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May 11, 2010Thursday, May 13
May 13, 2010Excuse me dear friends, but I have an announcement to make – one that will shake the ground of column writing for years to come.
I have a problem and I think now is the time to discuss it with Casey’s Corner’s loyal following. (Especially now that I am an actual award-winning columnist and not just a self-proclaimed award-winning columnist.)
I’ve walked plenty enough episodes of “Celebrity Rehab” and “Walker Texas Ranger” to know that admittance is the first step to recovery, so here goes.
I’m addicted to video games.
Straight up, flat-out addicted.
And this addiction has been on going since I was probably about 6- or 7 years old. The problem has evolved over five different systems and it has cost me countless hours of time – time that brought me both the thrill of victory and (very few times) the agony of defeat.
But while admitting my problem, I figured I should take this time to try to help others.
Here is my list of 10 games to avoid if you don’t want your own addiction. Or in other words, here are the Top 10 sports video games of all-time.
Top 10 most addicting (best) sports video games of all-time:
10. “Tiger Woods 99” (PlayStation) – Until this game, never before had gamers seen a realistic golf simulation. There were golf games on the Nintendo and Super Nintendo, but they were more arcade-like. The Woods franchise has moved on and still exists today, but nothing will ever be quite like that first version to me, just because golf had officially arrived on gaming systems.
9. “Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball” (Super Nintendo) – This game cracked the scene when Ken Griffey Jr. was larger than life in the early ’90s. Like, we’re talking a Lebron James plus Drew Brees plus Oprah mixed in with a little bit of Zack Morris kind of big. Every kid idolized Junior, which made this console a huge hit. The game wasn’t licensed by the MLB, which is a drag, but there still truly is nothing like this game when it comes to baseball simulations.
8. “WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006” (PS2) – Wrestling video games are hit or miss. They are either absolutely great or just plain terrible. But this one was great as it featured a newer, simplified grappling style. John Cena, Randy Orton, Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock. Sounds like a recipe for something pretty awesome to me.
7. “Super Mario Kart” (SNES) – OK, don’t give me any of this Wii stuff. The only “Mario Kart” that exists in this dude’s eyes is the old school game where the graphics are poor, but the game is fun. This game is going on its 18th year and even to this day I play it and try to lead Bowser to the finish line over the always-overrated Mario Machine. This game is an absolute classic.
6. “NBA Jam” (SNES) – We all have wondered what would happen if Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen played 2-on-2 against Karl Malone and John Stockton. “NBA Jam” answered that question for me and everyone else in my generation growing up. There were no “rules” in the games, so the play sometimes looked more like football than hoops. But “NBA Jam” went a long way in established the marketing ability of video games. There isn’t a single arcade room in this country that will not have some version of this game in it.
5. “Tecmo Bowl” (Nintendo) – “Tecmo Bowl.” Say those two words around a bunch of college kids at a bar, and I promise you’ll hear some pretty fabulous stories. Even though you only had four offensive plays to pick from and the graphics were God-awful, there was no end to the fun involved in this game. My entire freshman farewell class in junior high school spent hours competing for the Super Bowl – while in class. Productivity shoots to an all-time high when a teacher tells you Nintendo is awarded to those who finish their homework early.
4. “Madden 2005” (PS2) – You could nominate any given version of the Madden series to this list. I, personally go with the 2005 version. You probably remember this version as the first one in the series with the passing cone that made quarterbacks shun off defenders to be able to throw that perfect touchdown strike.
3. “Mike Tyson’s Punchout” (Nintendo) – Ah, alas we get to “Punchout.” Where Soda Popinski is a world-renown fighter and where everyone knows to always punch King Hippo in the stomach. There was always intrigue surrounding this game, because I don’t know if anyone has ever beaten the final character, Mike Tyson. But it surely was fun beating up Piston Honda, Glass Joe and Bald Bull along the way.
2. “Track and Field” (Nintendo) – The stakes are always high and the competition gets fierce anytime you break out the old Track and Field console. This game is the simplest of simple, but you’d be surprised how fierce things get when it’s a high-speed race to see who can press the A button the most times in 10 seconds.
1. “NBA Live 1997” (PlayStation) – And the last game on my list is “NBA Live 97.” This was the first game of the “Live” series that made it onto the PlayStation platform and it was truly something special. From in-game stats to realistic gameplay and the introduction of season mode and playoffs mode, this game changed the way video games are both made and played today.
Stay away. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
