Official licensing has been a major part of gaming’s sports genre for many years. It’s a fundamental reason why fans are happy to buy yearly installments of their favorite sports games, as attribute updates, player transfers, and updated kits are enough of a reason for many to make the purchase year after year. The future of licensing in sports games may be about to change though. EA Sports’ FIFA series, which is gaming’s most popular sports series by a huge margin, recently paid David Beckham £40 million ($53,416,000) to appear as an Icon in their games for the next three years. The issue with this is that the eye-watering sum has caught the attention of current players. Mino Railo, the agent of stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, has said that around 300 players may be taking legal action against EA over their likeness in the games.
This case could have huge ramifications on the future of sports video games, and if the case were to go ahead, official licensing in all sporting games could be called into question. Thankfully, the gaming industry has proven many times that licensing in sports games isn’t a necessity, and these games show that gameplay will always prevail as the most important feature in the genre.
10 Super Mega Baseball 3
Metalhead Software’s Super Mega Baseball series is quickly becoming a serious challenger to SIE San Diego Studio’s MLB The Show.
Despite the similarity in character models, Super Mega Baseball 3 doesn’t have any turbo or special moves like in NBA Jam. The gameplay has realistic physics, but with a simplistic playstyle that differentiates it from its MLB competitor.
9 SSX Tricky
EA Sports clearly took the extreme part of extreme sport seriously with their iconic over-the-top snowboarding game SSX Tricky. EA didn’t feel the need to worry about licensing with the niche sport, and instead implemented a set of characters bursting with charisma and personality.
Ubisoft had a crack at releasing a licensed snowboarding game in 2008 with Shaun White Snowboarding, though the game was poorly received.
8 The Everybody’s Golf Series
Formerly known in North America as Hot Shots Golf, the Everybody’s Golf series has had ten releases since the original game in 1997, with the most recent being Everybody’s Golf VR. The series utilizes the popular three-click system that many golf games implement.
The success of the series led Sony Computer Entertainment to release Hot Shots Tennis (also known as Everybody’s Tennis) in 2006, although the game struggled to impress and has a Metascore of just 70.
7 Wii Sports
Wii Sports is a strong contender for being the best launch title in gaming history. Sure, its objective quality doesn’t come anywhere close to launch titles Super Mario 64, Super Mario World, or Halo: Combat Evolved, but Wii Sports was incredibly important for the Nintendo Wii as it extinguished fears that the Wii’s motion controls were just a gimmick destined to flop like PlayStation’s EyeToy.
Although the variety of game modes are lacking and the gameplay is simplistic, Wii Sports was revolutionary in 2006 and is still great fun to play with friends today.
6 SEGA Soccer Slam
SEGA Soccer Slam is essentially FIFA if EA’s developers asked their children to pitch ideas for it. That isn’t meant as an insult, as Soccer Slam provides a fun alternative to the sport’s realism-focused games.
SEGA Soccer Slam was likely a big inspiration behind the GameCube’s Super Mario Strikers and Wii’s Mario Strikers Charged.
5 Super Stickman Golf 3
Considering that mobile gaming is inundated with unlicensed sports games, it would feel wrong not to include one on this list.
Like SEGA Soccer Slam, Super Stickman Golf 3 doesn’t worry about realism and instead aims to simply provide enjoyable gameplay. Noodlecake Games succeeded in this through its set of excellently designed, puzzle-like levels that earned the game a huge Metacritic score of 95.
4 Excitebike
Back in the days of the Atari 2600, and the NES, official branding wasn’t needed to sell games. Instead of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, there was simply Tennis (1984), Soccer (1985), and Golf (1984).
Excitebike was one of the NES’ highest-selling games and featured the simplistic yet addictive gameplay that the console’s sporting titles were known for.
3 The Pro Evolution Soccer Series
The success of the Pro Evolution Soccer series, formerly known in NA as the World Soccer Winning Eleven series, shows that a realistic sporting title can still be a commercial hit without licensing; as it’s the third highest-selling sports series in the world.
Konami has managed to secure some licensing here and there, such as the UEFA Champions League for a handful of games, as well as having a handful of licensed teams in each entry. But generally speaking, the games use fake kits, logos, and team names. Some of the older entries in the series even used fake names that inadvertently added cryptic puzzle solving to the series, as players had to work out that Snake Derick was Steven Davis or that Naldarinho was Ronaldinho.
2 Punch-Out!!
Despite originally releasing in 1987, the NES’ adaption of the popular arcade series Punch-Out!! is still considered to be one of the best sports games ever made. Although most iterations of the game are unlicensed, a licensed version of the game released with Mike Tyson as the final opponent in the suitably titled Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!.
The game is still as addictive today as when it first released and is available to play on the Nintendo Switch for online members with Mr. Dream as the final opponent.
1 Mario’s Many Sporting Ventures
Nintendo has carved their own spot in the sporting genre with their main-man, Mario, and friends, kindly inviting their arch-enemies to games of tennis, golf, soccer, and more.
Nintendo has dabbled in official licensing with their Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series which has featured Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, and most recently Tokyo 2020. However, the majority of Mario’s sporting ventures have been unlicensed with the strength of Nintendo’s cast of characters being more than enough to appeal to sports fans worldwide.
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