Jordan Challenge Developer Blog

A lengthy insight into the revamped Jordan Challenge in NBA 2K23 has been posted: https://nba.2k.com/2k23/courtside-repor ... challenge/

It's worth reading in full, but I've also summarised it as follows:

Overview

• The revamped mode begins with North Carolina vs. Georgetown in the 1982 National Championship game, and concludes with Michael Jordan’s last shot with the Chicago Bulls against the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals.
• There are fifteen games in total: the ten originals (with the 1991 NBA Finals being scaled back to Game 5 instead of the entire series), and five new challenges. Full list below.
• In case there were any lingering doubts or concerns, the new Jordan Challenge is in both the Current Gen and Next Gen versions of NBA 2K23.
• A video filter re-creates the experience of watching the games on television in the 1980s and 1990s, similar to NBA’s Greatest. There will also be era-specific broadcast presentation elements, such as minimal overlays and on-screen graphics, blocky letters, and so on.
• Mike Fratello joins the commentary team during Jordan Challenge games, and will share stories and insights into MJ’s career.
• Ray Clay will serve as the PA Announcer during 90s Bulls games. “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project will also be used during player introductions.
• Each challenge features a pre-game interview with a personality involved, providing back story and anecdotes.
• There are three goals to reach in each challenge. Reaching a goal earns a star, which progresses towards unlocking rewards for MyCAREER and MyTEAM.
• Gameplay has been tuned to reflect the style of the NBA in the 1980s and 1990s. There will be a heavier focus on the mid-range and post game, era-specific playbooks, different transition logic, and sliders tuned for historic accuracy.
• Matchup logic has been rewritten so that MJ will go head-to-head with opponents at different positions, such as Dominique Wilkins.
• The physicality of the era is represented with hand-checking, and era-specific rules such as illegal defense are also accounted for. The Bad Boy Pistons will also try to employ “Jordan Rules”.
• Signature animations for several historical players have been updated. As previously noted, Magic Johnson will have a signature passing package.
• Iconic moments such as “The Shrug” are represented throughout the fifteen games, similar to the original Jordan Challenge in NBA 2K11.

Featured Games

• 1982 National Championship: University of North Carolina vs. Georgetown
• 1984 Team USA Basketball Scrimmage
• 1986 Eastern Conference First Round, Game 2
• 1988 NBA All-Star Game
• 1989 Eastern Conference First Round, Game 5
• 1990 Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls
• 1990 Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers
• 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, Game 3
• 1991 NBA Finals, Game 5
• 1992 NBA Finals, Game 1
• 1995 Chicago Bulls at New York Knicks
• 1996 NBA Finals, Game 6
• 1997 NBA Finals, Game 5
• 1997 Chicago Bulls vs. Los Angeles Lakers
• 1998 NBA Finals, Game 6

Trailer

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looks interesting.

The Shrug clip (1992) has a custom scoreboard. I wonder if PC will get different scoreboard... or only next gen.
Ideally, for myself, I would love to have the scoreboard show up for 4 seconds after basket... then go away, like they used to in the old days. that would be pretty cool. clears screen, doubt that would happen.



Jordan is a bunch underweight in all the clips




but looks like they got lots of different jordan models. again, hope more jordan models come to PC ... modders could make some great jordans.

Personally, if they cleaned up the gameplay a bit, could be an end of generation gem like 2k14 for us PC players. Will be interesting to see what gameplay reactions/ reviews to see what gameplay improvements for PC.

The physicality of the era is represented with hand-checking, and era-specific rules such as illegal defense are also accounted for. The Bad Boy Pistons will also try to employ “Jordan Rules”.

Again, would be neat to have this stuff implementled in the PC version. Not sure if it is just next gen gameplay or PC/ps4 gameplay.

I haven't bought a 2k in a while, will be watching the reviews to see how the PC version turns out.

^it's mostly the tight jersey, lack of upper trap muscles and squared, scrawny shoulders that give jordan (and most players) that unattractive appearance. it's been that way for at least a few years now.

regardless, i can't wait to see what they've done with the jordan challenge. oddly ebough, what i'm excited most about it is the old school defensive schemes. i sure hope that gone are the days of retro players being smothered at the arc by the ai. it's such a turn-off and just kills the immersion.

It looks great. I hope the MyTeam reward for it is good.

I love the selection of games they added, along with keeping the existing ones. They're scaled the 1991 Finals back to Game 5 rather than the whole series, but I think that's acceptable, and many will probably find it preferable. Excellent idea to add MyTEAM and MyCAREER rewards as unlockables for attaining all the goals. The presentation is top notch, seemingly beyond what we saw for NBA's Greatest in NBA 2K12. As I said on our podcast, I hope the gameplay is up to scratch, because I at least want to play through this in its entirety. I love that there'll be interviews and highlights, turning it into somewhat of an interactive documentary. Good stuff all around, especially if the gameplay is anywhere near as good as promised.

Jordan Challenge rewards are out or have leaked:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MyTeam/comment ... _mycareer/

It being a Free Agent Card rather than a permanent one is a bit of a letdown, but hey, at least I can probably guarantee that I'll get at least one MJ card in MyTEAM this year! Won't even need to open a pack, spend MT, or punch in a Locker Code for it.