With March Madness comes a sort of bracket lust only be satisfied with tournaments that have nothing to do with college basketball. So, we are asking you: what is the best sports video game of all time?
To organize this field of 64 in a way that makes some sense, we’ve narrowed them down to different categories — the left side of the bracket will be the 32 games from the major American professional sports, the right side is everything else.
Up first, the 32 ‘major sports’ video games. Head here to vote on the 32 non-traditional games. Next week, we will cut the field in half based on the result and move onto round 2.
Big Four Sports Bracket
The Basketball and Football Region
1. Tecmo Bowl
It turned Bo Jackson from a superstar into a god, and 30 years later, it’s still a pop culture staple.
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16. NBA Courtside 2002
Nintendo was even publishing NBA games back in 2002, unveiling NBA Courtside 2002 on the Gamecube. It had a simulation and a “street” mode which was especially fun if you had four-player going. The game is so beloved, people are enhancing it and re-releasing modded versions today.
No. 8 NBA Live ’95
The first in the NBA Live series was a landmark time in sports gaming. Running up and down the floor as a pixelated Shaq and dominating small, weak men in the paint never felt so real. You could actually see No. 32 on his uniform!
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No. 9 NFL 2K5
Considered one of the greatest sports games ever, NFL 2K5 blew gamers away with its deep suite of features and impeccable gameplay — all for just $19.99 compared to Madden‘s full priced game.
No. 4 NBA 2K12
Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird graced the cover of NBA 2K12, one of the truest love letters to a sport in digital form. It bridged the gap to the next generation with a painstaking attention to detail and endless ways to play.
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No. 13 NCAA Basketball 2K3
The only college basketball game on Gamecube makes the bracket, but NCAA 2K3 stood on its own in terms of production values and depth at the time. Running your own dynasty as ESPN showed off your highlights was unlike anything else back then.
No. 5 Double Dribble
Double Dribble was pretty much the first basketball game, and the fury it caused with shots like these will forever be etched into the souls of those who played.
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No. 12 Joe Montana Football (Genesis)
Joe Montana Football was developed by EA, who would release John Madden Football around Christmas of 1990, followed byJoe Montana Football in January of ’91. It’s without an NFL license, but the best of the early football games in the SNES/Genesis era.
No. 2 NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
Following up 1994’s NBA Jam, 1995’s Tournament Edition gave us more easter eggs, the ability to substitute players (the Jazz were the best), and even more unforgettable catch phrases. Does anyone really know what “boomshakalaka” means? No. But we all know how “boomshakalaka” makes us feel.
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No. 15 Mutant League Football
The first and only post-apocalyptic hybrid of the sport, Mutant League Football was yet another early ’90s football game by EA. This time, you could bribe and eventually kill the ref, which made plenty of gamers happy.
No. 7 NBA Street Vol. 2
Catching a pass mid-flip then smoothly transitioning to a between-the-legs cartwheel alley-oop became so addictive, millions of gamers still have calloused thumbs, reminding them of ridiculous glories past.
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No. 10 NCAA Football ’07
Featuring Reggie Bush on the cover and a nearly impossible to stop “momentum” game mechanic, NCAA ’07 offered one of the deepest dynasty experiences up to that point. Its Xbox 360 version was bare-boned, but the PS2 version is up there near Madden ’05 and ’06 as one of the most complete packages in EA’s library.
No. 3 Madden ’05
Competition is good. Competition is very good. Recent Maddens have come close, but Madden ’05 came out with all guns blazing in an effort to stay the king of the digital gridiron. The franchise mode alone was worth the purchase.
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No. 14 NBA Inside Drive 2002
As NBA Live was falling out of favor, sixth-gen consoles were taking all-comers for the throne. Inside Drive had the smoothest gameplay and by far some of the deepest franchise options of the early aughts.
No. 6 Blitz 64
Few things in the world of gaming were more satisfying than crushing a dancing Deion Sanders in the end zone well after the play ended. You were scored on, but they paid. Oh, they paid.
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No. 11 NFL Street
Picking up where NFL Blitz left off, Street’s fast-paced 7-on-7 gameplay was more about style than substance and was especially fun in multiplayer sessions.
The Baseball and Hockey Region
No. 1 NHL ’94
“Make his head bleed.” It’s possibly one of the most iconic lines from Swingers, and it immortalized NHL ’94 as one of the best sports games of the early ’90s. There isn’t any fighting in NHL ’94, like there was in NHLPA ’93, but there were shootouts, glass breaking, and that NHL license. And you could make heads bleed. That’s important.
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No. 16 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
Released by Midway in the mid-90s, 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge was another attempt to capture the magic of NBA Jam. Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey would perfect this formula a few years later, but 2 on 2 remains an important part of alt-hockey game lore.
No. 8 NES Ice Hockey
Long before the battle between 2K and Madden, there wasIce Hockey vs. Blades of Steel. Ice Hockey featured Zambonis and gameplay that is still applauded today. And it’s still a regular seller on Nintendo’s Virtual Console.
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No. 9 MVP Baseball 2005
Long considered to be one of the best baseball games ever before The Show came into its prime, MVP Baseball 2005 was EA’s final foray into America’s pastime before losing the license. The stats would go back over 100 years, the graphics are still phenomenal, and the deep franchise mode was so beloved, it’s still supported by modders today.
No. 4 MLB ’16: The Show
Few games flirt with perfection as often as The Show series. The animations are impeccable, the features are deep, and the graphics have been making a passerby think a real baseball game is on TV for nearly a decade. It’s truly one of the best.
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No. 13 Hardball III
The smooth gameplay and commentary by Al Michaels put Hardball III over the top for many gamers who – in 1992 – just didn’t get a whole package quite like this. Your season stats were saved by a password which was annoying, but also ahead of its time.
No. 5 Baseball (NES)
1983’s Baseball was the first baseball game for many, and while it has aged horribly, the 2-player functionality (and still decent pitching) leaves most old-school gamers with warm memories of the title.
And that music …
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No. 12 NHL Hockey
The game that kicked off the SNES and Genesis era, NHL Hockey‘s graphics and gameplay set the bar for all to come. Hitting never felt better, and up until that point, skating never felt real.
No. 2 RBI Baseball
The first game licensed by the MLBPA, RBI Baseball was transformative in replicating hitting and pitching mechanics and is such a landmark in gaming history, people are mashing up RBI Baseball and real baseball history for fun.
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No. 15 World Series Baseball 2K3
The 2K baseball series has had many ups and downs, but this was by far the most complete and satisfying of all the 2K baseball games. The competition between World Series Baseball and the MVP series elevated each other into some of the best sports games of the Xbox and PS2 era.
No. 7 Ken Griffey Jr. Presents: Major League Baseball
If you were growing up as a sports gamer in the ’90s, there was a great chance you owned Ken Griffery Jr. Baseball. The production values and sprite-based characters were second to none in 1994, and were the last hurrah before polygons took over in the N64 and PS1 era.
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No. 10 Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey (N64)
Plug in 4 controllers and Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey was a party. For the uninitiated, this was basically NBA Jam, but hockey. The game was ported from the arcade to become the first four-player N64 game, and featured some of the most satisfying one-timers in hockey game history.
No. 3 Blades of Steel
If you owned an NES back in the day, you played Blades of Steel. The intense faceoffs and fighting made you forget about your lack of team options, and games were intense.
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No. 14 Mutant League Hockey
Much like Mutant League Football, the stakes in Mutant League Hockey were life and death. Fights were commonplace (you were penalized more if you lost), and you could even replace your goalie with a friggin’ demon goalie.
No. 6 NHL ’11
For a good half-decade, EA was churning out incredible hockey game after incredible hockey game, and NHL ’11 was the pinnacle. Smooth skating, decent load times, and unparalleled control made the game fun to play for anyone who picked up the controller.
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No. 11 Mario Superstar Baseball
One of the many sports hybrid games created by Nintendo, Mario Superstar Baseball gameplay sessions would typically start out as a joke, then devolve into long, intense nights of Bowser vs. Toad. Few games were more addictive or more instantly playable than this one.
