Theme week has returned to SBN and this week’s has to do with video games. I thought I’d keep it simple since I don’t play or really have any connection to video games anymore. In my younger days I used to love them. I was the target age when video games really exploded onto the scene in the early 1980s, so I used to be a bit of fanatic decades ago.  So, here is my favorite sports Video Game of All-Time. You can weigh in with yours in the comment section.

NHL ‘94 (Sega)

This is hands down my favorite sports video game of all-time. My platform at the time was the Sega Genesis and the only person I ever came across that was even close to me at NHL ‘94 was my older brother, Kevin. He was the only person that I ever lost to in this game. Thinking back, he might of won more of our head-to head battles than I did, but if he did it was close… real close. The difference between my big bro and I when it came to this game was that I took my talents to the streets. I literally never lost a game of NHL ‘94 (or NHLPA 93 for that matter) outside of my house, not once, ever. That’s how good I was at this game. I was completely obsessed, played the plastic off of it, won the Stanley Cup with every team, handed everyone who had the gall to challenge me at this a defeat, usually a resounding one, and wish there would have been big money tournaments played with this game back then.

It’s not just me that loves this game. It was second, behind Super Tecmo Bowl, in a 2013 ESPN article that ranked the Top 25 video games of all-time with NHL 13 producer Sean Ramjagsingh having this to say:

“This was the first hockey game ever that had both the NHL and the NHLPA license, resulting in the first time that hockey fans could truly replicate the sport that they love using both the team uniforms and the players. The great thing about this game was that you truly felt like you were in control of the action on the ice. As many fans over the years have said, this was the first time in a hockey game that you could do what you want, when you wanted to do it.”

Honorable mention: Super Tecmo Bowl, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out