To say Roblox is one of the biggest games in the world may be a bit of an understatement. It’s constantly ranked among the most played games and also one of the most viewed games on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. A big reason for this is because Roblox is a huge collection of games created by individual developers and small development teams so there’s so many things to play. This allows you to play a rich variety of games while supporting small developers.
Plus, Roblox is free and so are the games, although you can purchase in-game items. But from adventure games to horror games to sports games, there’s a little something for everyone here. Speaking of sports, Roblox has a strong catalogue of sports games with some playing more like a traditional game or some even being narrative driven with good humor.
But for the hoops fans out there, what are a few games that you can check out on Roblox? The basketball genre in gaming is extremely dry right now. It’s NBA 2K, 3on3 Freestyle, a few solid management games and the newly announced NBA Superstars that will only be available in arcades. With the NBA always gaining popularity, here’s to hoping we see more basketball games appear on consoles and PC in the future. In the meantime, here’s a few fun little hoops games you can enjoy on Roblox.
Basketball Legends is by far the most popular hoops game in Roblox, regularly bringing in well over 10,000 players at a time. And like with a few other basketball games on Roblox, there’s inspiration taken from games like NBA 2K. In particular, Basketball Legends has its own MyPark that is inspired by the Parks of past NBA 2K games.
Don’t expect the same type of animations of course as this is still Roblox. But it’s a fun game where you can do 3 vs. 3 and 1-on-1 games on the court. You can also unlock some cool abilities like exploding balls after getting excellent releases on your jump shots. And some of those explosions are pretty incredible too, but you need to get them by purchasing crates with coins. You do also get coins for free over time.
You also can use your own Roblox avatar, which is kind of a nice touch. Some sports games allow you to customize your character in-game but not use your universal avatar. So overall, you can get yourself a fun experience playing games on the different courts in Basketball Legends‘ version of the Neighborhood and level up your hooper over time. And with how incredibly active the game is, you’ll always have a busy server to play in.
This is probably the closest thing to NBA 2K you’ll get on Roblox. Just keep in mind, again, not to expect the same type of animations and such like in 2K. Players still look and move like Robloxians (is that a word?). That said, the MyPlayer system, Park and MyCourt will remind you of 2K.
In fact, the current MyCourt (pictured) is extremely similar to that of the beautiful forest cabin house from NBA 2K17. But when creating your MyPlayer, you go through the same process as in older 2K’s where you choose your position, height, weight and archetype. Then you can choose where you want your attributes to max out at.
The awesome thing is that your MyPlayer will already be maxed out at 99 overall from the jump so you don’t need to worry about buying any kind of currency or anything. The only thing you need to spend currency on is some outfits and certain boosts. Otherwise, you’re ready to hoop. Oh, and dunks will sometimes shatter backboards.
Definitely the most straightforward and most arcade-ish basketball game on our list, even by Roblox standards. The goal of Hoop Simulator is simple: keep making shots from further and further distances.
As you make shots, you’ll earn coins that you can use to upgrade your attributes, unlock the next area and more. The attributes focus on strength, accuracy and speed. If you want to shoot from longer distances, you’ll need to make sure to use coins for your strength. And, of course, accuracy will be important too especially from really far distances where the trajectory of the ball will go right or left as it gets closer to the hoop.
But Hoop Simulator is a very easy pick up and play kind of game. It’s excellent for when you play Roblox on your mobile device as well as console. Unfortunately, you’d need to go through some hoops and hurdles if you want to get Roblox on Steam Deck, but if you have something like the ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion GO then you should be able to download it more smoothly since those are Windows devices. But hopefully Roblox does make its way to Steam somehow because a game like Hoop Simulator is perfect for the Deck.
Colin Mieczkowski has been a writer for Operation Sports for a bit now and loves golf and basketball games. In addition, he's really been bewitched by the Steam Deck and has been looking for any and all ways to play sports games on Steam's portable device. When he's not playing PGA Tour 2K, NBA 2K, or EA Sports PGA Tour, you can find him watching plenty of sports on TV.
