Retro Sports Games Roundtable
May 14, 2012 at 11:30 pm | Posted in Reflections | Leave a commentTags: 16-bit, 8-bit, Racketboy, Retro Gaming, Retro Sports Gaming, Sports games, sports video games, Video Game Collecting, video game podcasts
The Racketboy podcast has produced 36 retro gaming episodes, interviewing the likes of James Rolfe, Nathan Barnatt, Retroware TV’s Lance Cortez, and the Smithsonian’s “The Art of Video Games” curator, Chris Melissinos. They’ve talked with folks from XSeed and traversed different conventions like Pax East and Too Many Games to interview game developers on upcoming titles. I was flattered to have been asked to join the show to discuss some of my favorite and least favorite retro sports games of the 8 and 16-bit eras in their latest production.
The Best Sports Games for Gamers Who Don’t Like Sports
May 2, 2012 at 8:24 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: NBA Jam, video games, Retro Sports Gaming, sports video games, NFL Blitz, Blades of Steel, Punch-out!!, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Best sports games for non sports gamers, Snackbar Games, Virtua Tennis, Sports Champions, Mario Golf, MLB Power Pros, Inazuma Eleven, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, gaming
Don’t like sports? There’s a whole segment of video games you can immediately write off, as far as you’re concerned. Or can you? You don’t have to be a comics fan to like Batman: Arkham City, and the appeal of Mario isn’t just limited to plumbing aficionados. Retro Sports Gamer World partnered up with Snackbar Games to help with a list of games you should check out even if they have sports in them, because you’re missing out on a lot of fun.
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The Rarest and Most Valuable Sports Games
April 30, 2012 at 8:23 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: racket boy, Retro Gaming, Retro Sports Gaming, sports video games, Video Game Collecting, video games
When one conjures up images of older sports games, they most likely think of a stack of sun-bleached PlayStation 2 games; victims of being sorted through and left to bake under the hot sun at a flea market or swap meet. For years, the steady giants like Madden or FIFA have been mass produced across numerous gaming platforms, becoming nearly irrelevant just a year later when the next iteration is released. Outside of a few classics that are still played (but worth hardly anything) through fan competitions or online leagues, the shelf life for sports games is incredibly short and the basic tenants of supply and demand dictate that many are worth just a fraction of their original retail price.
iOS Mini-Review: Ski Champion
April 14, 2012 at 12:37 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: iOS, iOS gaming, iPad games, iPhone games, iTunes, Majaka, Ski Champion, skiing games, slalom, slalom games, Sports games, video games
While the seasons have changed and the boys of summer have started the 2012 baseball season, you can still revisit winter fun with Ski Champion, a new iOS release by Majaka (Free, Appstore). Ski Champion sits alone in the handheld skiing market but being on top of the mountain by default does not have the developers at Majaka taking the bunny slopes with this effort. Packing in 14 different courses, tilt controls, and a leaderboard with medals and rankings, Ski Champion hits the high spots on Majaka’s first run out of the gate.
Retro Replay Diary: Coach K College Basketball
April 9, 2012 at 1:12 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsTags: Coach K, Coach K College Basketball, College Basketball, College Basketball games, EA Sports, Electronic Arts, NBA Live 95, Retro Sports Gaming, SEGA, Sega Genesis, Sports games, sports video games, video games
In the mid ’90s EA Sports hit their stride. Their ongoing NHL Hockey and Madden franchises were winners, they struck gold with NBA Live ’95, and FIFA Soccer was a big hit. College Football brought in money with the Bill Walsh College Football series of games, which then spun off from the (then) Stanford coach’s license and became College Football USA. On the hardwood, college basketball wasn’t a yearly lay-up for the guys at Electronic Arts. In 1995, they wisely took their incredibly successful NBA Live engine and created a college basketball counterpart. Coach K College Basketball was a one-time unique enigma in the 16-bit sports universe as the game came out for just one console and had no yearly follow-ups. With the white cover branding of EA titles of that gaming generation, Coach K College Basketball had real universities (32 teams plus 8 classic squads) and real college players (just with numbers instead of names – similar still to restrictions today). This was the first attempt at any type of college basketball simulation that didn’t have generic state-named teams with made up players and EA delivered the complete NCAA basketball experience on its initial try. When the game was first released, I was ecstatic that one of my favorite teams, Villanova, was in the game. I knew all the player’s real names and played through a full season before being shockingly bounced out of the tournament by #1 ranked Arkansas in the Regional Final (Elite 8). While I played the game for years after that stunning loss, I never played another season nor took my beloved Wildcats through another tournament run. My thirst for nostalgic revenge was the motivation for this Retro Replay Diary. It was time to dust off Kerry Kittles and friends and make another run at the college basketball championship.
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iOS Mini-Review: NBA Jam
March 17, 2012 at 1:18 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: NBA, NBA Jam, EA Sports, video games, Sports games, iOS, iPhone games, iOS gaming, EA
I remember my first handheld experience with NBA Jam very fondly. Being a big NBA fan and playing the original game as often as I could in the arcades, I was extremely excited when NBA Jam came out for the Sega Game Gear in 1993. Sure, the graphics were stunted but I was finally playing with NBA-licensed teams and with real NBA players! Even on the Game Gear’s 3.2″ screen, NBA Jam translated the arcade experience well. Since EA picked up the NBA Jam license from a defunct Midway, they’ve rekindled the flames of the classic with solid home console releases and a successful download-only follow-up. Expanding into the world of mobile games was an obvious step for the franchise. NBA Jam has always been easy to pick up and play, but what happens when you take away buttons and move to an iOS touchscreen device? NBA Jam ($0.99 App Store) keeps up the tradition of replicating its classic feel across gaming platforms as EA Sports engineers the mobile version to work as well as ever.
The Ten Most Valuable NES Sports Games
March 2, 2012 at 12:36 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 8 CommentsTags: 8-bit, Aussie Rules Footy, Baseball Stars II, Bases Loaded 4, Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball, Jimmy Connors Tennis, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, NES, Nintendo, Pro Sport Hockey, Punch-out!!, rare video games, Retro Gaming, Sports games, sports video games, Stadium Events, Tecmo Cup Soccer Game, Tecmo Super Bowl, Video Game Collecting, video games, WWF King of the Ring
Video game collectors often overlook the sports game genre and it is easy to understand why. First, as talked about in the Retro Sports Gamer World gospel, the number of retro sports collectors and gamers is a small percentage of hobbyists. The ratio of memorable and replayable retro sports titles is considerably smaller than that of classic role-playing games or platformers. While the laws of supply and demand can deflate the prices of even the most popular retro sports game titles, the sports gaming marketplace is not void of games that are rare and valuable. The Nintendo Entertainment System is stocked with a large number of 8-bit sports games thanks to the success of the system and growth of the industry overall. As you’re sorting through stacks of games at the next convention or flea market, here are the ten most valuable NES games to keep an eye out for.
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iOS Mini-Review: Ice Rage
February 22, 2012 at 11:59 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 3 CommentsTags: Blades of Steel, hockey, Ice Hockey, Ice Rage, iOS gaming, iPhone, iPhone games, iTunes, Mountain Sheep, Mountain Sheep Inc, Sports games, video games
I really enjoy the throwback styles, old school graphics, and intuitive controls that can come with producing creative and original mobile games. For every EA or 2K mobile clone of a big flagship game, there are unique titles like the 1-on-1 hockey action in Ice Rage by Mountain Sheep, Inc. ($0.99 App Store). Ice Rage is a concoction of Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel from the NES mixed in with air hockey and pong physics. Mountain Sheep pumps the retro up even more with the action played horizontally, something we haven’t seen a lot in sports games since the 8-bit age. With a solid premise in place, is there enough substance in Ice Rage for it to be labeled a success?
iOS Mini-Review: Arcade Hoops Basketball
February 18, 2012 at 1:14 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Arcade Hoops Basketball, casual gaming, gamification, iOS gaming, iPhone games, Skyworks Interactive, Sports games, video games
We are all witnesses to a shift in the gaming industry. With every Angry Birds game designed and every Farmville gift card sold, a new gaming audience is being tapped into. Companies today are allocating large amounts of resources to focus on mobile gaming and social media gamification. The sports gaming genre is not adverse to the clutches of casual gaming and nothing is more evident of this than the immense popularity of flick games. Flick games are the natural result of using a device that is explicitly based on touch controls and, while I like to focus on arcade or simulation-style games brought to the small screen, casual sports games are here to stay. With a simple premise and the most basic tenants of flick gaming, Skyworks Interactive’s Arcade Hoops Basketball brings to iOS gaming the amusement park adrenaline of jacking (well, flicking) up as many shots as possible with the same payoff of going home empty-handed after trying to land a large stuffed animal prize.
Retro Showdown: Walter Payton vs. Joe Montana on the Sega Master System
February 12, 2012 at 1:24 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: 8-bit, Joe Montana, Joe Montana Football, Retro Gaming, SEGA, Sega Master System, sports video games, video games, Walter Payton, Walter Payton Football
Welcome to the first ever Retro Showdown at Retro Sports Gamer World. Retro Showdown is where we take two retro sports games that share a common theme and compare them over a number of categories. After plugging the results into a complicated algorithm, we will come to a scientifically provable conclusion as to which is the better retro sports game. The categories that we will examine include Game Features, Game Presentation and Graphics, Gameplay and Controls, Music and Sound Effects, and a final fifth category of Replay Value and Historical Significance. In this Retro Showdown we’re going to take a look at two football titles on the Sega Master System: Walter Payton Football and Joe Montana Football. Now, the Sega Master System isn’t usually associated with having classic 8-bit sports games. For one, the quantity of titles in the genre is considerably small and definitely overshadowed by their 8-bit brethren, the NES. Their earlier ”Great” series of sports games (Great Football, Great Basketball, etc.) come off as generic based on the bland titles but the Master System built on those games with future releases that added affiliations with star athletes like Reggie Jackson, Walter Payton, and Joe Montana. With these two titles released just a year apart, which of these Sega 8-bit gridiron games of yesterday will come out on top? Before we delve into the nuances of each game, lets set the table with the Tale of the Cart!
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