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In NBA 2K15, signature skills are a thing of the past and have been streamlined into one system called “Badges”. Badges will “ID the stengths and personalities of players”, differentiating the uniqueness between players like never before.
There are 77 badges in total – 28 “personality badges” and 49 “skill badges”. Personality badges consist of 1 tier, while skill badges have up to three tiers: bronze, silver, and gold tiers. Personality badges affect hot and cold streaks, ambient animations, and facial expressions. The 49 skill badges affect outside scoring, inside scoring, athleticism, playmaking and rebounding.
A player can have a total of 70 — yes 70 — total badges and NBA 2K14 cover boy LeBron James will have the most badges out of any NBA player, with 47.
In MyCAREER, badges are earned organically – based on how you play, how you respond to situations and scenes, and how good your attributes are. Once the initial badge is earned, you have the option to purchase the higher tiers with virtual currency (VC).
Most of the NBA 2K15 badges here are self-explanatory and there are a lot of familiar names like “finisher” and “defensive anchor”, along with some new ones. Here’s the full list of all NBA 2K15 badges:
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- Alpha Dog – Steps his game up when his teammates are performing poorly
- Beta Dog – Steps his game up when an Alpha Dog teammate is out or is playing poorly
- Road Dog – Elevates his play when playing in road games
- Prime Time – Elevates his play in games of great significance
- Closer – Steps his game up in the 4th quarter and overtime when the game is close
- Cool & Collected – A player who remains fairly consistent throughout the course of the game
- Spark Plug – Energizes teammates with big plays
- Fierce Competitor – Elevates his game when being outplayed or instigated
- Swagger – Gets himself going by making big plays
- Mind Games – Gets his opponent out of rhythm by getting into his head while guarding him
- Enforcer – Wreaks havoc on the floor with physical and tough play
- Mentor – Gets younger players focused in on the game when they commit mistakes
- Heart & Soul – Rallies team when things are getting out of hand. Helps team stay focused
- Floor General – Makes his team better offensively just by being on the floor
- Hardened – Plays through fatigue and injury without experiencing full negative consequences
- On the Court Coach – MyCAREER specific. A player with this badge can get the ball, call plays and tell teammates to shoot whenever he wants
- Defensive Anchor – Makes his team better defensively just by being on the floor
Emotional Reaction Badges (has no gameplay effect)
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- Friendly – An outgoing and typically well-liked player
- Reserved – A quiet player that generally keeps to himself
- High Work Ethic – Works harder than the typical NBA player
- Legendary Work Ethic – First one to the gym, last one to leave and the hardest worker at all times
- All-Time Great – Strives to be known as an all-time great
- Low Ego – Values team success more than anything
- Keep It Real – Responds best to tough love
- Pat My Back – Responds best when coddled
- Expressive – Has no problem expressing his feelings
- Unpredictable – Can be erratic in his behavior
- Laid Back – Generally pretty chill at all times
SKILL BADGES (49)
- Volume Shooter – Heats up with every shot, make or miss. However, lack of shots can make him cold
- Microwave – Only needs a limited amount of made shots to get hot
- Unfazed – Timeouts as well as quarter breaks do not cool this player down offensively
- Corner Specialist – Known for his ability to knock down threes from the corner
- Screen Outlet – Excels as the screener in the pick & roll game
- Deadeye – Not bothered as much by defenders when it comes to making contested shots
- Limitless Range – Known for knocking down three pointers well beyond the three point line
- The Bank is Open – Excels at banking in jumpers
- Fade Ace – Excels at making fadeaway jumpers
- Shot Creator – Known for making tough shots off the dribble after creating space to shoot
- Lob City Finisher – Finishes alley-oops at a high rate
- Posterizer – Known for attempting to dunk on opposing players whenever possible
- Spin Lay-in – Excels at making spin layups
- Hop-Stepper – Excels at making hop-step layups
- King of Euros – Shines in his ability to make euro step layups
- Acrobat – Can change his shot in air and attempt difficult shots with few consequences
- Tear Dropper – Excels at making floaters and runners
- Post-spin Technician – Dominates the post with his ability to beat his defender spin and drive moves
- Drop-Stepper – Adept at beating his defender in the post with dropsteps
- Post Hoperater – Excels at making hop-shots out of the post
- Post Stepback Pro – Shines in his ability to use the post stepback move to score in the post
- Dream Like Up and Under – Uses an array of up-fakes in the post to fool his defender into jumping
- Killer Crossover – A ball-handler who excels at breaking his defender down with crossovers
- Spin King Pin – A ball-handler known for breaking his defender down with spin moves
- Step Back Freeze – A ball-handler adept at freezing his defender with stepback moves
- Behind the Back Pro – A ball-handler who catches his defender off guard with behind the back moves
- Hesitation Stunner – A ball-handler adept at freezing his defender with hesitation moves
- Master of In and Out – A ball-handler known for breaking his defender down with in and out moves
- Pet Move Size-Up – A ball-handler who uses elite size-up moves to break his defender down
- One Man Fast Break – Excels at taking the ball coast to coast on a fastbreak
- Transition Finisher – Adept at running the fastbreak and finishing at a high rate
- Flashy Passer – Known for throwing accurate flashy passes
- Break Starter – Starts fastbreaks with accurate outlet passes
- Pick & Roll Maestro – Known for orchestrating the pick & roll game as the ball-handler
- Lob City Passer – Throws accurate alley-oop passes
- Dimer – An elite passer known for hitting teammates in the correct position to score, giving them a boost on their shot %
- Hustle Points – Known for immediately scoring following an offensive rebound near the basket
- Scrapper – A hustle player who wins loose ball battles
- Tenacious Rebounder – Relentless in going for rebounds
- Perimeter Lockdown Defender – A defender that automatically counters the perimeter offensive badges of opponents
- Post Lockdown Defender – A defender that automatically counters the interior scoring badges of opponents
- Charge Card – Adept at placing himself in position to win charge calls
- Pick Dodger – Doesn’t get caught up on screens very easily
- Interceptor – Adept at stealing passes
- Pick Pocket – Known for his ability to strip the ball from a ball-handler
- Eraser – Amazing shot blocker who counters inside-scoring badges of opponents
- Chasedown Artist – Chases players down on fastbreaks and effectively swats their shots from behind
- Bruiser – The physical nature of this player drains energy from his match-up
- Brick Wall – Sets extremely effective screens
A few more tidbits from the videos:
- Players will have the appropriate injury accessory for when returning from injury (i.e. the player will wear a knee pad after a knee injury, etc).
- Posterizer has been toned down
- Crowds will have appropriate peaks and valleys in how they react to the action on the court
From the looks of it, “earning” your badges organically instead of purchasing them will be a more gratifying and realistic way of leveling up. So when you see someone with an “ankle breaker” or “posterizer” badge for example, you’ll know they worked to get that badge. One question that remains until more info is learned, is if this will be a recipe for cheese — i.e. will a 350 lb. Center be able to have an Ankle Breaker badge? etc. @LD2K mentioned 2K will have an upcoming blog post as well to describe the new badges in more detail, so stay tuned and check back for more NBA 2K15 news!
Via NBA 2K Twitch, IpodKingCarter
