NBA Live Series

NBA Live 97

Excerpt from Genesis Game Guide by The Scribe

NAME:             NBA Live series (4 titles)
AUTHOR/VENDOR:    Electronic Arts
RELEASED:         various
TYPE:             Sports (basketball)
LANGUAGE:         English

PREMISE:          By the time that the mid 1990s rolled around, EA's
                  standard basketball game engine was beginning to get
                  downright creaky.  They decided to rewrite the whole
                  thing from scratch, developing an new isometric engine
                  for 16-bit platforms and a full-perspective polygonal
                  engine for 32-bit platforms.  These are the Genesis ports
                  of the 16-bit games, and they carry on the EA tradition
                  of sporting sim excellence.

IMPRESSIONS:      When you first see the opening sequence of NBA Live 95,
                  you know this series isn't going to be like anything that
                  preceeded it - and it isn't.  Many game historians
                  consider the NBA Live series to be the finest basketball
                  sims ever created for a 16-bit platform, and it's easy
                  to see why.  Great graphics, great sound, great gameplay,
                  user options out the wazoo - for what more could a fan
                  ask?  If you consider yourself a serious Genesis gamer,
                  then you need to have at least one of these in your
                  cart collection.  Hey, they're from by EA Sports - what
                  better advertising do I need?

VARIATIONS:       NBA Live 95 (1994, first appearance of EA Sports'
                    fantastic isometric game engine for basketball sims)
                  NBA Live 96 (1995, minor improvements over the original,
                    adds the "create player" option, considered by many to
                    be the best in the Genesis series)
                  NBA Live 97 (1996, manages to fall a notch or two below
                    its predecessor - not because of the game itself, but
                    it's "happenin'" style, which turns many players off)
                  NBA Live 98 (1997, one of the last Genesis games released
                    and the last of the 16-bit versions of the game)

                  Coach K College Basketball (1997) also uses the NBA Live
                  game engine - see separate entry for more details

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