NBA Live '97 on the Sega Genesis was one of those games where you could just lose hours tweaking your dream team. You’ve got all the real NBA squads, but the real fun starts when you dive into creating your own players—height, stats, even their play style. I spent way too much time making a ridiculously tall center who could barely run but blocked everything.

The gameplay’s got depth, too. There are something like 60 offensive plays to pick from, which sounds overwhelming until you realize half of them are just slight variations of pick-and-rolls. Defense is simpler, but you still get enough options to mess with your buddy’s strategy when they think they’ve got an easy fast break.

You can jump into a quick game, play a full season, or skip straight to the playoffs if you’re impatient. The All-Star teams are a nice touch if you just want to go wild with Jordan and Barkley on the same squad. It’s not the prettiest basketball game now, but back then, it felt like the closest thing to the real thing.