Favorite Sports Games Of All Time - Eski33's Blog

Eski33's Blog

Favorite Sports Games Of All Time

Posted on September 22, 2009 at 01:42 PM.

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I am a fan of lists, especially lists that circle around video games. Having playing video games for 30 years, I have seen an infant grow into a full-fledged monster.

I have seen a number of lists in regards to people's favorite games. For some, it is a classic title that brings back memories of youth and for some, more recent titles that have taken advantage of today's technology.

Below is a list of games that I consider favorites because of the reasons above...Feel free to chime in with your favorites. My list isn't in any specific order.

1) 4th & Inches (Accolade -- Commodore 64) -- One of the first 11-on-11 football games that later had a team creation disk in which you could create your own players (minus faces, towels, tattoos, cleats, etc that you see in today's games). This game was fun either against the AI or against a friend. Creating a running back that weighed the max 710 pounds was the best.

2) Lakers vs Celtics (EA -- Genesis) -- One of the first games that had real players not to mention accessories (Worthy's and Kareem's goggles). The game had a playoff mode but you could only play 12-minute quarters. On the most difficult setting, the game was beyond easy. Racking up 200+ points wasn't challenging however against my friends is where this game shined. Tom Chambers' three-point line triple-pump dunk was unstoppable...

3) Dr. J vs Larry Bird (EA -- Commodore 64) -- One of the first games, if not the first, to have real players in a game. Back in 1984, this game was astounding with instant replay and shattering backboards. Today, the game play appears super slow but, again, nothing was more satisfying that dunking on a friend and bringing down the glass.

4) NBA Live 95 (EA -- Genesis) -- Once the Lakers vs whoever format ran its course, EA went into a different direction. In 1994, EA released NBA Showdown which had all NBA teams and players but it played terrible. In 1995, EA turned the ship into NBA Live. With its 3D court and 3/4 camera angle, this brought a whole new perspective to basketball. Not to mention, this game had every player with the ability to create new players, a season mode and trades. The AI was excellent and seeing your championship banner raised was awesome.

5) Madden 93 (EA -- Genesis) -- Most Madden haters have no idea how Madden started. Back in the early 90's, Madden was in its infancy and created the buzz that still lingers today. Madden 93 is arguably the best of the bunch (Some will say Madden 94 because of season mode). Madden 93 had over 85 teams, including classic teams. It also was the first Madden to have a no-huddle offense to emulate that of the Buffalo Bills. Also, the best Madden team ever, the '85 Bears, were unstoppable.

6) NHL 94 (EA -- Genesis) -- Again, pick your poison. The NHL series has seen its ups and downs over the years but NHL 94 was one of the best. I logged hundreds of hours playing through many seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. The game had season mode and the ability to play GM and make trades. I even created the 1984 Edmonton Oilers as many of its original members were still active but on different rosters.

7) NBA Basketball: The Pro Game (Lance Haffner -- Commodore 64) -- Growing up with a Commodore 64 was incredible but challenging. If games had good graphics, the gameplay suffered and vice versa. This is where I became hooked on text-based sports sims. Lance Haffner's The Pro Game had hundreds of teams spanning 40 years of NBA basketball with real players and the ability to keep stats over a season. This game along with Haffner's Courtside College Hoops kept me busy for months. You could play a game in 1/2 hour and the stat tracking was outstanding.

8) Statis Pro Baseball (Avalon Hill -- Commodore 64) -- This is my all-time favorite baseball game. Again, a text-based simulation that tracked your stats throughout a season. The game was realistic yet not predictable meaning that if a player hit 30 HR's in reality didn't mean he would hit 30 HR's in your season, which kept things fresh. This game was based off of a board strategy game. I played through nine 162-game seasons in one summer...

9) NFL 2K (VC -- Dreamcast) -- I remember the first time I saw NFL 2K screen shots in a magazine. I drooled all over myself. This game looked pretty and played better than it looked.

10) ESPN NFL 2K5 (VC -- XBox) -- Everyone's security blanket when they want to rip on EA and Madden. By today's standards, this game doesn't play as well as the current Madden's. What made this game superb was the presentation. The play-by-play is one of the best ever, the Crib added replayability (unlocking jerseys was awesome) and the SportsCenter presentation has yet to be matched by any sports game.

11) MLB: The Show 09 (SCEA -- PS3) -- Not even close - BEST CONSOLE BASEBALL GAME EVER. I can't even think of any other baseball game that comes close with the exception of MVP 05. Baseball is the most difficult sport to emulate due to the nuances and variables of plays and stats. The Show will go down as one of the best sports games on any console, ever...

12) Super Tecmo (Tecmo -- Genesis) -- Most will say Tecmo Bowl is the best. I say Super Tecmo with all teams and a season mode to boot, along with complete stat tracking.

13) Double Dribble (Don't Remember -- NES) -- Shooting 3's had never been so much fun...

14) Baseball Stars (SNK -- NES) -- Along with Baseball Simulator 1000, this game was about as good as it got when it came to console baseball in the 80's. The ability to create your own team was awesome and the updated batting averages every time your players hit was new at the time.

15) Madden 2001 (EA -- PS2) -- This was a leap over NFL 2K's graphics. The player models were cleaner and the weather effects were awesome....This was one Madden that I played all year long until Madden 2002 released.

16) NCAA Football 2006 (EA -- XBox) -- Classic teams, uniforms and players, why do these not exist in today's college game. This was one of the best in the series....

17) NBA 2K9 (2K -- 360) -- I will admit, I haven't played a good game of NBA hoops in a long, long time. At least where I didn't get bored to death. NBA 2K9 (I admit, I grew up on Live but Live has not been fun in forever) was visually sweet and played a good game of basketball. However, I got bored with this 20 games in and traded it in.

I know this list is a tad long but these games really impacted my video game experience.

Comments

# 1 Eski33 @ Sep 22

You are correct. I forgot to add Coach K. That game was awesome. Although it had limited teams, playing with Kentucky and launching three's at will was fun as ever. Not to mention that the game had shattering backboards as well...

Good catch....