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 lost basketball video game saves that I’m tempted to reboot and play once again.

Decades of basketball gaming has resulted in far too many of my saves being lost. Sometimes it’s due to unfortunate technical issues, but all too often, I’ve made the mistake of believing that I was done with a particular game and carelessly discarded those files. As I’ve come to realise – especially with my preference for retro basketball gaming in recent years – I’m actually quite likely to revisit old favourites and make them a part of my rotation once again! To that point, it’s a shame that I can’t resume those lost Season, Franchise, and Dynasty saves when I dust off classic titles.

Of course, while the original saves may be lost, the ideas live on! With that in mind, while recovering those lost saves is highly unlikely unless I discover some backups somewhere – and trust me, I’ve already looked – I can always re-create them. Now that I’ve made my return to franchise gaming and reignited my passion for playing through seasons, I’m open to making that something I do with any old favourites that I end up getting hooked on. Sure, it wouldn’t be a true continuation of those lost saves, and it’d be tough to truly re-create the magic of the original experiences. I do think it’d be a lot of fun, though! With that being said, I’m quite tempted to reboot these five lost saves.

1. 1998 Bulls Season in NBA Live 96 PC

Discovering the NLSC and roster modding in 1997 inspired me to get into the hobby, resulting in my 1998 season update for NBA Live 96 PC. Since NBA Live 96 was the newest game that my family’s aging desktop could reliably run, it was the only way that I could experience the 1998 campaign on the virtual hardwood. And so, I started a Season with that roster mod; 82 games, 12-minute quarters, of course! I diligently played it as often as I could, even taking it on the road to get in a game on vacation. That enthusiasm allowed me to finish the season and begin the Playoffs, but at some point, that save was lost. And so, my version of The Last Dance was never finished.

While that Season file was one of the first in a long line of lost basketball video game saves, I do still have my 1998 roster mod. Not only that, but these days the resources to polish it up and make it as accurate as possible are far more accessible than they were in the late 90s. As such, I’m tempted to fix up that roster and reboot my 1998 season in NBA Live 96 as part of my retro basketball gaming activities. Alternatively, I could just play through the Playoffs with that roster – indeed, I’ll come back to that idea for rebooting lost saves – but I wouldn’t mind a do-over on the entire journey. If nothing else though, I probably wouldn’t intentionally lose on opening night this time!

2. 2003 Timberwolves Franchise in NBA Live 2003 PC

As I said when I reflected on my Minnesota Timberwolves Franchise in NBA Live 2003 for Wayback Wednesday, I can’t quite remember how I came to lose the save file. I did get my own PC around that time, so it’s possible that I simply neglected to copy it across from the family desktop along with all of my other files. Given the time period, it might’ve been on one of the backup floppy disks that I ended up carelessly tossing out. It’s possible that I accidentally deleted it, or overwrote it with a roster file. Or maybe I recklessly canned it when I decided that I was done with NBA Live 2003. That’s certainly why I abandoned that Franchise game, though I still wish I’d kept it.

Since then, I’ve come to appreciate NBA Live 2003 for what it is. It helps that I have other games that can provide the more realistic experience I once craved, so I don’t feel that I have to make the best of NBA Live 2003 while wishing it was something it isn’t. Revisiting the game both solo and with Dee has made me far more open to the prospect of bringing it back into my basketball gaming rotation. If I do, I’d be tempted to reboot that Timberwolves Franchise. That team has an interesting roster, and I love the branding they had during that era. I’d also consider simulating half of the season to effectively pick up where I left off, but the desire to play every game remains strong.

3. 2002 Kings Franchise in NBA Live 2002 PS2

Like most of my lost saves in basketball video games over the years, my Sacramento Kings Franchise in NBA Live 2002 was abandoned as I was preparing to move on to a new game, and thoughtlessly deleted because I wrongly believed I’d never return to it. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t fun and fulfilling, as completion is what we make it in basketball video games. With around 20 games left in the regular season and NBA Live 2003 drawing my attention though, I figured the story was basically over, even without a resolution. I came to regret losing that file however, and around ten years ago, sought closure by re-creating it. To that end, I’d actually be rebooting it again.

Strange as it may sound, I’d still consider doing that! That exercise in closure involved a lot of simulating to get through to the Playoffs I never reached, whereas this time I’d be playing the regular season again. Also, while I did enjoy the previous re-creation, I don’t think I truly appreciated the gameplay experience as much as I would now. For a while there, I’d developed the mindset that some games were getting too old to enjoy going back to. Nowadays, I have a rather different view of retro basketball gaming! Granted, NBA Live 2002 has some issues that I may find too annoying if I were to play it regularly again, but should I try, I’d be keen to reboot that Kings Franchise.

4. 1996 Bulls Dynasty in NBA Live 2004 PC

I like to think that I have a pretty good memory. However, until I dug into the depths of the Stories section in our Forum, I’d completely forgotten that I started a Dynasty in NBA Live 2004 with my 1996 roster mod! It didn’t really go anywhere, which isn’t surprising. I’d already had a memorable Dynasty with contemporary rosters in NBA Live 2004 for PlayStation 2, so I’d definitely put a lot of hours into the game by that point. On top of that, by the time I finished the 1996 mod, NBA Live 2005 was on the horizon. I suppose even then it wasn’t unthinkable that I’d return to NBA Live 2004 eventually, but I’d barely made any progress, so I didn’t bother keeping the save file.

Should NBA Live 2004 PC become part of my retro basketball gaming rotation – and I’m absolutely open to that possibility – my first preference would be to reboot that 1996 Dynasty. After all, not only have I gone back and updated that mod a couple of times since then, but I’ve already had fun and achieved a sense of completion playing through a fictional 2004 season. Furthermore, because the 1996 mod was finished as I was wrapping up my business with NBA Live 2004, I haven’t spent nearly enough time actually playing with it. As I’ve said before, I believe it’s important to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour when it comes to roster mods, so I’ll keep it in mind.

5. 1995 Rockets Season in NBA Live 95 PC (As a Playoffs Game)

Despite my belief that a standalone Playoffs mode should always be a staple feature of sim basketball games, I’ve undoubtedly underutilised it over the years. There’s just something special about starting a season from opening night, playing through the schedule to shape the standings, and then proceeding to the postseason. It’s why my cousin Clinton and I chose to re-play the entire 1995 season in NBA Live 95 PC with the Houston Rockets, rather than jumping straight into replicating their incredible Playoff run. It made for a much longer experience; one that we could keep coming back to and progressing in whenever he came to stay with us in the school holidays.

Unfortunately, that also reduced the likelihood of us ever finishing that season. We were playing all 82 games on 12-minute quarters, not to mention alternating between NBA Live 95 and other video games, basketball or otherwise. Even playing multiple games a day as we did, ten weeks of a school term separated those holiday sessions, during which no progress was being made as I didn’t want to play our co-op season alone. It was still a blast – especially when Larry Bird made a fictional comeback – but sadly joined the ranks of lost saves close to 60 games in. I’m tempted to reboot that experience – ideally playing with Clinton – but this time, jump straight to the Playoffs.

Retro basketball gamers, are there any lost saves that you’re tempted to reboot and play anew? What are some of the lost saves that you regret the most? Let me know 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.

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