How to play NBA 06 on Mac

Game summary

NBA 06 deviates from other traditional NBA titles with the addition of the Life Mode. While it does include classic features such as exhibition, season, franchise, and multiplayer modes, the life mode is a take similar to the MLB: The Show. The life mode has the player take control of an NBA rookie right out of college and just being drafted. As in the MLB Show series, the player may only control one character and cannot control others on their team or make any management decisions. The player's role of the team will be determined by their performance on and off the court. The better the player is at playing basketball and being a teammate, the more likelier they will be a huge part of the team and receive better contracts and endorsement deals. Likewise, the decisions the player makes off the court will determine who they are perceived as well, such as how they interact with teammates, what they buy or who they hang around with. The player can also train their character through a series of 20 mini-games, e.g. one-on-one, three-on-three, etc. The game also features Showtime Gameplay, where the player may increase attributes and become a better team player with no-look alley-oops and highlight reel dunks. It also has online capabilities as well as the option of utilizing the EyeToy to put the user's face onto a created character.
First released: Oct 2005

Play NBA 06 on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play NBA 06 on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

NBA 06 installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install NBA 06 like you would on any PC.
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