5 of our top sports games on Evercade

Sports games have been part of the gaming landscape ever since the very first video game systems, and the great thing about them is that in most cases you don’t need to be a huge fan of the actual sport to enjoy them. In fact, in many cases, particularly earlier in video game history, sports games have often been designed to be a fun video game first, an accurate simulation of the sport second.

So with that in mind, it’s time to delve into the Evercade library of sports titles and pick out five of our favourites. As always with articles like this, these by no means represent all of the available sports games on Evercade, so be sure to explore the rest of the library for yourself — you might just find a new favourite or two, particularly if you play with friends!

Pull on your boots and get ready to kick off (or equivalent), then — it’s time to get physical!

Super Dodge Ball

Hailing from the Technos Collection 1 cartridge, Super Dodge Ball is a highly accessible take on the sports game genre because it combines vaguely “formal” sporting competition with some ideas from other genres — specifically, the beat ’em up. Since it’s part of the Kunio-kun series that began with Renegade and continued with River City Ransom, this should be no surprise, but it still helps Super Dodge Ball stand out as a distinctive and highly enjoyable game, whether you’re playing solo or against a friend.

The rules and controls in Super Dodge Ball are easy to understand, but the depth comes from the tactics you’ll need to beat different opponents, along with the various special moves you can make use of on the court. There’s nothing quite like nailing a super shot and knocking your opponent into next week!

Awesome Golf

Awaiting your enjoyment on Atari Lynx Collection 1 is the excellent Awesome Golf, the first title from prolific Lynx developers Hand Made Software. Developed using painstaking research from the University of Salford and real-life golf professionals, the game blends realistic physics with arcade-style accessibility, making for an enjoyable round of golf, whichever of the three courses you choose to challenge.

While Awesome Golf does lack a few of the convenience features we get in today’s golf games — particularly those on the more arcadey end of the spectrum — it’s still simple to pick up and play, and offers plenty of long-term challenge as you compete to improve your best scores. Remember, in golf it’s the lower scores that are better…

Sensible Soccer

The Codemasters Collection 1 cartridge for Evercade plays host to one of the most beloved sports games of all time: the legendary Sensible Soccer, which was responsible for many a friendly rivalry back in the day. It still holds up brilliantly today thanks to its simple controls and massive customisability.

That latter aspect is still one of the best things about Sensible Soccer, because it means you can make your own teams and name all the players with your friends, family members, celebrity crushes or favourite Evercade staffers. It’s somehow infinitely more satisfying scoring an impressive goal with a player you named yourself rather than a built-in default!

Squash

One of several excellent arcade games on the Gaelco Arcade 2 cartridge for Evercade, Squash is particularly noteworthy for being an adaptation of a sport that we don’t often see in the digital realm. And that’s kind of strange, because the high-speed action of squash as a sport makes it ideal for video game adaptation.

Technically I guess there’s an argument to be made that classic “block-breaker” games are essentially squash at heart, but Squash is one of the only adaptations of the actual sport out there. Lucky it’s a good time then, eh?

Winter Games

The “Games” series of C64 sports games are classics with good reason: they offer a variety of different virtual sports to try, and are a ton of fun when played with friends. Winter Games, which can be found on the C64 Collection 1 cartridge for Evercade, is a great example of this, providing a selection of winter sports to explore and master, either solo or with up to seven other players.

The best thing about the “Games” series is that very few of them rely on the notoriously joystick-destroying waggling motion that typified many sports games of the period, particularly on home computer. Instead, Winter Games focuses on accuracy and timing rather than frantic D-pad manipulation, meaning that anyone can pick it up easily and get themselves to a competitive level.

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So those are our top picks for our favourite sports games on Evercade! Now it’s over to you — what are your favourite sports games on Evercade? Stop by on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or Discord and come tell us all about your top picks!