As promised, here are numbers 1-3 on my list of classic sports games that need to be remade. If you missed part one, check it out here.

3)Super Play Action Football

Please tell me I am not the only person who remembers this game from the Super Nintendo glory days? Not only did Super Play Action Football provide a rock-solid football experience on the field, it also offered something no other gridiron game has replicated: high school, college and professional teams all in one game.

All 28 NFL teams that existed in 1992 were represented, but the college and high school teams were generic. Even though the game did not have the NCAA license, you were able to rename the NCAA and high school teams to your liking -- the game even included weekly NCAA polls and high school playoffs. The game was a football lover's dream at the time, and was a one-stop cartridge that fulfilled every football need you could ever imagine.

Super Play Action Football

Now I know we are living in a society where money is king, leading to two full-priced $60 football games being released each year, but imagine a world where you could have a high school, NCAA and NFL game rolled into one.

Now, imagine that game had a feature in it that allowed you to start as a high school coach, work your way up to college, and eventually to the pros. Now imagine if the game had a feature in it like Campus Legend that allowed you to play four years of high school, four years of college, and then 10-plus years in the pros. Now imagine this same game allowing you to rename every high school in the game so you could re-create your area's high-school battles. Now imagine playing against guys at the college level that you developed rivalries with in high school.

Anyone else salivating at this point?

This game needs to be remade, if not by Nintendo, then by someone else. I do not even care if the game releases with all generic teams as long as it is fully customizable. Are you listening 2K?

2)Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball

When Griffey baseball hit the SNES I was in love. The game played great, the game looked great, and it was hands down my favorite baseball game ever at that point (even if Griffey was a monster). I never thought a baseball game would get any better than SNES Griffey until I played Griffey on my N64 for the first time. Not only did the N64 edition introduce cursor-based pitching to the masses, but it also revolutionized the genre with smooth controls, an outstanding pitching interface, and the ability to rob home runs with a wall-climb button. The game is so good that I still find myself hooking up my N64 just to play it whenever my high-school buddies come over.

Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball

Nintendo is looking for solid sports titles other than Wii Sports on the Wii, so why not resurrect this franchise? Sure Griffey is over the hill and pretty much terrible these days, but so is John Madden, and that hasn't stopped Johnny boy from getting his name on a game every year. Why not institute full one-to-one motion control when batting, coupled with solid fielding and pitching mechanics to make a Wii sports title that the casual and hardcore alike will love (much like Wii Ice Hockey).

Imagine having to break your wrist to throw curve balls, or actually squaring to bunt in that crucial ninth-inning situation. There is an opportunity for Nintendo to knock the controls out of the park on this one, and if the game is developed by the big N itself, then this remake is a cannot miss game. No offense to Nintendo, but Mario Sluggers can only get you so far. The Wii needs a first-party licensed hardcore sports title badly.

1) Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball

This game really needs no explanation as to why it is number one on my list, but I will give one anyways.

Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball is the godfather of every over-the-top arcade sports title to hit the market. In fact, every arcade-style sports game released after 1991 should send a thank you letter to Hudson Soft and Bill Laimbeer himself for making this game (I'm looking at you NBA Jam).

Not only did the game feature the coolest box art in the history of video games, but the gameplay was terrible -- terribly terrific. You see, it was not so much the actual gameplay of BLCB that made it great, but rather the concept of the game. It was basically a no-holds barred, arcade-basketball slugfest where you could throw saw blades at opponents.

It paved the way for the Mutant League series, and also as previously mentioned, NBA Jam. Sure, some will say Arch Rivals was the grandfather of the arcade sports genre, but I still say BLCB was the true originator of the genre.

I would love to see this game honored with a remake in full 3D. Much like the Mutant League series, it would be great if you could fully customize your teams and players. What would be even better is if there were actual NBA superstars in the game who were the team captains. I would love to outfit LeBron James in a full "Road Warrior" outfit and have his team of outcasts dominate a post-apocalyptic team led by Kobe Bryant. Throw in the type of online features and arena editor I mentioned in part one of this two-part series and you would have a winner in my books.


So there you have it, seven games/franchises from the past that need to be remade. Not only are all seven games classics, but all seven are simple to pick up and play. In a world where sports games have become more and more complex year after year, it would be nice to return to the tried-and-true ways of simplistic control schemes that get the job done. Agree or disagree with the list above, but there is no denying the fact that these games were plain fun -- a concept I wish developers would realize more often.