Sports games used to be a dime a dozen in the ‘90s. Today, gamers are lucky to have any choice for any sports games as EA, Sony and 2K essentially own the genre.
Old School Gamer Magazine takes a look back on some amazing titles that you may have missed.
ABC Monday Night Football: Published by Data East, the game didn’t feature real players or teams, but it allowed you to create players and a full team. It had several cool arcade elements that made it stand out amongst the competition. It hasn’t aged particularly well either, but at the time of its release, it was forced to lineup against games by Sega, EA and games with famous NFL coaches on the cover. It was easily lost in the shuffle.
NBA in the Zone II: Man, Konami had a slew of amazing sports games, especially MBL Bottom of the Ninth, but the In the Zone series was the top. NBA Live, NBA Jam, NBA Shootout and countless others made it impossible for them to stand out so Konami decided to focus on games that they knew would sell, leaving the In the Zone series out to pasture. Of all of them, the second game remains a special title.
ESPN NHL Hockey: If you loved the NHL Faceoff on the PlayStation, this was the first game by largely the same development team. A smooth hockey experience, it was a standout title that too, was lost amongst a bevy of competition.
MLB Pennant Race: MLB The Show is the baseball game everyone plays today but before Sony got to The Show, they had two other series, MLB and MLB Pennant Race. Featuring similar graphics to NFL Gameday and NHL Faceoff, it wasn’t the ground breaker other Sony Sports games were, but again, with the ability to create players, teams and play a full season and play in a Home Run Derby, it was a solid sports game during the early days of the PlayStation.
Destruction Derby: One of the forgotten gems on the PlayStation, DD featured a ton of cars on the screen at once and real-time damage and awesome racing mechanics. Developed by the same team that would work on classics such as Driver, it’s a game that begs to be played.
