Wow – The Top 10 Sports Video Games Ever

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A rundown of the best sporting computer games made throughout history.

This week the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Associations (ELSPA) reported that Nintendo’s Wii Fit returned to the top of the charts for the best selling computer games, knocking zombie-fest Resident Evil 5 from the top spot.

The continued dominance of Wii Fit in the charts is testament to how much the video games public take sports games to heart. In fact, three of the top 10 games were sports games this week, including FIFA 09 and Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games, which incredibly are all at least eight months old but still selling well.

In tribute to the longevity of these titles in the charts, here are this writer’s top 10 sports video games of all time:

Sensible Soccer

If you owned an Amiga in the early 90s, chances are you also owned Sensible Soccer. The classic football game was unique in its approach by using a bird’s-eye view camera angle, which allowed simple graphics but fast and furious gameplay. The beauty of Sensible Soccer was its simplicity, but the fact that players were able to customise teams and had a data editor offered a fantastic variety to the game.

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

If you enjoyed the idea of Mario Strikers Charged Football because it focused on pulverising the enemy in a stadium which ‘happened’ to also have a ball, then you would love its originator, Speedball. The original Speedball was released in late 80s, before Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe came along in 1990 and ramped up the violence and slick gameplay. Set in the 2105, Speedball was a mix of handball and ice hockey, which rewarded violence over skills, and if the other team couldn’t make it through till the end of the game, too bad for them. Just think what would happen if Mad Max met Dodgeball and you’ll get an idea of the joys of Speedball.

Outlaw Golf 2

Outlaw Golf took Tiger Woods PGA Tour and made it interesting. The failure of the Tiger Woods EA series was always that the gameplay lacked character, spark and imagination. Outlaw Golf made “a good walk ruined” into an “anything goes” no-holds-barred romp across the 18 greens. Five irons were just as likely to be cracked over the caddy as they were to crack the ball closer to the hole. Outlaw Golf 2 was the louder, sexier and cruder version of the original, which was not only much more fun than Tiger Woods, it was also much better to look at.

Mario Tennis

Although Nintendo’s icon will be remembered on the N64 for Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64, the innovation of the lesser known Mario Tennis is often overlooked. Not only is Mario Tennis stunning to look at with the usual Nintendo charm, but the unusual controls made the game easy to learn, but difficult to master. The combination of hitting buttons in different combinations to play lobs and drop shots, along with the timing required to hit a power shot set Mario Tennis apart from rivals, such as Smash Court Tennis Pro which – whilst more realistic – was not nearly as much fun to play.

FIFA 98: Road to World Cup

Although this is highly contentious among the idiots who still believe FIFA to be the superior footballing platform, FIFA 98 was the last great football game that FIFA ever produced. The game combined a superb blend of beautiful graphics, intuitive gameplay and a killer soundtrack. Few can forget the dazzling opening of Blur’s Song 2 which set up a brilliant game. The PlayStation version was also one of the first football games to unlock the potential of four-player cooperative carnage which made the game a lot more fun.

Super Punch-Out!!

When Punch-Out!! arrived on the NES, gamers were blown away by the variety and playability of this boxing beat ‘em up. Then a small title called Street Fighter II entered the scene in 1991 and suddenly beat ‘em ups were the thing to play. In 1994 Super Punch-Out!! came out on the SNES, retaining the roots of the original but making its characters even more outlandish to combat the mix of characters available in Street Fighter. Immensely playable, Super Punch-Out!! was more than just a button masher and required skills and tactics to overcome tough opponents.

Olympic Gold: Barcelona ’92

Forget Sonic & Mario At The Olympic Games, or International Track and Field, Olympic Gold was one of the original athletics button masher games. Featured on the Genesis/Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear, Olympic Gold was designed to give you repetitive strain injuries, but god they were worth it to claim those all-important medals. Competitors fought for glory in 100m sprint, Archery, Hammer Throw, Hurdles, Pole Vault, Diving and 200m Swimming.

NHL ’94

Consistently voted as one of the best games of all time, and still attracting a cult following today, it is difficult not to marvel at the wonder of NHL ’94. It’s easy to look back now and dismiss the graphics as tired, but at the time on the Genesis/Mega Drive they were revolutionary. The game built on the success of the two previous titles in the series and tweaked a few things to make the action faster and more enjoyable. Whilst other hockey games have far surpassed NHL ’94 in terms of graphics and realism, it is difficult to beat the sheer joy that can still be experienced by this supreme piece of classic programming.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2

Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), previously International Superstar Soccer (ISS) was always the lagging rival of the FIFA series. Whilst many gamers preferred the realism and gameplay of the ISS series, FIFA had always held sway in terms of popularity. Pro Evo 2 was the turning point, when finally the game was able to compete and conquer FIFA on every level, including graphics which had always been a weakness of the PES/ISS creations. Pro Evo 2 smashed FIFA 2003 into the floor, and is still one of the most enjoyable football games ever, despite its quirks such as the infamous ‘Oranges’ team because Konami couldn’t use the names of the Netherlands football squad.

Wii Sports

Considering Wii Sports was only intended to be a demonstration platform to whet the appetite of gamers for the Wii console’s capabilities, Nintendo created a pretty stunning demo. The overtly cheerful, cartoony graphics are all part of the fun of Wii Sports, which focuses on gameplay rather than a realistic look. The variety of Tennis, Golf, Boxing, Bowling and Baseball showed the diversity of the technology, and launched the best selling video game of all time, selling over 41 million units worldwide.