speculawyer
Member
15. Pong - The first coin-op videogame was a sports game . . . a crude game of tennis. Or was it table tennis? No matter. It started it all. Pong was tested initially in Andy Capp's Tavern, a bar in Sunnyvale, California. After only one day the game's popularity had grown to the point where people lined up outside Andy Capp's waiting for it to open.
After a while the unit broke down, and the bar's owner called it removed. Upon opening the unit, the problem was discovered - the milk carton placed inside to catch the coins was overflowing with quarters, causing the coin switch to become jammed. According to the account given by Nolan Bushnell, the Pong cabinet at Andy Capp's broke down the day after it was installed.
14. Mattel Football (1978)- OK it is stretching things to call this a videogame but it was so revolutionary that it gave us a taste as to how fun electronic sports game could be.
13. Blades of Steel - Back in the days when hockey was a pretense for a boxing match, Blades of Steel provided a game that was half-hockey game and half-fighting game. Pure bliss.
12. Madden NFL 2004 - One of the better years of this long running venerable franchise. It hasn't quite hit its stride on the current next-gen consoles yets.
11. NBA Street volume . . . ah just pick your favorite volume - A great arcade action basketball game that is real fun.
10. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (or maybe 2?) - This was the high-water mark of the Tony Hawk games. Do amazing skateboard tricks that you could never dream of doing . . . and string them together in combos that Tony Hawk himself couldn't dream of doing. You could pull a 'Christ-air' . . . now that was a religious experience.
9. MVP Baseball 2005 - It sucks that EA can't make a baseball game since they've made some great ones. But I guess some of the guys that made MVP 2005 are now over at Kush working on MLB 2K8, so hopefully it will improve.
8. Dr. J and Larry Bird go One-on-One - One of the first times that real professional atheletes were used in videogames. Did you like to play to Dr.J and and go for the back-board shattering dunk? Or did you like the finesse of Larry Bird throwing 3-pointers? Either way, you loved it.
7. Punch-Out - Still the most talked about boxing game.
6. Sensible Soccer - A shout-out to our allies across the pond, sensible soccer was a break-through football over in the Britain like Tecmo Bowl was a break-though football game over here in the USA.
5. Atari Football (arcade) - Design simplicity at its best . . . Just Xs and Os on the field and a trackball and a single button for control.
4. Tecmo Bowl - Well, I already gave away the fact that this game was one of the greats that would make the list. Walter Payton, Bo Jackson, L.T. The game had only four plays . . . AND WE LIKED IT!
3. Wii Sports - The most recently release game on this list . . . this is the game that has helped make the Wii the massive success that it has become. Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, Golf, and Boxing . . . all playable with motion sensing Wii-mote.
2. ESPN NFL 2K5 - Great gameplay, great announcing, The Crib, franchise mode, NFL License, ESPN license, online leagues, etc . . . all for low low price of $19.99! Probably the best value in sports gaming ever. It was nice to see Visual Concepts return to the gridiron with APF 2K8 but that game does meet their former greatness.
1. EA Sports' NHL '94 - You knew it was gonna win, didn't you? It made it into the movie "Swingers" for a reason.
Trent: I wish they still had fights in this game so I could bitch-slap Wayne.
Mike: What? They don't have fighting anymore?
Trent: Doesn't that suck?
Mike: Why'd they get rid of the fighting? It was the best part of the old version.
Sue: I think kids were hittin' each other or somethin', man.
Trent: Yeah but you know what, Mike? You can make their heads bleed in this one.
Mike: Make somebody's head bleed.
Sue: No man, we're in the playoffs.
Trent: I'm gonna make Wayne Gretzky's head bleed for super-fan #99 over here.
After a while the unit broke down, and the bar's owner called it removed. Upon opening the unit, the problem was discovered - the milk carton placed inside to catch the coins was overflowing with quarters, causing the coin switch to become jammed. According to the account given by Nolan Bushnell, the Pong cabinet at Andy Capp's broke down the day after it was installed.
14. Mattel Football (1978)- OK it is stretching things to call this a videogame but it was so revolutionary that it gave us a taste as to how fun electronic sports game could be.
13. Blades of Steel - Back in the days when hockey was a pretense for a boxing match, Blades of Steel provided a game that was half-hockey game and half-fighting game. Pure bliss.
12. Madden NFL 2004 - One of the better years of this long running venerable franchise. It hasn't quite hit its stride on the current next-gen consoles yets.
11. NBA Street volume . . . ah just pick your favorite volume - A great arcade action basketball game that is real fun.
10. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (or maybe 2?) - This was the high-water mark of the Tony Hawk games. Do amazing skateboard tricks that you could never dream of doing . . . and string them together in combos that Tony Hawk himself couldn't dream of doing. You could pull a 'Christ-air' . . . now that was a religious experience.
9. MVP Baseball 2005 - It sucks that EA can't make a baseball game since they've made some great ones. But I guess some of the guys that made MVP 2005 are now over at Kush working on MLB 2K8, so hopefully it will improve.
8. Dr. J and Larry Bird go One-on-One - One of the first times that real professional atheletes were used in videogames. Did you like to play to Dr.J and and go for the back-board shattering dunk? Or did you like the finesse of Larry Bird throwing 3-pointers? Either way, you loved it.
7. Punch-Out - Still the most talked about boxing game.
6. Sensible Soccer - A shout-out to our allies across the pond, sensible soccer was a break-through football over in the Britain like Tecmo Bowl was a break-though football game over here in the USA.
5. Atari Football (arcade) - Design simplicity at its best . . . Just Xs and Os on the field and a trackball and a single button for control.
4. Tecmo Bowl - Well, I already gave away the fact that this game was one of the greats that would make the list. Walter Payton, Bo Jackson, L.T. The game had only four plays . . . AND WE LIKED IT!
3. Wii Sports - The most recently release game on this list . . . this is the game that has helped make the Wii the massive success that it has become. Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, Golf, and Boxing . . . all playable with motion sensing Wii-mote.
Ugh . . . I can't believe the best recent sports game can't even do HDTV!
2. ESPN NFL 2K5 - Great gameplay, great announcing, The Crib, franchise mode, NFL License, ESPN license, online leagues, etc . . . all for low low price of $19.99! Probably the best value in sports gaming ever. It was nice to see Visual Concepts return to the gridiron with APF 2K8 but that game does meet their former greatness.
1. EA Sports' NHL '94 - You knew it was gonna win, didn't you? It made it into the movie "Swingers" for a reason.
Trent: I wish they still had fights in this game so I could bitch-slap Wayne.
Mike: What? They don't have fighting anymore?
Trent: Doesn't that suck?
Mike: Why'd they get rid of the fighting? It was the best part of the old version.
Sue: I think kids were hittin' each other or somethin', man.
Trent: Yeah but you know what, Mike? You can make their heads bleed in this one.
Mike: Make somebody's head bleed.
Sue: No man, we're in the playoffs.
Trent: I'm gonna make Wayne Gretzky's head bleed for super-fan #99 over here.
