NBA Ballers

NBA Ballers is the exclusive one-on-one basketball videogame highlighting the "bling-bling" lifestyle of NBA Superstars; chromed-out cars, ice, ladies, tatts and jets all hinge on the killer cross-over. NBA Ballers also features NBA Legends dropping dimes and dunking in your grill to determine who is the greatest baller of all time. 60+ NBA Players: Including Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Yao Ming, Steve Francis, Chris Webber, Gary Payton, Latrell Sprewell, and more! 24 NBA Legends: Including Rick Barry, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Clyde Drexler, Julius Irving, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Jerry West, James Worthy, and more!

Released: 5 April 2004
Platforms: PlayStation 2 Xbox
Genres: Basketball Sports
Developers: Midway Games
Publishers: Midway Games
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action
Engine: RenderWare
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: English

About

NBA Ballers is a 2004 streetball simulation video game developed and published by Midway. The game features fictional NBA analyst Bob Benson (voiced and depicted by Terry Abler) and MC Supernatural as the commentators. A majority of the moves in the game were from amateur basketball players, who provided some of their moves for the game. Stephon Marbury is on the cover. A version for GameCube was also planned but was never released.

The game has been considered similar to AND 1 Streetball and the NBA Jam series, of which it is a spiritual successor. The game was followed by a version for the PlayStation Portable, NBA Ballers: Rebound and two sequels, NBA Ballers: Phenom and NBA Ballers: Chosen One.

Keywords

basketball
street basketball
nba
san antonio spurs
greatest hits
renderware
street sports
xbox 360 backwards compatibility

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Reception

The game received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. GameSpot named it the best PlayStation 2 game of April 2004. It received a runner-up position in GameSpot's 2004 "Best Alternative Sports Game" award category across all platforms, losing to Mario Power Tennis.

Maxim gave it a score of eight out of ten and stated that "Eighty-four hyper-detailed players are represented, or you can create your own baller and go rags-to-riches, racking up pimp-wear and Scarface-worthy real estate." The Village Voice similarly gave the PS2 version eight out of ten and stated, "Like the sport itself, you can easily start a pickup game, or put all your time—and high hopes—into it. Playing D, of course, isn't nearly as fun." Playboy gave the game 75% (nearly two months before its U.S. release date) and said, "Victory is accompanied by flashy jewelry, fancy cars, and the truest measure of a champ, a larger pose."