Friday From the Archives: NBA Street (2002)

Every Friday (or thereabouts) we celebrate the heritage of Code Redd Net by posting a retro-review from our considerable back catalogue of embarrassingly naive, but nonetheless entertaining and heartfelt, movie and game reviews. Please pardon the prose; most of these articles were written in our immediately post-pubescent years. Hopefully you find them as enjoyable as we do.

I feel pretty comfortable leaving these reviews of NBA Street alone. ChickenMan first:

"I'll just start out with why hasn't there been a game like this? There's been NBA Jam with the 2-man experience. NBA Street is cool because there is no game like it. Especially with features like the game breaker, which with enough moves can occur, and which gives you points and robs your opponents. With winning games in "The Circuit" you unlock develop points and equipment for your created player, players for your team, and courts for "Hold the Court." With MJ, too. The first game he was in is "MJ vs. Larry Bird" for the NES [I got it on the Genesis, and it's way better. - T]. On Biggs' (a Street Legend) team there's a cool looking guy with a beanie. Go out and ball with NBA Street."

That beanie guy was cool. Anyway, here's my take on the game:

"Of all the games that stick to a theme, this game does it best. The announcer has all the right street-isms, and the players play on black tops, in NYC, and more. The Circut adds to the single player experiance, but the unlockables put this title over the top. Single-player is engaging enough, but the two-player mode is easily the most rewarding feature. You and your friends will taunt each other without caring (not to mention out of instinct) and many of the matches will come down to the wire. For all intents, this is one of the best multiplayer games I have ever played. Worth every cent."

And for a special surprise, here's a video of the beanie guy ChickenMan described. You should see him in the red sweater. He makes a couple nice passes to Biggs.