NBA 2K FAQ Ver. 1.1 11-21-99 By Dave Roy Nelson Jr. Email: nba_2k_1999@yahoo.com 1. Intro & Version Update 2. Brief Personal Review 3. Early & Advanced Strategies 4. Q&A 5. Player & Team Ratings 6. NBA2K1 Wishlist 1. Intro NBA2K is a fine NBA simulation with top-notch graphics and excellent sound. The game has excellent AI and is competitive even after repeated play. Problems do exist with the game, but they are not major enough to detract from the enjoyment of NBA2K but it does leave room for improvement in NBA2K1. I will be writing this FAQ from the perspective that you have, you know, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. There are a lot of features that I will mention in this FAQ that I will not explain in detail because, well, setting a pick is explained in the manual! I intend this FAQ to grow as people send in new strategies and such. The game has been out barely a week, so there is much to learn. Please send any ideas or tips or opinions to... nba_2k_1999@yahoo.com Thanks! Changes in Version 1.1 Added more Q&A. 2. Personal Review NBA2K is a pretty darn great game. By far the best basketball simulation out there. It truly is an amazing feat graphics-wise and in gameplay terms. But the game does have some problems, most of which stem from the controller, which was bad for NFL2K but outright sucks for NBA2K. The controller is simply not made for a sports game. Passing is not as intuitive as it could be and that is a direct result of not having enough digital buttons on the front of the controller. This is a major problem. Another controller related issue is the fact that to throw an ally-oop, set a pick or call a play you must tap the directional pad. I know the game designers were limited because of the controller layout, but this is HORRID. You have to either take your hands off the buttons and press the pad, which is awkward, or let go of the analog mushroom and press the pad that way. Unfortunately, you lose control of your player if you do that! That has to be one of the worst control problems I have ever seen in a videogame ever. Period. All of this could be solved with a Sega Sports controller, which is supposedly in the works. I must emphasize, with the exception of calling plays and the occasional botched pass, the control in the game is excellent. The reaction time from your button push to your player moving is right on and everything else feels really, really tight. The excellence of the rest of the game is what makes those two control issues so frustrating. Although once you get used to the awkwardness, the frustration goes away. Control issues aside, this game is AMAZING. The graphics are top notch. They simply blow away any other basketball game you have ever seen...home, arcade, PSX, PC or anywhere else. The players have emotions on their face, from smiling to angry and they change according to game conditions. The detail is excellent, even from a distance. You can tell the difference between Marcus Camby and Patrick Ewing without even having to think about it. No game has ever done that before. I guess the only fair thing to compare it with is NFL2K as far as graphics go, and in that case, it is not quite the spectacle that is NFL2K. The reason for this is mostly because NFL2K simply had to throw a bunch of the same looking guys on the screen with little facial and skin detail while NBA2K requires more complex textures. Nonetheless, the graphics are 20 times beyond any other basketball game out there. The AI in the game is also quite good. The computer catches on to your go to plays and guards against them and crashes the boards when the need arises. All of the stuff you would expect a human opponent to do the computer does, from stalling to getting off a quick shot. On occasion the computer will hold onto the ball and let the game clock come to an end when the score is tied instead of taking a shot. This is slightly annoying. The computer also does not have the worlds greatest mind for substitution patterns, especially when you let it handle the subbing for your team, so be sure to handle your own reserves. Don't expect to dominate all-star for an awful long time. Best of all, there is a real difference when playing the assorted teams. When I play as the Kings I blitz the Clippers by 20 and then get blitzed by the Spurs by 25. It is that kind of realism in playing different teams that made NFL2K rock and it is present in NBA2K too. Centers don't hit long jumpers, point guards get swatted when the come in the paint and three point guys hit a lot when open and miss a ton with two hands in their face. Just like in the NBA. Play calling, while awkward to do, is cool and actually is a requirement if you want to beat the better teams at the higher levels. The practice feature in the game helps you learn the plays and how to set picks, throw ally-oops, etc. Just about anything you see an NBA player do on TV you can make him do in NBA2K. Crossover, pick and roll...whatever! It's there. You can create your own player. Get Jordan and the Bulls back together. You can do it in NBA2K. I know there things I forgotten to mention, but I wanted to keep this review section short...and look how I have rambled on! If you have differing opinions on the game, send them to my email and I'll post the good, well-written ones in the FAQ. 3. Early Strategies. A. Pick Your Team. When you start on the game, you want to start on ROOKIE setting and pick a somewhat decent team with a good center or power forward and at least once decent shooter. This will allow you to control the inside game while your defense is still suspect and get you the chance to practice shooting with a good shooter. As a beginner, I would recommend the LA Lakers. You can post-up, score inside and rebound with Shaq and learn the finer points of outside shooting with Glen Rice. As an added bonus, you can drive the lane and slash about the court with our buddy Kobe Bryant. Using the Lakers first will make you well rounded. The Trailblazers are good for this also, but the skill players are not as forgiving, so it will not be as easy as it is for the Lakers. Once you get yourself a few exhibition games under your belt, these teams are good for beginners. The provide the best of both world with a great inside presence and good shooting *Utah Jazz - Karl Malone is really good and the outside shooting of the guards is fantastic. *Portland Trailblazers - All around awesome team with no one who gets constantly exposed on D. *LA Lakers – You can play the whole game with just Rice, Bryant and Shaq scoring and win 80% of the time. *Sacramento Kings – A really fun team to play as. Chris Webber is awesome and Jason Williams has a nice outside touch. Corliss Williamson is also pretty good and gets a lot of open looks because of Webber. *Miami Heat – Alonzo Mourning is great inside and QUICK. Tim Hardaway can shoot the lights out. *San Antonio Spurs – Robinson and Duncan are almost unstoppable and let some pretty average outside shooters shine with wide open looks. B. Basic Strategy i. Set up the inside game. This is the most important thing you can do to set up early success. You WILL NOT WIN against even average teams without good inside play. Maybe you'll luck out in Rookie, but in Pro and all-star you will get killed. To set up your inside game, you should.... - Get the ball inside early in the possession. Big guys usually cannot create their own shot quickly (Shaq, Webber, Duncan and a few other are exceptions to this) so it is imperative your point guard get the ball in quickly so the slow post-up process can begin. - Post-Up. I don't do this as often as I should, but I still do it regularly, especially if you have the height advantage or a big difference in speed. - Call for a pick. Call for the pick when you are close to the basket and need a little more room and just have to lose your defender for one second. With NBA2K, if you lose your defender for just a split second and then shoot often times the computer takes over and gives you a slam or a quick lay- up. If you have a fast big man, again Duncan or Webber or someone similar, you can call for the pick when you are at the foul line and drive the lane. - Try to wait for your opponent to jump before you shoot. The best way to do this is by the pump fake. Once your opponent is on the way down you should be on your way up for a monster jam or a soft jumper. - Watch where you are in relation to the basket. Because of all the confusion when 5 or more 6'8" and up guys are in the paint you can get confused and try to shoot when you are behind the basket. Not a great idea. ii. Drive The Lane. This is where your shooting guards and small forwards usually come in. Try to find an open path to basket and turn on the speed. Even if the lane collapses odds are you can get a foul. At worst you can pass off to an open man. And trust me, if you are in the lane and it collapses on you someone is open. iii. Call Plays. They could not have made play calling any more inconvenient than they did. You actually have to move one of your hands to tap the directional pad. This makes calling plays, something imperative in all-star level, a real big-time hassle. What plays are best to call for a beginner? One. Which one? Just choose one, get good at it and get an idea of how the offense moves. All plays require some skill and familiarity with the game, so don't worry about them for now. Just know how to... iv. Throw an Ally-Oop. Very important! When your center or power forward waves to your point guard he is not saying hi. He is asking you to toss him the ball to slam it home. This is a very effective play that has a chance of success that is quite high. I rarely miss on these when I throw to a decent player with height. But be careful! For some reason the guys you toss to are dumb as rocks and will sometimes start walking in the other direction after you toss the ball. Bad thing. v. Learn to Shoot Remember when you spent hours in the driveway perfecting the perfect jump shot? Well, NBA2K is very similar. Shooting is an art in the game. You must release the ball at the height of your jump to get off a smooth shot and give it the best chances of going in the hoop. Real life rules apply here. If two guys are in your face the odds of you hitting a shot are almost nil, although at the end of tight games the chances seem to go up. Also, do not shoot threes with Shaq. He will miss them. No matter how perfect a show you toss up. Use the practice feature and perfect a perfect jump-shot. vi. Play Hard D. How do I play hard D? Well you... - Always contest every single shot. Even if your guy is 4 feet away when the shot is released jump at your opponent and get a hand in his face. The computer or your opponent will hit open shots. I know it is impossible to not give up any open shot, but make it a priority not to be trying to steal all the time which often results in your player getting burned. That said... - Try and steal a lot. But you just said don't try and steal a lot. What I mean is don's try a steal when you are guarding a quick big-guy near the hoop, try to strip Patrick Ewing when he is behind the 3-point arc. Try to snag a ball from Stockton at mid-court. - Keep your center in the middle. Even if the guy your center is guarding takes off out of the paint do not follow. Odds are it is the other teams center or power forward, who probably cannot hit an outside jumper anyway. This leaves your center in the mix to swat away jumpers and do what might be the most important thing in the whole game... vii. Rebound Like A Fiend. Always jump for the rebounds. Keep your center in the middle to rebound like hell. And as soon as you grab a rebound pass the ball the hell out of there. Big rebounders are not usually good ball handlers and having Marcus Camby dribble out of the paint in traffic is death in the NBA and death in NBA2K too. If you can, have your rebounder start a fast break, which is a GOOD THING. viii. Pass The Ball A Lot. I know this is obvious, but moving the ball around the perimeter a lot will allow you to find an open man and spread the D. All good things. Don't pass around too much in the paint, as that is a BAD THING. If you follow those 8 tips you will soon be beating the computer like a rented mule in Rookie and staying competitive and winning more often than not in Pro. The thing is, you have to do fancy things to kick butt against good players and in all-star...As I have only had the game for a week, my list is not long, but please send me some of your own strategies if you can to the email listed above. I will credit you in the FAQ. - Have a nice group of goto plays. I have three plays I can run pretty consistently and they have bailed me out many times. - Take control of a non-ballhandler and make your own show and ask for the pass. This works well but can be confusing at first. - Make situation specific line-ups. A three-pointer line-up and a big man line-up to crash the boards can be very helpful. 4. Q & A Q. I am having problems with free throws! A. Just take your time. You get quite a while to line things up, so take advantage of all the time the allow. Push the two trigger buttons slowly and have your thumb already hovering over the X button before you start to line up the arrows. The slightest movement on the controller will make your arrows move. Just like everything else in the game, this is very realistic, as it is harder to make Shaq hit a free throw than Glen Rice, so don't be surprised when you have a harder time with poor shooters. Q. I found that your faq is very helpful! But, I have a question concerning the LA Lakers' jersey. Do they have the new jersey or the old version jersey? I'm not sure because all other teams seem to have the new jersey but only the Lakers doesn't. I did restore the roster of the team to original in the option menu though. Anyway, if they have new jersey please let me know how can I get it back. Thank you for your time. A. As far as I can tell, you just get the old uniforms with the Lakers. If anyone else knows how to get the new Laker uniforms, send in mail and I will post it here. Q. I was wondering if you have noticed that the PA tends to cut the announcing of a players name short sometimes? I was wondering if it was a coding but of if I had a bad disc (Ready 2 Rumble had sound issues i heard, but this seems minor). Thank you for your time -Byron Franklin A. I too have noticed the PA cutting off and on a few occasions the announcers voices getting really soft or distorted. I think it is typical because I have received this question from several people. . Q. There's 45 seconds left, my opponent has the ball, I'm down by two, and for some reason my team begins to intentional foul. How can I stop this from happening!!!??? - Steve Berman A. My best advice to you is to go into the coaching menu and make sure ALL the auto coaching options are turned off. I do all my own coaching, from play calling to subs and this never happens to me. Have any questions? Mail them to me at nba_2k_1999@yahoo.com 5. Team & Player Ratings I will rate the best players and teams here. As the game has only been out a week, expect this section to evolve a lot. Best Teams 1. Portland Trailblazers 2. LA Lakers 3. San Antonio Spurs 4. New York Knicks 5. Miami Heat 6. Utah Jazz 7. Phoenix Suns 8. Indiana Pacers Worst Teams 1. Dallas Mavericks 2. LA Clippers 3. Vancouver Grizzlies 4. Boston Celtics 5. Orlando Magic 6. Chicago Bulls I'll have complete player ratings in here once I get some response from you guys at nba_2k_1999@yahoo.com. 6. NBA2K1 Wishlist - Better controllers! - More fluid free throw animations - More intuitive play calling - Smaller VMU save file. That's it! Please mail me any ideas or updates! Thanks! This document Copyright 1999. This document may be posted on any web page with the approval of the author, David Roy Nelson Jr.