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 a list of five inaccuracies regarding the All-Stars in various basketball video games.

Another All-Star Game will be upon us next week. I admit that I highly doubt I’ll be watching it. What was once a spectacular exhibition of the best players in the NBA competing in the ultimate pick-up game has turned into a boring display that we can’t even call basketball. From the lack of effort by a spoiled generation of players to ridiculous formats under the tournament-obsessed Adam Silver, the All-Star Game absolutely stinks now. It’s a damn shame, as its spits on the legacy of all the great players who paved the way for today’s “stars” to get paid $40 million to load-manage.

Whoops, I went full Grumpy Old Man there! It is tough not to grumble though, as the All-Star Game used to be something I really enjoyed. Sadly, over the past decade or so, it’s completely lost its appeal and competitive spirit. I still have fond memories of what the event used to be of course, and that also carries over to the virtual hardwood. Over the years, it’s been a blast to play with the All-Star teams in games, as well as the Rookie Challenge/Rising Stars squads when they’re available. As with many other aspects of basketball video game rosters though, the virtual All-Star teams have had some rather weird and interesting inaccuracies. Here are five that I’ve encountered!

1. All-Stars Ron Harper & Pooh Richardson (NBA Jam Tournament Edition)

Thanks to multiple revisions to the original arcade version and a handful of home ports, NBA Jam Tournament Edition ended up representing a couple of seasons. In fact, by the time the PC version was released, the rosters had been updated (mostly) through to the end of the 1995 season, including postseason and Draft Day trades. On top of players being moved to different teams, a couple were removed and replaced. These updates ended up affecting the All-Stars squad, unlocked after beating all 27 teams. In the PC version of NBA Jam TE, that team features players from the 1994 and 1995 games…and Ron Harper and Pooh Richardson, who weren’t ever All-Stars.

Harper, who wasn’t in the 16-bit console ports, replaced B.J. Armstrong on the Bulls in the PC release. This likely resulted in Harp automatically taking Armstrong’s place on the All-Stars as well, though it’s interesting that the developers kept him on the team. They clearly did manually replace players as Horace Grant was swapped out for Grant Hill, so perhaps Harper was simply an oversight. It’s harder to explain Pooh Richardson though, since he replaces 1995 All-Star MVP Mitch Richmond for no apparent reason. Then again, Richardson’s inflated ratings make him one of the best players in the game, so inaccurate though it may be, he doesn’t feel too out of place!

2. Karl Malone Starting Alongside Shawn Kemp (NBA Live 95, 96 & 97 PC)

While making Ron Harper and especially Pooh Richardson All-Stars in NBA Jam TE was a questionable choice, there was a good reason that Karl Malone is starting for the West in games like NBA Live 95, NBA Live 96, and NBA Live 97 PC. Charles Barkley started the 1995 and 1996 All-Star Games alongside Shawn Kemp in the West’s frontcourt, but of course he wasn’t licensed to appear in any of those games. As such, NBA Live 95 PC made The Mailman a starter. He was replaced on the bench with Cedric Ceballos, who was originally named to the team but sat out due to injury. Both he and his replacement – Dikembe Mutombo – are on the West in NBA Live 95.

This was arguably a better solution than using a Roster Player, especially since one was already standing in for David Robinson due to the fact he was exclusive to NBA Action ’95. This solution for the 1995 West team was retained for NBA Live 96 PC, though a newly-licensed Admiral replaced his stand-in. Come NBA Live 97, Chuck was replaced by a Roster Player, the same as Michael Jordan. Interestingly though, while Jordan’s placeholder started for the East, Barkley’s stand-in came off the West’s bench with Malone taking his place once again. It was probably an oversight, albeit an egregious one seeing as Charles Barkley actually led the West in fan voting in 1996.

3. Default All-Stars in Games With Customisable Squads

The ability to edit the All-Star teams without the need for external roster modding tools has been an extremely rare feature in basketball video games. At most, we might be able to change the default lineup, but we can’t remove players from the teams or add new All-Stars. Surprisingly – or maybe not – we’ve been far more likely to see All-Star team customisation in mediocre and subpar games than the brand leader of the day. Furthermore, the games that did allow us to select new All-Stars were often afflicted by the same weird inaccuracy. Instead of the default selections being the real teams, they’re a random assortment of players, many of whom weren’t ever All-Stars.

Take Konami’s NBA in the Zone 98, aka NBA Pro 98. When you go to play the All-Star Game, you might encounter a starting lineup that includes David Wesley or Doug West, with the likes of Dickey Simpkins and John Crotty chosen for the bench. ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 takes a similar approach. You might see a couple of sensible picks in there, but they’re usually outnumbered by the baffling selection of role players and benchwarmers. It’s a truly puzzling approach when making the real teams the default lineups would’ve been the most logical one, especially if you want to quickly jump into a game. On the plus side, you can override those picks, and it’s an amusing quirk.

Individual Team Jerseys in NBA Live 2003 & NBA 2K3

After decades of All-Stars sporting East and West jerseys in the midseason classic, players wore their own teams’ uniforms in 1997, which also allowed for duplicate numbers. The Rookie Game in 1996 had already tried this approach, and it was a hit with a lot of fans. However, the decision was made to switch back to using East and West jerseys for the 2003 All-Star Game, with designs that were a throwback to the All-Star uniforms of the 80s; specifically, the ones Michael Jordan wore in his first All-Star Game back in 1985. Given that His Airness had announced that his second year with the Wizards would be his last in the NBA, it was certainly a fitting tribute.

Usually such changes are included in and indeed spoiled by basketball video games, since developers work closely with the league when it comes to branding changes. On this occasion however, it seems the decision came too late for the jerseys to be added to NBA Live 2003. Even if the developers knew about the change in time to add new textures, it mightn’t have been feasible to change the way the game handled the All-Star jerseys. Either way, NBA 2K3 was in the same boat, so it also retained the now outdated approach. As you may expect, it’s possible to devise a workaround for NBA Live 2003 PC through modding, but nevertheless the inaccuracy is there by default.

5. Michael Jordan Coming Off The Bench (NBA Live 2004)

Games that launch around the start of a new campaign naturally feature the previous season’s All-Star teams. To that end, it’s no surprise – and not an inaccuracy – that NBA Live 2004 includes the squads from 2003. However, Michael Jordan is on the bench rather than in the starting lineup. Now, technically this is correct according to how the All-Star voting went in 2003. MJ wasn’t voted a starter for the first and only time in his career, due in large part to being listed as a forward on the ballot rather than a guard. In any event, he was slated to come off the bench, having declined the offers from Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady to give up their spots in the lineup.

MJ would accept Vince Carter’s last minute offer to take his place in the starting five for the East however. And so, like Magic Johnson in 1992 and John Havlicek in 1978 after Tim Hardaway and Doug Collins stepped aside respectively, Jordan ended up officially starting the game. As such, for the sake of accuracy, he should be starting by default in NBA Live 2004. The decision not to reflect that change may well have been due to Vince Carter being the game’s cover player. Just like Kobe Bryant starting at point for the Lakers in the first NBA Courtside, it could’ve been a deliberate choice to promote Vinsanity. Of course, this was at least technically accurate to the fan voting!

Do you recall these inaccuracies with virtual All-Stars? What are some other errors, outdated details, and strange decisions you’ve encountered with All-Stars in basketball video 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 Inaccuracies With All-Stars in Games appeared first on NLSC.