Top 10 Sports Games Worth Reviving

There have been a lot of sports games over the years, and many of them have fallen to wayside thanks to the business of exclusivity and licensing. Others simply vanished, despite fan cries for new entries. Here are ten sports games worth reviving….

Burnout

What happened to Burnout? It’s been a full seven years since we saw the last retail iteration of the franchise in the form of Burnout Paradise. I have fond memories of racing and crashing into my friends in middle school, and Burnout Paradise was a great return to form with some interesting changes that sold well enough.

We might not have to wait too long on this one, however. While it seems like EA might not be interested in continuing the series at the moment, there is hope. Back in October, IGN reported that a spiritual successor might be on the way from Criterion co-founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry. I’d kickstart the hell out of that.

NBA Street

 I still remember seeing commercials for NBA Street 3 with the cast of Mario. Yeah, it was goofy, but it was also kind of cool. Nowadays cameos are everywhere, but back then you didn’t see them very often. Of course, the series itself wasn’t bad either. Most of the games received very positive scores, including the last game in the series, NBA Street Homecourt which managed to score above 80 on Metacritic.

So why haven’t we seen a new NBA Street game? Your guess is as good as mine, but I think it’s ripe for a return.

MLB 2K

Nowadays when you talk about baseball games, The Show typically gets the spotlight. But for a while, there was also MLB 2K, and it was pretty damn good. It might not have been as good looking as The Show, especially later on as the series started to decline, but it was nice while it lasted and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Next time, though, let’s leave out the million dollar challenges.

Amped

 Remember Amped? You might not, unless you’ve been a big fan of Microsoft over the years. The series originally hit the Xbox in 2001 as an exclusive, and went on to spawn two sequels, only one of which made it to the Xbox 360.

Unfortunately Indie Built, the company which developed the first three games, is no longer around. With Microsoft scrambling for exclusives as the PS4 outperforms the Xbox One, I’d love to see Amped make a return on the Xbox One. I don’t have an Xbox One at the moment, but you can bet that I would if they released a new version of Amped.

Blitz

NFL Blitz has a special place for a lot of people — probably because of how violent it was — but while the series has made a return in the form of Blitz: The League and the sequel, it seems to have fizzled away leaving us without a violent football game that actually resembles the sport.

Oh, and forget about the reboot from 2012. It’s nowhere near as fun as the original, and as a downloadable game it doesn’t come close to being as good as The League. Really what I’m saying here is that I want more of The League. 

Tecmo Bowl

One of the earliest games on this list, Tecmo Bowl is another game that a lot of people miss. It’s also another game that went the downloadable route like NBA Jam and NFL Blitz. That seems to be the fate of most classic games these days. Why dedicate money to developing a game from the ground up for modern consoles when you can create something much simpler?

I’d like to see a real reboot of Tecmo Bowl, complete with modern gameplay. Nostalgia isn’t everything, and if they get a real team together, maybe something can happen. There just aren’t enough football games these days.

Motocross Madness

When I was younger, one of the games that I loved to play on the computer was Motocross Madness. While I didn’t have much of an idea as to what was going on in 1998, I later revisited the game to find out that it was just as good as ever. The coolest thing about it? Driving up the mountains to the edge of the map and getting sent flying backwards.

I know that the series made a quiet return in 2013, but it was pretty disappointing. A downloadable game with Xbox Live avatar support? That’s when you know you’ve gone wrong.

NCAA Basketball

It’s clear that people want more NCAA Football, but that’s not the only college sport that people are missing in the gaming circle. They’re also missing NCAA Basketball, and for good reason since there isn’t really anything comparable at the moment. The thing about college football is that it’s not like other sports. There aren’t multiple franchises for people to choose from, and it’s kind of a shame.

Skate

 If it weren’t for the disaster that was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, I would have put Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on this list. Instead, I’m going to put Skate. As much as I love the Tony Hawk franchise, THPS5 wasn’t exactly what anyone was expecting.

Skate, on the other hand, has a pretty flawless record despite the fact that EA shelved the series after Skate 3 in 2010. While I still prefer Tony Hawk, I own and appreciate every game in the Skate series.

It’s been five years, almost six. It’s time for a new Skate game.

NCAA Football

NCAA games have been absent since 2013, but if the response to my article on the subject that we published last weekend is anything to go by, people want more NCAA. Seriously, college sports are incredibly popular. Aside from the lawsuit and the obvious greed on the part of the NCAA and their schools, there’s no reason why the NCAA shouldn’t make a return to the gaming world.

That’s our list of ten sports games worth reviving, what are your picks? Let us know your list of sports games worth reviving in the comments or on social media.