Name:	NBA Live series (4 titles) NBA Live 95 NBA Live 96 NBA Live 97 NBA Live 98
Author/Vendor:	Electronic Arts
Released:	various
Type:	Sports (basketball)
Language:	English
Premise:	By the time that the mid 1990s rolled around, EA's standard basketball game engine was beginning to get downright creaky. They decided to rewrite the whole thing from scratch, developing an new isometric engine for 16-bit platforms and a full-perspective polygonal engine for 32-bit platforms. These are the Genesis ports of the 16-bit games, and they carry on the EA tradition of sporting sim excellence.
Impressions:	When you first see the opening sequence of NBA Live 95, you know this series isn't going to be like anything that preceeded it - and it isn't. Many game historians consider the NBA Live series to be the finest basketball sims ever created for a 16-bit platform, and it's easy to see why. Great graphics, great sound, great gameplay, user options out the wazoo - for what more could a fan ask? If you consider yourself a serious Genesis gamer, then you need to have at least one of these in your cart collection. Hey, they're from by EA Sports - what better advertising do I need?
Variations:	NBA Live 95 (1994, first appearance of EA Sports' fantastic isometric game engine for basketball sims) NBA Live 96 (1995, minor improvements over the original, adds the "create player" option, considered by many to be the best in the Genesis series) NBA Live 97 (1996, manages to fall a notch or two below its predecessor - not because of the game itself, but it's "happenin'" style, which turns many players off) NBA Live 98 (1997, one of the last Genesis games released and the last of the 16-bit versions of the game) Coach K College Basketball (1997) also uses the NBA Live game engine - see separate entry for more details.
Recommended Emu:	KGen 98 (turn shadows/highlights OFF in second game, but the fourth game will crash in all emulators)