Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five rosters that I’d like to make for NBA Live 06 PC.

Even though I haven’t been as active in the modding community as I was during the heyday of NBA Live on PC, the lure to tinker with the games I’m playing has always been there. Admittedly I haven’t been moved to mod recent NBA 2K games any more than I have been to play them, but should a future release capture my interest, I won’t rule out the possibility. For now though, just as I’ve gravitated towards retro gaming, I’m far more interested in creating mods for old favourites that find their way back into my rotation…or new old favourites, as the case may be.

One old favourite that I’d like to play more often and mod once again is NBA Live 06 PC. Although it was generally well-received in its day – and in my view, is the last great all-around release in the NBA Live series – that may sound like a strange choice. Compared to games such as NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K14, it doesn’t have the same significant following several years after its release. To that end, I accept that any rosters that I create for NBA Live 06 will be niche projects, and indeed likely largely for my own use. That doesn’t mean I can’t and shouldn’t create them, though! They’re worth considering at least, and to that point, here are five ideas that I have in mind.

1. Current Season Update

This might come as a surprise, given that I’m on record as not being a huge fan of the modern NBA. However, bringing an old favourite up to date is an obvious idea for a project, combining the old and the new to create a fun basketball gaming experience. There are also some intriguing challenges involved, from working around outdated formats and standards to trying to get an old game to replicate a new style of play. It can also make today’s NBA more accessible by transplanting it into a classic title with gameplay that you far prefer. Considering that I’ve struggled to enjoy the most recent NBA 2K releases, having current rosters in NBA Live 06 PC is an appealing notion.

There’s also something that I miss about working on current rosters: knowing the league from top to bottom. I’m not suggesting that I was equally familiar with every single player when I was maintaining current rosters for NBA Live 06 back in the day, but I was definitely paying closer attention than I am now. I was going out of my way to research players, and watch as many games as possible so that I could see them in action and apply those observations to my updates. I can’t completely let go of the idea of creating current roster updates for NBA Live 06 or another game I like, as I believe it could help foster a more enthusiastic connection to the modern product.

2. 90s Rosters

With that being said, as Dee and I have discussed on the NLSC Podcast, there are reasons that my attempts to update NBA 2K11 ultimately failed. Without that strong connection to and enthusiasm for the modern NBA, it was difficult to be sufficiently motivated to put in the time and effort to complete a current roster update. Dee made the point that I would’ve been far more likely to finish a retro season roster from an era that I’m nostalgic for, and while there were some other roadblocks with NBA 2K11, generally speaking I must agree! Seeing as how the era that I’m most nostalgic for is the 90s, one of the iconic seasons from that decade would be the ideal choice.

Looking back, I’m not sure why I never made any retro season rosters for NBA Live 06. Granted, they are a massive undertaking, and I’d already scratched that itch with 1996 rosters for NBA Live 2001 and NBA Live 2004. Still, it’s not as though I or anyone else had lost all appreciation for that era, and indeed, another modder did see fit to create a 1998 roster. It was a good effort, but also a little barebones and in need of some more polish. As such, I’m intrigued by the idea of re-creating The Last Dance in NBA Live 06, or rosters for 1996 or 1997 for that matter. It’d definitely be a way to combine my 90s nostalgia with my enthusiasm for one of the best NBA Live games.

3. ABA Rosters

As of writing, this is a mod that’s still in the early stages of development. To that end though, work is underway on the project, so for now it’s the one that’s closest to being a reality! There’s something about the ABA that I find really fascinating. Its final year and the resulting merger with the NBA occurred eight years before I was born, so it’s not a case of feeling nostalgic for the era, as is the case with the NBA of the 90s. The ABA is an important part of basketball history though, and I’ve enjoyed learning more about it over the years. It’s undoubtedly been underrepresented in the retro content of video games, so ABA rosters for NBA Live 06 PC strike me as a fun modding idea.

Beyond it being one of my all-time favourite games that I’m keen to feature in my retro gaming sessions, there are a few other factors that make NBA Live 06 PC an appealing choice for ABA rosters. There’s the synchronicity of it being set thirty years after the final ABA season, and the obvious project title of NBA Live ’76. Three of the four ABA teams that joined the NBA have the necessary throwback jerseys in NBA Live 06 by default, with the Indiana Pacers’ 1974 uniforms being close enough for an era-appropriate placeholder. And finally, there are enough retro mods in the archives to create a beta version that can potentially become a more polished project.

4. Classic Teams Rosters

Although I enjoy full retro season rosters, once again they are a huge undertaking that require a lot of custom assets to achieve accuracy throughout the league. With that in mind, rosters filled with a selection of classic teams from different eras can be easier to put together. Obviously they generally require a significant amount of modded files as well, but unlike retro season rosters, they don’t all need to be from the same era. For example, between the default assets and mods still available in the archives, it’s easy to add the 1996 Bulls, 1986 Celtics, and 2000 Lakers to the rosters in NBA Live 06. Conversely, creating 1996, 1986, or 2000 season rosters is a much bigger job.

A roster full of classic teams also invites more creativity with different themes: past champions, champs and their opponents, great video game teams, familiar faces in strange places, and so on. Once you’ve assembled a team in a roster, the data and art mods are there to be used in other projects as well. Also, while we accept that retro season rosters have their limitations with accuracy, it does mean they’re not always completely compatible with season and franchise play. Rosters of classic teams are perfectly suited to the one-and-done showdowns of exhibition games, and don’t rely on accurate schedules and formats while still delivering the same hit of nostalgia.

5. Ultimate Jordan Rosters

Finally, I’d love to be able to bring my vision of Ultimate Jordan rosters to life in NBA Live 06 PC. This is a project that I began in NBA Live 08, and even released a couple of demos. That was back when I was committed to the idea of releasing my roster projects for NBA Live 2005 through NBA Live 08, converting them between games as necessary. However, since we’re long past all of those games being regularly played by a lot of people, I’d rather just stick to making rosters for the one I like best and will be playing most often, which is NBA Live 06. At the time it made sense to convert backwards from NBA Live 08, but now it’s too much work for a niche mod.

It’s also an opportunity to start over fresh. When I put together that beta version of the Ultimate Jordan rosters for NBA Live 08, I was taking my cues from NBA 2K11’s Jordan Challenge. It was a logical approach, but it also meant that I wasn’t as creative in my choice of opponents as I could’ve been. Indeed, I wasn’t completely satisfied with a couple of the alternatives I chose the first time around, either. And, so I’d like to take another run at the concept, in a game that I want to play, without the pressure of having to convert the project to three other titles. As far as themed retro rosters for NBA Live 06 are concerned, the Ultimate Jordan project is near the top of the list!

Retro basketball gamers who’d be interested in dusting off NBA Live 06 PC, do you have any preference when it comes to new rosters and other mods for the game? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Rosters I’d Like To Make for NBA Live 06 appeared first on NLSC.