NBA Jam, Jonah Lomu Rugby, WWF No Mercy and the best 10 sports videos games ever

Matt Jones - Editor 07:51 13/09/2018
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  • The release of FIFA 19 is imminent and fans are eagerly looking for details on the next installment of EA Sports’ highly popular football game.

    Cristiano Ronaldo has already been confirmed as the game’s cover star, with the Portuguese icon gracing the front for the second year in succession.

    EA Sports has confirmed that the game will be released globally on September 28.

    FIFA has become a staple of football fans across the globe, which got us to thinking: what are the best sports video games of all time.

    Below is our top 10, with no sport featuring more than once. Share your views with us on our picks via Facebook and Twitter.

    10 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (2004, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance)

    Simply put, the game was loaded. With 19 courses, 15 PGA Tour golfers, plenty of mini-games and the birth of EA’s iconic Game Face feature, the fun was endless.

    A full-blown 52-week PGA Tour schedule was also included to add to the deep, rich content on offer. Although there were no true major championships yet, you could still win one of the four fictional majors to bask in the glory of winning a huge tournament.

    9 Sega Rally 2: Sega Rally Championship (1998, Arcade, Sega Dreamcast, PC)

    Sega Rally held the keys to your heart if you were a rally racing fan. With the original Sega Rally already holding a warm place in the heart of video game fanatics as one of the best arcade-style racing games ever created, this was released to almost universal praise despite the Dreamcast’s predecessor, the Saturn’s, demise.

    With 20 different and customisable cars, four game play modes, 17 courses including 12 Dreamcast originals, realistic driving and handling physics – this one had it all.

    8 Athens 2004 (2004, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows)

    If you didn’t give yourself a high possibility of developing arthritis in old age or at the very least carpel tunnel syndrome from the amount of finger bashing it required to win the 100m sprint or 110m hurdles in this masterpiece, then we feel sorry for you.

    Essentially Athens didn’t differ too much from Konami’s original Olympics classic Track & Field more than 20 years earlier. The best way to win essentially in many of the 24 different events was intense ‘button mashing’. But it was an absolute blast. If brought out today there would be thousands of social media posts of people filming their friends’ weird and concerning facial expressions during competition.

    7 FIFA 99 (1999, N64)

    So many versions of FIFA to choose from, but we’ve gone with the 1999 version on N64, which has a genuine claim to be the best version ever.

    FIFA was facing stiff competition from Konami’s arcade-style International Superstar Soccer Pro ’98 at the time, but this was where the tide started to turn in FIFA’s favour.

    A major improvement over FIFA ’98, with the inclusion of basic facial animations and different players’ heights as well as certain other cosmetic features such as improved kits and emblems. The game was a bestseller in the UK, replacing Tomb Raider III.

    6 Virtua Tennis (1999/2000, Arcade, Dreamcast)

    Revolutionised tennis games in part by doing what Sega has become famous for, thumbing its nose at realism. Virtua Tennis transformed the sport of tennis into a breezy arcade experience, with speedy games, intuitive controls, and a selection of bizarre mini-games to help you train.

    One minute, you’d be lobbing balls into drums; the next, you’re playing some kind of hybrid of ten-pin-bowling and tennis.

    The 1999 version was a massive step up from anything tennis related on console already on the market, providing fans with a new way to enjoy the sport.

    5 EA Sports Double Header: EA Hockey/John Madden Football (1992, Sega Mega Drive)

    There have been far more polished and better versions of two classic American sports in their own right created – NHL 94 is possibly the finest ice hockey game ever invented and the Madden series has become a dominant force in American football video games.

    But this double header from EA was a true game-changer, with sports fans able to switch between the two sports on one cartridge. It may have been nearly impossible to score on the ice but the fighting was fun. And while you had no clue of the differences between a nickel or a dime defence, you had immense fun.

     

    4 NBA Jam (1993, Arcade, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo)

    “Boom-shackalacka! Is it the shoes? He’s on fire.” If you never played NBA Jam as a kid in the 90s, what on earth were you doing instead?

    NBA Jam is quintessential ’90s gaming – colorful, chaotic and very fun to play, especially with a friend.

    The gameplay was ridiculous, as players would fly all over the arena, dunking from the three-point line and performing various stunts in mid-flight.

    Subsequent versions never really lived up to the hype but its influence can be found in NBA Live 95, NBA Street and any basketball game that champions a bit of showmanship.

    3 Jonah Lomu Rugby (1997, PS1)

    The. Best. Rugby. Game. Ever. Ok, so in essence it doesn’t have much competition, but don’t take anything away from just how excellent or legendary this game is.

    From Bill McClaren’s iconic commentary to playing with the great man and being able to basically hand off every opponent to the try line, this was flawless. Even the graphics weren’t that bad, and it played so well.

    Gems from McClaren included “He’s digging like a demented mole there” and “Goodness me, that hit almost put him in ward 4”, to which co-commentator Bill Beaumont replied “Hope not Bill, that’s a maternity ward.”

    It was the first major rugby game to be produced and it remains the daddy. A major developer’s first go at rugby and they nailed it.

    2 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (2000, PlayStation)

    The excellent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was released in August 1999 for PlayStation, making the Birdman a household name for gamers and skaters, and laying the foundations for a true legacy.

    Like in skateboarding itself, Hawk was a true trailblazer for sports that found themselves on the periphery of juggernauts like football (American and rest of the world) and basketball, paving the way for other extreme sports games like Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX and Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer. Like all the Tony Hawk’s games, 2000’s Pro Skater 2 had a kick-ass soundtrack too, including Rage Against The Machine, Papa Roach, Millencolin and Anthrax and Public Enemy.

    1 WWF No Mercy (2000, N64)

    Oh, you didn’t know? Well you definitely should have known about this classic of the genre, an absolute gem of a game. If climbing up and jumping off ladders wasn’t enough you could create and customise your own wrestlers – with literally thousands of options for attire, wrestling moves and taunts – and fight in hardcore matches backstage. The creative story mode was also incredible, with stories that changed based upon decisions and match outcomes. Others have attempted to recreate the magic but No Mercy remains the best there was, the best there is, and the best there will ever be. Gimme a hell yeah!

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