10 best NBA video games of all time

9. Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs

One of the titles directly influenced by One on One was EA’s NBA playoffs series starting with Lakers vs. Celtics and the NBA Playoffs in 1989. The playoffs series was the first basketball game officially licensed by the NBA and the first to feature numerous NBA stars. Prior to the NBA Playoffs series, basketball video games usually featured fictional players and teams (Double Dribble) or featured select stars (One vs. One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird or Jordan vs. Bird: One on One). The NBA Playoff series changed the game entirely and the genre has never looked back.

The series culminated with its best edition to date, 1992’s Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs. While prior games had featured only teams that had made the NBA playoffs the prior year, Bulls vs. Blazers bucked the trend and became the first NBA game to feature the entire rosters for each NBA franchise at the time. Every team, every player. Commonplace today but revolutionary at the time. To add even more flair, Bulls vs. Blazers featured the full rosters from both All-Star teams as well.

Bulls vs. Blazers took everything that had been developed by the Electronic Arts team over the last decade and perfected it. One of my favorite features in the game was the “Marquee Shot.” Each team featured a star player with one signature move. Michael Jordan would take off from the free-throw line, Magic Johnson would do a no-look pass, Shawn Kemp would throw it off the glass and if you’re ever looking for a secret weapon: Tom Chamber would dunk from quite literally anywhere on the court.

Full rosters, gameplay refinements and features that made each player and team feel unique puts Bulls vs. Blazers in elite company as one of the greatest NBA video games ever.