10 Best Basketball Video Games Of All Time

This game is hard to appreciate - at least from today's perspective - if you haven't played its predecessor. While good in its own right, NBA Live 98 introduced new player models, with faces created on the basis of real player photographs. The game also featured Ernie Johnson performing play-by-play commentary, which really improved the experience, as the previous version had only the arena announcer calling out scorers and assists. Granted, the commentary was very basic, but it heralded a revolution in this aspect.

A new, gorund-breaking GM mode allowed gamers to draft players and play multiple seasons - a feature that's the mainstay of modern sports games. It was limited to ten season, but that was enough, as the saves didn't overlap (I'm looking at you, Championship/Football Manager).