We Played NBA The Run! - Gamescast Plays

Summary

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Kinda Funny Gamescast Plays: NBA The Run! – Detailed Episode Summary

Episode Date: April 29, 2026
Hosts: Mike, Blessing Adeoye ("Blessing")
Main Theme: Hands-on Impressions & Discussion of "NBA The Run," a Spiritual Successor to NBA Street

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Overview

The Kinda Funny crew (primarily Mike and Blessing) deliver their first in-depth preview and hands-on reactions to "NBA The Run," a new three-on-three arcade basketball game from Play by Play Studios. Touted as a spiritual successor to the beloved NBA Street series—especially NBA Street Vol. 2—the hosts discuss their experience playing a multiplayer preview build, breaking down gameplay, mechanics, art style, modes, and what sets it apart (or not) from its classic inspirations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Legacy and Hype – The NBA Street Connection

• Mike enthusiastically frames NBA The Run as possibly "the spiritual successor to NBA Street" ([03:01]).
• Vol. 2 is repeatedly referenced as the gold standard for arcade hoops ("Volume two, the best of all time." – Blessing [03:07]).
• Blessing highlights the unique appeal of EA Sports Big-era sports games and emphasizes the swept-up hopes of fans for arcade revivals like SSX, NFL Street, and FIFA Street ([03:23]).

2. Origins & Development Story

• Development started in 2021 as "The Run Got Next." The team is only 18 core developers (+contractors/QA = ~30).
• In 2024, NBA noticed them and offered the official license, dramatically expanding the project ([05:20-05:33]).

3. Gameplay Structure & Modes

• Core Gameplay: Fast 3v3 arcade basketball with a strong online, multiplayer focus and a smaller but slowly-expanding lineup of real-life NBA stars.
• Tournament Bracket System: A stand-out feature is being able to queue into 16-team tournaments: "When you win, you move on… into the finals and win it all" ([07:21]).
• Game Modes Randomizer: Modifiers mix up the rules for variety—ones/twos to 15, threes/dunks, etc. Blessing is unsure "if I'm sold on it yet" as a self-professed NBA Street purist ([09:01]).
• Knockout Variants: Solo and squad-based knockout modes provide additional play styles ([09:26]).
• Single-Player Experience: There is an offline solo play mode, although the big focus is online multiplayer ([07:01], [25:20]).

4. Roster, Characters & Licensing

• Starts with ~32 NBA players at launch, with more planned: “One player per team at launch right here" ([10:19]).
• Some disappointment: "That was one…key thing that made us go, 'okay, it's a small pool of players,'" but the team express plans to expand quickly ([10:51]).
• Unique original characters too, evoking spiritual homages to series icons like "Stretch" (though not appearing due to licensing) ([11:13], [11:24]).
• DJ Cucumber Slice (Bobbito Garcia) returns as in-game announcer and is playable ([11:13], [11:47]).
• Hopes for classic/legend players (Jordan, Bird, Shaq, AI) but licensing hurdles remain ([33:38]).

5. Technical Standouts

• Rollback Netcode: Big deal for smooth online play—a nod to fighting games ([12:37]).
• Full Crossplay: Across all platforms ([12:37]).

6. Game Feel & Mechanics

• The key question: Is it as fun as NBA Street Vol. 2?
  • Blessing: "I think the game is fun. I don’t think it feels as great as NBA Street Volume 2. I think that's a very high bar though" ([18:21]).
• Defense vs. Offense:
  • Developers intended for defense to be "as fun as offense," but Blessing was underwhelmed: "I don't think the defense was fun" ([19:16]).
  • Mike: "Can you actually do that?... Defense will never be as fun as offense" ([19:24]).
• Dunks & Tricks:
  • Dunk mechanics sometimes felt inconsistent unless playing as superstars like LeBron ([20:47]).
  • Lament absence of iconic "gamebreaker" meter—now replaced by “in the zone” per-player abilities. Blessing: "Does not hit the same as game breaker" ([21:41]).
  • Trick system now uses right analog stick + bumpers versus the old button-mashing, but feels less satisfying/exaggerated ([22:32-23:20]).
• Teamwork Focus:
  • Emphasis on multiplayer synergy (e.g., calling for alley-oops) is fun and adds a new flavor ([24:21]).
• Art Style & Presentation:
  • Distinctive stylized courts and players, with some reservations about "shirts vs. skins" visual choices ([26:03]-[26:56]).
  • Courts evoke classic streetball vibes (e.g., Venice Beach, “the Rucker”) ([25:47], [27:27]).
• Unique Start Mechanic: Games start with a dodgeball-style scramble for the ball, not a tipoff/jump ball ([11:50], [12:17]).

7. Areas for Improvement & Wishlist

• Small Roster Limitation: More recognizable NBA stars and legends sorely needed, leveraging the NBA license ([10:51], [34:19-34:45]).
• Game Feel: Needs tuning for defense, trick mechanics, and exaggerated arcade flair ([19:15], [23:42], [23:58]).
• Camera Angles: Only includes broadcast (side) views; hosts want north-south camera—"I want to be behind my character" ([32:45]).
• Pricing: Unknown at time of recording; speculative sweet spot is $20-$30 ([30:44-31:54]).

8. Noteworthy Quotes & Moments

• "Every now and then there's a studio that wakes up one day and they go, what if we made one of the greatest video games ever made?"
  – Blessing [03:09]
• "This is a team of about 18 people... It is like you mentioned 3v3 arcade style street basketball."
  – Blessing [06:08]
• "Can you actually do that? ... Defense will never be as fun as offense."
  – Mike [19:24]
• "It does a good enough job of being a fun basketball game. And that's what you need to be at your baseline."
  – Blessing [32:45]
• "You have the NBA license... being able to add these things is gonna make it last longer."
  – Blessing [34:30]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Spiritual Successor Discussion / NBA Street Talk: [02:57]–[03:54]
• Dev Story/License Origin: [05:13]–[05:56]
• Hands-on Impressions Start (Show Footage): [05:56]
• Gameplay Modes / Tournament Bracket Explanation: [07:09]–[07:52]
• Roster Breakdown / Presentation Reactions: [09:48]–[10:51]
• Original Characters & DJ Cucumber Slice: [11:13]–[11:47]
• Unique Game Start Mechanic (No Tipoff): [11:50]–[12:11]
• Rollback Netcode & Crossplay / Release Info: [12:37]–[13:08]
• Game Feel, Defense/Offense, Trick System Critique: [18:21]–[23:20]
• Multiplayer Teamplay Praise: [24:21]–[25:20]
• Art Style & Court Design: [25:47]–[27:27]
• Shirts vs. Skins Discussion: [26:03]–[26:57]
• Price Point Speculation: [30:44]–[31:54]
• Camera Angle Critique: [32:45]
• NBA Legends Wishlist (Jordan, Bird, etc.): [33:32]–[34:45]

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Final Thoughts & Takeaways

• "NBA The Run" delivers on many NBA Street vibes but sets its own tone—more online, modern mechanics, and with the NBA license. There's potential, especially if the roster can rapidly expand and if gameplay quirks are tuned up.
• Hosts are positive and hopeful, tempering expectations due to small team size and first-build feel, but see a fun, replayable game in the making—especially for those hungry for arcade hoops.
• Community questions reinforce hunger for legends, improved feel, and more customization.

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For New Listeners

If NBA Street or arcade sports games ever mattered to you, NBA The Run is worth watching—even in its early, imperfect state. It brings key streetball energy, nostalgia, and modern connectivity, with a path to grow—if Play by Play Studios can keep up the momentum and listen to feedback.

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Transcript

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[Mike]

if you want to get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows go to patreon.com kindafunny. What's up everybody and welcome into your kinda funny Gamescast place for a lovely April 29, 202026 blessing. This might go down as the best ever Gamescast plays.

[Blessing]

You think so?

[Mike]

Because this game has got the fire. Yeah this game's got the heat. Yeah this game bless.

[Blessing]

It's taking it to the streets.

[Mike]

It's taking it come on the streets. Big Cat. We've had a lot of gate, a lot of great games. Cast plays games thus far this year. But today, bless, we take it over the top. Today we talk about NBA the run. What will possibly go down as the spiritual successor to NBA Street?

[Blessing]

Yes, the big question.

[Mike]

Volume two. The goat.

[Blessing]

The big question. I mean, yeah, specifically Volume two.

[Mike]

Let's give it.

[Blessing]

You already know.

[Mike]

Volume two now. Volume one. Good. Volume three. Pretty good.

[Blessing]

Pretty good.

[Mike]

Volume two, the best of all time.

[Blessing]

Every now and then there's a studio that wakes up one day and they go, what if we made one of the greatest video games ever made? And for whatever reason that EA Sports big studio, they made NBA three volume one. It was good. They made street two. They're ascended.

[Mike]

Yeah. Every day, every day the gaming audience says, what if we get back and put them on the table and we fucking shock them back to life? The EA Big franchise and bring back all of our favorite games. And we hope and wish for SSX Tricky. We wish that we could get a fun arcadey NFL Street. We wish we could get a dope FIFA.

[Blessing]

What do you want back more? NFL street or NFL Blitz?

[Mike]

NFL Street, Really? I love NFL Blitz. Yeah, yeah. But like NFL Street, I like both a lot, man. You give me NFL Blitz. The league again though, Bless.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Woo.

[Mike]

Well, let's talk about it, Bless. Because today we're talking about NBA, the run from Play by Play Studios dropping a brand new trailer and the announcement that, hey, we're here making the arcady NBA game that you want. Yes, three on three basketball.

[Blessing]

Yep.

[Mike]

All the hype.

[Blessing]

DJ Cucumber slice, Fabino Garcia, he's back.

[Mike]

Let's watch the trailer. I don't have any sound coming in on this to avoid any sort of takedowns, but let's watch the brand new trailer. 90 seconds. Showcasing of course, three on three hoops. Showcasing new courts and locations.

[Blessing]

Yes.

[Mike]

And most importantly, bless, showcasing some of your favorite NBA players.

[Blessing]

So this is gonna be a fun one, right? Because this gamescast plays is almost like a second gamescast for the day. Because we got to get our hands on this game last week and we played for a couple of hours. This is going to be us talking about our experience playing. And you captured your footage, which was both of our footage because we played together. And so we're going to walk you through some of our time playing the game. But yeah, as we're. Oh, you see that? He did the little. He got on the ground there. Got on the ground there.

[Mike]

He did the slip and slide. Yeah. Now, bless, this is a brand new trailer. Just dropping to get everybody excited about it. I took an insane amount of notes.

[Blessing]

That's awesome.

[Mike]

During our time with this preview and seeing and hearing from the team, this is a game that is four plus years in the making.

[Blessing]

Yes.

[Mike]

This is a game that they were going to make a 3v3 basketball game. And then about three years in something like that, the NBA caught wind of it and said let us support you and that's why you have NBA hoops in this game.

[Blessing]

Take you with some more of the factoids because I also took a lot of notes. So it started off as the Run Got Next was the name of the game when they first started development in 2021. In 2024 they got the NBA license because they announced the Run Got Next. And I believe they said around the same day or the same time NBA saw it and went, yo, let's talk to them. We want to take a chance on this game blessing.

[Mike]

Let's show some of our footage and let's talk about some of the things. I'm going to play our footage in the background and let's, let's just have a conversation about this 3 on 3 hoops. You can already hear Bobby in the background talking to you right off the bat.

[Blessing]

Yeah. So this is a fun one for us because me and you are both big fans of NBA Street Volume 2, NBA street, period. Right. And plenty of people out there love NBA street. And I think for years we've been asking where is this game? I made a blessing show actually about this. If you remember quite a few years ago saying we need to bring back EA Sports big games. This is made by I believe a lot of the team that made original NBA Street. This is a small team though. This is a team of about 18 people. It's about 30 if you include contractors, QA, et cetera. It's what you would expect. It is like you mentioned 3v3 arcade style street basketball with Bobby De Garcia on the ones and twos talking to you. And there are some changes. There are some differences. One of the, in fact, probably the biggest difference here is that it's more of a multiplayer online focus for this game.

[Mike]

Giving rematch vibes. Yes, definitely giving rematch vibes. But there is a offline component where you can play solo, which I like a lot.

[Blessing]

Yes. But you log into the game. It very much is all right, party up with two other people. You're going to matchmake with other people and play matches. And so that's big. There are again tournaments. Yeah. In tournaments. You want to explain that?

[Mike]

I like the tournament factor of like, instead of just queuing up and playing a random game, they will put you into a 16 team bracket tournament. Which means when you win, you move on, you'll play another game, you'll play another team in that quarterfinals, semifinals, into the finals and win it all. Which I think is really fun to give you something to aspire to at the end of like, yeah, oh, me and Blessing went 50 and we got the trophy. We won our tournament. I really like that.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I thought it was a very interesting format. Right. Something fresh and fun to celebrate it.

[Mike]

If you play the EA Sports games right now, bless NHL Shell, World of Shell has the Eliminator. A lot of these EA Sports have that kind of. It's a bracket, but like you're just playing your normal matchup game. It doesn't really change anything.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I've done that in FIFA all the time. Never won the tournament. It's actually kind of something I'm changing.

[Mike]

Never won either.

[Blessing]

Yeah, never won one of those tournaments. They also do the same thing in fighting games. Funny enough. On PlayStation, any fighting game you boot up, you'll get a notification that at the top of the hour they're starting tournaments.

[Mike]

I love that.

[Blessing]

That's a whole other.

[Mike]

Now you and I almost won one.

[Blessing]

We almost did, almost did win a tournament here. Yeah, I know. We want to talk about what it's like to get our hands on the sticks. I'm trying to make sure we have.

[Mike]

About the game modes. Yes, there's a couple of different game modes here because it is 3v3 hoops at its core. But there is a couple of fun, like randomly selected game modes that will change the style of play. If you're a hooper out there, you know, you usually run ones and twos, but of course you can have fun. I. I like the. I like games when they call it house rules. Yes. You've seen that before where it's like, hey, three pointers now are threes. Right. Then you go on from there and you kind of change up the style of the game.

[Blessing]

Yeah. So when you start a game online. Yeah. You'll see a randomizer and it'll be a thing of like, all right, this game is going to be ones and twos first to 15. Oh, it'll be threes and twos first to 21. Or it'll be threes for dunks and ones for all the other shots. Right. All these fun, different modifiers to change it up game by game. Interesting concept. Don't know if I'm sold in it yet. But also I think that's me being a purist. An NBA street purist.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Which is going to be a lot of what we talk about here with this game. Because again, there are differences between this and NBA Street. But yeah, mentioned those game modes. There's also. They talked about different big game modes. Right. You have knockout solos, knockout squads, knockout friends. Talking about playing with strangers, playing solo, playing with friends, that kind of thing. 32 NBA players at launch. Talking about the NBA license there.

[Mike]

We'll see that pop up in a minute. Choosing your character, I think that's great. I look forward to seeing more on that. More players added. It's always tough when you get one player per team to represent maybe your favorite squad. You can see me and Blessing right now as I pause this. You have me as Luka. You got blessing as Jason Tatum. You have dapper tux over here. Our third playing as Ann Edwards. Of course, LeBron is in this. I shouldn't say one per team, but you will have essentially one player per team at launch right here.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Which was kind of like, you know, it was fun because the way our preview went, they did the presentation and then they let us get hands on the game. That was kind of like the drop toward the end of like, okay, that's me. And you were kind of like, what's the caveat here? What's going. What's. What are you hiding? Like, what. Not what are you hiding? But like, what's going to be the thing that makes us go, ah, dang. And I think that was one of the key things that made us go, oh, okay. You don't have to. All the NBA teams represented or all the players from all the teams represented. It's very much a small pool of players. But it sounds like they want to grow it over time, which is good news.

[Mike]

I think they're going to grow in a big way pretty fast here. I think they're going to really crush that. What I also like is their own characters. I think a big one for NBA street fans out there. You will remember certain characters. Spider, I'm looking at. Right. Stretch, of course, is the icon being on the front of the car.

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What's Biggie?

[Blessing]

Little.

[Mike]

Little.

[Blessing]

Is that her name?

[Sponsor Announcer (Shopify, Aura Frames, NOCD)]

Biggie.

[Mike]

So they do have their own unique characters as well, which I think is really awesome as well. Like, we'll see more of those. There's definitely one that's like very much like themed around Stretch, but isn't Stretch.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Street Shadow writes in and says, most important question. You can super chat if you want to ask us questions. About the game. Most important question since we have the great DJ Cucumber Slice Bobido Garcia back, do we know if Stretch is coming back? No, you don't have Stretch in the game. Remember this is licensed NBA but it's not made by ea and so I don't think you can just bring back Stretch but they did bring bring back Bob Beetle Garcia. And he's playable.

[Mike]

He is playable. He is playable.

[Blessing]

Yeah. You play Bob Beetle Garcia.

[Mike]

I have it paused because I just want to show everybody how the game starts here. Bless. Which I thought was odd and fun. It is a very XFL football start to the video game if you've ever seen it. It is not a jump ball. There's no tip off to start the game. You will just get a 3, 2, 1 and like dodgeball run to the center of the court and try to grab the ball. Which I think is.

[Blessing]

You saw me dive and fill the dive there. Which is hilarious. I'm trying to think of any more big picture things.

[Mike]

I mean big picture things I have written down here. Bless. Let me see DJ cucumber slice on the play by play narration. Over 3000 lines and more coming from him. The game has been five years in the making with 18 people behind it all in 30 people. I thought that was great as well right there.

[Blessing]

Rollback net code. They talked about that. That's huge. If you play fighting games or into fighting games, you'll know all about rollback netcode. It's become the new standard for Internet connectivity. Right. Like the the code on behind the scenes, what's going on in the game making it more smooth for online play. So really cool to hear that this game has rollback netcode fully crossplay as well. And they also have their first playtest coming out May 1st. And of course we played the trailer. This game is launching in June. So right around the corner. Right around the corner. They didn't give us a day in June, but June.

[Mike]

Yeah, you would think maybe have a presence at summer game fest and then we'll pop off from there. But this weekend is a big deal. I think people getting their hands on the sticks and understanding that like this is the return of NBA Streets and if you've been missing NBA Streets, you should be giving this a try and maybe falling in love. And what I like about this, I think there's a little more depth in NBA Streets. You and I. A lot of people are going to say hey Mike and blessed, you guys look like trash. And that's because of course you're seeing our first moments literally touching the controller and playing it. But I do think that there's some combos in this game that we you and I did not quite unlock and put in our Duffy that like we'll take this from like a very similar rematch situation. There's basic rematch players and then there's next level rematch players and I think you're going to get that in this.

[Blessing]

Mike, I want to talk all about what it was like actually having our hands on this and did we enjoy our experience playing this game? But before we do, let us tell you a word from our sponsors this

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[Mike]

welcome back everybody to of course another Gamescast plays. Talking about NBA the Run. Mike and Bless went hands on with it. Bless worked showing our gameplay. Let's get real right now. Bless.

[Blessing]

Let's get real.

[Mike]

We've given everybody the rundown.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Free open beta weekend right now. You know, this week watching this go out there, play it for yourself. We talked about NBA stars. We about talked, talked about the team being built in this full crossplay. Rollbat, netcode. All of this is sick. Bobby Garcia back. Very cool. That's great. The only thing that matters though, Bless, is the game fun? Does it feel good on the sticks? Let's get really real.

[Blessing]

Let's get real. I think the game is fun. I don't think it feels as great as NBA Street Volume 2. I think that's a very high bar far though. Yeah, I think for what it is toward the end of our time playing because I think I spent a lot of the time being like, okay, this feels off. Oh they changed this. I don't know how I feel about that. Like, there's a lot we can get, we can get into towards the end, you know, I was just messing around. You had to like go do another show. I was just messing around with the buttons and like messing around with the game feel. And I do think they have something here that is gonna make for a solid and fun basketball game.

[Mike]

Right?

[Blessing]

And I want more of these. I'm looking for more of these. I'm happy that they're making this. I have a lot of little nitpicks when it comes to things like the defense. One of the things they mentioned during the presentation, a big tenant that they had in the design of this game,

[Mike]

I haven't, I haven't highlighted as well.

[Blessing]

They talked about wanting to have the defense be as fun as the offense. You know, let's have fun on defense as an arcade style game. I don't think the defense was fun.

[Mike]

I wrote next to it. Can you actually do that? And let's be really real. Bless. Defense will never be as fun as offense because offense is the most fun in the game. About expressing yourself, doing sick alley oops, going off the easy on somebody, doing the slip and slide. Like, defense will never be that fun. But locking somebody up, getting a nasty block, pushing somebody over on the perimeter is fun. But I think it's very basic.

[Blessing]

But I also think they made defense kind of fun in NBA Street. Do you know why? Because them blocks, man, you would, you would jump up in the air for a nasty block. Especially if you're playing on like the easiest mode right in NBA Street. But even past that, like there wasn't a level of okay, I gotta wait the right moment, Boom, get that out of here. And it felt like those mover back and forth here, the blocks feel so I don't know if I blocked a thing this entire, this entire run, you know, and so like that, that felt a little bit off. Dunks also didn't feel as right to me. There'd be times where we're running up to the basket and it feel like we're close enough, but they would still go for just the regular shot or give it the finger roll. And I'm like, no dunk. I am running full speed and I'm in vicinity of the basket. Just go for the dunk. And I think that's, it's just tuned in weird ways. And I think when I was playing as LeBron, the dunks felt fine because he's LeBron. And so that stat is all the

[Mike]

way up character feels a little different. Yeah, right? Yeah.

[Blessing]

But if my stats like not at the all the way highest, I don't know, I feel like the tuning for the dunks didn't feel as great. I also miss some of the arcadey like point systems they would throw up there.

[Mike]

I think the biggest one that people will see and that you call out is of course NBA street is built off the back of building up those sick combos through your awesome creative moves on the court with your dribbling and then comboing those into a killer three pointer, an awesome alley to a dunk or dunk yourself. And then that fills into the game breaker bar which is not here, not here.

[Blessing]

Instead they do have some unique, I believe they call it in the zone in this game where you can kind of power up. Each of the players have kind of different properties, different things that they can do.

[Mike]

Once they see blessings like LeBron player doing it like right now, once they're

[Blessing]

in that powered up state up and

[Mike]

getting close to that.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And they're able to kind of do different things. Right. They'll get like some of their stats might get enhanced, for example. So you have. That does not hit the same as game breaker. I want to address somebody in the chat. Somebody said victor Van Kieran says blessing. On a real note, have you gone back and tried NBA Street Volume 2 chat? People listening and watching. I can't stress this to you enough. I play NBA Street Volume 2 all the time. All the time. It is on my allegedly on my Steam deck. You know what I mean? Like that's an old reliable video game for me. So when I tell you, yes, like I have the fresh mindset of somebody who's played that game not that long ago. I know how that game feels and how that game plays. But yeah, like I, I kind of wish that you had those arcade things, but they don't. Sure. Okay. The tricks also don't feel as great to execute. They're on the right analog stick.

[Mike]

Yes, exactly. So now you're kind of getting into the let's meet the modern day NBA game SLG gamer. Right. And like we've kind of moved away from just jamming square, square, square, square, square to be your tricky meter in NBA volume or in NBA Street. And now we've moved to like, hey, you're going to need to use the stick. Well, if you're using the stick, what can we combo that with? And you're going to combo it with the left or right shoulder buttons is what it felt like yes.

[Blessing]

And they got that here, right? Yeah. You're pressing the, you're comboing the stick with the left and right shoulder buttons as you're talking about. And like I, I'm not mad at the control scheme of it. I think the right analog stick could work. It's just a matter of it didn't feel cool as I was doing it. It didn't feel satisfying. There's something about the game feel that didn't feel all the way there that I think they could fix. I think we could get it there but it just didn't feel here.

[Mike]

That's something that NBA 2K, who has dominated the sim space has captured. Right. That flow of going back and forth with the basketball as a crossover but with the stick. Right. Going back forth backwards to get a jab, step back forward to get a pro hop. Like that's what the sim game has captured. This one trying to get to that. It does need like a little extra.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Like I wish we dialed it toward the arcad of it a little bit more because I think a game like this you want to get it to be a bit more exaggerated in some of. Some of the actions you're doing.

[Mike]

And that's what I'm thinking. Like it feels like this is our first hour. It feels like we're going to get to that after weekend one.

[Blessing]

I hope so.

[Mike]

Like I, I do think we're going to start seeing things. Cuz you and I started to nail the alley oops at the end of this. Right. We started to work through. You got into the LeBron James Tier 3 Dunks which you'll see a lot of. Right. So it's like I think that takes time for players to master when you're going to build. Hey, this isn't just jam square, square, square, square square. To do all the iconic NBA street moves that you thought of.

[Blessing]

Correct. And that's what I want to get into some of the things we did like because I, I liked. I like the team based aspect of it. You know that was something I was kind of iffy on as we were jumping into this of man, I played so much NBA street by myself. I play these arcadey sports games usually either solo or sometimes with friends.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

This has more of a multiplayer focus like we said at the top of this. I'm not mad at it though because you did compare it to rematch and I think there's something there as far as me going for the alley oop. You know the traditional alley oop that you have out of these Games and calling it out to you and you getting me there and like, something about that was fun, you know, having different characters too that have these different skill sets. Me playing as a LeBron who might be more well rounded, but, you know, I'm going for the dunks or when I was playing at Steph Curry, knowing that, all right, I can hit threes all day, so if you get the ball to me, I'm just gonna. I'm gonna try to be open for a three kind of thing. I thought that stuff was fun.

[Mike]

I am excited for this. I'm looking forward to see what kind of energy I can get out of single player mode is a big deal to me. Bless. As someone who, like, yeah, I love playing games. I love playing games with my friends. But like, a game like this, I also just want to turn on and I want a game.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Like NBA street had that kind of stuff to do. I really hope that they can nail a fun single player and feel like I'm either progressing or have something to work towards, which would be cool.

[Blessing]

Also, this is what I'm talking about where I'm playing as wembanyama, and you saw how close I was to the basket there. And he just went for the regular shot. Not even a layup, just the regular shot. One thing I want to shout out that I do like also is a lot of the art style. The art style. I think the courts look beautiful. Look at this court right here.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

You know, I think this is sick as hell. I don't know if I love the shirts and skins.

[Mike]

You like the shirts and skins?

[Blessing]

I don't. I know that's based off of real life.

[Mike]

Of course. Yeah. Would you have preferred to go colors and whites for the jerseys?

[Blessing]

Yeah. Home and away.

[Mike]

You have like, green, red, blue, and then you would just have your home whites.

[Blessing]

I would. I. I would have stolen what Rematch did, which is. Oh, you. You go by one player.

[Mike]

I like that. Bless. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good call.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Because there's something about the. There's something about the skins where I'm like, uniform.

[Mike]

Like, everybody would share that uniform.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

So yo. Jokic would be. Instead of Denver Nuggets, I'm the Golden State Warriors. Yes.

[Blessing]

Or like, whatever. Whatever customized uniform.

[Mike]

Maybe like an east versus West. Yeah.

[Blessing]

Like, let me create my own uniform and everybody just adapts to that. Or you make it so that everybody is wearing your uniform. You're playing.

[Mike]

I like.

[Blessing]

I liked how Rematch did that a lot. So I would have stolen that.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Cuz there's something about wearing skins where I'm like, I don't want to wear skins, you know, Like, I. It's not as cool.

[Mike]

Yic without a T shirt on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

I feel like it's weird. I don't want to see these guys shirtless.

[Mike]

Okay, okay. Hey, that's all right. That's all right. This is where we start getting in the alleys, you and I, right there.

[Blessing]

Yeah, that's what. See, we. This is where we start getting into a flow state a little bit.

[Mike]

Did you like the court? So you're bringing up art style. Courts look good to me. I like all the courts.

[Blessing]

Courts look good. Look at all the people in the background, you know, different locations, one with a cage vibe.

[Mike]

You have this one. There's definitely one that reminded me of the Rucker. So, like, there's some cool. There's some cool maps out there.

[Blessing]

Yeah, super cool.

[Mike]

What else they do?

[Blessing]

One of the mechanics that I like that it's there. I wish it felt better. Was the dive you saw at the beginning of the match where you press. I believe it's on circle when you're, when you don't have the ball to like dive for the ball for it being on the ground. NBA street had it as well. If you double tapped turbo and they would dive way further. And so it felt like more of a viable mechanic here. I don't feel like it's as. I'm just afk for some reason.

[Mike]

This is just looking at the buttons, I bet.

[Blessing]

Oh, yeah, probably. I. I feel like I rarely was able to pull off the dive here. Okay, maybe that's a skill thing. Maybe I get better at that as we go. But it feels very limited as far as how far you're diving for it.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's interesting. Someone in the chat said, oh, this game looks awful. It's like, oh, I love the style of this, like the art style of this, the look of the game.

[Blessing]

I like it a lot.

[Mike]

What I want, like that, that's what I like out of the NBA street and NFL streets.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I think the player, the player models had grow on me a little bit,

[Mike]

but I think each one stands out. You know who they are.

[Blessing]

You know who they are.

[Mike]

If you're a massive NBA fan, you know, that's Trey Young right there with the, the hair, you know that Steph Curry next to him. Like, you can point them out right away. I like it a lot.

[Blessing]

Yeah, yeah. No, the art style really grew on me and I love, I, I really like how the Courts like this court right here. When you look up and see all the people.

[Mike]

Yeah. Super cool.

[Blessing]

We zoom in on the kids though. That kind of looks. You're not gonna do that that often.

[Mike]

It's always a fun one because I am that guy who's like, when are we working on the crowd? And they're like, Mike, you see the crowd 2.5% of the game's life. Like we're not working on the crowd. Just know. Yeah, I love that. Yeah.

[Blessing]

I'm trying to think of what else. The ball being in the middle at the start of it. I know you talked about that.

[Mike]

Very interesting start right there.

[Blessing]

I don't like it.

[Mike]

You have your play of the game right here. Little play of the game highlight. Steph Curry catching fire.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I'm trying to see if I can. If I pull up the roster, but I'm not finding it right now. Venice beach, like they got everything working here. Yeah. And I do think it's going to be a weekend spending it. Cuz my biggest one is the moves blessing. I totally agree with you. None of it felt good. It never felt like I was getting creative with it. I was struggling to figure out what bumper mixed with this stick move is gonna do anything cool. And every time I would do it, he would do some. Either push off or he's back up and it's like this. I'm looking to do the slip and slide. I'm looking to do something wild. Yeah.

[Blessing]

I want to do. Cool. They do have. They do have the. Off the easy. They do have it to where you can hit it. Throw it off the basket as well. Throw it off the backboard. I should say as well. Love that. I was doing a move where I was throwing it off the backboard and then jumping for the dunk and basically alley ooping myself. Love that.

[Mike]

But yeah, you're looking at like these are all a bunch of people who have just picked up the game for the first time. Right. Spending less than an hour with it. I think by the end of the world weekend we're going to see something special here.

[Blessing]

Do you now it sounds like when this comes out, you're going to pick it up again.

[Mike]

100%.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I'm going to play it this weekend.

[Blessing]

I'm. I'm gone this weekend. But when it's out, I'm definitely going to. I'm.

[Mike]

I will be here this weekend playing this. This is a rematch situation. This is a Mike, Andy and Bless type situation.

[Blessing]

I hope so.

[Mike]

Be all over this. I'm not.

[Blessing]

I'M not as quickly sold on this as I was on Rematch, but I am sold enough to where I want to pick it up. How much do you think it comes out at?

[Mike]

$30. Do they have a price tag yet?

[Blessing]

I don't think they don't have a price tag yet.

[Mike]

Okay. Okay.

[Blessing]

I would, I would say 20. Either. 20 or free.

[Mike]

Okay. Okay.

[Blessing]

Somewhere. Somewhere around that. I don't know if you. Oh, man. Rematch was 40, wasn't it? Or no.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to 40.

[Blessing]

Ch, how much was Rematch?

[Mike]

How much was Rematch?

[Blessing]

This feels like $20 to me.

[Mike]

Okay. Should we swat that guy?

[Blessing]

Bless.

[Mike]

Bless. Any final closing thoughts before we get out of this games cast, Blaze? And of course to the audience out there. Do you have any questions that you'd like me and Bless to answer as we go through this one final time? Now's an opportunity to get into your, of course, super chats. If you want to write us about anything, let us know right now. We'll talk about it.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I think people in chat are saying rematch was 30.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Blessing]

And I, I could with. With where video games are at nowadays, I could see this being 30. I don't think you go beyond 30, though. Okay. I think 20 would be a steal.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Blessing]

I, I legitimately be a steal. I think 30 is probably more, more appropriate. But yeah, like rounding out my thoughts here. Yeah, I love that they're making this game. I love that they've committed as much as they are. Never, never in a million years would I have thought that, like, they would have completely copied NBA street because, you know, you're always trying to do something fresh. You know, you're always trying to like, try things out. And so I like that they've gotten as close as they, as they have. And then I like the online slant to it. I think that's gonna make it more viable for, for people and for. And for longevity. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Again, I, I hope that once I get my hands on the sticks more, it starts to feel, Feel better. I'm, I'm not sold on the game feel, but it does, I think it does a good enough job of being a fun basketball game. And that's what you need to be at your baseline.

[Mike]

So one thing I'd like camera angles. They have three camera angles in the game. They're all this broadcast side view. I'm north and south now in sports games. I want to be behind my character, watching me do the moves, creating space, seeing the full floor. I Am not a broadcast angle anymore type of guy. So I hope that they do implement. Hey, let's swing the camera over and go north and south. That's a big one for me.

[Blessing]

I agree with that. I think that's necessary.

[Mike]

And of course, seeing NBA Legends, seeing more current players, right. Like, how fun do you get? There's just so many players out there that you could jump into and have a good time. Of course, Pontan says, do they have the coups? Kyle Kuzma is not in this. Right. But it would be fun to see J R Smith, Lance Stevenson.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Mike]

All the characters I'm looking forward to will be very interesting to see.

[Blessing]

They talked about having rookie variants of characters where you have current day LeBron, but then you also have the classic version of LeBron that plays differently. And so I think that's a cool idea, you know. But yeah, I want to see Legends. I want to. I definitely want to see Legends get added to the game.

[Mike]

Yeah. I mean there's just so many and we see how fast they add it. That's going to be the fun part.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

It's like in a perfect world, this game would have all those characters already. Like an NBA Streets, right. It's like, hey, here's your team. Here's five of the players on that team that are most recognizable. Pick three of them. Right. And it's like here what we saw, it's one charact, one player per game essentially. So it's like, hey, like let give me some more.

[Blessing]

For sure, for sure. And like that's the thing is that is the leg up you have on other arcade sports games. Especially when we bring rematch in the conversation. The leg up you have is you have the license.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

You know, rematch didn't even have the license for. They had like some things but like they. You have the NBA license. And so, you know, we, I'm. We have to see more players come through and I think, yeah, being able to add these things is gonna make it last longer.

[Mike]

Do you think we get Jordan?

[Blessing]

Always had.

[Mike]

Do you think they get Jordan?

[Blessing]

I would, I would imagine licensing Jordan is probably very difficult. Right.

[Mike]

Because you would probably the hardest out of all.

[Blessing]

You would, you would have to like. I don't. Yeah, I don't think you're getting that.

[Mike]

Just the NBA players union and stuff like that. We'll see.

[Blessing]

I don't think you get Jordan. Okay, maybe, maybe if this blows up, you get Jordan. If people really take to it and like it starts making a lot of money, I think then people. You eventually Get Joy, but, you know, maybe Larry Bird. Do you think you get Larry Bird?

[Mike]

I think you get Larry Bird.

[Blessing]

That's cool.

[Mike]

I think you get Bird. I think you get Shaq.

[Blessing]

You get Alan Iverson.

[Mike]

Oh, you get AI.

[Blessing]

You get AI.

[Mike]

You get AI in a big way. Big dog. You definitely get AI. Any other fun, weird characters?

[Blessing]

Fun, weird ones?

[Mike]

Oh, like, I like Mike.

[Blessing]

Speed.

[Mike]

Speed.

[Blessing]

Speed.

[Mike]

Okay. Speed.

[Blessing]

Speed might be. Honestly, in a weird way, I think speed might be too expensive.

[Mike]

I.

[Blessing]

But, like, could you get Kaisana?

[Mike]

Yeah, probably.

[Blessing]

I said not in this game.

[Mike]

He might be a little expensive nowadays, but you probably get Kai. Yeah, I'm trying to think of, like, who are some fun, odd characters. You saw Mario Peach and Luigi.

[Blessing]

Can we run that back? If you get this on Switch, that'd be so fun.

[Mike]

Get Zelda in there.

[Blessing]

That'd be fun. I don't think you do. I don't think. I think that Nintendo bag is probably different for how to make that happen.

[Mike]

All right, well, Blessing.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I'm pumped for this. I'm excited to see the weekend. I'm. Drew will be in this game Drew will be in this game by the end of the year for sure.

[Blessing]

Come on, Vas. Shut your mouth. All right. I'm tired. I'm tired of you. I'm tired of you.

[Mike]

Blessing. I'm excited to play this game with you.

[Blessing]

I'm excited.

[Mike]

Can't wait to see more. All right, bless. I mean, this is gamescast plays. Let us know in the comments down below.

[Blessing]

Down below.

[Mike]

What do you think? Are you jumping in to this weekend? Are you ready to rock and roll? And what do you think of the game so far from what we told you with that? Let's get out of here.

[Blessing]

Get out.

[Mike]

Say goodbye to the people. Let's go.

[Blessing]

Goodbye to the people. Let's go.