When we first heard about the MyNBA Eras that 2K would be introducing in NBA 2K23, it was some of the most exciting franchise mode news we had heard about in a long time. Now that we’ve been able to play the mode the last couple weeks, it’s fair to say there’s the expected bugs and other technical issues that are hurting it a bit. However, one of my favorite things about it is that we’re getting to see all these players from other eras being experienced by more people.
Even though most of the legends were in the game before, you didn’t have a central way to interact with them over a prolonged period of time. In the past, seeing them in places like MyTeam was cool to an extent, but the players were usually controlled by other humans or you were not really seeing how guys like Kareem, McHale, Isiah Thomas, and so on operated on a night-to-night basis.
I did not think about it much before launch, but beyond the technical stuff, what could have sucked the life out of the mode would have been if the players didn’t play like themselves. The Jordan Challenge coming back put added pressure on the AI to showcase these players in an authentic way, and 2K has stepped up to deliver some amazing stuff here.
NBA 2K23 MyEras: Who Has Cooked You?
This brings me to the thread I want to highlight, and it was a simple question asked by Chairman7w on the forums. Chairman7w asked, who has cooked you? Answering the question first, Chairman7W pointed out three players who owned them:
There have been three games where I got absolutely DESTROYED by the CPU using a certain player:
PATRICK EWING in the first Jordan Challenge
There’s absolutely NOTHING I could do to slow him down – just a true force of nature. I don’t recall his final numbers but it was well over 30.
TRACY MCGRADY in MyEra 2002 Kings Franchise
Playing against the Magic, I looked like a 4th grader chasing him all over the dang court as he went for 34 (6 min quarters). It didn’t matter how close my defender was or anything. Twos, threes — it didn’t matter. Just unstoppable.
GILBERT ARENAS in MyEra 2002 Kings Franchise
I took the L big time in this game. Once again, I watched helpless as The Hibachi proceeded to drop 7-9 from 3-pt range, and shot a disgusting 70% from the field, torched me for 38. Meanwhile, Antawn Jamison dropped 19 on me to boot. Even Bobby Sura got some on me. I slunked out of town like a whipped dog.
Our next ownage comes from ggsimmonds:
Shaq got me for 48 on 20 of 26 shooting.
You remember that year the Cowboys for whatever reason decided to play Megatron straight up and he torched them for 200 yards? It was like that.
My naive self went into this game thinking I was so cold on 2k and didn’t even need to bother going into coaching adjustments because no big man has ever dominated against me. Shaq was there like “only cause you haven’t went up against me in 2k23 yet”
Completely humbled me
What’s also fun about this is it doesn’t just have to be legends schooling you. 2K spent a lot of time (and always has) adding more signature animations, redoing signature shots, and working on ways to make stars stand out. The 24th Letter shows off AI Jokic ruining the Celtics here:
In general, bigs might be benefiting the most this year from all the love 2K has given to some of these players. Jokic can now do stuff like the above whether he’s in the AI’s control or being used by an OS user like we have here below:
Other bigs that have been ruining OS users include Kevin McHale. VDusen04 showcases the clip below and says simply:
Kevin McHale had me jumping around like a total dork.
R9Nald9 backs up VDusen04 by saying McHale is crushing dreams:
Jordan Challenge. USA vs NBA Stars.
McHale is just destroying me. Have replayed the challenge multiple times and can’t sniff a single digits loss let alone think of winning. The thought of winning by 15 has disappeared. McHale is absolutely torching me inside every single time.
Sticking with the Celtics here, it seems a lot of folks have had to deal with them in the Jordan Challenge and so OS users are sharing their nightmares:
OS user rupe sums up their time against the Celtics by saying:
Bird pump faked me so many times I pulled my controller’s groin.
OS user celticboy25 spreads the love around by calling out a bunch of players and talking about their love of MyEras in general:
Playing MyEra as the ’80s Pistons, I got torched in consecutive series by Jeff Ruland (Was) then Parish (Bos) then Malone (Phi). I’m position locked on C. Thanks to Thomas, we advanced to The Finals after a 7-game series. Now versus the Lakers in the Finals, Kareem is completely unstoppable. About to be swept…
Thomas went out with a knee sprain in Game 1 and it’s been three straight 30-pt blowout wins for the Lakers. Laimbeer is just not good enough to stop these elite big men (or maybe I just don’t have the stick skills). Wish like hell I could trade up to draft Hakeem. Regardless, it’s been a blast. MyEra is the best thing that’s ever happened to a sports video game. Wish other titles would adopt this type of mode.
And it’s a good point. Basketball has an “unfair” advantage in terms of being able to showcase signature style in more ways than any other sport, but The Show, Madden, and so on having this sort of thing would be amazing — assuming they try to put in the same sort of love to make those eras come alive.
At the same time, maybe we need to hope those franchise modes and signature styles level up enough first and foremost before introducing all these bells and whistles. Again, it’s not just that 2K made the MyEras cool, it’s that they were able to do this first and foremost with the current NBA to make guys like Ja Morant play like Ja Morant:
When Madden, or NHL, or The Show can showcase that sort of beauty by the AI, then they can level up to showing off the equivalent of their George Gervin finger roll from their respective eras:
So, who has cooked you? Don’t be ashamed to share.
Related:Â NBA 2K23: All Locker Codes List on GameSkinny
