August 2019 Together Retro: Retro Sports Games

[MrPopo]

My copy of THPS2 arrived the other day; once I'm done with Fire Emblem I'll be busting that out.

[BoneSnapDeez]

The Sears release was re-titled and it's a lot more honest:

I have both releases because, yeah..............

So, I put some more time into Video Olympics. Hilariously, out of the game's 50 modes of play, 2 are single-player and 48 are multiplayer. I've definitively beat the two single-player modes (which are Pong or "table tennis"). The first mode is much tougher, due to how the ball behaves. Messed around with the multiplayer stuff. I really like the "Pong Basketball" It's like one-on-one basketball featuring two players who shoot as soon as they receive the ball. Pretty amusing.

Here's that imagine I posted earlier:


Those top two horizontal lines are the "hoops." There are actually some really good "bounce" physics to the ball, so it doesn't feel too much like traditional Pong.

It's easy to forget that the earliest video games were basically all sports simulations. While Atari's original Pong arcade was a little more ambiguous, the Magnavox Odyssey clone game (also released in '72) was titled Table Tennis. The second Oyddsey game was a skiing game, and cart #3 is a tennis, hockey, football combo. The Fairchild Channel F has tennis and hockey games built into the console.

[Musashi]

There are so many amazing posts here!!

I'm not a sports guy, but I play a few. I'm also don't know anything about American Football and I think is a good opportunity to learn. I'm gonna try these Genesis games first
-Mutant League Football . Just to start to learn football.
-Super Volleyball. I know that is not so great but I played the game years ago and I want to try again.
-Battle Golfer Yui. I think this is a good opportunity to try this weird game using the fan translation available.
-ATP Tour Championship Tennis. I played a lot of Wimbledon like 15 years ago. So I decided to try its sequel now.

[Gunstar Green]

I played a little bit of TV Sports Football for the Turbografx-16 and I can safely say it hasn't held up very well. It's a stripped-down port of the 1988 computer game by Cinemaware which was a very impressive football title at the time, especially on the Commodore Amiga. Despite that, even this 1990 port has some features that Madden wouldn't have for a few years yet.

They don't make up for the shortcomings though, it's awkward slow and clunky (I just could not get the hang of passing), has only eight generic teams, and limited play calling. It does have features like a season mode though, but I don't think I'll be trying it out. It does its best to try and preserve the excellent presentation of the more advanced ports and it succeeds to a point, putting it above many of its 16-bit rivals in that category but well below the Amiga.

The gameplay is intact with the obvious visual downgrades but it's unfortunately not very satisfying. A thrown or kicked ball stops dead when it hits the ground, players are tackled with the lightest touch. It's irritating to run through a hole in the line only to lightly brush somebody and fall over. There's just not a lot of feedback. The game in that way trends more towards simulation and as an early simulation game that's commendable.

The Amiga game for an '88 release is a real piece of sports game history since nothing came close to presenting American Football on TV like it did, but the TG-16 game is mostly a curiosity. While doing certain things better like presentation, sound and feature list, it couldn't really stand up to the original Madden or Joe Montana in the gameplay or fun department.

[pierrot]

Well, I've officially WON THE SEGA BOWL in Joe Montana Football!

Congrats, Nemoide! That's pretty rad, dude. I admire the commitment. I've been playing little bits of NBA JAM, but it's not as amazing as I remember it, and it's kind of tough for me to play for very long.

-Mutant League Football . Just to start to learn football.

This is probably a really good place to start, too. It's been a long time since I last played it, but I think it has more of an NFL Blitz style to it, where the rules don't matter as much.
Nice Shadow Dancer avatar, by the way, and welcome to the forums!

[Musashi]

-Mutant League Football . Just to start to learn football.

This is probably a really good place to start, too. It's been a long time since I last played it, but I think it has more of an NFL Blitz style to it, where the rules don't matter as much.
Nice Shadow Dancer avatar, by the way, and welcome to the forums!

Thanks Pierrot.

[Golgo 14]

Played some Indy 500 with my son this afternoon. He hated it.... I did play all the single player modes, though, which were strangely addictive. Since you can’t really beat the game, I set a success criteria of completing a lap in under ten seconds without touching a wall. (I can complete a lap much faster than that if I tap the walls a bit!) The game would probably be a lot more fun with two people who enjoyed it, and it plays a lot like my beloved Super Sprint (NES). Pretty much every racing game evolved from this, and I am glad I finally spent some time with it, even if I probably won’t spend much time with it again (unless I play it at Bone’s house or something).

BTW...after we attempted Indy 500, my son and I played Surround (2600). I told him it was like the light cycles in Tron. He grasped the concept and controls immediately, and loved it. We played four or five complete games, and he actually got pretty good...

I'm a huge fan of Indy 500, but having an enthusiastic second player is a must. Over the years, I've gotten a couple people into it and for my money, it's an even better 2-player game than Combat. The Driving Controllers are what really makes the game. The last time I busted it out, my non-Atarian friend was amazed at their pinpoint control.

I've never been too big on Surround. I remember my friends and I in the 80s trying to convince ourselves it was like Tron, but it was never a favorite. However, it is notable for containing a "Video Graffiti" mode in which you can write bad words or even non-bad words if that is more your speed.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Played some Indy 500 with my son this afternoon. He hated it.... I did play all the single player modes, though, which were strangely addictive. Since you can’t really beat the game, I set a success criteria of completing a lap in under ten seconds without touching a wall. (I can complete a lap much faster than that if I tap the walls a bit!) The game would probably be a lot more fun with two people who enjoyed it, and it plays a lot like my beloved Super Sprint (NES). Pretty much every racing game evolved from this, and I am glad I finally spent some time with it, even if I probably won’t spend much time with it again (unless I play it at Bone’s house or something).

BTW...after we attempted Indy 500, my son and I played Surround (2600). I told him it was like the light cycles in Tron. He grasped the concept and controls immediately, and loved it. We played four or five complete games, and he actually got pretty good...

I'm a huge fan of Indy 500, but having an enthusiastic second player is a must. Over the years, I've gotten a couple people into it and for my money, it's an even better 2-player game than Combat. The Driving Controllers are what really makes the game. The last time I busted it out, my non-Atarian friend was amazed at their pinpoint control.

I've never been too big on Surround. I remember my friends and I in the 80s trying to convince ourselves it was like Tron, but it was never a favorite. However, it is notable for containing a "Video Graffiti" mode in which you can write bad words or even non-bad words if that is more your speed.

First, awesome user name. Second, even better avatar. I love Kaboom!, but I have yet to reach the “patch” score.

I appreciate the perspective. I think Indy 500 could be a lot of fun with two skilled players. A seven-year-old trying to play it with a joystick, however....

I also have never been big on Surround, either, but for whatever reason, it was just a lot of fun for us. He picked up the concept immediately. (He’s seen Tron.) And, he was incredibly enthusiastic about it. That enthusiasm was contagious, I guess.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I need to try Surround. I own it, but haven't played it beyond testing. It's a sports title? I always thought it was an early "snake" game.

[Sarge]

I agree that Indy 500 with the driving controllers was a lot of fun back in the day.