Underappreciated Sports Games

[SirFozzie]

One-Nil (and it's sequel Two-Nil), Goal '98, and Grand Prix from Wizard Games?

[molson]

I think it was Wayne Gretzky Hockey for the NES where you could control one player on the team, throughout the game - rather than just whoever controlled the puck at that moment. That was very cool. I don't know if that became an option later on in newer games but it was different experience.

And Micro League Baseball for the IIgs was definitely my first text sim experience. Not sure if that's unappreciated or not.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

One-Nil (and it's sequel Two-Nil), Goal '98, and Grand Prix from Wizard Games?

It's not a sports sim, but I still occasionally drag out Rockstar from Wizard.

“your granny invites you to take some amphetamines."

[panerd]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

That was the one with a top-down view, with just little circles representing players, kinda like FM2008? Couldn't you make plays too? I certainly did play the crap out of that game. That was a great game too! I totally forgot about it, until you just mentioned it.

Yeah they were x's and o's I think. I loved how you could bounce off a lineman or a tackler like would happen in real life. Obviously it doesn't compare to anything around nowadays but back then most of the games were like flag football where your player would be tackled upon contact.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by boberot

Probably not underappreciated, but my other fave is:
RBI Baseball
Just pure fun . . . .

My brothers and I played the hell out of that game. Loved it. I have the theme music going through my head now.

[larrymcg421]

I LOVED Superbowl Sunday. I used to always play as the 1984 Dolphins, and I figured out that if you line up in a three back offense and have Marino throw it deep to Duper, it would be complete 50% of the time, even when your opponent put double coverage on him.

[Bigsmooth]

MLBPA Sports Talk Baseball on the Genesis:

YouTube - MLBPA Sports Talk Baseball (Sega Genesis)

I played the hell out of this. Even kept batting statistics on paper for season play.

Also, played a lot of Tecmo NBA Basketball.

[bob]

You are all forgetting Bill Laimbeer Combat Basketball, the greatest sports game ever made.

[SirFozzie]

How about Super Spike V'Ball, or Kings of the Beach?

[Big Fo]

Nintendo World Cup with the bicycle kick goals from the halfway line

[heybrad]

MicroLeague Baseball
MicroLeague Football
Hockey League Simulator

[path12]

I played the hell out of Mean 18 on the Amiga. Plus it was fun to design your own courses.

[stevew]

oh, yeah, that was a good one path. We'd make courses all the time.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Bigsmooth

MLBPA Sports Talk Baseball on the Genesis:

YouTube - MLBPA Sports Talk Baseball (Sega Genesis)

I played the hell out of this. Even kept batting statistics on paper for season play.

Also, played a lot of Tecmo NBA Basketball.

Sports Talk Football was horrid. Just horrid. Not sure if I played the baseball version.

[RainMaker]

My top pick has to be Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball. I still boot this up today on my computer. About 50 players to draft from with their own unique playing styles. Some tough competition and different parks that had their own unique rules.

Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl was a fun one I remember playing both at home and at the arcade.

I was also a big fan of the Mutant League games.

[rjolley]

Loved most of the sports games listed here. Two I haven't seen:

A basketball game for the C-64. Don't know the name, but it was 3 on 3. You could choose different rules (Olympic rules was one choice), you could set the time and score, I think, and you could chose your uniform color. Played that one a ton.

Basketball for Intellivision. The one where you could choose your team. Excellent game. Played it over one of my boys' house quite a bit.

Also enjoyed the Colecovision games.

Man, I've been playing sports games for 25 years. And some of the games of the past 5 years don't seem too far beyond what we had then. Sure, the way the results are generated for stats games are different, but, in ways, they aren't as far ahead of where you'd think you'd be 25 years later.

[MizzouRah]

Tecmo NBA Baseketball was a great game!

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I didn't realize NCAA Basketball for the SNES was so well regarded. I will have to check it out.

[path12]

Originally Posted by LastWhiteSoxFanStanding

I didn't realize NCAA Basketball for the SNES was so well regarded. I will have to check it out.

My buddy and I played that a lot. He loved playing OSU because they had a 7 footer (Lark) who hit the three from the corner 90% of the goddamn time.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by bob

You are all forgetting Bill Laimbeer Combat Basketball, the greatest sports game ever made.

Man, I forgot about that one. I played the hell out of that one too. I loved moving up the division and buying all the different robots. And there was just something satisfying about punching people or running over the homing mines to blow them up.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

How about Super Spike V'Ball, or Kings of the Beach?

Kings of the Beach always pissed me off. I'd only get so far and then couldn't get any further (though I forget which two guys it was). Didn't stop me from playing it, though.

[DeToxRox]

Mutant League Hockey & Football.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Nintendo World Cup with the bicycle kick goals from the halfway line

Or just all the fun different supershots. Germany and Italy were so overpowered in that game it was ridiculous. Fun game, though.

[DeToxRox]

Oh, Jerry Glanvilles arcade death bowl game was great too.

[Daimyo]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

NCAA basketball for the super nintendo (dont remember exact name of the game). A blast to play, I would put up 3-pointers all day and still lose sometimes. Could hear the crowd cheering as well.

+1. I think Shaq was in that game (although with a different name of course). When I was in Japan I picked up the Japanese version which was reskinned to be an NBA game... except they didn't change any of the rules so it was basically a college basketball game with NBA teams.

I also had the PC game that was the precursor of that... it was a three-on-three half court game starring Michael Jordan. I don't remember what it was called, but I played the heck out of it.

From the same era, and I think much less regarded, Super Play Action Football for the SNES was one of my favorites. The in-game stuff wasn't great, but I loved that you could play NFL, college, or high school season play all in one game and they actually felt like different experiences.

[RainMaker]

There was a computer basketball game back in the mid-90's that was 5-on-5 and you could fully customize the teams. I plugged in all the players and had a ton of fun playing it. Can't think of the name though, but it kept stats and everything.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Daimyo

+1. I think Shaq was in that game (although with a different name of course). When I was in Japan I picked up the Japanese version which was reskinned to be an NBA game... except they didn't change any of the rules so it was basically a college basketball game with NBA teams.

I also had the PC game that was the precursor of that... it was a three-on-three half court game starring Michael Jordan. I don't remember what it was called, but I played the heck out of it.

From the same era, and I think much less regarded, Super Play Action Football for the SNES was one of my favorites. The in-game stuff wasn't great, but I loved that you could play NFL, college, or high school season play all in one game and they actually felt like different experiences.

Yeah, in Australia we had a "pro" version of NCAA basketball too, except they weren't NBA teams, they were just generic teams, like the Seattle Breeze, etc. I played the heck out of it.

I also had a PC game precusor, Road to the Final Four. It was a proper NCAA game which included all the rosters for whatever NCAA tournament year it was released in... Like early 90s, 94 or something.

[Sweed]

Lance Haffner Full Count Baseball.

My first version was of the '91 season and of course I played with my Cubs. Maddox starting the opener for me and in typical Cub fashion of those days he goes into the 9th inning up 1-0. Can't remember who I was playing but in those days it would be a good bet it was either the Reds or Mets. Anyway they get the bases loaded with nobody out and I'm thinking great Maddox gets screwed again like real life with no run support. Leave him in figuring screw it he's earned the right to try to finish. Gets a hard ground ball to third that is turned into a triple play! Bought every season disk and upgrade from then to '98 and never saw another triple play.

Also had his 3 in 1 Football and LH College Basketball. Both entertaining but not as good as baseball IMHO.

[PurdueBrad]

So I've racked my brain for things that aren't on here. Unless I missed them, here we go:

Pete Rose baseball was really cool. I loved the quick seasons and the player development that occurred with each season.

There was a Wide World of Sports Boxing game that was great as well. The career mode included all kinds of ways to spend your money, deep management decisions (I always hoped that the hot female manager wanted to manage me, what can I say, I was in Jr. High).

Omniplay Horseracing is still, to this day, the best horse racing sim I've ever played. Simply amazing. We used it at work functions and for parties, and was just a great time.

And yeah, a bunch of the standards I saw listed: Earl Weaver, the Sierra line of football games, Tecmo Super Bowl, RBI Baseball, etc.

[RainMaker]

There was a game called World Games. Had skiing, sumo wrestling, log rolling and bull riding. It wasn't the best but it was one of the first ones to have good animations and solid graphics.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

There was a game called World Games. Had skiing, sumo wrestling, log rolling and bull riding. It wasn't the best but it was one of the first ones to have good animations and solid graphics.

I loved that one. It also included barrel jumping (my favorite), weightlifting, and cliff diving.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

There was a game called World Games. Had skiing, sumo wrestling, log rolling and bull riding. It wasn't the best but it was one of the first ones to have good animations and solid graphics.

Yeah that was a fun game. Actually all the EPYX (I think that was the publisher) series of Games (that someone else mentioned) were a blast. Though I'd have to say my favorite was a toss-up between World Games, Winter Games and California Games.

[Izulde]

dola,

though I -loved- the diving in Summer Games. That was probably my favorite of all the Game series events.

[MikeVic]

I bought a 4-in-1 NES game recently that I used to rent a ton as a kid because I liked the baseball portion. The game is called something like Quattro Sports.

So I try the four game modes, and I definitely had fonder memories than this as a kid. Every sport seemed jacked up that is was funny. So I guess I got my money's worth ($5) playing with some friends, but I couldn't believe how jacked up the games were.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Yeah that was a fun game. Actually all the EPYX (I think that was the publisher) series of Games (that someone else mentioned) were a blast. Though I'd have to say my favorite was a toss-up between World Games, Winter Games and California Games.

California Games remains (as far as I know) the only game to tackle virtual hackey-sack.

[Mike1409]

one-nil soccer was my first text sim game onthe cpu.

and Micro league baseball on the Commodore 64!

[Arles]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Anyone ever hear of Unnecessary Roughness? I used to play that as a kid too.

Played the heck out of that and old time baseball (a bit like Tony LaRussa):

[Honolulu Blue]

A highly underappreciated game by this crowd (IMO) remains Baseball Mogul. Yes, it still has its quirks, but it's a highly flexible, speedy, accurate enough, and most important, lots of fun.

Another vote for Omni-Play/Magic MVP Basketball. The game was ahead of its time and I still miss some features of it (like the commercials, detailed team vs. team comparisons, and trading/development "points").

[Icy]

I bought and played my first football PC game when i was like 17 or so, it was an imported game i found lost in an used pc games shop. I had no idea about football (as nobody did in Spain), but liked that sport like rugby were players used helmets and armor like modern gladiators. Once i started to play, i got in love with the strategic behind that American football sport.

The thing is that i don't remember the name and have always tried to. you played only as coach, no moving the players yourself. You could create plays using arrows and different formations in a plays editor, and Troy Aikman was the Colts QB. The game box was black i think. I guess it was 1993 or 1994 but the game was probably older. It was NFL licensed, could you guys say what game was that?

[TLK]

WoSoMan and WoHoMan.

I still get the urge to play both of these. So simple, but they both hooked you for season upon season.

[boberot]

Originally Posted by Icy

You could create plays using arrows and different formations in a plays editor, and Troy Aikman was the Colts QB. The game box was black i think. I guess it was 1993 or 1994 but the game was probably older.

For real!?

[larrymcg421]

There was a great C-64 racing game, called Racing Destruction Set. It was really cool. You could pick different types of cars, and there were a ton of different tracks. Plus, you could design your own tracks and there were tons of options. The best was your ability to select the gravity that you wanted to use. If you selected Jupiter, it would be very very hard.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by boberot

For real!?

Ouch sorry, i meant Cowboys QB.

[DanGarion]

I'll have to find it, but there was this football game back in the mid late 90's on the PC that was just great, you could make plays and everything, think it was Play Action Football but I might be wrong.

Also Hardball was great on my Atari 800xl, and when I got my PC, Hardball 2 was great because you could put stats in the game, and then it would accumulate stats on top of those. I made this all rookie baseball team with guys like Leo Gomez, Phil Plantier, etc that kicked ass due to their amazing 1st year stats!

[Autumn]

Probably not underappreciated, but the games that took up most of my time in high school were Pro League Football, we had a league with a mix of historical teams and really got into the stats and running it multiplayer. That was a lot of fun despite the X and O animation. There was a tense second when the ball hit the receiver and you wondered if it was going to stick. One of my friends totally flipped out and almost trashed the place when Ron Rivera made an interception on his Bernie Kosar and lost him the game.

Joe Montana Football was the other one. We played a lot of one on one there. It was totally unrealistic, I used to get 100 sacks a season playing LT. But it was fun to make plays and the blocking schemes worked fairly well. I spent ungodly numbers of hours editing all the players every season to match the offseason activity in the NFL.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

I'll have to find it, but there was this football game back in the mid late 90's on the PC that was just great, you could make plays and everything, think it was Play Action Football but I might be wrong.

Also Hardball was great on my Atari 800xl, and when I got my PC, Hardball 2 was great because you could put stats in the game, and then it would accumulate stats on top of those. I made this all rookie baseball team with guys like Leo Gomez, Phil Plantier, etc that kicked ass due to their amazing 1st year stats!

I think you are thinking of playmaker football. It still has a website PlayMaker.com. Sadly, the game really hasnt been updated since the mid 90s so I think in addition to paying for the game you have to pay for utilities to get season mode etc. But the ai for making plays was quite good imho.

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

One-Nil (and it's sequel Two-Nil), Goal '98, and Grand Prix from Wizard Games?

was One-Nil the game that when you got fired it would say "Oh Dear you got the boot!"

If so, I need a screenshot of that. I played the hell out of that game.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

was One-Nil the game that when you got fired it would say "Oh Dear you got the boot!"

If so, I need a screenshot of that. I played the hell out of that game.

One-nil's line was, "You're Sacked"

[Oilers9911]

In GIANT letters. YOU HAVE BEEN SACKED!!

Talk about depressing.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by LastWhiteSoxFanStanding

I think you are thinking of playmaker football. It still has a website PlayMaker.com. Sadly, the game really hasnt been updated since the mid 90s so I think in addition to paying for the game you have to pay for utilities to get season mode etc. But the ai for making plays was quite good imho.

Haha yeah that's it! I even remember posting a question to see if anyone ever played that back in the day, on here. Awesome, didn't know there was a website for it!