The 50 Best Video Game Athletes Ever

[RaychelSnr]

Trying to take a stab at the 50 greatest video game athletes ever and ordering them is a tough process where many differences in opinion certainly arise among people putting the lists together as well as the people reading them. OS recentely worked very closely with Complex.com to help put together a list of the 50 Greatest Video Game Athletes ever.

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In case you haven't walked by a Gamestop yet and seen the lines, today is NBA Elite 11 and NBA 2K11 Day (which isn't a federal holiday yet, but with any luck our petition will be heard)! More anticipated at this point than possibly even the annual update of Madden NFL, the game promises to answer the question, "what if Michael Jordan was around today?" There's no question that His Airness is on the shortlist of Greatest of All Time, but does that dominance extend to video games? Over the past three decades, sports games have seen champions both expected (Ken Griffey Jr.) and unexpected (Thomas Johansson), both one-shot and perennial. But who's the greatest? We got together with the sports gaming authorities at Operation Sports to find out. Hit that juke button!

[bigsmallwood]

Great article! It is right on target with the list too! Bo Jackson is just the most unstoppable character of all time in a sports video game....#Loveit

[Rocky]

Good list, but I can't believe that Michael Jordan from Tecmo NBA Basketball didn't make the list. Literally everything he shot went in.

[Eski33]

Interesting article but the author struggled to get 50 by adding some weak games like Barkley's Shut Up and Jam and Cal Ripken Baseball.

I never found Gretzky to be that dominant for the fact that he was easily checked off the puck. Roenick, Vick and Bo Jackson are dead on.

Still, a great read that brought back awesome memories....

If I had to pick a player(s) that was a tough challenge to beat I would go with:

1) The 86 Celtics from Lance Haffner's Basketball: The Pro Game for the C-64. They were impossible to beat at home.

2) Stars from GameStar's 2-on-2 basketball for the C-64.

3) Tom Chambers -- Lakers vs Celtics (Genesis) ... No one could stop his triple-pump dunk from the free throw line

4) Kentucky Wildcats -- Coach K (Genesis) ... They could shoot the three like crazy and shatter backboards like Darryl Dawkins

5) Team USA -- Team USA Basketball (Genesis) -- This special edition game by EA to commemorate the first Dream Team, these guys were ridiculous. Scoring 180 points was not a challenge.

6) Bo Kimble -- Lance Haffner's Courtside College Hoops .. For those not familiar, Bo Kimble played at Loyola Marymount. The 1989 - 90 team buried a top-ranked Michigan team 149-115 in the NCAA tournament. In this text-base sim, Kimble was the man. He could score 50...He actually scored 72 in one game for me.

7) Glen Rice -- NBA Live 95 (Genesis) .. Could hit the three at will.

[sportznut02]

Fun read, so many great memories growing from many of those games. I figured Bo Jackson from Super Tecmo Bowl would be #1 and rightfully so.

[TarHeelPhenom]

1) Mike Tyson on Mike Tyson's Punchout

2) David Robinson on David Robinson's Basketball. He was the biggest guy on the floor lol.

[andytop75]

What about Fendy in Bases Loaded for the NES.......You had to bean him and get him to charge the mound or else he was taking you deep. Victory D.C.!

[55]

Fun list. The only two guys (both fictitious) I would include off the top of my head are:

1. Bones Jackson - Mutant League Football (Sega Genesis - 1993)

2. Air Allnight - David Robinson's Supreme Court (Sega Genesis - 1991)