Video games have been a real part of culture for 40 years. The days of thinking they’re just for kids is long over.
That’s especially true for sports fans who play video games. In the early part of the 2000s, any football fan with a console simply had to pick up the latest iteration of “Madden” or “College Football.” In the 2020s, FIFA -- now called EA FC -- dominates the landscape.
But the list of the greatest sports video games of all time goes back further than this century. A couple on this list came out on the original NES. Can you guess which two we picked?
5. Madden NFL 2005
Personally, it was the last Madden entry this writer played non-stop. Maybe that has something to do with my age, but, honestly, the franchise peaked with this all-timer.
The game introduced the Hit Stick, forever changing the way your buddies defended. Before the Hit Stick, defense was just something to mess with: go all-out blitzing or take manual control of a safety and look for interceptions. Offense was where we humans became more creative. EA’s addition of the Hit Stick changed all that.
On top that, though, the company updated Franchise Mode for the best, providing depth that some games still don’t replicate. Unfortunately, it’s all been downhill from here.
4. MVP Baseball 2005
I promise, this list won’t just be games from 2005. MVP Baseball 2005 might just be the greatest sports game ever made, regardless of my own personal preference for it.
It was the first game to really include Minor League teams, allowing for nerds like me to play franchise mode in perpetuity. On the field, EA introduced the pitch meter, allowing for players to get more acute with their pitching, as opposed to the classic one-button-plus-D-pad style.
Throw in Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow in the booth, and, c’mon. It could have only been better with Vin Scully.
3. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out
Some people in this world have still never beaten this game and it’s been available for almost 40 years.
And while those of us on the younger end of the scale may have only played the version with Mr. Dream as the final boss, if you were lucky enough to get Tyson himself, the game was probably one of the first with a real-life likeness for you.
The memorable opponents, the MIDI entrance music, the exploits. It was all there in “Punch-Out” and provided hours of entertainment for children and teens who may have breezed through the first half before the difficulty really amped on the final three fighters.
2. Tecmo Super Bowl
Perhaps this is a personal choice, but “Tecmo Super Bowl” would rank No. 1 for me.
This 1991 game expanded on its 1987 predecessor by expanding the playbook and team availability to the whole NFL, using near-complete, real-life rosters and allowing for injuries and substitutions. Its season mode let players play through a whole 17-week schedule plus accurate playoffs.
The game’s stat tracking over the course of that season was a boon for nerds like myself whose nine-year-old hands grew tired of keeping them by hand in a notebook until then.
One flaw -- though it’s a fun one -- you just knew you were going to play your friend and one of you would be the New York Giants, control Lawrence Taylor and rush the edge. Every. Single. Time.
1. NBA Jam
Silly madness, “NBA Jam” was a staple in arcades of the early 1990s and even became a staple on consoles in the middle of the decade. It was two-on-two basketball featuring every team in the NBA but largely ignored their real-life counterparts’ strengths and weaknesses.
No, you couldn’t chuck 3-pointers with Brad Daugherty often and expect to win every time and Mark Price wasn’t going to get many dunks. But either could happen.
And when accompanied by the game’s infamous catchphrases -- “He’s on fire!” and “Boom-shaka-laka” still echo in the ears of Gen Xers and Millennials -- few things were more fun on which to waste copious amounts of quarters.
