286s and 386s, my brother and I will be killing each other on Lakers vs Celtics. Huddled over a keyboard looking at a VGA screen, He’ll take the number pad side of the keyboard, I’ll be on the QWE, ASD, ZXC side. 2 buttons, shoot, pass. No such thing as a gamepad then… One of us would be crying after the game, man, the level of intensity was high everytime… And when we got older and LIVE 95 came along, that gave me a reason to buy the Super Nintendo system. We would play all the time and game pads would crash on the floor after a tremendous loss, we won’t talk to each other for a day or two. Then it’s on again. I was the Charlotte Hornets, and he was the Orlando Magic. It’s a brand new 7 game series every single time. Those were the days, thanks for the walk down memory lane.
Sep.30 at 4:12 am
Hans says:
My Live 95 Moment: Tim Legler averages 40+ points on my Bullets Team (need not remind you who played on there…? To this day it is my most gangsta team). He hit threes from half court like layups. In reality he then went on to win the three point contest in 96… Coinsidence?
On the old school note, here is the HOFFS new video. I think he is doing the “old guy at the high-school party” thing now. The original KITT must be rolling over in his grave (junk yard).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgX-hiQdfFw
Sep.30 at 10:50 am
DT says:
Memories on PC-bball…TV Sports Basketball, Jordan vs Bird, Jordan in Flight, The Dream Team…those were the days…
Sep.30 at 4:05 pm
Daniel Lee says:
Does anyone remember Bulls v Lakers and Bulls v Blazers? Now that’s old school! Timmy’s UTEP two-step, you know it baby!
Sep.30 at 4:39 pm
Patrick says:
Timmy and Mullin are the best basketball video team ever in NBA JAM… 3s galore I still play that on SNES with my bro’s multi-tap - 4 or 3 players is incredibly fun, I invented the juggle-push (think mortal kombat) and drop 80 pt games with Blue Edwards on the regular.
Sep.30 at 5:00 pm
Illy_Philly6 says:
Live 07 for PS2 is awful. Especially the camera angles. Don’t waste yor money.
Sep.30 at 7:28 pm
Ekam says:
FUCK YOU BITCH MUFUKER
Sep.30 at 9:48 pm
JB21 says:
Ez Ekam. Just bought 2k7, it’s tight. Live is definitely dunzo kids.
Sep.30 at 11:06 pm
Dbomb says:
Hold up first off I do not like the 2k series. I got the Live 07 and on first play I thought it sucked. It is way better because as of yet I have not found a move that works everytime. BTW I used to play nba showdown and how can you guys forget my two fav teams the Celts and Suns. The suns ruled with KJ and Barkley, shit even Richard Dumas. The game ruled because the signature moves and I would like them to bring those back.
Sep.30 at 11:31 pm
Dj says:
i think live 2000 was the best edition ever (esp. those kings, whit eboy, someone mentioned him already and i gotta support it.) best player ever: isaiah thomas in the original NBA JAM. he couldnt do those insane scottie pippen dunks every time, but he was faster than everyone else, you could start out with him at 3/4 court and the opponent at 1/2 court and you would still beat him to the basket. AND he NEVER missed a three. ever.
Oct.1 at 5:04 pm
SW says:
Live 95 rocked. The most memorable facet of that game has gotta be when you block a shot. The damn ball just gels to your palm like it’s glued. Nothing like blocking one of those layups on the fly only to take the ball outta bounds…. great fun!
Oct.1 at 7:51 pm
Will says:
Man this is crazy, I just hooked up Live 96 like a week ago and played it. (I didnt get Live 95 cause I still was playing NBA JAM T.E. and NBA Showdown). But playing Live was funny because even though there were only about 5 options for heads on there, I really thought they looked like the player for some reason. I really thought I could tell the difference between Penny and Dana Barrows. Oh and I also remember my bro scoring 100 in a game with Dell Curry of all people. I dunno what that was all about.
Oct.1 at 8:25 pm
pat says:
dude im 14 i remember the first time i played nba live i was like 9 i killed the lakers with the spurs used TD for like 100 points
Oct.1 at 8:26 pm
pat says:
2k7 is awesome
Oct.2 at 3:55 am
James says:
I can’t believe anyone hasn’t mentioned NBA Jam yet, even as a comparison. NBA Jame changed the game with the 40-foot acrobatic dunks and combustible basketballs. And the games were ridiculous, if you were up 20 you suddenly couldn’t hit anything and the greatest comeback in history would happen. And everything always came down to the last second, we hooked up a VCR to record the fourth quarters these things got so out of hand. Yelling, screaming, throwing and breaking controllers when we lose on a 70-foot hail-mary 3 at the buzzer… I can think of a lot of games that came out around then that were far better simulations of players, teams, realism. But we were still getting hyped about NBA Jam into the late 90’s, it’s like Mix Tape Vol. 1 for us. That’s my piece.
Oct.2 at 11:28 am
dkosei2 says:
And the soundtrack was gangsta too!
Oct.2 at 1:15 pm
Dj says:
my favorite memories of NBA Jam revolve around “BOOM SHAKALAKA!!!!!!”
Oct.2 at 1:36 pm
Chris O'Leary says:
NBA Jam announcer = Chuck Swirsky?
Oct.2 at 1:39 pm
Maha10k says:
Live 95 is the best basketball game ever. Definitely logged more hours than in the adddictive NBA JAM. I remember renting Live and staying up til 3 am playing with my friends. We all went out and bought it. Lakers with Vlade or the Suns provided serious beatdowns. Did miss the specialty moves from the Lakers vs Celtics (+ sequels) and Tom Chambers’ unstoppable move. But when you come down the lane and boom on someone and the guy points, that is the best moment ever in a video game.
Oct.2 at 4:30 pm
James says:
NBA Jam announcer was Dick Vitale. Another SLAM favorite.
Oct.2 at 4:51 pm
Stay Chisel says:
Live 95 will always be the greatest game of all time. I made it my mission for Christian Laettner to lead the league in all statistical categories, and did it– leading the Hawks to the ‘chip. Laet was averaging around 40 a game with 15 blocks. I will never get tired of playing Live 95.
Oct.2 at 5:38 pm
Mike says:
For all you’ve figured out about Live ‘95, there’s one significant oversight. Neither Glen Rice, nor Mitch Richmond is the best 3 point shooter in the game. That distinction falls on a little known backup on the Portland Trailblazers named Tracy Murray. Give it a try - ye shant be disappointed.
Oct.2 at 5:38 pm
Adam Prewitt says:
My best memories of Live ‘95 are too many to count. Moving Isiah Rider to PF on the T-Wolves and hving him dunk on EVERYBODY! Bringing Tracy Murray off the bench in Portland and having rain 3’s! The all-white lineup in Washington(skiles, rex chapman, Googs, Don McLean, Muresan. PS they even had a white 6-man in Brent Price). Mark Price and Gerald Wilkins draining 3’s all over the court. Sam Perkins the best 3-point shooting center in the game (89 raiting). Ron Harper being hidden on the Clipper bench and being straight nasty. Pete Myers starting at the 2 for the Bulls.
Easily the greats basketball game ever made. I think i might go play it right now.
Oct.2 at 6:09 pm
Nico says:
Got Live 95 on Xmas day with my first Megadrive (UK represent!). Played it so much I gave myself a headache and had to go to bed hallucinating of Latrell Sprewell. My favourite Live 95 memory was an NBA Finals game- Magic vs Spurs. Game was well won, but in the 4th I had Penny coming down the lane, taking off and 360ing (was the 540 possible? Still tripping?) over David Robinson. Sent the Admiral down with the ’ship. THEN on Live ‘96 I met the Spurs in the final again. In one game of the predictable sweep I managed to replicate the same dunk on Robinson with Penny, THEN Darrell Armstrong on the next play. To complete the humiliation I then rejected David Robinson with Penny. In the absence of regular televised games in Britain, the amount of time playing Live means I have trouble remembering whether this actually happened.
Oct.2 at 9:35 pm
Teddy-the-Bear says:
have any of dudes played NCAA Basketball for Super Nintendo? an even older game than live ‘95? THAT is what you call OLDSCHOOOL!!!
Oct.2 at 11:52 pm
Claudio Leoni says:
Watch this stat line that i still have written. Mitch Richmond
In one game he shoots 21/37 3pts, going for 67 points, thats nasty…..in a five game playoff series Mitch shoots 58/106 3pts. 11 3pts per game in a playoff series is not bad (how i could lose 2 games), not to mention what Gugliotta did in that game too.
Oct.3 at 9:49 am
DeVAndrei says:
I remebered this game it was my first NBA game and after that i have collected basketball games from 95 - 06. I everyday from school i play this game over and over again, esspecially the All Star game. And i always used to mix up positions, some days Shaq is at the point and Reggie “dominates” the middle, yeah and i won like that on the hard level!
Oct.3 at 3:18 pm
isaac says:
THAT WAS GREAT BUT MY GAME WAS ALWAYS NBA JAM
ON THE SNES
Oct.4 at 5:57 am
Patrick says:
did you guys remember that Shaq was in NBA Jam in the arcade? but then they lost the licensing for SNES so Nick Anderson became Shaq (no 3s, full dunks) the best NBA Jam team, as I said before, (aside from the ridiculous Bulls and the inaccurately loaded Charlotte Hornets - Mourning shoots 3s?) was Golden State with Timbug and Chris. what were your favorite teams?
Oct.4 at 3:32 pm
Rome says:
Was I the only one who, no matter what I did, could not stop the opposing teams point guard on 95? They could have had Sedale Threat and I couldnt stop him, I would still win by like 50 points, but the opposing pg would have 50 and no one else on the team would do anything. Live 95 I also remember because Penny was just a beast, completely unstoppable, avg. like 35pt 5reb 13 assist 2steals, and there was nothing the other team could do.
Anyone remember Coach K? That was fun, Camby was unstoppable. I remember live 95 making the Michigan Fab Five on one team, but they sucked though.
Oct.5 at 4:37 am
DVLb0y613 says:
Nice!! one of my fave games, back when you could actually undestand the controls!..My team was the nuggets with dikembe with mahmoud, robert pack,laphonso and a young jalen rose off the bench..they won the crown in my league!!
Oct.6 at 7:48 am
Rome says:
Mahmoud was unstoppable!!!1
Oct.28 at 6:21 pm
Illmatic says:
Reading all of your memories almost brings a tear to my eye! So many good memories of NBA Live, I think it was 97 where they actually added the sound of the “swoosh” to the net, for some reason I was psyched about that. Or how in 95-97, can’t remember which one, you could type in someone like Larry Bird’s name in the create a player feature and the game would fill in the rest of his stats and create him for you and you’d be able to ball with him. How about Live 00 where your crossover move was the guy sliding from one side of the court to the other. Not very fluid, but fun to break ankles with nonetheless. I also think I remember that Ncaa Basketball that Teddy was talking about, is that the one where you could drain 3s from half court on the regular? Live was a great game back in the day, but anyone serious about b-ball videogames now knows that the 2k series destroys Live. I purchased Live 06 and I probably sold it 2 weeks later. It feels like you’re playing on ice and your players are human pinballs. 2k has been the best game since it debuted on the Dreamcast and it’s really taken virtual basketball to a new level. If you’re in for a game where you CAN’T score in astronmical numbers this is the game for you. I think the most I’ve scored in a game is 50+ with D-Wade. But all of that is for a completely separate discussion. I love to hear all the memories. Almost forgot! Don’t sleep on Nba Shootout 97 for the ps1 either! As for the best duo on Nba Jam, I’d have to go with Kemp and Schrempf, for the simple fact that Kemp was a backboard breaking machine! Great stuff guys.
Oct.29 at 1:00 am
AI 4eva says:
most i ever dropped on a video game was 163 with AI on NBA live 2000 on playstation
Dec.13 at 2:28 pm
oldschool says:
live 04 i think, glitch in the game — because shaq had a 0 rating for three-point shooting, he would make every single one. even from beyond half-court.
Mar.20 at 6:23 pm
Sean says:
I remember back in about 7th grade(2003 at the time for me), I wrote an essay on the FCAT Writes which is a statewide writing test. The prompt was to write all about your favorite childhood toy. lol I wrote mine about NBA Live 96, although I also had 95 (96>>>95, IMO). That game was my life. The Suns w/ Barkley and KJ FTW! I loved Richmond & Sac Town as well. The create-a-player feature was awesome so you could have guys like MJ & Barkley who at the time were under other contracts or something. Earlier today, I was busting out my old SNES and played 3 games of live 96. First, I was Saramento vs. Indiana. I lost 56-55, Richmond (23 points 9/19 shooting) missed the final shot with about 2 seconds left. Second, I was the Slammers (w/ 14 Richmonds and 1 Rodman) vs. the Bulls. I got ahead 29-11 with the Slammers and switched to the Bulls, I ended up coming back and winning by 1 point. Jordan didn’t do much (8 pts 4/7 shooting). But DAYUM, Harper got me 8 points, 9 assists, and 9 steals. Lastly, I rolled with the Kings vs. the Raptors. I won by 1 point again, lol what’s with all these close games? I used to blow out the cpu by 35+ every game, I guess I haven’t played in a while. Richmond led me with 18 points on 8/12 shooting. Stoudamire had a shot at the buzzer from half-court but missed and I hung on to win something like 66-65.
Jan.12 at 1:47 am
C_Washburn says:
Haven’t seen anybody mention a great thing in this game at the time. The fact that in the create-a-player menu, if you entered certain legends names like Bill Walton, for example, there were pre-rendered characters already there as an easter egg with accurate looks, attributes, etc, that you could just add to their team’s roster. I tried to create players like Oscar Robertson, Kareem, etc. and I found that the great majority of guys I’d think to create were already in there. Certain guys weren’t…can’t remember them all now, but guys like Pistol Pete and I think Walt Frazier…but, whatever, to me it was the best thing ever at the time. Walton even had the heat-miser red Abe Lincoln beard…LMAO. Anyhow, props for re-setting what was and is the greatest leap forward in sports gaming history. EA still tries tweaking all these useless new features when all they need to do is get the gameplay to be simple, clean and pure as this beauty used to be…with modern day A.I. of course. But I don’t need a bunch of goofy ass modes and features…just get your gameplay tight like it used to be EA.
Feb.4 at 4:54 pm
xzimp11 says:
i still have the game and still killing people from ‘95 to ‘07