Fond NBA Live 95 Memories

Fond NBA Live 95 Memories

I hope you enjoyed my retrospective of NBA Live 95 that tipped off our celebration of the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live! Although I shared some personal memories of the game in my retrospective, I have a couple of other stories that I've saved for their own separate article. Specifically, I wanted to talk about playing NBA Live 95 for the first time on Super Nintendo, and playing a Season with the Houston Rockets with my cousin on PC. It's the story of how I came to be a fan of the series...and also, how I engineered an unlikely comeback for Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird.

In addition to my retrospective review, I wanted to share some personal recollections of fun times with NBA Live 95, particularly the silliness with Larry Bird's virtual comeback. Any excuse to share this old image:



Check it out here!

My fondest memory was 'drafting' players to the Custom Teams, and then playing them round robin style with groups of friends. It was revolutionary to me. Like when you could set your own AFC and NFC Pro Bowl rosters in Tecmo Super Bowl. We would draw out of a hat for draft position, and then pick our teams.

Nice! Yeah, custom teams were fun back in the day. I'm guessing they're too much of an outdated concept now as it's more about MyTEAM and Ultimate Team when it comes to fantasy lineups.

Nice! Yeah, custom teams were fun back in the day. I'm guessing they're too much of an outdated concept now as it's more about MyTEAM and Ultimate Team when it comes to fantasy lineups.

Custom Teams were great because you had full control while modes like Ultimate Team use Trading Card mechanics that don't allow you to get whoever you want.

Absolutely. I think you had to grow up with custom teams to truly appreciate them, though.

Absolutely. I think you had to grow up with custom teams to truly appreciate them, though.

I agree. I think online gaming has squashed the experiences I loved about sports gaming growing up. Having a bunch of friends over and pulling an all nighter with a custom draft, schedule, playoff, etc. When Madden allowed you to start a multi-team season with a fantasy draft, it was next level for my friends and I, who had been doing this with Live for so many years.

I don't think it was until Live 96, that you could Clone players onto custom teams. One of my friends would just make a team entirely of Steve Smiths, which I always thought was weird, but apparently memorable enough two and a half decades later.

I remember the exact day I bought NBA Live 95 for PC....there was no internet in EU at the time....I discover the game becouse I went to a shop in the City after school.....I rememeber me going back home with the train with this wonderful BOX on my hands....I can't describe the emotion the first time I play it

I will always remember stay up late with good friends playing Rockets vs Magic......god what time of my life was 1995

I think now I just want to cry a little bit.....

For me, NBA Live 96 was actually the breakthrough for the "Live" series as far as play time for me. I played the EA Sports titles prior like Showdown, Bulls vs Blazers etc, and did indeed play Live 95. But Live 96 and Coach K College Basketball (College version of Live 96, same gameplay) I was hooked on.

I agree. I think online gaming has squashed the experiences I loved about sports gaming growing up. Having a bunch of friends over and pulling an all nighter with a custom draft, schedule, playoff, etc. When Madden allowed you to start a multi-team season with a fantasy draft, it was next level for my friends and I, who had been doing this with Live for so many years.

I don't think it was until Live 96, that you could Clone players onto custom teams. One of my friends would just make a team entirely of Steve Smiths, which I always thought was weird, but apparently memorable enough two and a half decades later.

It's definitely the popular thing now. Playing next to someone on a couch or in front of the same PC was a different experience that I don't know a lot of younger gamers indulge in; not when they've got online readily available. I know it's the grumpy old man I'm turning into, but I think it does account for some of the toxicity these days. Back then, you had to know how to get along with people and be a good sport, otherwise other kids weren't coming back over, nor inviting you back to play!

NBA Live 95 had the custom teams with clone players as well. A whole squad of Steve Smiths is pretty funny. It's something you can't do in MyTEAM/Ultimate Team, actually. Even if you have different cards for the same player, you can only have one instance of them in your lineup. A shame, because I had at least 5 MJ cards in my collection in NBA 2K19!

I remember the exact day I bought NBA Live 95 for PC....there was no internet in EU at the time....I discover the game becouse I went to a shop in the City after school.....I rememeber me going back home with the train with this wonderful BOX on my hands....I can't describe the emotion the first time I play it

I will always remember stay up late with good friends playing Rockets vs Magic......god what time of my life was 1995

I think now I just want to cry a little bit.....

You're in good company! The games have come a long way, but there was something special about those releases all the same. I still think they're fun to dust off every once in a while.

For me, NBA Live 96 was actually the breakthrough for the "Live" series as far as play time for me. I played the EA Sports titles prior like Showdown, Bulls vs Blazers etc, and did indeed play Live 95. But Live 96 and Coach K College Basketball (College version of Live 96, same gameplay) I was hooked on.

NBA Live 96 PC is one of my all-time favourite games. It's also the game that led me to find the NLSC back in 1997, back when Tim, Lutz, and Brien were running the site. I definitely have a lot of nostalgia for it!

NBA Live 96 stuff will be coming up next, along with at least one more thing for NBA Live 95. Stay tuned!