Category: Sports Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Simulmondo GAME PUBLISHER:Simulmondo Copyright 1991, Simulmondo One of the first “historical racing games” ever made, 1000 Miglia from Italian developer Simulmondo is a great racing game that lets you experience the thrills of the “Mille Miglia,” a famous annual “one thousand miles” racing event…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Gremlin GAME PUBLISHER:Interplay Copyright 1996, Gremlin VR Soccer ’96 is a good first entry in Gremlin/Interplay’s short-lived “VR Sport” series, launched in 1996 to challenge EA Sports in the lucrative market of sport simulations. The game boasts a plethora of options and features, such…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Steve Screech GAME DEVELOPER:Anco Software GAME PUBLISHER:Maxis Copyright 1997, Anco Software Kick Off ’97 is a disappointing entry in Anco’s solid Kick Off line – a good example of how bad a game can get without a good designer at the helm (in this case: Dino…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:James Halprin GAME DEVELOPER:Melbourne House GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1997, Melbourne House Cricket 97 is a good-looking cricket game designed by Melbourne House of Australia and published worldwide by EA Sports. Since the only exposure to cricket I have ever had was listening to a UK…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zombie GAME PUBLISHER:Encore Copyright 1999, Zombie Sponsored by “Body Glove” brand of bodysuit, Bluewater Hunter is an interesting underwater hunting game that immerses you in the dangerous world of freediving. Your goal is to hunt the world’s largest trophy gamefish in 6 dive locations,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:SEGA GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1997, SEGA Sega Worldwide Soccer (WWS) was, in X’mas 1996, one of the best selling games for the Sega’s “golden boy”, the CD-32 bit Saturn. Reasons? It was the first *really* good 3D soccer game to be released on any…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:CDS GAME PUBLISHER:CDS Copyright 1992, CDS Leeds United is an appallingly bad football management game from German developer CDS. Like numerous games of this ilk, the game depicts the rise (and fall?) of an English team in their struggle up the highly competitive ladder.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Daniel Skoraszewsky & Silvio Mummert GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Daniel Skoraszewsky & Silvio Mummert Blobby Volley is a fun little Volleyball game by German freeware developers Daniel Skoraszewsky and Silvio Mummert. It is a perfect time waster, simple, very addictive and very fun. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Eric Caen GAME DEVELOPER:Titus GAME PUBLISHER:Titus Copyright 1989, Titus Trixter’s review at MobyGames says it all about this lackluster racing game: “One-line Summary:A major disappointment in the history of the series. The Good:The premise is sound; you are on the run from the cops and have…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Pure Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Pure Entertainment Tennis Antics is a great tennis-like game developed by Pure Entertainment and distributed free of charge on the company’s Freeloader.com website. Losely based on tennis, Tennis Antics is more about collecting arcade-style power ups and using…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Data Becker GAME PUBLISHER:Data Becker Copyright 1999, Data Becker Go Kart Challenge is a decent go-kart racing game from Data Becker. The game features a good range of options: three levels of difficulty (Hobby, Amateur, and Pro), three types of drivers (essentially different body…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Hammer Technologies GAME PUBLISHER:Midas Interactive Copyright 1999, Midas Interactive Snowboard Racer is a fun snowboard racing game from Hammer Technologies. The game offers 3 different competitions that all require the main ?ingredients? of snowboarding: high downhill speed and acrobatic jump skills. In “Boardercross” competition,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Silver Lightning GAME PUBLISHER:Silver Lightning Copyright 1996, Silver Lightning Rally Challenge is a decent shareware rally game from Silver Lightning Software decent being the operative word. Endorsed by some of the worlds biggest rally teams, the game features 3 famous cars: the Subaru Impreza…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Miguel ?ngel Haza Baena GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Miguel ?ngel Haza Baena Possibly the best (and maybe only) cycling management simulation ever made, Super Tour 3 is a very comprehensive and feature-rich freeware sport simulation for Windows 95 and above. Coded entirely by one…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ville Koskela GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Ville Koskela Animated Bounce is an excellent SVGA remake of Arcade Volleyball, a very popular freeware 2-player volleyball game that was easy to learn, but hard to master. The original game inspired a number of remakes, including the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zyrinx GAME PUBLISHER:Scavenger Copyright 1996, Zyrinx Scorcher is an innovative racer that combines elements of WipeOut and Marble Madness with mixed results. Although the game has many outstanding 3D race courses that are very imaginative and fun to drive on, it doesn’t offer enough…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Hannu R?bin? GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Hannu R?bin? The freeware racing game GeneRally, just like Slicks ‘n’ Slide, is great fun. Its exciting, fast and twice as fun with friends, everything you’d expect from this type of game. But GeneRally goes a step beyond…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bongfish GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Bongfish Stoked Rider is a freeware “work in progress” snowboarding game being developed by Bongfish. Although billed as “demo,” Stoked Rider is packed with features that supercede most other freeware snowboarding games, including the ability to perform many tricks…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chris Johnson & Paul Tankard GAME DEVELOPER:Lankhor GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1994, Domark F1 World Championship Edition is an updated version of Lankhor’s Vroom, a highly underrated F1 racing simulation, first released in 1991 in Europe. The game features all 16 circuits on the FIA calendar, while…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Technos Japan GAME PUBLISHER:Technos Japan Copyright 1993, Technos Japan Kunio-kun No Nekketsu Soccer League (roughly translated as “Hot-blooded Kunio-kun Soccer League”) is a superior sequel to Technos better-known Nekketsu Koukou Soccer (released in the US and Europe as Nintendo World Cup Soccer). The story…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Onyx GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Onyx FormulaPC is an excellent fanmade PC version of Formula D?, a unique board game from EuroGames that captures the spirit of Formula One racing in a whole new way: on the tabletop. Like its board game original, FormulaPC…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Greg Siegele GAME DEVELOPER:Ratbag GAME PUBLISHER:GT Interactive Copyright 1998, Ratbag Powerslide, created by talented Australian developer Ratbag, is a post apocalyptic racer with heaping helpings of style, character and best of all, fun. I think the official website describes the game best when it says “The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:MediaGames GAME PUBLISHER:Blue Byte Copyright 1998, Blue Byte Game, Net & Match! is the long-awaited third game in Blue Bytes excellent Great Courts tennis game series. Unfortunately, GNM is not as good as its predecessors: despite SVGA graphics and more gameplay options, the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Harlequin GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1992, Empire Interactive International Sports Challenge is a good multi-sports simulation that offers a decent variety of sporting events, satisfying depth of gameplay, and good user interface (although very high joystick proficiency is required to beat this game). Although…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Cuisset GAME DEVELOPER:Delphine Software GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1997, Delphine Software Moto Racer is the first title in a relatively successful series Delphine developed for Electronic Arts. This 3D arcade motorcycle racer allows you to ride superbikes and motocross. Race Time Attack, Single Race, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Graeme Devine GAME DEVELOPER:Namco GAME PUBLISHER:Datasoft Copyright 1983, Namco One of the most loved arcade games, Pole Position is a watershed in arcade racing games and was THE game that set standard for all subsequent “checkpoint racers” (i.e. racing through checkpoints against the clock). Designed by…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Shaun Sullivan GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous GAME PUBLISHER:Anonymous Copyright 2002, Shaun Sullivan Being a one-man product, PureSim Baseball is one of the deepest, most sophisticated baseball management simulations around. You are put into the role of a general manager of a professional baseball team and are in charge…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Blue Sphere GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1997, OCEAN GT Racing ’97 is a very quick car racing game similar to Screamer and Need for Speed. Although the game doesn’t boast any innovative features to make it stand out from the crowd, it is nonetheless a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Microids GAME PUBLISHER:Microids Copyright 1997, Microids Speed Demons is a disappointing semi-futuristic offroad 3D racing game from Microids that ruins a good premise with terrible gameplay. While the graphics are above average, the control for the cars is extremely poor: it took me many…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Unique Development Studios (UDS) GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Falcon Bryggerier AB Floorball is a sport that was invented in Sweden in the early ’70s. Based on American street hockey, it’s a game with two sides, five players and a goalkeeper on each side. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Marco Chiesi GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Marco Chiesi Biliardo 2 is a great simulation of various billiard games played in Italy. The available games are: 5 Pins, Goriziana, Bowls, Carom (normal, 1 cushion and 3 cushion) and 3 Balls. The game includes complete rules…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Markus Heinsohn GAME DEVELOPER:Out of the Park Developments GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Out of the Park Developments As easy as it is to make a decent baseball simulation, making a great one requires that little touch of insight that baseball is a great game where great…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Boller GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Jeff Boller Waterslide Island is a fun 3D game that lets you race cute animals down dangerous, curvy water slides. The inclusion of 8 animals and cartoon graphics make the game great for kids, but anyone can enjoy…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1993, Verbatim Verbatim: Top Challenge is an average colllection of 5 “rugged sport” games, created as a promotional title to celebrate Verbatim’s 25th anniversary as one of the world’s largest data storage companies. The games themselves range from mountain biking…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Oli Norwell GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous GAME PUBLISHER:Midas Interactive Copyright 2001, Oli Norwell Michael Vaughan’s Championship Cricket Manager is an excellent cricket management simulation, coded single-handedly by Oli Norwell and published by Midas Interactive in Europe only. The thorough review at Cricketgames.com says it all about this indie…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Fredrik Liliegren GAME DEVELOPER:Digital Illusions GAME PUBLISHER:Gremlin Copyright 1998, Digital Illusions One of the last games published by Gremlin before they were bought out, Motorhead is an excellent racing game developed by Digital Illusions that deserves a much longer shelf life than it received. Trixters description…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Pseudonym GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1985, Pseudonym Armchair Quarterback is a decent free text-based simulation of American football. As the in-game description says, …nearly all aspects of the sport are simulated or taken into account, including actual statistics of professional teams in the 1980s. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Software 2000 GAME PUBLISHER:Software 2000 Copyright 1992, Software 2000 The Manager is an excellent soccer simulation game that is unfortunately much less popular than Championship Manager, current champion of the genre. While Bundesliga Manager, the games German league equivalent, sells very well in Europe…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Henrik Nordhaus & Gerald K?hler GAME DEVELOPER:Ascaron GAME PUBLISHER:Ascaron Copyright 1997, Ascaron Outside Germany, the Ansto? (a.k.a. On the Ball) series is rather unknown. Which is a shame, because this is easily the best series of football (or for US residents: soccer) management series ever made,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Friends GAME DEVELOPER:Konami GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Anonymous One of the most loved arcade games of all time, Yie Ar Kung-Fu is a pioneer in the one-on-one fighting genre, a timeless classic that offers many innovative features that became standard. The game casts you as Oolong,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Michael Dowling GAME DEVELOPER:Typosoft GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Michael Dowling Super Sumo Wrestling 2002 is a great freeware QBasic game about sumo wrestling a sport not usually seen in games (non-Japanese ones, anyway). The game sports nice SD (shrunken anime characters) graphics, fun gameplay, and a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Codemasters GAME PUBLISHER:Codemasters Copyright 1997, Codemasters Micro Machines V3 is the last and arguably best in Codemasters underrated Micro Machines series. For anyone whos never heard of the game, the Micro Machines series is a top down mini-car racer reminiscent of older arcade games…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Phenomedia GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Deutsche BP Surfive is a fun surfing game Phenomedia developed as a promotional game for Deutsche BP. Anyone who has played California Games 2 will be familiar with how the game works: score points by performing moves on the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zigurat GAME PUBLISHER:Zigurat Copyright 1990, Zigurat Sito Pons is a fun isometric motorcycle racing game from Zigurat, a prolific developer who rarely released their games outside Spain. The game is simple: win the motorcycle tournament by being the fastest in any race. All you…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Graham Blighe GAME DEVELOPER:Audiogenic GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1994, Audiogenic Lothar Matth?us is a solid soccer simulation from Audiogenic, published by OCEAN. Despite bearing the name of one of Germany’s best players, the game’s scope is not as large as the likes of Champion Manager; instead, the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Really Interesting Software Company GAME PUBLISHER:GameTek Copyright 1994, GameTek Hole in One is a decent golf game by Really Interesting Software Company, published by GameTek in Europe. The game includes all the standard options that one would expect to find in computer golf games,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Rice GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Gamestar Copyright 1986, Gamestar One of the earliest games by Dynamix programmers, GFL Championship Football is a solid text-based simulation of the gridiron sport. The goal is simple: pick a team from NFL’s four geographic divisions and lead it to win…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Imagine GAME PUBLISHER:Teque Copyright 1994, Imagine Club Football: The Manager is a decent simulation of England’s soccer league. As manager of a Division 2 team (which you can select at the beginning), your job is to lead the team to Division 1 and finally…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Smith GAME DEVELOPER:Lytol Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Lytol Software The legendary drinking game played at fraternities across the U.S. has finally reached the gaming world. Beirut comes to the computer screen with all the fun of real life — without actually getting drunk or…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Cutter GAME DEVELOPER:Cinemaware GAME PUBLISHER:Data East Copyright 1991, Cinemaware ABC’s Wide World of Sport Boxing is essentially the same game as Cinemaware’s TV Sports Boxing, with the added chrome of Dan Dierdorf, sportscaster of ABC Sports channel. From my review of TV Sports Boxing on…