"Interesting" Sports Games?

[Ze_ro]

I know collectors usually shun sports games, mostly due to their being super-common, and yearly incremental updates... but are there any interesting sports games out there that are worth looking into? Like rare stuff along the lines of Madden '93 Championship Edition (http://www.digitpress.com/DP/cmf/game.cmf?gameid=7220) or Buster Douglas (http://www.digitpress.com/DP/cmf/game.cmf?gameid=18317).

How about anything with more unusual sports such as Lacrosse, Rugby, Cricket, Sumo Wrestling, etc? (I know about Blast Lacrosse and Rugby World Cup '95)

Or for that matter, strange takes on more common games... like Mega Man Soccer or Mutant League Football.

--Zero

[Drixxel]

There are numerous sporting gems to be found. A few o' my top picks..

The first "interesting" sports game that springs to mind is Super Dodge Ball on NES. A truly awesome sports title with a great arcade-y feel, a touch of absurdity and a strong competitive spirit. If nothing else, it's unique for the fact that dodge ball is rather an unrepresented sport in the world of video gaming.

World Court Tennis on TurboGrafx features a unique sporting twist in the form of a "quest" mode that successfully blends RPG elements with tight tennis gameplay. Definitely worth checking out.

My favourite of all sports games, though, is Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 on SNES. It's an outrageously enjoyable take on baseball that features "Ultra League" play, where batters and pitchers are assigned a variety of power-ups that dramatically affect the game. Quality baseballin'.

[Steven]

Super Baseball 2020 and BaseWars comes to mind.

I know it's not outrageous but the very arcade-ish Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB (the original, not "Winning Run") on SNES is the finest baseball title I've ever played. NBA Jam (TE) is tops and Looney Tune B-Ball flies under the radar.

[tom]

I always liked Ballblazer on A8.
Hypa-Ball on C64 is pretty good too

[CosmicMonkey]

Super O-Sumo 64. Awesome.

[Brian Deuel]

There are numerous sporting gems to be found. A few o' my top picks..

The first "interesting" sports game that springs to mind is Super Dodge Ball on NES. A truly awesome sports title with a great arcade-y feel, a touch of absurdity and a strong competitive spirit.

That's because it started out as an arcade game :)

[Brian Deuel]

My favorite "interesting" sports game is Nascar Thunder on the PSX. Although I despise Nascar in general, this game is a total blast, especially with other players. Lots of tracks, and lots of crashing at high speeds. Great time and a great quirky game.

[BydoEmpire]

Ninja Golf on the 7800.

[thetoxicone]

I've always enjoyed Pigskin Footbrawl. Cyberball isn't too bad either. Also, even though everyone else hates it I've always enjoyed Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball as well.

[Trevelyan]

I've got Brian Lara Cricket on the Megadrive & Sensible Soccer too. Both a bit unusual perhaps but v good fun.

[swlovinist]

All I can say is that one of the more unique sports games I have played is Ribbit King for the Gamecube. Two words: Frog golf

[Pantechnicon]

Cyberball - Even without the risk of the ball exploding on 4th down, it's a pretty good football game in and of itself.

Despite its many detractors, I've also always had a soft spot for 10-Yard Fight. I play a lot of it on MAME.

Lastly, Brutal Sports Football for the Jaguar is a must-own title for this system.

[Press_Start]

Two words.....Mutant League 8-)

[An Hero]

My favorite classics have been mentioned, but something newer I enjoyed was Deathrow on the Xbox. It reminded me of the old American Gladiators event where contestants would try to put the ball into one of the trash can-style goals while the gladiators would pummel the contestants in an effort to stop them.

[tom]

Speedball 1 and 2 are good for a few games

[ClassicGameTrader]

Super Baseball Simulator had a sequel in Japan as well on the Super Famicom, just thought you all would like to know.

[tkusina]

My favourite of all sports games, though, is Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 on SNES. It's an outrageously enjoyable take on baseball that features "Ultra League" play, where batters and pitchers are assigned a variety of power-ups that dramatically affect the game. Quality baseballin'.


By far my favorite baseball game still to date (of course Baseball Stars for NES is a close second). You just could not find the amount or depth of stats in a console baseball game at that time.

[ALAKA]

How about Tecmo Cup for the nes. It's a a soccer simulator combined with RPG-elements.

[exit]

Basewars - It took something boring like Baseball, put customizable battle robots in it and had them battle it out when trying to get to a base. While I found the game a little hard, it was still fun playing 2 players and starting fights.

[coreys429]

By far my favorite baseball game still to date (of course Baseball Stars for NES is a close second). You just could not find the amount or depth of stats in a console baseball game at that time.

I have a copy that a bought at goodwill, the person that had it before me put every all star like bonds, A rod, and others on the game. So I have an updated version now.

[tom]

Real Sports Tennis, played it for hours on VCS back in the days. And Decathlon of course. And Indy 500.

[Ponyone]

Battlesport - 3do! WOoOOoO

and for some reason I always liked Blast Chamber for ps1/saturn.

Not traditional sport games, but sport games nonetheless.

[DKTheArcadeRat]

Super Dodge Ball - NES or GBA
Super Baseball 2020 - Genesis or MVS or AES
Baseball Stars 2 - Neo Geo MVS or AES, now also on PS2 in SNK Arcade Classics
Hit The Ice - Genesis, Arcade - Good arcade hockey game, 3 on 3 if memory serves correct
NHL Rock The Rink - PS1 - a fun "Blitz/Hitz" styled hockey game(before Hitz was out)
ANY of the NHL Hitz games, I like them on Gamecube personally
I enjoyed MLB Slugfest also.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

on the Saturn there is a Golf game called Valora Valley Golf
very cool game only 18 holes but you can make a player, tourney, skins, .. etc
there is one hole surrounded by lava with a volcano in the background and you have to hit the ball onto a small platform where the hole is

all the holes are pretty outragous but its fun to play golf on a fantasy course called Devils course :)

http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/final_word/saturn/valora_valley_golf.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJeddifdme4

[Trevelyan]

Just thought about Winter Olympics: Lillehammer 94 (http://www.digitpress.com/DP/cmf/game.cmf?gameid=14667), gosh it's been a while. Think I had it on the Megadrive or SMS. Definitely registers on my "interesting sports games" spectrum.

[DarthKur]

My favorite one is World Championship Baseball for the Intellivision. The nice thing about this is that it can be played by either 1 or 2 players, unlike it's two player only predecessor.

Other greats are:

Bowling (Atari 2600)
Tennis (Activision) and/or Real Sports Tennis (Atari 2600)
NHL Hockey (INTV) Sadly, two player only. Or you could try to find the much rarer Slap Shot Super Pro Hockey that has the option for a single player.
Bowling (Fairchild Channel F)

[josekortez]

I enjoyed Deathrow and NHL Hitz 20-02 on the Xbox and NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC on the Dreamcast.

Each of these games includes some form of pushing or excessive violence, which tells you a bit about me. ;)

[Streetball 21]

I have a few to name:

Wicked 18 Golf (SNES)-A cool golf game, with "fantasy" like courses. For example, huge boulders, statues and lava and just out of this world gold courses. It's a pretty good challenge also.

Dusty Diamond's All Star Softball (NES)-A straight up softball game, but you get to choose each player on your team, and each player has its own unique stats/skills. Also, the fields are pretty cool, each with their own rules, such as Park, Schoolyard and Cliff are just to name a few.

I've always loved Cyberball also, which is pretty interesting as well. Nothing better than blowng up your opponents running back lol.