At the beginning of the 80s, the most solid basketball video game fit in your hand and had players who were dots. You moved the dot-people with these arrow-buttons—assuming you had 3 Double A batteries that worked. Am I making any sense? It looked like this. It’s all we knew and we liked it! By the end of the 80s, major progress was made. But progress isn't always perfect. And some of the more evolved games taught us completely wrong lessons. Here are 4 examples.

1. Double Dribble (hit the Arcade in ‘86, Released for Nintendo in ‘87)

What it Taught Us that Was Wrong: You should never do in anything in basketball besides dunk and shoot corner 3s.

This late 80s Nintendo corner-3-and-dunk fest that felt perfectly in sync with Loyola Marymount's late 80s run-and-gun style. But there was no post play and why would you ever shoot a midrange jumper? Even Family Guy knows The corner 3 was the only shot worth taking. So, serious question here: is Double Dribble responsible for the aesthetic shortcomings of today's analytics-driven NBA? Probably not. But Is Daryl Morey a superfan? I'd bet all the money the NBA still makes from China on it.

2. Lakers vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (1989 for Computers, 1991 for Sega Genesis)

What it Taught Us that was Wrong: Tom Chambers was not a basketball player so much as he was a very tall wizard who possessed one spellbinding dunk that he could recreate at will

The first game endorsed by the NBA, which (finally!) created an experience where star players' moves and likenesses were…kinda recognizable. We were a long way from dot people baby! For a little perspective, marinate on this factoid: Lakers vs Celtics was released to play on MS-DOS computer 2 years before it was released for Sega Genesis.

One of the coolest features of Lakers vs Celtics was the “signature” moves you could do with certain star players. You could also argue that this was also the worst part of the game, because you could break out a signature move with the frequency you'd expect in real basketball to be able to execute a ball fake or a bank shot or touching the net. On the Sega version, Jordan’s move was a hanging reverse layup and Barkley had a dunk where he’d swing on the rim. And Tom Chambers could re-enact the Mark Jackson dunk—over and over again. You know the dunk—it’s the one where Kevin Johnson hit Chambers trailing on a 2-on-1 and Chambers knees Jackson in the face like it's the UFC and winds up looking-down on the rim. In Lakers vs Celtics, all you had to do was get in the area code of the free throw line and Chambers would swoop to the hoop like a genie with a jetpack. It's kind of messed up really. Because as you can see from this dunk mix or this highlight mix including footage from an Arsenio appearance, Chambers wasn’t just the Jackson dunk. It is his greatest hit. But he had a lotta good jams.

3. Coach K College Basketball (1995)

What it taught us that was Wrong: College Athletes Will Forever Be Suckers

The first college game featuring the likenesses of real-life players. Ed O’Bannon’s completely understandable lawsuit against the NCAA (probably) caused the discontinuation of EA’s college sports games, but it was fun while it lasted! I really enjoyed playing with that ‘95 champion UCLA squad. It starred Ed and his equally athletic younger brother, Charles. Plus big, slow, and skilled George Zidek, and small and fast Tyus Edney. The only part that sucked was you should have been able to dunk more with Toby Bailey.

What's funny in retrospect is Ed O'Bannon apparently had no idea this particular game existed. It was a much later version that led to him taking on the system.

4. NBA Street: Volume 2 (2003)

What it Taught Us that was Wrong: Every video game about an American sport should be made by people from another country.

This game provided superfun outdoor venues, tricks, and souped up versions of NBA legends. The best part was definitely Be a Legend Mode, where you attempt to become a streetball legend by winning increasingly challenging games. There was a great hip hop soundtrack featuring early 90s through early 2000s rap (the soundtrack's Big 3: “T.R.O.Y.” by Pete Rock and CL Smooth, ‘“The Choice is Yours" by Black Sheep, and “Chief Rocka” by Lords of the Underground.) Plus Bobbito Garcia brought flavor as the announcer. If you really wanted to, you could play with the contemporary 2003 NBA stars, which wasn’t bad at all, but was the least exciting version. It is one of those games where you can jump waaaay above the rim—not usually my favorite thing in a video game—but here it works.

NBA Street Volume 2 was made by Canadian hockey fans who didn’t know much about basketball, especially not street ball. And they created a classic! But that doesn’t mean sumo season ticket holders should design MLB Baseball 2023 or that we let should let Sri Lankan ice dancers try to make the next great backyard wrestling game….Or should we? NBA Street Vol. 2 makes me think the lesson here is we should at least keep an open mind.