Category: Sports Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kevin Toms & Paul Robson GAME DEVELOPER:Addictive GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Addictive Definitely one of the most famous Spectrum games ever made, Football Manager is arguably the game that single-handedly invented the whole SMG genre — soccer simulation games that simulate focus on the managerial aspects…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Unique Development Studios (UDS) GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Unique Development Studios (UDS) The Patrick Polly Swooshball Challenge is an innovative, but ultimately banal, blend of tennis and Pong, mixed with elements of air hockey. Played in the style of tennis, your objective is simply…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Psygnosis GAME PUBLISHER:Psygnosis Copyright 1997, Psygnosis Riot is a unique and fun 3D futuristic sport game that plays like a cross between basketball, football, and hockey. The game plays a bit like Bitmap Brothers classic Speedball upgraded for the new millennium, although the controls…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Procyon Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Procyon Productions I like fishing in the summer. If it’s peaceful and quiet fishing by yourself on a lake, or some true seabound fishing with a large boat, it is nice way to spend time. What I don’t…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:SEGA GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1997, SEGA In the PC hoops stakes, EA Sports? NBA Live series has ruled the roost for a long time now, and even though NBA Live 98 is a real doozy, there?s always room for some healthy competition. NBA Action…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Crystal Dynamics GAME PUBLISHER:Crystal Dynamics Copyright 1996, Crystal Dynamics Slam n Jam is a decent, little-known PC port of the 3DO arcade-style basketball game, which was in turn unofficially based on Konamis classic arcade game Run & Gun (the similarities between the two games…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Eric Undersander GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Eric Undersander Hover is an excellent freeware hover racing game that features excellent 3D terrain, fluid animaiton and physics, although unfortunately it only has one track since the promised “full release version” never came out. In Hover, you…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Martin Edmondson GAME DEVELOPER:Reflections Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Psygnosis Copyright 1996, Psygnosis Destruction Derby 2 is the arguably superior sequel to the original Destruction Derby that offers more of the same no-holds-barred action and mayhem with new tracks and many improvements and features not seen in the original,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Slingshot GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Slingshot Virtual Stratton is an excellent freeware snowboarding game created to promote the town of Stratton in Vermont, USA. For once, the official blurb is not hyperbole: “Stratton provided the mountain and Slingshot provided its expertise in building video…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Psygnosis GAME PUBLISHER:Psygnosis Copyright 1996, Psygnosis Definitely one of the best futuristic racing games ever made, Wipeout XL not only once again cements Psygnosis’ reputation as the powerhouse of action genre, but also introduces many novelties to the genre. The game takes place 97…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Risto Remes GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Risto Remes Eastside Hockey Manager is a great NHL management game. A true work of love, it took almost 2 years to be released – and all the effort shows off when you get to play it. There…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chris Foster GAME DEVELOPER:Raven Software GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1996, Raven Software Necrodome is an excellent futuristic sport game that is ranks among Raven Softwares most underrated titles. The description on the games official page says it all about what makes the game original,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zipper Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Viacom Newmedia Copyright 1997, Viacom Newmedia Death Drome is a fun, although a bit simplistic, futuristic first-person action/sport game that deserves much more attention than it received. The plot, set in a far future, is nothing special: the year is 2057,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bruce Le Feaux & Ian Davison GAME DEVELOPER:Flair GAME PUBLISHER:Flair Copyright 1992, Flair Winter Supersports 92 is a fun winter sports game from Flair that deserves much more notice that it received (the game was never released in the U.S.). While not nearly as polished as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Acclaim Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Acclaim Entertainment Copyright 1995, Bally Midway WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game is an excellent conversion of the popular Bally Midway arcade game of the same name. In contrast to some earlier duds such as Judge Dredd, Acclaim got itself together this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Martin Edmondson GAME DEVELOPER:Reflections Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Psygnosis Copyright 1995, Psygnosis Destruction Derby is an excellent carnage-cum-racing game in the same vein as Carmageddon. The goal is not only to win, but to total your enemies while surviving yourself. The pure racing aspects of Destruction Derby are…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Antonio Farina GAME DEVELOPER:Graffiti GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1995, Graffiti Screamer is a great arcade racer in the style of Namco’s Ridge Racer or Sega’s Daytona USA – though way better than the PC conversion of the latter one. From MobyGames? description: ?Screamer is a traditional…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Evan Robinson & Paul Reiche III GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1986, Evan Robinson & Paul Reiche III World Tour Golf is a solid oldie golf sim by Electronic Arts, co-designed by Paul Reiche III (Archon, Starflight). The game lets you play over a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Kaemmer GAME DEVELOPER:Papyrus Design Group GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1989, Papyrus Design Group Indianapolis 500 is the first racing game by Papyrus Design Group, designers of modern-day classics like NASCAR Racing and IndyCar Racing. It’s basically an excellent 3D simulation of the 25-mile Indianapolis 500.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Hoffman GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Paul Hoffman Carvin is a freeware snowboarding game for DOS that is fast, fun, and very easy to learn. Your goal in game is to clear through 10 hills, while scoring points by collecting ‘tokens that are scattered…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Spinnaker GAME PUBLISHER:Spinnaker Copyright 1990, Spinnaker One of the earliest baseball games ever made for PC, Spinnaker’s Major League Manager manages to convey both the excitement of the sport and the coaching challenge with nothing but text and ASCII characters. Similar to EA’s Radio…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jon Hilliard GAME DEVELOPER:Core Design GAME PUBLISHER:Core Design Copyright 1995, Core Design Scottish Open is a decent golf game from Core Design. The first entry in the short-lived “Core Sports” label, the game offers armchair golfers a chance to compete in one of the world’s oldest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Celebrity GAME PUBLISHER:Celebrity Copyright 1992, Celebrity A decent cricket game by Celebrity Software featuring one of the world’s most popular cricket player, Ian Botham’s Cricket offers good graphics and gameplay but is bogged down by a cumbersome interface (not to be confused with a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:GraphitX GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, GraphitX Freeride Earth is an excellent, albeit very limited, 3D snowboarding game from a French outfit GraphitX, who is looking for publisher for their games. First released in 1999, the current version (3.0) is a marked improvement over the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bethesda Softworks GAME PUBLISHER:Bethesda Softworks Copyright 1992, Bethesda Softworks One of the best hockey simulations ever made, Bethesda Softwork’s Hockey League Simulator 2 allows you to design and manage your own customized league, or create current or classic leagues from the past. There are…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Garth Hitchens & Mark Madland GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1988, Garth Hitchens & Mark Madland Follow-up to One on One from 1983. Another basketball game based on the televised “one-on-one” basketball exhibitions of the 60’s, this time featuring Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Eric Hammond GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1983, Eric Hammond Oldie basketball game based on the televised “one-on-one” basketball exhibitions of the 60’s, featuring Julius Irving and Larry Bird. One of EA’s first games, the C64 version was one of the biggest hits in…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:US Gold GAME PUBLISHER:US Gold Copyright 1993, US Gold An okay game based on the 1994 Winter Olympics tournament at Lillehammer, Winter Olympics by US Gold includes a decent variety of events, but not nearly as good as Accolade’s better-known-although-without-official-license Winter Challenge. The graphics…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Colin & Jeff Nauman GAME DEVELOPER:Game Refuge GAME PUBLISHER:US Gold Copyright 1994, Game Refuge A fun cartoonish rally game that emphasizes quick fun over realism, Power Drive from Game Refuge offers a nice variety of tracks, cars, and reasonable car physics to keep rally fans…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Action Games GAME PUBLISHER:Micro League Copyright 1994, Action Games Sequel to Quarterpole and one of the last games Micro League released, Hooves of Thunder is a very comprehensive simulation of horse racing sport that rivals Virgin’s classic Sport of Kings in playability, realism, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chris Klug GAME DEVELOPER:Diamond Dreams GAME PUBLISHER:Diamond Dreams Copyright 1995, Diamond Dreams In the days before complex computer simulations of baseball there was tabletop baseball, with each player assigned a card of probabilities. In the mid-1980s, Pursue the Pennant came along to challenge the two top…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Tengen GAME PUBLISHER:Tengen Copyright 1991, Tengen Race Drivin is a terrible PC version of a fun arcade game of the same name, which itself is a clone of Ataris superior Hard Drivin series. In short, choose from four different cars and three different tracks…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Stormfront Studios GAME PUBLISHER:Stormfront Studios Copyright 1995, Stormfront Studios Oldtime Baseball is one of those rare games that succeeds in spite of its many flaws. Born as a two-disk roster patch for Tony LaRussa Baseball III, Oldtime Baseball was later released as a stand-alone…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zeppelin Games GAME PUBLISHER:Zeppelin Games Copyright 1993, Zeppelin Games Probably the worst game from UK’s Zeppelin Games, World Cricket is an abysmal representation of the sport. Despite good graphics that are up to Zeppelin’s usual standards, the gameplay is too superficial and flawed to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Pete Pavich GAME DEVELOPER:Novotrade GAME PUBLISHER:Konami Copyright 1993, Novotrade Wilson ProStaff Golf is a hugely underrated golf game by Novotrade, published by Konami. It is unfortunate that the game is not as well know as big-budget titles such as Links or Jack Nicklaus series, because Wilson…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Mastertronic GAME PUBLISHER:Mastertronic Copyright 1987, Mastertronic Pub Pool is a unique “coffee break” pool game from Mastertronic. In contrast to other serious pool simulations, the idea behind Pub Pool is simple: shoot six pool balls into each corner of a hexagonal pool table, using…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Archer Maclean GAME DEVELOPER:Virgin Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1991, Virgin Interactive Excellent snooker simulation by Archer Maclean, one of the best known designers among Amiga lovers. The Amiga Games Database’s review summarizes the high points of this revolutionary snooker game that set new standards for…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Timo Kauppinen GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous GAME PUBLISHER:Anonymous Copyright 2001, Timo Kauppinen Definitely one of the best racing games ever made, bar none, Slicks n Slide is a living proof that games dont have to be 3D accelerated or take up 640MB of space to be addictive and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Archer Maclean GAME DEVELOPER:Virgin Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1992, Virgin Interactive Archer Maclean?s Pool is an excellent follow-up to Jimmy White?s Whirlwind Snooker, which he also designed. The review at Amiga Games Database says it all about this rare underdog: “Archer Maclean had a success…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bullfrog GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1995, Bullfrog One of the most overlooked titles from Bullfrog, Hi-Octane is a fun futuristic racing game that is rumored to begin life as something several Bullfrog programmers coded just for fun ? which probably explains why its concept…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Futura GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1992, Futura Best of the Best is an excellent but little-known sequel to Futuras outstanding Panza Kick Boxing. It was curiously released with the subtitle Championship Karate in some countries, despite the fact that the game is still about kick…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Invictus GAME PUBLISHER:Codemasters Copyright 2001, Invictus Insane is a racing game developed by Invictus and published by Codemasters. I have decided to compare it to a more well known game, which also happened to be released at the same time as Insane – 4×4…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1990, Loriciel Probably the most obscure Loriciel game ever made, Paragliding (a.k.a. Paraplane) is a fun simulation of gliding sport perhaps the only one ever made for the computer except for the fun paragliding event included in Epyx California Games…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Hammer Technologies GAME PUBLISHER:Hammer Technologies Copyright 1998, Hammer Technologies Tie Break Tennis 98 is a fun 3D tennis game that was unfortunately only marketed in Europe. The game combines both simulation and arcade elements into an excellent package, with a strong 3D engine to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Fifty1 Software GAME PUBLISHER:Fifty1 Software Copyright 2001, Fifty1 Software Designed by a team of husband and wife curlers, Granite is probably the worlds best computer version of curling, one of the more niche winter sports that became an official Winter Olympics sport in 1998.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeform Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Freeform Interactive One of the best freeware action games ever made, G-Sector is a sharp-looking, knuckle-blistering, action-filled futuristic sports game that plays like a cross between rollerblading and gladiator combat. The objective of the game is to zip…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Iridon GAME PUBLISHER:Iridon Copyright 2000, Iridon “Get down to some really playable football” and “The world’s most playable football game” are the key phrases to this 3D Sensible Soccer clone. Is it good? Yes and No. Yes because the game really gets that “kick,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Melbourne House GAME PUBLISHER:Melbourne House Copyright 1987, Melbourne House An old, thoroughly average darts game from Melbourne House, originally released for the Amstrad computers. World Darts lets you play — surprise!– darts in a solo mode. In contrast to the usual power-meter interface, this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Distinctive Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1992, Compaq A relatively rare version of Mindscape’s classic tennis game 4D Sports Tennis, Compaq Grand Slam Tour is identical in every respect except for digitized photos of real-world courts that make up the Grand Slam (Wimbledon, US Open,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Inside Team GAME PUBLISHER:Flair Copyright 1994, Inside Team Rally Championship is a decent rally racing sim from Inside Team, published by Flair in 1994. The game’s strengths lie more in the excellent choice of cars and racing locales than actual car physics. The goal…