NBA Ballers
NBA Ballers is a Streetball game which is similar to AND 1 Streetball and gameplay is similar to the "NBA Jam" series. The game features fictional NBA analyst, Bob Benson (voiced and depicted by Terry Abler) and MC Supernatural doing the commentary. Supernatural makes many references to the Mortal Kombat series and NFL Blitz, two games published by Midway. The game also maintains the "player on fire" feature that is in many, if not all sports games published by Midway. Most of the moves that were in the game were from real-life street ballers who provided some  of their moves for the game. Stephon Marbury is on the cover. The game was followed by a version for the PlayStation Portable, "" and two sequels, "" and "". Gameplay. Most matches are 1-on-1. Others can be 1-on-1-on-1, meaning you have three players each playing solely for themselves. The matches are 2 minutes in length and winner is the best of three rounds, each round being a game to 11 points where the winner must win by at least two points. If time runs out, the player with the most points will be declared the winner of that round . Jackpot: Located in the top left of the screen during game play: as the player pulls off style moves he earns points that go into a jackpot at the top of the screen and when a player scores he gets all accumulated jackpot. In gameplay the player has a "Juice Meter" that fills up like a fuel gauge and it is used at the turbo boost meter. It is the players' energy, and if it's used up, the meter will diminish. The second meter below the Juice Meter is the "House Meter" which is raised by pulling off style  moves and scoring points. The meter is filled until the word "HOUSE" is spelled. When totally filled, the player may choose to "Bring Down the House" by holding all shoulder buttons and throwing an alley-oop to himself that tears down the rim and ends the match. Rags to Riches. "Rags to Riches" is the main story mode, in which the player portrays a relatively unknown rookie with certain abilities and must take on the best in the NBA to become arguably the greatest player in the association. Each match is done by tournament style and the player must defeat  every opponent to advance to a new tournament to move the story along, and attributes rise during progression. This game mode featured a full story told over 21 different cut scenes as the player progressed throughout the game. With the inclusion of this game mode, NBA Ballers became the first video game officially licensed by a league to contain a story mode. Reception. The game received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. "GameSpot" named it the best PlayStation 2 game of April 2004. It received a runner-up position in "GameSpot"s 2004 "Best Alternative  Sports Game" award category across all platforms, losing to "Mario Power Tennis". "Maxim" gave it a score of eight out of ten and stated that "Eighty-four hyper-detailed players are represented, or you can create your own baller and go rags-to-riches, racking up pimp-wear and "Scarface"-worthy real estate." "The Village Voice" similarly gave the PS2 version eight out of ten and stated, "Like the sport itself, you can easily start a pickup game, or put all your time—and high hopes—into it. Playing D, of course, isn’t nearly as fun." "Playboy" gave the game  75% (nearly two months before its U.S. release date) and said, "Victory is accompanied by flashy jewelry, fancy cars, and the truest measure of a champ, a larger posse." By July 2006, the PS2 version of the game had sold 670,000 copies and earned $23 million in the United States. "Next Generation" ranked it as the 94th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in the U.S. Combined sales of the "NBA Ballers" series reached 1 million units in the United States by July 2006.