Evolution of Basketball Video Game Graphics

A complete visual timeline of basketball video game graphics:

 

1974: Basketball, Taito

1978: Basketball, Atari 2600, Atari

1979: Basketball, Intellivision, Mattel/Sears

1979: Basketball, Atari 800/400, Atari (First Black Video Game Character)

1983: One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, Atari 7800/Apple II/Commodore 64

1984: International Basketball, Commodore 64, Commodore

1984: Super Basketball, Arcade, Konami

1985: Basketball, Commodore 64, Commodore

1986: Double Dribble, NES, Konami

1987: GBA Championship Basketball: Two-on-Two, Apple II, Gamestar

1987: Slam Dunk Super Pro Basketball, Intellivision, Realtime Associates/Intellivision Productions

1987: Street Sports Basketball, Commodore 64, Epyx

1987: Great Basketball, Sega Master System, Sega

1987: Basket Master, Commodore 64, Dinamic Software/Imagine Studios

1988: Jordan vs. Bird: One on One, NES, EA

1988: Advanced Basketball Simulator, Commodore 64, Sculpted Software/Mastertronic

1989: All-Pro Basketball, NES, Aicom/Vic Tokai

1989: NBA, Apple II, Avalon Hill 

1989: Arch Rivals, Arcade/NES, Midwar

1990: Pat Riley Basketball, Genesis, Sega

1990: Basketbrawl, Atari 7800, Blue Sky Software/Atari

1990: TV Sports Basketball, PC, Cinemaware

1990: Takin' It to the Hoop, TG16, Aicom

1990: Ultimate Basketball, NES, Aicom/American Sammy

1990: Magic Johnson's Basketball, Commodore 64, Virgin Mastertronic

1990: Lakers vs. Celtics and the NBA Playoffs, PC, EA

1991: Bulls vs. Lakers and the NBA Playoffs, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, EA

1991: TV Sports Basketball, TG16, Cineware/NEC Interchannel

1991: Double Dribble 5 on 5, Game Boy, Konami

1991: Magic Johnson's Fast Break, NES, Tradewest

1991: Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball, SNES, Hudson

1992: All-American Basketball, Commodore, Zeppelin Games

1992: David Robinson's Supreme Court, Genesis

1992: Basketbrawl, Lynx, Hamilton and Associates

1992: Roundball: 2 on 2 Challenge, NES, Park Place Productions/Mindscape Inc.

1992: Tecmo NBA Basketball, NES, Tecmo

1992: Team USA Basketball, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, EA

1993: NBA Jam, Arcade/SNES/Genesis, Acclaim

1993: Tecmo Super Basketball, SNES, Tecmo

1993: Michael Jordan in Flight, MS-DOS, EA

1993: Magic Johnson's Super Slam Dunk, SNES, Virgin

1993: Run and Gun, Arcade, Konami

1993: Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs, SNES/Genesis, EA

1993: NBA Showdown, SNES, EA

1994: One on One Backyard Basketball, Commodore, Compute! Publications

1994: NBA Action, Sega Mega Drive/Game Gear, EA

1994: Slam City with Scottie Pippen, Sega 32x/SCD, Digital Pictures

1994: Dream Basketball: Dunk & Hoop, SNES, Human Entertainment

1994: NBA Jam Tournament Edition, Arcade, Midway

1994: Street Hoop, Neo-Geo, Data East

1994: NBA Showdown 94, Genesis, EA

1995: NBA Live 95, Genesis, EA

1995: Slam 'n Jam '95, 3DO, Crystal Dymanics/3DO

1995: Slam Dunk, Saturn, Bec/Bandai

1995: White Men Can't Jump, Jaguar, High Voltage/Atari/Midway

1995: Barkley Shut Up and Jam!, Genesis/SNES/Atari Jaguar, Accolade

1995: Looney Tunes B-Ball, SNES, Sculptured Software/SunSoft

1995: NBA Give 'n Go, SNES, Konami

1995: NBA Hangtime '95, Sega CD, Sony

1995: NBA Action '95, Genesis, EA

1995: NBA Full Court Press, PC, Microsoft

1996: Space Jam, PS, Sculptured Software/SunSoft

1996: NBA Live 96, SNES, EA

1996: NBA Hangtime, N64, Midway

1996: NBA In the Zone, PS/N64, Konami

1996: NBA Jam Extreme, PS/Saturn, Acclaim

1997: NBA Live 97, SNES/PS/Saturn, EA

1997: NBA ShootOut '97, PS, SCEA

1998: NBA In the Zone '98, PS, Konami

1998: NBA Action '98, Saturn/PC, Visual Concepts

1998: NBA Live 98, PS/SNES, EA

1998: NBA ShootOut 98, PS, SCEA

1998: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside, N64, Leftfield

1998: NBA Full Court Press, PC, Microsoft

1999: NBA In the Zone '99, N64, Konami

1999: NBA Jam 99, N64, Iguana UK

1999: NBA Live 99, PS/N64, EA

1999: NBA Courtside 2: Featuring Kobe Bryant, N64, Left Field

2000: NBA 2K, Dreamcast, Visual Concepts

2000: NBA Jam 2000, N64, Acclaim

2000: Virtua NBA, Arcade, Sega

2000: NBA Inside Drive 2000, PC, High Voltage

2000: NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC, PS/N64/DC, Avalanche

2000: NBA Shootout 2000, PS, 989 Sports

2000: Fox Sports NBA Basketball 2000, PC/PS, Radical Ent.

2000: NBA Live 2000, PC/PS, EA

2000: NBA In the Zone, PS/N64, Konami

2001: NBA Live 2001, PS2/Xbox, EA

2001: NBA Hoopz, PS2/PS/DC, Eurocom

2001: NBA Street, PS2/Gamecube, NuFX

2001: ESPN NBA 2Night, PS2/DC, Konami

2001: NBA Shootout 2001, PS2, 989 Sports

2001: NBA 2K1, DC, Visual Concepts

2002: NBA Shootout 2002, PS, 989 Sports

2002: NBA Live 2002, PS2/Xbox, EA

2002: NBA 2K2, PS2/Xbox/GC/DC, Visual Concepts

2002: ESPN NBA 2Night 2002, PS2/Xbox, Konami

2002: NBA Starting Five, PS2/Xbox, Konami

2002: NBA Courtside 2002, GC, Left Field

2002: NBA Inside Drive 2002, Xbox, High Voltage

2003: Disney Sports Basketball, GameCube, Konami

2003: Backyard Basketball 2003, PC, Humongous Entertainment/Atari

2003: NBA 2K3, PS2/Xbox/GC, Visual Concepts

2003: NBA Inside Drive 2003, Xbox, High Voltage

2003: NBA Live 2003, PS2/Xbox, EA

2003: NBA Street Vol. 2, PS2/Xbox/GC, EA

2004: Nicktoons Basketball, PC, Digital Eclipse/Valusoft

2004: Junior Sports Basketball, PS2, Humongous Entertainment/Atari

2004: NBA Shootout 2004, PS2, 989 Sports

2004: NBA Live 2004, PS2/Xbox, EA

2004: Backyard Basketball 2004, PC, Atari

2004: NBA Inside Drive 2004, Xbox, High Voltage

2004: NBA Ballers, PS2/Xbox/GC, Midway

2004: ESPN NBA Basketball, PS2/Xbox, Visual Concepts

2005: NBA Street Showdown, PSP, EA

2005: NBA Live 2005, PS2/Xbox/GC, EA

2005: ESPN NBA 2K5, PS2/Xbox, Visual Concepts

2005: NBA Street V3, PS2/Xbox/GC, EA

2006: NBA Live 06, PS2/Xbox360, EA

2006: Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Nintendo DS, Dquare Enix/Nintendo

2006: NBA Ballers: Phenom, PS2/Xbox, Midway

2007: FreeStyle Street Basketball, PC, JC Entertainment/Sierra Online

2007: NBA Live 07, PS2/Xbox360, EA

2007: Backyard Basketball, Nintendo DS, Atari/Humongous Entertainment

2007: Kidz Sports Basketball, Wii, Data Design Interactive Bold Games

2007: NBA 2K7, PS2, Visual Concepts

2007: NBA Street Homecourt, PS3/Xbox360, EA

2008: NBA Live 08, PS3/Xbox360, EA

2008: NBA 2K8, PS3/Xbox360, Visual Concepts

2008: NBA Ballers: Chosen One, PS3/Xbox360, Midway

2009: NBA Unrivaled, PS3/Xbox360, Tecmo

2009: NBA 2K9, PS3/Xbox360, Visual Concepts

2009: NBA '09: The Inside, PS3, SCEA

2009: NBA Live 09, PS3/XBox360/Wii, EA

2010: NBA 2K10 Draft Combine, PS3/Xbox360, Visual Concepts

2010: NBA 10: The Inside, PSP, Sony

2010: NBA 2K10, PS3/XBox360/Wii, Visual Concepts

2010: NBA Live 10, PS3/Xbox360, EA

2010: NBA Jam, PS3/Xbox360/Wii, EA

2011: NBA 2K11, PS3/Xbox360/Wii, Visual Concepts

2011: NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, PS3/Xbox360/Wii, EA

2012: NBA 2K12, PS3/XBox360/Wii, Visual Concepts

2013: NBA 2K13, PS3/Xbox360/Wii, Visual Concepts

2013: NBA 2K14, PS3/Xbox360/PS4/XboxOne/Wii U, Visual Concepts

2013: NBA Live 14, PS4/Xbox One, EA