What Sega-developed Sports Games Are Worth Playing Today? - Segadrunk

[1:02] Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf
[2:04] Tommy Lasorda Baseball
[2:44] Pat Riley Basketball
[3:12] World Championship Soccer
[3:40] Ayrton Senna’s Super Monaco GP II
[4:21] Mario Lemieux Hockey
[4:56] Buster Douglas Knock Out Boxing (Taito)
[5:32] Joe Montana series (EA)
New SNES-related video every Tuesday, and a Steam/Game Boy/NES/Genesis video in that order every Thursday. Follow me on Twitter to keep up. / snesdrunk
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[@Rockchisler]

Man listen when I heard that Joe Montana and announcer was talking I was like so amazed. I bought my Genesis in 1993 freshman year in college the first two games I bought were team USA and Joe Montana sports talk 93. I was skipping class and staying up late at night to play this game that’s why took me so long to graduate from college ha ha.

[@nostalgiacrt7045]

I agree, Joe M2 Sports Talk was a Christmas present and I loved it,! So much fun!

[@theSato]

Joe Montana Sports Talk football was a game changer when it came out, having an actual play-by-play narration of the game as it unfolds was truly special

[@Rockchisler]

Sato It was like magic.

[@joesmith5159]

madden was so much better my fond memory of the game was buying it on the day of the bills playoff come back against the oilers in 1993 the game was not on when i got home i played the game while listening to the bills game on the radio after they were down 35-3 i shut the radio off and only played the game a bit later i turned the game on and they were starting to come back when down only a td i shut the game off and listened to the radio as if they were announcing a war had just started lol

[@b3bparker88]

@@joesmith5159 oh yes I remember that playoff game , the game when Warren Moon did a choke job

[@chrisosullivan9803]

you know i would of disagreed a while ago but now I see what you're saying as this was a point to where games really evolved

[@cj694x2]

Absolutely loved World Series Baseball. Back then, it was the first baseball game I ever played that felt like they tried to simulate the actual game rather than make a silly arcadey version of it.

[@DustinNuttall]

NFL 94 Starring Joe Montana was the best football game for the Genesis.

[@Tictac-s2e]

Moogle Midgar Hi, you silly human. Maybe this will help. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Football_%2794_Starring_Joe_Montana?wprov=sfla1

[@teh9860]

meh i think the original Joe Montana Football was the best.

[@rodrigoaraya7553]

Dude that game was awesome, I had it when I was a kid....good memories

[@blackhawksfan2525]

@Moogle Midgar I hope you're joking. '94 was the best of the Joe Montana series, by far. In the prior releases it was almost impossible to complete a forward pass.... they fixed that in '94. They also made a college football version called College Football's National Championship. Exact same gameplay with I think about 40 real college football teams, with rankings, stats, etc.

[@sweetpetergeda]

Yea it was

[@Forlorn79]

"Breaks a tackle! Makes a move! I can't believe it!"

[@ValkyrieTiara]

Sacked back! To the. Twenty! Yard line.

[@steveafanador6441]

It's first down and I can't believe it. LMFAO 😂😂😂😂

[@marccaselle8108]

Speak and spell football

[@marccaselle8108]

"I can't believe it's not butter!" Lol

[@padraic773]

"1st down and Goal. The kicking team comes on-I-can't-believe-it. It's a fake. He's got daylight. Into the endzone."

[@supersexysega]

None of the "Sega Sports" games were mentioned which began in 93' and lasted well beyond the Genesis years. Here is a list of 1st party Sega sports games still worth playing today. Baseball- Sports Talk Baseball for your arcade fix (turn on auto fielding). The World Series Baseball franchise for your simulation fix. Football- NFL 94' Starring Joe Montana. Easily the best football game of the 16-bit era. Basketball- NBA Action 94 is worth a look. Not saying it is better then Live but it's a solid game and was the best basketball game until NBA Live 95'. Boxing- Greateat Heavyweights of the Ring. It improves on its prequel Evander Holyfield Boxing and is the best Boxing simulation of the 16-bit era. Tennis- ATP Championship Tennis. The best Tennis game of the 16-bit era. Awesome music, huge roster of real tennis players. Great mix of arcade and sim gameplay. Golf- Pebble Beach Golf Links solid sim style golf. Arnold Palmer Golf great early release arcade style golf game. Racing- Ayrton Senna Super Monaco GP II and Super Hang-On. Both awesome arcade style racers. Sega didn't make anything 1st party for Hockey or Soccer worth playing today or back then. Thankfully EA took care of that with Fifa and NHL series.

[@MrSBNE]

Greateat Heavyweights is a amazing game until this day...

[@chickenwings6172]

Dunb ass it says early sports games which means 1989 90 and 91.

[@Isoquant]

Best 16 bit sports: Basketball - NBA Jam TE (SNES/GEN) Football - (tie) Joe Montana NFL 94 (GEN) / Mutant League Football (GEN) Baseball - Ken Griffey Jr (SNES) Hockey - NHL 94 (GEN) Tennis - Super Tennis (SNES) Golf - Neo Turf Masters (NEO) Racing - Top Gear 2 (SNES) Boxing - Evander Holyfield Real Deal (GEN) Bowling - League Bowling (NEO) Soccer - International Superstar Soccer Deluxe (SNES)

[@MrSBNE]

Greatest Heavyweights and Super Monaco are great to

[@Ramjet164]

I believe Buster Douglas was a port of an arcade game called final blow.

[@darbizzlebacon]

I've been binging your reviews, and a notification just popped up for this video. I'm really enjoying them, and there are so many games that you talk about that no one ever mentions and that's awesome.

[@darbizzlebacon]

Also, the sprites in buster Douglas look like those boxing nun puppets

[@alexdestefano392]

Sports Talk Baseball is one of my favorite baseball videogames of all time. So much fun.

[@johnmp3828]

I’m playing this on my channel kzbin.info/door/1yDfxfdb7FfdsBhuUSPHUg

[@joesmith5159]

best sports game of all time i would rather play that than any game even today even with better graphics and advanced game play sports talk was better than the games that came after even today

[@redvenomweb]

Pat Riley Basketball was also available on NES as Ultimate Basketball, and Mario Lemieux Hockey was available on the Atari Lynx as Lynx Hockey.

[@DavidJay00]

OMG I played sooo much Joe Montana football when I was a kid...almost forgot about it but as soon as it popped up on this video I was transported to the early 90's! Really cool, thanks for all these awesome nostalgic videos dude!

[@LegallyInsaneGamer]

Awesome vid bro! I never got into SEGA sports games (and im a HARDCORE retro gamer). Was big into SNES only so this is all new to me!

[@dy120481]

It's hard to overstate just how impressive Buster Douglas was visually when it first came out.

[@SNESdrunk]

Seeing just one second of footage in that Sega commercial made you say "Holy shit!" back then. But actually playing the game, they look SO goofy

[@chrisbidwell895]

The size of sprites is a major advancement from the 8 to 16 bit eras that is historically overlooked. The oversized golfer in Arnold Palmer is another great example.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

dy120481 honestly it always looked like crap to me..and when the greatest heavyweights cAme out....u was in boxing nirvana...I lost many sleepless nights and finger cells ..to that game

[@samfrito]

Agreed. Its a shame the port of Final Blow blows. Animation-wise it looks pretty great, but playing sheds that veneer quick.

[@TheRGuy]

Wait so there's technically a "Super Mario" game on the Genesis. That's blowing my mind, man.

[@thenostalgiafactor5023]

Total length of video: 456 secs. Total length of "SEGA Drunk": 3 secs. .66% of the video was spent listening to "SEGA Drunk".

[@jimthomas7594]

Good Video, i really liked the comparisons made between the systems, i always loved mike ditka power football growing up.

[@kentmaddox5714]

I might have to pick up a few of those games. Tournament Golf & Super Monaco GP II really caught my eye.

[@ChrisMosesMagnum]

Aw man, was hoping you would tackle Primetime NFL with this one. As a Dallas Cowboys fan, plastering Deion on the cover was enough for me to buy that as my first football game in 4th or 5th grade.

[@CampingMIG]

World Series Baseball was good.

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

I played the Christ on a cross out of Joe Montana II Sport's Talk Football back in the day. The two best plays in the game were the fake punt and fake field goal. I was a huge Bengals fan at the time (not sure why...my favorite animal when I was a kid was a tiger, so that's how superficial I was), so I hated owning a Joe Montana game, but it was fun as balls. Also, at 4:43 I think you meant "NHL '94". Wink. Smiley face.

[@goalscorerlajon]

The GREAT Lon Simmons on commentary in Joe Montana Sports Talk Football II!

[@redjed100]

Taito's name is actually pronounced “Tie-Toe.”

[@BubbafromSapperton]

That should be obvious to a 5th-grader... 🤣

[@TadashiNazuka]

Great Video.

[@matro951]

So many memories of tommy lasordasa baseball and buster Douglas boxing

[@johnreesor1450]

Joe Montana sports talk was pretty good. Me and a friend would play teammates against the cpu on hard. Fun times.

[@DoomRater]

For Genesis Boxing games, Greatest Heavyweights. Come on, you can make three different sizes of the Hulk. What's not to love about that? Maybe the parry system, I still can't figure out how to reliably maneuver the parry to the opposite side or from high to low like I can in Riddick Bowe Boxing.

[@baugh3162]

Whoa....Tom Brady is the Joe Montana of his time...Joe Montana didnt lose super bowls nor did he throw ANY interceptions in all 4 of them

[@baugh3162]

@Pine Barrens and lost 3 more than him

[@frankbeans5921]

World Championship Soccer was so good. Came with a multi game cart at one stage. GOAAAL!!!

[@KingDeeba]

when sega came out with 2k, ea had their tails between their legs for years

[@omnione12]

Joe Montana football didnt change to horizontal view in the second version. That was an option in the first one. The A.i. was slightly improved and rosters updated and game modes and color enhancement slightly better.

[@richardmartinez3078]

Haha "great catch" nice one

[@DoomRater]

When it comes to Golf games, I'm still very partial to NES Open. Hard to control that fast setting but man you could nail some crazy hole in ones if you did it.

[@jeremyc9593]

I've played a lot of golf games, and NES Open is definitely in my top 10, perhaps even top 5.

[@michaelfrost6503]

I think Montana II had a vertical option too, in addition to the horizontal field view

[@jasonmgomez]

it did.

[@goodguyty]

Originally, a game called Hard Yardage was supposed to carry the Montana name, but Sega couldn't close the deal into obtaining the rights to the game. The first Joe Montana was a sports game that was slapped together to appease those who were waiting for the game.

[@billbyers2344]

Joe Montana, the Tom Brady of his time. This patriots fan and fan of your videos approves! Keep up the good work, snesdrunk, your videos bring back really good memories of my youth (back when the patriots sucked, and nearly moved to St. Louis)

[@SNESdrunk]

Ah yes, who could forget the pre-Bledsoe days of guys like Hugh Millen and Tom Hodson?

[@forshigity5000]

Joe Montana was better than Brady

[@agentn8064]

Deion Sanders Prime Time Football was my jam as a kid

[@gmiku9533]

Im still looking for a specific superfam game i use to rent back in thr days when i use to live in dr it was honestly the best snes game

[@PhilMante]

Joe Montana 2 was NCAA football on the SNES.

[@seansimz7279]

Lol how did you come up with you intro sound? Its hilarious to me.

[@gp8229]

Cyberball was a fun game. I spent many hours on that one.

[@damin9913]

0:03 This is my favorite football game for the sega genesis it's quite fun❤

[@edwardcano5041]

2:44 Not one mention of the huge beachball being dribbled

[@mattsgamingcorner3058]

Will you make future SegaDrunk videos covering each group of Genesis games based off of every individual sport?

[@GeovaneSanciniSR]

A fun fact about Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II. It WASN'T Sega's idea to use Senna's image on the game. The pitch came from Tectoy, Sega's Brazilian Publisher. They heard that Sega was doing a sequel to SMGP and reached Sega to pitch the idea. Senna was popular on Japan, so it was a win-win situation.

[@jeroldstockdale]

The Joe Montana Sports Talk Football was incredibly broken. When you get the ball you can immediately call a fake punt (The announcer is amazing when you do this!) and you can connect with your guy for a touchdown just about every time. That being said, this is my memory from being a kid so this might not be as reliable as I remember it being.

[@TheRetroSportsGamer]

Great video! I wasn't too impressed with any of the games you were showing until Joe Montana II Sports Talk Football. I'm going to have to pick that one up and give it a go. Also, I think Mario Lemieux Hockey might be worth a pick up as well, since you say it kind of controls like Blades of Steel. Which game out of the games reviewed here do you think is the best?

[@SNESdrunk]

Definitely the 2nd Montana game

[@shirleebostrom7230]

Don't you dare Insult Joe Montana with Tuck Rule Brady!

[@marcolopez5443]

6:15 Sounds like Stephen Hawking commentating a football game. That was way cool back in the day...

[@apoena-allnitemusic7203]

I changed systems at the time (Mega drive to Snes) believing I was upgrading. And it felt like it. Snes is my favorite console. It surprises me now to learn Mega Drive was a more powerful system.

[@vanillagorilla6091]

NFL 95 is the jam. Mel Gray legend

[@vagrantlibertine]

I played that Monaco racing game, and it was pretty good. I didn't much care for racing games apart from F-Zero at the time, but the game you mentioned here was a welcome exception. The only thing the Genesis had over the Super Nintendo was a better processor, which leant itself to larger and more lifelike sprites on the screen. Super Nintendo had better hardware in every other capacity, and with the right games the differences between what each system can do is all too obvious. The Genesis processor lent itself really well to sports games and certain action games. :)

[@DHANK88]

I would of just said Joe Montana football 2 was a mix of Madden and Tecmo bowl lol

[@sixgunsal81]

Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf was the best golf game ever made.

[@gregbenoit6102]

Key word, was. And not for very long.

[@jasonmgomez]

Hispanics, man! I speak as one of the tribe. Gotta fight over EVERYTHING!

[@eagle___empire3175]

Montana Sports Talk was the shit back in the day

[@animemaster4861]

Yeah the guys pretty much right the only golf game on the NES worth playing is just the Black box NES golf where it's Mario

[@Swove2204]

Jerry Glanville’s Pigskin Footbrawl is the greatest video game sports title I’ve ever heard.

[@djqkronicles24]

Joe Montana was the Tom Brady of his time, LOL. No dude, tommy wishes he went 5-0 in Super Bowls.

[@SNESdrunk]

Montana won 4. Steve Young won #5

[@djqkronicles24]

4-0. 3 mvps.

[@SNESdrunk]

I'm a Vikings fan, the fuck do I care?

[@DustinNuttall]

SNES drunk We have issues then, because I'm the fan of the 13 time champs, the Packers 😂 #Rivals

[@proud90skid15]

Dustin Nuttall fuck does he care?

[@TGTK-FreeSpeech-]

IMO Tony LaRussa baseball was the best, most addictive baseball game on the Genesis.

[@gmiku9533]

Been lookinh for this game for over 11 years on god

[@apoena-allnitemusic7203]

Joe Montana was really cool

[@ghostface12258]

Can't believe Tony LaRussa baseball didn't make it on here

[@bonesjackson81]

Yeah it is true. Tho snes has my favorite baseball game the first Griffey. That extra speed of the Genesis shines in the NHL series and really most sports titles. Major win to Genesis = Mutant League Hockey and Football.

[@bonesjackson81]

Greatest Heavyweights, Sports Talk Baseball, NBA Action, also.

[@mileswacker8878]

Bones Jackson - yeah greatest heavyweights is the same but improved over Evander Holyfield. Late sega Genesis sports games video would be sweet like sports talk baseball, World Series baseball, nfl '95, all the ea sports games. By the way Joe Montana 1 was actually developed by ea, it's just a early madden game.

[@mattnova18]

So strange that EA developed the first Joe Montana football and John Madden football at the same time. You'd never see them do that now and sadly Madden is the ONLY NFL football anymore..... and lack of competition = lack of innovation

[@jayday716]

Jerry glanville pigskin football was the shit especially if u was gettin ya ass beat and they bring in the troll lol I love that game

[@samfrito]

Arnold Palmer Golf still is my favorite to this day. I don't know how, it just it. Lots of botched putts though

[@marccaselle8108]

I think its odd that 1/3rd of the Sega Genesis library are sports games, which explains why they are cheap as heck when you find them used.

[@Hektols]

I was a Genesis/Megadrive user but I never was interested in sports games, I'm surprised that it had more than the Super Nes.

[@KingDeeba]

that hockey game looks dope graphically. like you said, i would choose EA titles over this but it does look good and fun

[@jasonmgomez]

i could return a punt or kickoff for touchdown EVERY TIME on Montana football. Just did the Marcus allen, sideline to sideline run and the AI would fall in line behind me, no matter what player was returning.....

[@jimmypage9283]

Eriton Sayner? No way man!😃😃😃

[@ryansaunders65]

"Great Catch"...

[@animemaster4861]

Joe Montana sports talk to football I still play that. That one honestly is better than a lot of the earlier Madden titles for the Genesis and some of those ones for the NES besides tecmo bowl just usually don't match up to this one

[@marbman1990]

What was the racing game in the beginning? Before you actually started the list? It looks awesome!

[@SNESdrunk]

[3:40] Ayrton Senna’s Super Monaco GP II

[@marbman1990]

Thanks so Much! You're videos are awesome! Also, will you be doing a part 2 of Super Nintendo games that are better than the Sega Genesis equals? I Really enjoyed that one!

[@reidfamilydroid]

Can M2 and Sega publish this exact physical 3DS collection please!

[@chickenwings6172]

I have Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf I don't have Tommy Lasorda Baseball I do have Tony La Russa Baseball by EA. I have Ayrton Senna’s Super Monaco GP II I have the first game. I have Joe Montana series

[@timm_3r]

Coach K is still the best Sega sports game hands down.

[@MikeDest]

going back i kind of question if sports game really were better on Genesis or not.

[@zacharyminor9593]

I liked 1 and 2

[@SeekerLancer]

Most of the EA Sports games also ran better on the Genesis, though they started improving the programming on them in later years. The original 3 Madden games (only the first game and 93 are on the SNES) are especially superior on the Genesis. NHL 94 also beats out the SNES and then you've got the Mutant League games. Bill Walsh College Football 95 is also legendary and a Genesis exclusive. The later Sega Sports games like NFL Sports Talk 94 are also fantastic. The Super Monaco GP games are two of the best F1 themed games of the era if not the best (and the second was endorsed by one of the greatest racing drivers who ever lived). The Genesis really is the place to be for the 16-bit sports gamer, no contest.

[@oscarzxn4067]

For the time and in America, definitely, however I'd say the SNES does have a lot of great sports games that unfortunately stayed in Japan and Europe, especially in Soccer, Baseball, Tennis and Wrestling if you count that as a sport and with roms you can easily play them now no matter were you live. Some sports like American Football are definitely better on Genesis but in the bigger picture I'd say both are equally solid if you want to play sports games, depending on which sport at least

[@game84cube]

What about Wayne Gretzky Hockey?

[@predaking2wings]

Pleeeaaassse do a hidden gem for the genesis thanks a million if you get around to it!!

[@marccaselle8108]

Don't forget sports talk baseball.

[@bifftannen2062]

The original Montana is much better than part 2 (Sports talk football). The controls in Montana 2 were terrible with delayed reponses and the player running in place before he actually moves like the turf is a sheet of ice. The problem gets even worse on the close-up shots with bigger sprites. Part 2 looks ok but that's about it.

[@Regulus3333]

all the original NFL 2ks....still the best football game, to this day

[@NationalMan]

Not sure I would say they're still worth playing today but the sports games I enjoyed playing back then are - NBA Live 98 NBA Action 94 Jennifer Capriati Tennis (aka... Grand Slam Tennis is some markets... plus, it's not just girls only, you can play as a male character too) Tony La Russa Baseball 95 (the first TLRB was a good game too) Madden 98 Madden 92 Madden 93 PGA Tour Golf II Joe Montana Football (the first one) I really did not like the follow ups for Montana. While the "sports talk games" had all the bells and whistles, the actual gameplay was god-awful. And for Tennis, you really can't get much better than JCT but it was not the best 16-bit tennis game, that honor still belongs to Final Match Tennis for the Turbo Grafxs 16. In fact, I would say it's still worth playing and it is perhaps the best tennis game ever made. Although, if the first Montana game had all the plays in the sports talk games, it might actually still be worth playing today. That game was a lot of fun to play.

[@hockeyslade]

Slants in spirts talk joe Montana and college national championship were cheat plays among a couple run plays.

[@ernestbrown2687]

Classic footballgame

[@pyramidhead0420]

You destroyed that f1 drivers name :)

[@AlbertGriffiths]

Best fotboll game ever: Nintendo World Cup... Why ? You can "kill" the other teams players if you tackle them xD

[@Vapor_Man650]

What about Mario Andretti Racing for Sega

[@nateemond197]

Come on man...You didnt mention Mario Lemuix had fighting. You could do just fighting matches if you wanted. I had this and Tommy Lasorda as my first genesis games along with sonic and I remember hitting being hard unless you had a 3 4 and 5 hitter though. Never played Montana and one great game I do remember was Evander Holyfield boxing. God all I remember is sports games... Original madden (no year for it) on Sega was hilarious if you were the eagles. Their kicker was so bad you couldnt kick extra points most of the time.

[@slb6932]

You can score every time on Joe Montana Sportstalk Football when you go for a fake FG! Every time. Lol!

[@totalfugazi]

EA was king in that generation. NHL 94 , Fifa 95, NBA Live 95, John Madden 93, PGA Tour III, are all great games. The only Sega label game I liked was the original Joe Montana which was like you said actually developed by EA and was supposedly dumbed down at the last moment so not to outshine Madden.

[@fragmentalstew]

senn-nuh tie-toe

[@Davidjon1946]

Nothing was better for Sega Genesis especially sport games Sega Genesis had a Cheesy keyboard sound to it. Super Nintendo was just more fluent more thought out more enjoyable Super Nintendo does what Sega Genesis can't

[@diebesgrab]

Didn't Sega publish virtually all the J.League soccer games on Genesis/MD?

[@enigmathegrayman2953]

🎶Genesis does, you can’t do this on Nintendo🎶

[@TadashiNazuka]

Sega blew Nintendo out the water back then for everyone who wanted more.

[@Godzillafan1980]

GreAtest heavyweights BITCH best boxing game EVER