A Lil' Penny on the Weekend

It was a smart move taking the Mega Sg upstairs last Sunday. Smart and long overdue.

It'd been languishing underneath the big TV for a few months, where my opportunities to play it were few and far between. The living room is for family things, not me hogging the TV to revisit my Mega Drive favourites.

"Daughter, would you like to watch me play Desert Strike for an hour? Hey...... where are you going?"

The big TV is for Netflix. It's for my daughter playing Pokemon Violet. It's for terrible Japanese variety shows that no one is watching, yet seem to be perpetually-on in the background. And then once everyone else has gone to bed, it's for Series X and PS5. It's not for retro games.

Upstairs is for retro games.

So I hooked up my Mega Sg to the monitor in the spare room, alongside my beloved Saturn and my record player - my shrine to all things retro. Material things that make me far happier than they should. I'd intended to play old favourites Road Rash 3 or Sonic 2, or perhaps even Mickey Mania which I hadn't touched for years. All original copies from childhood, because I've always looked after my shit and have transported my old belongings to Japan from England in dribs and drabs, a little more each time I visit England. But instead I settled on a more recent acquisition, comparatively anyway.

I bought a sealed, US copy of NBA Live '96 off Ebay back when I lived in the UK. I had no way of playing it, as my Mega Drive was a Mega Drive, not a Genesis, but it was at a price that I couldn't resist and it spoke to my propensity for mid-90s NBA nostalgia. It didn't remain sealed for long, because where's the fun in that? Inside I found a treasure trove of 90s delights, including an EA sports catalogue - Bring it! - and a $10-off coupon for purchases of $35 or more at Champs Sports, expires June 30th 1996. I'd have put that towards a Barkley jersey or anything with Gary Payton or Shawn Kemp on it.

I'm pretty sure this past Sunday was the first time I'd ever played NBA Live '96, and I came away from it buzzing. A smile plastered on my face. I was enraptured by a simple, limited take on my favourite sport. I was just going to give it a quick go - maybe gawk at the old rosters and play a couple of minutes in exhibition mode. Instead, I played an entire 5-minute-quarter game and am now half-considering undergoing a full 82-game season. My current-gen backlog be damned.

The no-frills, 16-bit menus immediately brought back memories of playing against my brother on his MD copy of '97, which we occasionally played when we were taking a break from the superior 32-bit version on my Saturn. But before I was allowed to lose myself in nostalgia, and before I could even play a game, I was informed that I had to run an expansion draft to populate the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies rosters with end-of-the-bench players from around the league. Both teams were set to start their inaugural seasons a few months after the release of Live '96, which meant that they needed to be in the game, even if neither had any players yet. So Live '96 runs an auto draft and assigns 12 individuals to each roster. A wonderful feature and a charming time capsule, and one that I will correct when I next get a chance, adding the players who were actually selected in the real-life expansion draft to the Grizz and Raps.

BJ Armstrong to Toronto; Greg Anthony to Vancouver.

The Phoenix Suns have been my team for almost 30 years now, and that is who I initially intended to play as. However, due to licensing issues, their biggest star and best player was nowhere to be found. Charles Barkley was absent, thanks Shut Up and Jam!, as was Michael Jordan from the Bulls (MJ wouldn't appear in NBA Live for several more years).  So I decided to look elsewhere, and my gaze wandered to Florida, and the Orlando Magic.

The great team that never quite was. Dominant in their pinstripe get-ups, yet doomed to fall well short of their potential, thanks to injuries and soured relationships. Shaq was a once-in-a-generation talent; Penny Hardaway was the dynamic guard with mass-appeal and a game to die for. And around them a collection of veteran role players and young not-quite-stars. Horace Grant, Brain Shaw; Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott. They should've owned the second half of the 90s and beyond, but it wasn't to be.

So I picked the Magic, and for my opposition I selected the equally peak-90s Charlotte Hornets. And there I sat for thirty full minutes, thoroughly engrossed in this strange, arcade-like bastardization of the game I still love. It was in no way sim-like, as both teams shot in the 70% range, there were scant few rebounds to be had, there was no out-of-bounds, no foul-calling, and whether a short-range shot turned into a dunk or whether a three pointer swished or caromed off the rim seemed entirely random. Despite the unpredictability, it remained a close game throughout, but I emerged victorious 86-82, largely thanks to Penny who could slash to the hoop at will. A 1990's score for a 1990's game.

Alonzo Mourning shot 90% from the field in a losing effort.

Those thirty minutes of NBA Live put me in a great mood for the rest of the day. And that buzz has carried over into this week, as I plot another session, perhaps after my daughter has gone to bed but before I go for my evening run. I think I'll pick the Sonics this time. Seattle Supersonics vs the Golden State Warriors - I reckon that'll be pretty nice.

Payton and Kemp on the break, Detlef Schrempf lurking. Taking my Mega Sg upstairs was a smart move. A smart move indeed.