OT: The best sports video games that aren't Madden
Some might say the best video games that aren't "mainstream" but that can be a touchy word. I mean, if it's EA NCAA then it's kind of obvious but feel free to list whatever you want...I wouldn't want to limit you in your replies.
My childhood was:
1) Tony LaRussa Baseball: I could not tell you exactly which edition it was, but it featured old players from their all-time best seasons and amazing detail on old stadiums. The customization for making trades and creating new players was top notch. Game play and super sim ability was pretty good, too. (Special shoutout to Hardball with the Blue team vs the Red team.)
2) Front Page Sports Football (I think): The version I had was not licensed by the NFL so it had no real teams or players. It allowed great customization for the team colors and cities and names. It had a great dynasty mode and tracked all-time stats for players. Game play was so-so. The only rushing stats you could ever get were with a backwards pass to a RB in the flat. Otherwise you'd get stuffed at the line every time. Or maybe that was just me.
3) Michael Jordan in Flight: MJ in a generic 3-on-3 world with crazy And 1 type players before And 1 was a thing.
I don't have one for hockey because, well, you know...
April 28th, 2020 at 10:27 AM ^
I got MLB '19 for free on my PS4 via PS+ and I must say I'm having a blast playing a baseball video game, something I didn't think was possible. The variety of play modes is enough to keep me interested between playing other games or when my wife is taking care of the baby. Home Run Derby, replaying classic moments, "reliving" careers of famous players, etc. It's a great game for fans of baseball and baseball history.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:27 AM ^
Arch Rivals was always fun, albeit a bit ridiculous.
Also, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:27 AM ^
NHL 94
end of thread
April 28th, 2020 at 11:25 AM ^
You're very close. That's tied with Bill Walsh College Football '93. Pitt '80, Clemson '81 plus Michigan '84 and '92 were my favorites.
On NHLPA '94, Winnipeg was my team. Selanne was great of course, but I loved Phil Housley. Tkachuk was young, his ratings were low and he was slow, but I used to score a lot with him. Goal tending was adequate
Buffalo was a distant second and I'd play with the Wings a bit, but Cheveldae made them practically unplayable.
They have a whole website for '94:
https://nhl94.com/html/teamprofile.php?team=WPG
For the oldest of old schools, Slam Dunk Super Pro Basketball for Intellivision was pretty cool.It was the first video game I remember that kept stats.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
The 93 game was called "NHLPA 93." It was awesome. NHL 94 was just NHL 94. I played both.
They were better on PC--better graphics and sound, save game files for full seasons, trades, 4 full lines. They even had a mouse interface that actually worked really well, I preferred it to whatever cheap gamepad I had hooked up at the time. The cartridge versions were great, too, though.
You are correct on the game title. I'm not sure I ever played '93, so I'm not sure how I tacked on the PA. A quick bit of research says that 94 added one timers and I don't remember playing without one timers. They were awesome. I played on Genesis and in later years, even played on the 3.25" Genesis Nomad screen. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of my basement is a box with my Nomad and stack of games....
Can't let a mention of Intellivision basketball go without a co-sign. Mighty Joe and Stilt are still, to this day, two of my favorite video game characters ever.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
NFL Blitz...Was that Madden?
April 28th, 2020 at 10:33 AM ^
NBA Jam - Arcade style.
I think the most popular lineup is Stockton/Malone, but I personally liked O'Neal/Skiles or Barkley/Majerle.
Who's your duo?
April 28th, 2020 at 11:16 AM ^
Larry Johnson / Alonzo Mourning are pretty good if you're decent at mugging people on defense
April 28th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
I played the Heat (Rice, Seikaly) Celtics (Reggie Lewis (RIP), McHale) and Pistons (Thomas, Laimbeer). Both Laimbeer and McHale shot the three better than their stated stats and both were rebounding machines. Isiah was lightning quick, but his three shooting was just ok. Lewis was pretty quick and shot better. Seikaly was an offensive liability with the Heat, but he rebounded well and getting Rice on fire was relatively easy and when that happened, look out.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
If you played nba jam and didn’t play as the Sonics with Sean kemp, you crazy
Kemp was fun, but you had to play 1-on-2 waiting for Benoit Benjamin to finally make it down the court. ;)
Ewing/Starks
April 28th, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^
MLB: The Show.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
Lots.
- I spent way too much time playing all of the NHL games in the 90's for Sega Genesis. Those were probably my favorite, just something about them that were fun.
- NFL football 94 (the Joe Montana one made by Sega); as a kid I thought the zoom in feature on that when the ball was caught/handed off was the craziest graphics advancement of all time.
- NBA Live 96. It didn't have Jordan in it because of licensing or something, but it had create-a-player so I made him and maxed out all stats so he was unstoppable... just like real life.
- Going back even further I would spend hour upon hour playing Tecmo Super Bowl on NES.
- The old RBI baseball for NES
- Double Dribble for NES; the dunk animations were insane to my kid brain.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:46 AM ^
You guys pretty much covered all of the great old school games. I would add Triple Play ‘99, MVP Baseball 05, March Madness 98, College Hoops 2k8, NCAA ‘14 and all of the recent MLB The Show games.
Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs was the shit before NBA Jam came out. It came out on the PC first before it went to the Genesis. I'm kind of surprised to not see it listed. I know I'm not alone with this game. EA sports outdid themselves with this game and set the standard of basketball gaming to come.
Oh no, you're not alone. Borrowed and or rented that, and Bulls vs Blazers all the time.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:47 AM ^
"That aren't Madden" should definitely not be a qualifier anymore -- Madden is terrible and has been for a few years now.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:53 AM ^
I used to play Madden on my phone a lot; I had a long commute on the DC mass transit system. I lost interest when they got into that BS of Texas high school players I'd never heard of playing with (and being better than) NFL players.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
MVP 06 NCAA Baseball.
It's the only game for which I'd ever turn PS2 on.
The hitting and pitching mini-games were just as fun as playing the actual games.
And it had semi-realistic recruiting in dynasty mode for the time.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Loved this game. Still remember living on campus at the time, and went to go get it the day it came out. I got pulled over for speeding on Washtenaw, luckily just got a warning, but when I got to the Gamestop there, they literally sold the last copy to the person infront of me. Ended up driving to the other Gamestop to get it.
I STILL PLAY THIS.
Actually played yesterday and will tonight with my teenage son. Love that game.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:52 AM ^
ESPN NFL 2K5 - I wish they would remaster this. Easily the best NFL game I ever played, and getting to see Chris Berman pregames was pretty cool.
NFL Blitz - any version. Would be awesome to see them remaster this one as well, but I know it'll never happen
NBA Jams - only basketball video game I'll ever play
Triple Play 2000 / 2001
---
You can probably tell by my answers that I don't play a bunch of sports video games these days. I only picked up Madden 20 for the first time in the last few weeks, and even that I've barely played.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:56 AM ^
- Fight Night Round 3 - XBox 360
- Mike Tyson's Punchout - NES
- NFL Blitz - N64
- Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey - N64
- NBA Jam - Super Nintendo
Side note: I really miss NCAA.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^
+1 for Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey. Nothing better than your goalie literally turning into a brick wall.
April 28th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
Rocket League
April 28th, 2020 at 10:59 AM ^
NFL Blitz / NHL Hitz / Ken Griffey Jr Baseball - all on N64
April 28th, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
April 28th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
Played a ton of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 with my youngest bro. Fun as hell, even tho I was never very good.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
Oh man, absolutely. The Tony Hawk games were awesome.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
That game pretty much guaranteed I would never be able to transfer colleges, because it wrecked my grades the final semester of HS (right after I got my UM acceptance letter).
April 28th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
NCAAFB
MLB the Show
Tony Hawk pro skater
Tecmo Super Bowl
Skate or Die
NBA Jam TE
NBA Live
Joe Montana Sports Talk Football
Bill Walsh College Football
April 28th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
Everyone of those were great.
Although, MLB The Show is starting to do what Madden has done the last few years. No competition has made them complacent. Not many improvements in the last couple years.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
Earl Weaver Baseball on the Amiga was so good that we ran company leagues on it for years and years.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:21 AM ^
Techmo Super Bowl 3: Final Edition - SNES
First one to have created players with repeating seasons. Played the shit out of that game. Still have it but the SNES died way too long ago.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
damn you beat me to it....
so I will add this- Excite Bike. Game was pretty fun if you made your own track.
Also, all the EA sport hockey versions were great.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
Front Page Sports Football was awesome!! I spent so many hours on that as a kid. The '93-'95 versions I think. There was one with Barry Sanders on the cover, and one where a guy who looked like the Buffalo BIlls getting flipped in the air.
The draft each year was really fun. I spent a lot of time putting my draft board together.
Didn't at least one version also have a custom play designer? I think that was the game that had it. I don't remember if any of them worked but I liked creating plays.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
That's the game with the custom play designer. I think all of their versions had it too. They were working on a release around 1998-99, but it was so buggy that it didn't get released. I think that was sadly, the end of the series.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
The NCAA football games are the greatest and that includes madden
April 28th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
One on One: Dr J versus Larry Bird - friggin' hilarious now that I look back on it.
Forza and the other one (racing games)
Blades of Steel
April 28th, 2020 at 11:34 AM ^
People who play Blades of Steel also like Ten Yard Fight.
Surprised that one hasn't been mentioned yet.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Dr. J vs Bird was awesome!
Was scrolling to see when this one would come up. +1
April 28th, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
I always enjoyed the golf games. Played a lot of the Tiger Woods ones back in the day. The non Tiger ones aren't as good but they get the job done.
April 28th, 2020 at 11:52 AM ^
IMO Madden is one of the worst video games. Very rarely innovative. Sport Video games are more often just roster and jersey updates, repackaged with a different-ish looking menu. And to me Madden is the worst offender here.
That being said, I alternate between NHL and FIFA/PES games. I still play my NCAA '14 yearly.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
NCAA 14
Madden is awful. 2k and FIFA are far better if comparing modern games.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
Here are some less heard of games that I wasted hours playing on my Commodore 64/128
Baseball: Hardball!
Basketball: GBA Championship Basketball
Football: 4th and Inches
Hockey: SuperStar Ice Hockey
April 28th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
Most of what else has been stated were fun and I always loved the Tecmo's and EA versions of most things. But, I really remember loving Super Spike VBall and Super Dodgeball as go to sports games