Three of My Favorite Traditional Sports Games of All Time

I typically don't enjoy traditional sports games. The idea of playing a yearly game that seems more like a roster upgrade with minimal changes isn't something that appeals to me. However, for every Madden 9,062, FIFA 825, and NHL 1,000,332, there are those sports games that do challenge my ideas of what a sports game could be.

Whether you're playing a real life sport, a video game sport, or even delving into some online sports betting like on sites like sport.netbet.co.uk (but only if you're of age for the last one), there's no doubt that sports are a popular pastime. This article will delve into a few of my favorite traditional sports games. As a modest fan of sportsball, these games somehow managed to excite me even with my passing interest.

Wii Sports Club (Wii U)

The original Wii Sports not only was a mega hit, but it was also an excellent tech demo for showing how versatile the Wii Remote could be. Sure, the controller's potential wasn't fully explored, but with Wii Sports, you got the feeling that the possibilities were endless. Wii Sports Club is a The Wii U remastering of all five sports from the Wii original: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing, and adds Wii MotionPlus controls to them, as well as some Wii U GamePad usage.

The initial digital-only drip-feed release of the individual sports wasn't the smartest approach to getting Wii Sports Club out, but eventually a retail release was launched... though good luck tracking down a used copy for an inexpensive price!

Regardless, the added precision that Wii MotionPlus afforded allowed for more accuracy-based gameplay. It mattered how you moved your wrist when you struck the tennis ball with your racket, or rolled the bowling ball down the alley.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (Wii)

While Rory McElroy is now EA's cover star for its PGA Tour games, I can't forget to mention my favorite traditional golf game ever released, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. I'm specifically talking about the Wii version, which because of the addition of Wii MotionPlus made it the definitive version for me. Two new swing modes were included with this 2011 installment: Advance Plus, which tracked one's swing direction, and Tour Pro, which was a first-person view with 1:1 Wii Remote and club controls. A nice bonus was that even if you couldn't get down the MotionPlus controls, the peripheral was merely optional, so you could play without worrying about which way your wrists were twisting.

Added on top of those two modes are three dozen miniature golf holes and a mode perfect for the college students and/or hipsters in your life: disc golf. This with all of the courses in the game from real world locations, competent commentating, multiple modes, and then-online play, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 still remains the definitive golf game to me.

Grand Slam Tennis (Wii)

While Grand Slam Tennis has a cartoon visual style to it, its gameplay is anything but unnatural. Using Wii MotionPlus, the tennis gameplay made sure you were precise and accurate with how you handled the Wii Remote to control your shots. Filled with all four Grand Slam locations, a fully fledged career mode, 23 players both current and retired, a Create-A-Player mode with multiple options to customize your own tennis all-star to the max, and what was then available, online play.