NFL & NBA Games Need To Go Back To The Streets
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Swap stadiums and arenas for blacktops and backyards.
The early 2000s were a rich era for NFL and NBA games. Titles like Madden, NFL Blitz Pro, NBA 2K, ESPN NFL Football 2K, NFL Fever, NBA Live, and NFL GameDay overflowed store shelves. But there was a problem: each game outside of NFL Blitz Pro was a simulation-style sports game, providing realistic versions of the games played on the hardwood and the gridiron. Which was fine, but the number of arcade-style games was pretty bare, especially on the basketball side of things.
Then in 2001 EA Sports Big published NBA Street, a game that was the first of its kind when it came to NBA-licensed games. The NBA rosters in the game consisted of five players – each with different stats – and you got to decide which three would participate in a 3-on-3 version of 21, a hands-on full-contact ‘street’ variation of basketball. Each game took place on various street courts including the famous Rucker Park in New York City.
During the game, players could perform eye-popping streetball moves including dunks, layups, and crossovers. Each move earned you points which filled up a meter. When that meter was full you unlocked a scoring move called Gamebreaker, which not only added to your score but also subtracted point(s) from your opponent’s score – later games allowed you to collect Gamebreakers to perform more exotic plays which deducted even more from your opponent’s score.
The Gamebreaker feature was so popular that EA brought it over to NFL Street in 2004. NFL Street’s version of Gamebreaker temporarily turned your running back into Bo Jackson from Tecmo Bowl, making them impossible to tackle, and it also allowed defenders to sack the opposing quarterback faster and cause more fumbles. There was no such thing as out of bounds, as the game replaced sidelines with walls that players could be knocked into – think Arena Football but outdoors and with more pizzazz. Games consisted of 7-on-7 football that lasted until someone scored 36 points.
These games presented a mini-renaissance in arcade-style sports games, but it was short-lived, with the last iterations coming in 2006 with NFL Street 3, and NBA Homecourt in 2007. Well, 15 years on I think it’s high time for EA to hit the streets once more and bring these titles back to life. EA hasn’t released an NBA Live game since 2018 and Madden is nothing more than a $70 roster update with old features being passed off as new. By bringing pumping new life into the Street titles, EA could give sports gamers a welcome break from simulation-style sports games, which seem to offer diminishing returns for players with each passing year.
Winning multiple championships and rebuilding rosters is one thing, but the feeling of throwing a 40-yard behind-the-back touchdown pass or unleashing a stylish multi-pass alley-oop dunk to end a game is unrivalled. NFL Street was true Iron-Man football, where players played both offense and defense. Your quarterback can have a cannon for an arm but if they’re slow then putting them in dropback coverage is going to make throwing to the middle of the field a delight for the opposing offense.
Both games had some unique game modes. NBA Street Vol. 2 had Be A Legend where you could create your own player and gain credit on the court by playing in pickup games. This led to you unlocking jerseys, Street Court Legends like Stretch – who graced the cover of the first game – new courts, and more. NBA Homecourt had a mode called Gamebreaker Battle, where points were only scored by using Gamebreakers. NFL Street followed suit allowing you to create your own team and logo while giving you the awesome ability to unlock multiple stadiums, players, and more.
These games had no rules on how you could play outside of the team structure and they were big sellers. The first NBA Street sold 1.7 million copies, while NFL Street sold 950,000 copies. They helped create another avenue for sports games and what they could be. We already got a hint of that with the Backyard Sports series that started in the late 90s, and NBA Street and NFL Street improved upon that by adding 3D graphics and using real – though abbreviated -NFL and NBA rosters.
EA Sports BIG brought the schoolyard style of these sports indoors to the masses, showing a more experimental side to the sports sim studio. Arcade-style sports games allow for more creativity, for both developers and players. Your only limitation is your imagination, and the moves you could string together in these games made you feel like a mad scientist with a ball in your hands, and the court and field acting as your blackboards.
Nick Battaglia
@mercwithonearm
Nick Battaglia is a Features Writers For DualShockers with a specialty in writing about accessibility in video games. Though his gaming journey began with Super Mario Bros. 3, he finds himself wandering Los Angeles looking for a Galaga cabinet to spend his time in front of. When he's not spending quarters he can be found returning the Lakers back to prominence in NBA 2K.
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