Our Ten Best- Episode Nine: Most Influential Sports Games

TecmoBowl_arcadeflyerSports games have come a long way since the days of the Atari 2600, when no-named stick figures were the ones performing the heroics on the screen rather than the highly detailed character models of the pros we idolize.

Here’s a list of the games that paved the way for the ultra-realistic and great looking games we play today.

In no particular order:

WCW/nWo World Tour- Sure, professional wrestling isn’t considered a sport, but millions of people around the world love it. Millions more have bought wrestling titles over the past 20 years as well. World Tour was AKI games’ masterpiece and aside from having over 15 of your favorite wrestlers at the time and all their signature moves, the game featured an extensive, but incredibly simple control scheme that every wrestling game afterwards [that wasn’t developed by AKI] has tried to copy and has failed miserably at. Even after over a decade since its release, it’s still a cult favorite.

RBI Baseball- The first baseball game to feature real players, RBI baseball had simplistic gameplay that allowed anyone and everyone to join in on the fun. The different pitching styles for some of the relievers [I’ll always remember Jesse Orosco] made it memorable as well.

NHL 2K- Sega broke the mold when they went out their way to make a great-looking and realistic hockey game for the Dreamcast in 1999. The only problem was they did little more to continue to further the franchise over the next eight years, giving Electronic Arts’ NHL series the fuel and passion they needed to get to where they are today. There is no doubt that NHL 09 is the greatest hockey game ever created, but without NHL 2K, it’s scary to think of where the world of hockey video games would be today.

Punch Out- Despite featuring a wild and crazy troupe of characters, this game proved that boxing games could be done and done well. Before its release, the genre was tiny, now it’s one of the most popular in the industry. All thanks to a midget from the Bronx with green boxing gloves.

NBA Jam- Still the best arcade basketball game available, no offense to the NBA Street series, NBA Jam was a master thief of quarters during the ’90s. Combining the best players from every NBA team, a horde of secrets and great gameplay, NBA Jam had it all and as a result, has aged remarkably.

Tiger Woods 07 [Wii]- While it’s only three years old, this game proved that golf could be more than a gimmick on the Wii. Using the wii-mote to swing with a type of precision that vastly outweighs what Nintendo produced in Wii Sports the year before. Each year, the game has gotten better as well, as this year’s version of the game is arguably the best golf game ever created.

Tecmo Bowl- Arcade football at its finest. Fast and fun, Tecmo Bowl makes up for a small amount of options by providing nonstop thrills, a notion future sports titles have copied time and time again. Add in real players on an eight-bit system and it’s easy to see why this game was so influential.

John Madden- Add the face of one of football’s most recognizable personalities, a top down view and more plays and teams than Tecmo Bowl and you have one of the most successful video game franchises ever. Despite some rough patches in ’90s during the Playstation era, Madden is still the King of the gridiron, thanks to nearly 20 years of hard work and an unmatched desire to innovate.

MLBPA Bottom of the Ninth- This little known gem forced other companies to put more time and energy into their games. Despite not having an MLB license, Konami managed to get the batting stances and deliveries of all the hitters and pitchers they could, making it one of the most detailed games of its time. While the game didn’t sell well, you can bet your rear that the rest of the video game world noticed.

Skate or Die- Before Tony Hawk and the Skate series took over the genre, Skate or Die, for a short time, was the epitome of a good skateboarding game. After being released on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Apple IIgs, Amstrad CPC and IBM Compatibles running MS-DOS in 1989, it was ported over to the NES and spawned a sequel that appeared two years later on that system. It also produced two separate entries for the GameBoy. If that wasn’t enough, it also Electronic Arts’ first internally developed game.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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