NBA 2K13

NBA 2K13 arrived on the Nintendo 3DS as a portable offshoot of the respected 2K Sports basketball series, adapted specifically by the handheld team that had long specialized in porting sports titles to smaller platforms. The game offered a selection of NBA teams and players, basic game modes including a quick game and a season, and tried to retain at least part of the series' identity — an emphasis on team play, player statistics, and tactical positioning on the court. The presentation tried to mimic the broadcast style of televised NBA games, including statistical overviews between quarters and lineup introductions before the start of a match, giving individual games at least some of the atmosphere of a real sports broadcast.

Compared to the console entries of the generation, the 3DS version necessarily had to sacrifice animation fluidity and AI complexity, a noticeable difference for basketball simulations, which traditionally depend on believable player movement. The stereoscopic 3D effect was used to accentuate the court's depth as seen from the stands, and the touchscreen was used for quickly issuing plays and substitutions. The soundtrack drew on the licensed music typical of the series, albeit to a lesser extent than on consoles, and match commentary supplemented real-time player statistics, though with noticeably fewer lines than on the major consoles.

Contemporary reception was rather mixed; the game was seen as a lightweight side product of the main series rather than a full-fledged basketball simulation. Today it offers an interesting look at how publishers approached portable versions of major sports franchises at a time when handhelds still fell far short of home console performance, and basketball gameplay had to undergo significant reduction just to be feasible on the handheld of the time.