Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is another list of five times that basketball video games messed up player appearances.

Considering that there have been several topics that I’ve turned into a multi-part series in The Friday Five in recent years, it’s surprising that I haven’t covered this one since 2018! However, a new batch of examples have presented themselves, so it’s time to talk about five more times that basketball games messed up player appearances. As I noted in the previous article, there are times when we’re a bit harsh in our criticism of video game aesthetics. Modders aren’t under the same restrictions as the developers, from deadlines to properly-licensed assets.

At the same time, there have been some surprisingly sloppy errors and efforts in basketball video games throughout the years, resulting in player appearances being messed up. Whether it’s a poor likeness, mismatched textures, or players having the wrong appearance entirely, they stick out like a sore thumb. Of course, some of these mistakes can fly under the radar if you’re not familiar with the players, or you never played the games in question. To that point, thanks to an expanded collection, an open-minded approach to retro gaming, and a tip on X, these five examples include some that I definitely wouldn’t have thought of in 2018. Let’s tip things off with…

1. Walter Bond in NBA Live 95 (SNES & Genesis)

This one comes courtesy of Frosty Bias on X. In response to my deep dive into the mystery of Yinka Dare’s portrait in NBA Live 96, he mentioned that Walter Bond had been white in one of EA Sports’ basketball games. For those who are unfamiliar with Walter Bond, that was unquestionably incorrect! Frosty Bias originally remembered the game as being NBA Showdown, so when I covered that game, I made sure to look out for that error. However, Bond’s appearance was accurate; as much as the graphics of the time would allow, anyway. Still, I was determined to track down that oddity, figuring that it was probably in another game that came out around the same time.

As it turned out, it’s NBA Live 95 for both Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive that features a white Walter Bond on the Utah Jazz’s bench. Considering that his appearance was correct in NBA Showdown, I’m guessing that it’s just an oversight that occurred while updating the rosters, perhaps when overwriting another player. I can attest to making similar errors in my own unofficial updates! Walter Bond’s NBA career was over by the time that I really got into basketball, so a lack of familiarity meant I never clocked something was amiss when a white #20 checked in for the Jazz while playing NBA Live 95 on SNES. Nevertheless, it’s clearly a memorable mistake!

2. Kenny Williams in NBA Showdown

While Walter Bond may not have the wrong face or skin tone in NBA Showdown, there is a player who does: Kenny Williams of the Indiana Pacers. An athletic forward who participated in the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest, Williams spent four seasons with the Pacers before heading overseas, where he played until 2006. Like Bond, Williams is a black man who inexplicably became white on the virtual hardwood, sporting a blonde mane to boot. On top of that though, while Bond was at least consistently incorrect from head to toe, Williams’ inaccurate white face was mismatched with a darker skin tone. Even if you weren’t familiar with him, it’s clear there was an error!

What makes this particularly interesting is that not only is it a bizarre visual, but it’s not something that we can easily replicate through modding early NBA Live on PC. Although we can select skin tone and head model independently in all of the editors, they’ll always match; even if you select a head that isn’t normally available for created players, like Dennis Rodman’s unique model with changing hair colours. Something definitely went awry with Kenny Williams in NBA Showdown, giving him one of the most messed up appearances a player has had in an official roster. I’m not sure if this can be fixed through ROM hacking, but on the plus side, at least his stats are correct.

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo in NBA Live 14

I feel that lists like this always need to include at least one example of a cyberface that leaves us bewilderingly asking: “Who is that? That’s (insert player here)?!? No, come on, be serious!” There have been plenty of those throughout the years, and the ones in games that do have some fantastic faces for other players really stand out. With that in mind, the one that I’ve chosen for this list is Giannis Antetokounmpo in NBA Live 14. That is indeed who the above player is meant to be, though you’d be forgiven for not realising it, even with the Milwaukee Bucks jersey, number 34, and the 2014 season setting. In fact, if you thought it was a bad Terry Crews face, I wouldn’t blame you!

Considering that NBA Live 14 uses his 2013 media day portrait, it’s quite surprising that Giannis has such a ridiculously inaccurate placeholder face. It may be that the developers didn’t have a chance to bring him in for a face scan before the game was released, but that doesn’t explain why they didn’t craft him a proper likeness the old-fashioned way. Given that the Greek Freak was a Top 15 pick and had attended the Draft, signed his rookie deal in July, and that he has an accurate face in NBA 2K14, to not even use a placeholder that somewhat resembles him is inexcusable. Then again, it’s not as though NBA Live 14 was a polished release in any way, shape, or form.

4. Outdated Player Appearances in NBA Live 96 (PC)

When I discovered the NLSC and the editors that our founders created, one of the first things I did was to give my created Michael Jordan in NBA Live 96 his full bio data. I also fixed and updated several jersey numbers. And then, I set about updating player appearances. While they may not be messed up in the same way as other examples on this list, many of them are outdated by at least a year or so. For example, Glen Rice and Kenny Smith are both still sporting a flat top, whereas both players had shaved their heads by 1995. Whether they need a new hairstyle, a shaved dome, or different facial hair, there are inaccuracies to fix if you want to make a definitive 1996 update.

Once again, it’s hardly the most egregious example of messed up player appearances. At the very least, apart from a few players who had the wrong hair colour, most of the players in NBA Live 96 whose appearances are inaccurate were correct at some point. The problem is that EA’s basketball games had been recycling the same basic models for years, so a number of player appearances from 1992 or 1993 lasted much longer on the virtual hardwood. Fortunately, the editors for the PC version made it a moot point, though the console releases were still out of luck. With that being said, I can’t say that these outdated player appearances ruined the on-court fun in NBA Live 96.

5. Bob McAdoo in NBA 2K6

NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 has retroactively become one of my all-time favourite games. In addition to being an excellent and enjoyable representation of what was then the contemporary NBA, there’s a pleasing array of historical content. That includes some Legends who hadn’t been in NBA Live for some time, or at all. A rare appearance by Charles Barkley naturally stands out here, but another all-time great that you’ll find in NBA 2K6 – and one who is sadly all too often overlooked – is Bob McAdoo. Not only is Mac available on the 80s West All-Stars, but he’s also featured on the All-Time Lakers; one of four All-Time teams along with the Celtics, 76ers, and Supersonics.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the above screenshot, the All-Time Lakers version of McAdoo doesn’t look quite right. Although he has one of the better faces in NBA 2K6 – historical or otherwise – much like Kenny Williams, it doesn’t match the rest of his body. Indeed, they both kind of look like they’re wearing masks, especially Mac! These days, errors like that might be fixed with regular and detailed roster updates, but that was still uncommon at the time. Being a console release, we also lack any external tools that can fix the assigned skin tone. It’s a distraction to say the least, but I still appreciate that games like NBA 2K6 packed in as much retro content as possible.

Do you remember seeing these mistakes? Can you recall any other times that player appearances were messed up in basketball games? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Times Games Messed Up Player Appearances (Part 2) appeared first on NLSC.