Sports-centric video games have been in what we could charitably call a steel-plated rut for the last 20 years or so. Whether it’s basketball, football, baseball, or soccer, if it doesn’t have the name of an association and a year in its title, people probably don’t know about it.
That’s a shame, because the simple framework of sports has actually lent itself to quite a few fun and interesting games over the years.
Whether it’s a fun new take on a sport we all know and love or an entirely fictional sport, you can approach the broad concept from any number of angles.
Some lesser-known sports and sports-adjacent games add various weird and wacky wrinkles to games with established rulesets, while others simply endeavor to present sports in a manner that is equal parts authentic and engaging.
Even if the sport in question doesn’t actually exist, as long as there are two athletes going toe-to-toe, it can be a great sports game.
Football Can Always Be More Violent
Mutant Football League
Systems
OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Rating:67/100 Critics Recommend:26% Platform(s) Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox One Released October 31, 2017 Developer(s) Digital Dreams Entertainment Publisher(s) Digital Dreams Entertainment Engine Unity ESRB M17+ For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Mature Humor, Strong Language, Violence How Long To Beat 10 Hours OpenCritic Rating Fair Expand See at Playstation Store
It’s an old concern that American football is too violent, with too many players receiving critical, career-ending injuries. There’s some truth to this, but only in real life. In the safety of the realm of fiction, why not throw caution to the wind and get more violent?
Violence is the order of the day in Mutant Football League, a modern spiritual successor to Mutant League Football on the Sega Genesis. On the surface, it’s regular football, with you taking command of a team of mutants and monsters to get the pigskin from point A to point B.
The difference is twofold: first, the fields are absolutely lousy with hazards, from landmines to gigantic, voracious sandworms.
Second, and more entertainingly, players have access to a variety of delightful rule violations. Whip out a chainsaw, pump yourself full of steroids, bribe the ref; the worst punishment you’ll get is a 15-yard penalty, so who cares?
9 Ribbit King
Golf Plus Frogs Equals Frolf
Ribbit King
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, GameCube Released July 11, 2003
Golf is a noble sport, but it could certainly do with a little more in the razzmatazz department. For instance, how about, instead of hitting balls with clubs, we launch frogs with little catapults?
2003’s Ribbit King takes us into the wacky world of Frolf, an intergalactic sport wherein players try to launch their little frog buddies toward a hole on the other end of the course.
The fact that your “ball” is a living creature changes things up a bit from regular golf, as your frog will hop on its own toward bubbles and flies.
Not only do you need to reach the hole in the fewest shots, but you also want to pass by as many scoring spots as possible to rack up the highest point count. It’s a surprisingly strategic game, and an absolute blast to play with friends.
8 Windjammers 2
Frisbee In Your Face
Windjammers 2
Systems
OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Rating:77/100 Critics Recommend:75% Platform(s) Switch Released August 11, 2021 Developer(s) Dotemu Publisher(s) Dotemu Multiplayer Online Multiplayer ESRB t OpenCritic Rating Strong Expand See at SteamSee at Playstation Store$39 at Amazon
Frisbees, or “flying discs” if you prefer the untrademarked version, are underrepresented in the sporting pantheon. Something that’s that easy to throw and flies that far deserves to be used for more than just frisbee golf. Well, how about high-impact tennis?
Windjammers 2 is the 2022 sequel to the 1994 Neo Geo arcade classic, and arguably the most fun two people can have with a frisbee. The goal of the game is to chuck the disc into one of your opponent’s goals, or otherwise get them to drop it on their side of the court.
Every playable character has different states of movement, throwing, receiving, and more, not to mention various special throws that launch the disc in disorienting patterns.
Windjammers 2 scratches a similar itch to fighting games with its high-speed, move-reading framework that demands absolute skill and focus.
7 NBA Jam (2010)
The Definitive Arcade Sports Game
NBA Jam: On Fire Edition
Systems
Franchise NBA Jam Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Released October 4, 2011 Developer(s) EA Publisher(s) EA Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer ESRB E For Everyone How Long To Beat 30 Hours Expand See at Xbox Games Store$25 at Amazon
1993’s NBA Jam is still fondly remembered as one of the definitive arcade sports games, and for good reason. It struck a good balance between fun gameplay and hyped-up presentation.
In 2010, an updated version of NBA Jam was released on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, titled “On Fire Edition” in the case of the latter two. This version still had the same excellent gameplay as the original, but cranked the style meter up to eleven.
The dunks were bigger and more fiery, more players were added, including team mascots, and the inimitable Tim Kitzrow brought it all together with his classic cry of “boom-shakka-lakka!”
This game was received finely in its time, but unfortunately, it cannot be purchased digitally anymore, leaving it a hidden gem more out of circumstance than anything.
6 Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
The Future Is Made Of Steel
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
Simulation Systems
Platform(s) MS-DOS, Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Xbox 360 Released November 1, 1990 Publishers Image Works, Arena Entertainment See at Steam
A common trope of dystopian sci-fi stories is the presence of an ultraviolet spectator sport, created either for conflict resolution or just for its own sake. In Speedball 2, the ultraviolet sport of choice is the titular Speedball, kind of like hockey or football with the violence cranked up.
Players on both sides throw the ball by hand, and as it bounces around the field, it gradually picks up speed or has its trajectory tweaked. Your team’s job is to intercept the ball and chuck it into the opposing goal.
Every player has individual stats that are gradually diminished as the game goes on, and they get pegged with the ball. You’ll have to take calculated risks, as you only get three substitutes if your players are too injured to play at full capacity.
5 Blades Of Steel
Fistfights Included
What really makes some sports games fun is how they can commit to a proper representation of the sport in question while still keeping their tongue firmly planted in their cheek. Blades of Steel for the NES is a good example of this, packing both authenticity and a pinch of absurdity.
It’s a very well-made hockey game, with a fast and responsive system for controlling your team’s players, taking shots at the goal, and shoving opponents out of the way.
However, if two players shove each other a few times, the game will actually pause for a moment to focus on the real highlight of any hockey game: a good ol’fashioned fistfight.
There’s an entirely separate control scheme for this, with players able to both punch and block high and low. Hilariously, whoever wins the fight gets off scott-free, while the loser is penalized and sent to the penalty box.
4 Regular Human Basketball
Nothing Strange Here
Ah, who doesn’t love the classic game of basketball?
Just think of history’s greatest ballers, with their all-terrain wheels, their side thrusters, their rotating magnets- wait a minute…
Regular Human Basketball is an exceptionally silly party sports game wherein two teams of little critters assume control of massive mechanized b-ballers. By running about within the mechs’ innards, you trigger switches to engage all the functions necessary to rule the court.
With coordinated teamwork, you can grab the ball with your trusty magnet, roll up the hilly terrain with powerful wheels, then fly up to the basket with your thrusters for a mighty dunk.
If you’re feeling gutsy, you can also slip into your opponent’s baller to throw off their game, disabling their vital functions while your baller makes for the basket.
3 Pyre
The Realest Fake Sport
Pyre
Systems
OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Rating:84/100 Critics Recommend:81% Platform(s) PC, PS4 Released July 25, 2017 Developer(s) Supergiant Games Publisher(s) Supergiant Games Multiplayer Online Multiplayer Engine MonoGame ESRB E For Everyone: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Tobacco Reference, Use of Alcohol How Long To Beat 11 Hours Steam Deck Compatibility Playable How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs) 21 Hours OpenCritic Rating Mighty Expand See at SteamSee at Playstation Store
Everyone loves a good underdog story, doubly so when it’s a sports story. If there’s one thing the fine folks at Supergiant understand, it’s putting a good story together, and apparently, that includes sports games as well.
Pyre is a bit of fantasy fiction that focuses on a sunken wasteland where criminals and convicts are desperate to escape.
To make their way out, though, the exiles must compete in an ancient ritual that happens to resemble 3-on-3 basketball. It’s a bit high-concept, but the sporting gameplay is as good as any more overt sports game.
As you progress through the story, your team will pick up more exiles from different races with unique properties and abilities.
However, as each season ends, you’ll have to send one of your teammates back to civilization and try to stay competitive without them. It’s not just a sports game, it’s a sports game with a gripping story.
2 Dodgeball Academia
Like A Sports Anime
Dodgeball Academia
Sports Systems
OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Rating:78/100 Critics Recommend:81% Platform(s) PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Released August 5, 2021 Developer(s) Pocket Trap Publisher(s) Humble Games Engine Unity ESRB E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence How Long To Beat 10 Hours OpenCritic Rating Strong Expand
Have you ever watched one of those anime where the protagonist attends a school that’s hyper-focused on a single hobby or sporting event?
If there was an anime like that about dodgeball, it would probably be very similar to Dodgeball Academia.
Dodgeball Academia is a proper sporting RPG, with every victory on the court leveling up your stats, unlocking new teammates, and netting you new upgrades and gear.
The game has a story as well, following the story of Otto, a plucky young lad who wants to be the very best dodgeballer there ever was.
On the court, things start with the usual back and forth of a dodgeball game, but as players heat up, they’ll start to employ flashy, superhuman abilities. Fireballs are thrown, lightning bolts strike down, and balls spontaneously multiply, all to take opponents off guard and inflict them with status ailments.
1 World Games
All Around The World
Video games based on Olympic events have always been crowd-pleasers, giving us normal folk a little taste of the global athlete lifestyle.
In the 1980s, developer Epyx cut its teeth on several games of this nature, though its third game in this series went for broader appeal.
1986’s World Games, originally released for the Commodore 64, offers you the chance to experience sporting events from all over the world, some a bit stranger than others.
You can go logrolling in Canada, do a little sumo wrestling in Japan, toss cabers in Scotland, dive off cliffs in Mexico, and ride bulls in the United States, among other events.
Whether or not some of these are sports is somewhat debatable, but they are competitive, and they are quite a bit of fun to get good at. Even if you botch it, most of the events also have pretty funny fail animations, like falling through the floor when you mess up at weightlifting.
