Throwback Thursday NBA Street

Throwback Thursday NBA Street

Robert Knuckles

It’s been awhile since I've done a Throwback Thursday game. I apologize with the delay with school and all but I’m back with another classic with NBA Street.

Now I’m not a sports game fanatic but NBA Street is one of the only sports game I really enjoy.

NBA Street was released for the PS2 on June 18, 2001 and released on the Nintendo Gamecube on Feb. 17, 2002. It was developed and published by EA games

This game features NBA players from the 2001-2002 season, that was a golden year era for myself especially after watching that 2001 All-Star Game. You have favorites such as Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Chris Webber and so many more. Michael Jordan makes an appearance as well in this game as well. Granted there are only five players on each team. There are also made up characters called Street Legends who are inspired by real people for example Street Legend Stretch resembles Julius Erving and you also have a white boy named Drake who acts hood but is actually from the suburbs. There are plenty of other unlockable characters in this game.

NBA Street features three on three basketball with street rules. Fouls don’t exist in this game. Two point field goals are one point and behind the three point line are worth two points. There is no time limit but there is a time limit with possession of the ball. Players that score up to 21 points win the game but you have to win by two.

Now while playing players can build up meter for their game-breaker. Game-breaker is build up by scoring but mainly doing special maneuvers such as faking out defenders, dunks, alley-oop, block shots and so much more. Once players build up their meter they can perform their game-breaker. Players can either shoot the ball or dunk the ball. It increases your score and it also decrease your opponent's points all well.

Players can create a player and use them in the mode City Court. An arcade type of mode where players face NBA teams in certain regions and face the Street Legend of that region. After every win players have the option of taking one player from the losing team or gain more points for your created player to increase their stats

Now City Court’s PS2 version is a bit different from the Gamecube’s version. Now the objective is still the same but in the PS2 version Michael Jordan helps the player by being on their team but he’s also the last boss to beat. Where in the Gamecube version he’s not helping out the player but Jordan is still playable on the Washington Wizards that is if the player chooses that team

There are also cheat codes. Before the game starts players have a time limit to make certain patterns for example players can have pictures of a basketball,basketball,turntable and shoe this makes players use the NBA ball. There are even more cheats where players can’t do alley-oops, no dunks and so much more. In this generation you can go to any website and get the cheat.

In the end NBA Street is so much fun. If you love basketball this is a must have or if you love sports in general I would pick this game up as well. The music is good and you get that street vibe from playing this game. A guy like me that isn't too much into sports games but I can make an exception for this game. It's a shame that we haven't seen this game re-leased as a downloadable game on the current game systems. You're better off buying this online or at an old school game store. The rating I would give this game would be an 8 out of 10.