Category: Sports Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Lothar Schmitt GAME DEVELOPER:Blue Byte GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft Copyright 1990, Blue Byte Great tennis simulation by Blue Byte, offering nice gameplay, good graphics and sound (although lacking the samples and speech of the Amiga game), a great tournament mode, player profiles and very fun doubles matches.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Lothar Schmitt GAME DEVELOPER:Blue Byte GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft Copyright 1989, Blue Byte Released in 1989 by Blue Byte, Great Courts is one of the first really enjoyable tennis games on home computers. Sure, it doesn’t have the VGA graphics and the great variety of options you’ll…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Infogrames GAME PUBLISHER:Infogrames Copyright 1991, Infogrames Advantage Tennis is a fun tennis game by Infogrames that is a cut above average tennis games on the market. The idea is simple: starting at the bottom of top 100 players chart, you must defeat higher-seeded players…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Epyx GAME PUBLISHER:Infogrames Copyright 1987, Epyx The first hiking game ever made for the PC and also one of the most ambitious, Final Assault (a.k.a. Chamonix Challenge, older European release) attempts to simulate the experience of hiking Western Europe?s largest peak Mont Blanc from…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Edward Grabowski GAME DEVELOPER:Edcom GAME PUBLISHER:MicroProse Copyright 1995, Edcom Grand Prix Manager (GPM) is an excellent Formula One management simulation for Windows, one of the first commercial ones of its kind. GPM is not an F-1 driving game. Rather, it’s an F-1 *management* game. You don’t…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Box Office GAME PUBLISHER:Box Office Copyright 1989, Box Office Jaws is an ambitious shark hunting simulation based on the Steven Spielburg blockbuster movie of the same name. In contrast to most fishing games, the goal in Jaws is very narrow: hunt for big sharks…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1991, Accolade Mike Ditka Ultimate Football is a decent (American) football simulation, with the usual different play-modes such as single matches, play-offs and complete seasons. You also have the option to practice parts of the game, and there’s a tool…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mike Benna & Jeff Sember GAME DEVELOPER:MindSpan GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1994, Accolade Fourth entry in Accolade’s popular baseball series developed by MindSpan, a follow-up to HardBall III. HardBall IV features crisp SVGA graphics and the same HardBall-style gameplay fans have come to know and love. Aside…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mike Benna & Jeff Sember GAME DEVELOPER:MindSpan GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1992, Accolade The third game in Accolade’s famous baseball series, Hardball III was the first baseball game developed by Canadian company MindSpan for Accolade. The leap between Hardball II and this game is even much bigger…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Distinctive Software GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1989, Accolade Sequel to Accolade’s breakthrough Hardball baseball game, and first PC version in the long-running series that ended with Hardball VI. Unlike the later games which were designed by MindSpan, this one was developed by Distinctive Software. In…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Christian Bertrand GAME DEVELOPER:Microids GAME PUBLISHER:Microids Copyright 1990, Microids One of the most underrated sports games for the PC, Microids Super Ski 2 (marketed in the USA as Downhill Challenge by Broderbund) is a solid skiing game that offers a good variety of skiing events, graphics,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mike Benna & Jeff Sember GAME DEVELOPER:MindSpan GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1992, Accolade The Games: Summer Challenge is a worthy sequel to MindSpan/Accolades classic Winter Challenge, this time based on Summer Olympics games. Similar to its predecessor, Summer Challenge lets you compete in 8 different events, each…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mike Benna & Jeff Sember GAME DEVELOPER:MindSpan GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1991, Accolade Despite being more than a decade old, The Games: Winter Challenge remains today one of the best winter sport games ever made. In the same spirit as the popular Epyx sports series, Winter Challenge…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Compile GAME PUBLISHER:Compile Copyright 1998, Compile Blitz Try is yet another excellent anime action game from Compile, one of Japan?s best-kept secrets 😉 Your goal: race three laps around a platform-style side-scrolling course against computer-controlled characters. As one can expect from Compile, the graphics…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Will Harvey GAME DEVELOPER:Sandcastle GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1988, Will Harvey Zany Golf is a great miniature golf game that even today ranks as one of the best games of its kind. It?s worth noting that the game was designed by Will Harvey, one of Electronic…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mark Edwards GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Gamestar Copyright 1988, Gamestar Perhaps the most obscure Dynamix game ever, Pete Rose Pennant Fever is a ground-breaking baseball simulation that sets the stage for the likes of EAs Earl Weaver Baseball series. Endorsed by the Cincinnati Reds famous baseball player…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bruce Carver GAME DEVELOPER:Access Software GAME PUBLISHER:Access Software Copyright 1988, Access Software Although a fairly primitive golf simulation, World Class Leader Board is notable as the true precursor of Access Software breakthrough Links golf series. Among its long list of innovations, the game uses RealSound to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andreas Seebeck GAME DEVELOPER:Starbyte GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1990, Starbyte Tie-Break is a fun top-down view tennis game by Starbyte. Quite addictive, and the only tennis game I know that uses a top-down view– very unusual for its genre. There are many options in addition to fluid…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bubble Bus GAME PUBLISHER:Alternative Copyright 1987, Bubble Bus Awesome Earl in: Skate Rock is a fun CGA side-scrolling skating game that is reminiscent of Atari?s classic Paperboy arcade game. Nothing extraordinary here, but solid gameplay should keep Paperboy fans happy. The graphics are sharp,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:OCEAN GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1993, OCEAN A decent golf simulation of the famous tournament of the same name, Ryder Cup Golf is long on ambition, but short on actual delivery. True to the actual Ryder Cup, the game lets you play as US or…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Micro League GAME PUBLISHER:Micro League Copyright 1991, Micro League Micro League Baseball series are surprising little games for their time that sport graphics and gameplay improvement with each new version. The games offer a selection of history’s most powerful teams and you can pit…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Micro League GAME PUBLISHER:Micro League Copyright 1992, Micro League Micro League Football Deluxe Edition is another solid football simulation that follows Micro League’s notoriety of giving their games confusing names. This is actually version 1.5 of the Micro League Football engine, with identical graphics…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Eddie Dombrower GAME DEVELOPER:Mirage Graphics GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1991, Eddie Dombrower One of the best baseball series ever made, Earl Weaver Baseball nevertheless was very short-lived– only 2 were released in the span of 5 years. In every respect, both games are pioneers of the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Gremlin GAME PUBLISHER:Gremlin Copyright 1995, Gremlin Third in Gremlin’s effort to dislodge Championship Manager from the throne of soccer management games (SMG), Premier Manager 3 is a good try that unfortunately falls short in many areas, particularly unrealistic match results. Excerpts from Tim Chown’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Mindscape GAME PUBLISHER:Mindscape Copyright 1996, Mindscape Pool Champion is a unique and innovative pool simulation that unfortunately suffers in the marketplace from the mere fact that Celeris/Interplays Virtual Pool is technically superior and better-marketed. The idea behind the game is original, and is one…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roger Damon GAME DEVELOPER:Interstel GAME PUBLISHER:Interstel Copyright 1989, Interstel In Reel Fish’n you play the owner of a small business who is trying to juggle work with his hobby of fishing. At the start of each week, you examine the weather forecast and decide when to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Geoff Brayford GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous GAME PUBLISHER:Anonymous Copyright 1986, Geoff Brayford In September 1983, the whole of Australia was in a state of jubilation after Australia II ended the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year domination of the America’s Cup. This was clearly the inspiration for this little…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Sensible Software GAME PUBLISHER:MicroProse Copyright 1989, MicroProse Also known as Keith Van Eron’s Pro Soccer (that one was published by MicroPlay, a MicroProse label). MicroProse Pro Soccer is a decent conversion of Sensible Software’s C64 classic MicroProse Soccer. The conversion was done by Designer…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Sterling Silver GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1990, Sterling Silver PGA Tour Golf is an excellent oldie golf game by EA. Although technically not as amazing as Access’ Links, which (unfortunately for EA) came out around the same time, but PGA Tour Golf offers a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Tunnell GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Gamestar Copyright 1989, Dynamix Nice motocross racing game by Dynamix, designed by Jeff Tunnell of The Incredible Machine and Heart of China fame. Offers you the choice to practice or race a whole season on ten tracks in all. Many aspects…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Condor Software GAME PUBLISHER:Infogrames Copyright 1994, Condor Software Planet Football is an ambitious soccer game that tries to beat EA’s classic FIFA Soccer, but falls short in many areas, most notably poor player controls and inexplicable AI quirks. The game is only good enough…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Rage Software GAME PUBLISHER:Rage Software Copyright 1991, Rage Software Rage’s first entry in the Striker series is an ambitious soccer game that boasts smooth graphics, but with no element of excitement. Gets the red card for lack of playability. In short, Striker is a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Csaba Rozsa GAME DEVELOPER:Anonymous GAME PUBLISHER:Anonymous Copyright 2000, Csaba Rozsa Elasto Mania is not a racing game, nor is it a motorbike simulation. Rather, Elasto Mania is a very clever combination of these two. And more. If you really want to put a term on this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Diamond Edge GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1986, Diamond Edge One of Electronic Arts’ oldest sport releases and one of the few sports simulations it ever published, Radio Baseball is a solid baseball simulation from the now-defunct Diamond Edge Software. Despite its age, the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Distinctive Software GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1991, Distinctive Software Nice 3D racer from Canadian racing game experts Distinctive Software. Features a fun career mode and a nice selection of different tracks and cars from Sprint Cars, Stock Cars to Formula One and Indy racers.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Domark GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1993, Domark Campo’s International Rugby is a great, and largely unknown, rugby game that is endorsed by David “Campo” Campese, Australian rugby legend, who has set up his own management company after retiring from the game in 1999. Campo’s fans…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Grand Slam GAME PUBLISHER:Grand Slam Copyright 1993, Grand Slam Nick Faldo’s Championship Golf is a very ambitious golf game that suffers from a very clunky user interface, lack of variety, and too much focus on realism at the expense of playability. Any golf fan…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Konami GAME PUBLISHER:Konami Copyright 1993, Konami Football games that convey the action on the gridiron with digitized footage from real matches typically fall short off the mark, and Konami’s NFL Video Pro Football (VPF) is no exception. Although a sequel of sort to 1992’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stanley Chow GAME DEVELOPER:Distinctive Software GAME PUBLISHER:Brderbund Copyright 1990, Distinctive Software One of the best driving games ever made, period. Also known as 4D Sports Driving (European Mindscape release), Stunts is a fun 3D stunts racing simulator that comes with an outstanding track editor. For a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Spectrum Holobyte GAME PUBLISHER:Spectrum Holobyte Copyright 1990, Spectrum Holobyte Stunt Driver is an oldie stunt car simulation by Spectrum Holobyte featuring a 1966 Shelby Mustang ready for you to drive to perfection. The game is very similar to Distinctive Software’s Stunts both in game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Christopher Gross GAME DEVELOPER:Brderbund GAME PUBLISHER:Brderbund Copyright 1989, Brderbund A great classic air hockey game, probably better known on the Amiga and Macintosh. The game principle is simple: it’s futuristic air-hockey controlled with the mouse. What I like most about it is the obvious love that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tom Loughry GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1992, Accolade Fairly good formula one racing simulator that comes with a handy track designer. Unfortunately, it was released around the same time Geoff Grammond released his racer Formula One Grand Prix, which made everything else look like a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ned Martin GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1992, Accolade Signature Edition is a vastly superior follow-up to Accolade’s classic golf sim Jack Nicklaus’ Unlimited Golf. The in-game graphics were improved overall, though the golfer graphics and animations look a bit grainy. There’s also a new tournament…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ned Martin GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1990, Accolade Follow-up to the first Jack Nicklaus by Accolade. Back in the time of its release in 1990, there were three golf games competing for the passionate computer golfer’s heart: Links by Access Software, PGA Tour Golf by…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ned Martin GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1988, Accolade Accolade’s oldie golf simulation with one of the longest game titles in computer game history, Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf (whew!) was instantly hailed as a classic when it was first released in…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Robin Antonick GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1991, Robin Antonick Follow-up to John Madden Football, JMF II improves upon the classic with decent VGA graphics, ADLIB music, and overall much nicer presentation. Quite an in-depth sports sim for its time, although nowhere near as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Robin Antonick GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1989, Robin Antonick Old american football simulation co-designed by famous sportscaster John Madden. The first game in EA’s long-running Madden series. I guess different versions of this game have been available on almost every platform – with…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Krisalis GAME PUBLISHER:Krisalis Copyright 1995, Krisalis Manchester United – The Double is successor of Krisalis’ well-regarded Manchester United Premier League Champions, and arguably the best in a Manchester United-licensed trilogy that began with Manchester United Europe. Third time is indeed the charm, as Krisalis…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Sean Callahan GAME DEVELOPER:Rocket Science Games GAME PUBLISHER:Segasoft Copyright 1996, Rocket Science Games One of the most original futuristic sport games ever made, Rocket Jockey is undoubtedly the best game Rocket Science produced in their short career as game developer. Unfortunately, its very steep hardware requirements…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kanna Yoshihiro GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Kanna Yoshihiro Of all sports, table tennis has rarely been the subject of computer version. Sure, there’s Pong and Arkanoid, which feature simplistic hit-ball-with-paddle action, and then there’s also Shufflepuck Cafe and similar air hockey games. But a…