Top Arcade/Indie Sports Games This Generation - jyoung's Blog

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jyoung's Blog

Top Arcade/Indie Sports Games This Generation Stuck

Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:19 AM.

(5)

3. MLB Bobblehead Pros (Xbox Live Arcade)

Known for its big-headed players and fast-paced gameplay, Konami's Power Pros series began in 1994 on Nintendo's Super Famicon console. To date, Konami has released over 15 different versions of Power Pros across 13 different game systems. Few people outside of Japan are familiar with the veteran baseball franchise, as it visited North America for the first time when MLB Power Pros and MLB Power Pros 2008 made surprise appearances on the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2.

Coming off the mild success of two American Power Pros releases, Konami created a downloadable version for Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service, renaming the series to MLB Bobblehead Pros, then releasing around the All-Star Break in the summer of 2011. MLB Bobblehead Pros received favorable reviews, as the cursor-based gameplay kept the classic pitcher and batter interfaces from previous Power Pros entries.

The stripped down season mode, however, seriously hurt the game's offline replayability, as did Konami's decision to turn key features like the player editor into paid downloadble content.

Konami's piecemeal sales strategy backfired, as both MLB Bobblehead Pros and its downloadable expansions became one of the lowest-selling Xbox Live Arcade products to date. Sales were so poor, that Konami eventually just let their licenses for the game expire, resulting in the title being removed from the Xbox Live marketplace at the beginning of 2013.

An argument could be made that the PlayStation 2's MLB Power Pros 2008 is still the best-playing and most-complete edition, but even with fewer features, MLB Bobblehead Pros manages to be more fun than any other baseball game on the Xbox 360, beating out titles with much bigger development budgets.

2. Backbreaker Vengeance (Xbox Live Arcade)

Somehow, the football game that featured the most lifelike player movement and most believable collisions this generation wasn't actually a real football game. Instead, it was an expanded version of Backbreaker's "Tackle alley" mini-game from a small British development called Natural Motion.

With its limited field of view and devastating multi-man tackles, Backbreaker Vengeance was the only football title this generation that gave gamers the feeling of running for your life while merciless opponents swarm in from every angle, recklessly launching their bodies at your fragile bones. Unpredictable collisions and relentless pursuit AI boosted the game's challenge and replayability, as 100 runs through the same gauntlet of defenders could produce 100 different bone-shattering results.

Unlicensed and unorthodox, Natural Motion's over-the-shoulder football experience failed to find an audience on Microsoft's marketplace, despite glowing reviews.

Recognizing the difficulties of selling unlicensed sports games in today's market, Natural Motion left the console industry shortly after the 2011 release of Backbreaker Vengeance. Since becoming a mobile-only developer, Natural Motion has rebounded with a pair of million-selling cell phone hits, My Horse and CSR Racing.

1. Trials Evolution (Xbox Live Arcade)

Unlike the two previous entries on this list, RedLynx's Trials series not only achieved critical acclaim, but also made the company truckloads of money, as both Trials HD and its 2012 sequel, Trials Evolution, rank in the top 20 best-selling Xbox Live Arcade games of all time.

Trials Evolution's simplified control scheme of gas, brake and throttle allows ****** players to enjoy the thrills of launching a rag-doll rider at high speeds through hazard-filled obstacle courses. An outstanding physics model lends a surprising amount of finesse to the bike handling, as even the slightest touch on the left analog stick causes the rider to lean forward or backward in his seat, affecting the bike's weight distribution and dramatically impacting the outcome of jumps and bumps.

Online connectivity gives the Trials series a tremendous advantage over similar Xbox Live and PlayStation Network titles. Trials Evolution was the first Arcade release this generation that let users upload, share or download custom-made tracks from a centralized server. While most console games that offer custom content give the player dumbed-down editing tools, Trials Evolution shipped with the same ultra-detailed course creator that the developers themselves used to build the game's 100+ tracks.

Whether racing side-by-side in four-player simultaneous online matches or climbing a friends leaderboards in offline time attack mode, Trials Evolution lapped all other Arcade titles this generation in how it connected gamers to the playing community, offering innovative features never seen before in a $15 downloadable title.

Comments

# 1 jaosming @ Feb 23

"Unlicensed and unorthodox, Natural Motion's over-the-shoulder football experience failed to find an audience on Microsoft's marketplace, despite glowing reviews."

Yet thousands still populate the monthly leaderboards, including me

(well, not February yet, but when I get a chance)

# 2 jyoung @ Feb 23

The decision to go with monthly resetting leaderboards instead of permanent leaderboards was a big mistake for Natural Motion.

I think that and the laggy online play are about the only negatives from Backbreaker Vengeance.

I wonder if they had just done a sale a little sooner in the game's life cycle if that wouldn't have helped to boost the player base a little more. They just put it on sale for the first time about a month ago, almost a year and a half after the original release date.

# 3 CMH @ Feb 25

I wish Bobblehead Pros was on the PS3.

# 4 jyoung @ Feb 25

You can get Bobblehead Pros on the PS3 as a disc-only import game, but it will cost you about $45 to import it from Japan:

http://www.play-asia.com/MLB_Bobbleh...n-70-4btp.html

The good news is that the PS3 version includes all of the DLC, so you don't have to download anything at all.

But I really would recommend just getting the PS2 version of Power Pros 2008 instead if you only have a PlayStation. You can get that version for only $5.