How collectible are sports games in general?

[Flare65]

I'm not much of a sports person in real life.   I've never collected baseball cards when I was a kid or even played any sports at all.  My father never watched them when I was growing up so I just was not exposed to them.  When it comes to video games, I never look at sports titles at all.  I know there are gamers excited about the latest Madden football or new Electronics Arts sports game and play them a lot until the next version of Madden comes out....etc

Since many of you collect for other systems besides the turbo I thought I would ask you all how collectible are sports games?  Are any of them rare or highly desirable?  Ebay seems to be full of old Sega Genesis hockey, football, and baseball games that nobody ever bids on.  Personally I don't think these games age well when compared to the way these types of games are made today on the latest PS3/360 consoles.

Your thoughts?

[Punch]

Unless it's a non-seasonal title (like Madden Duo, instead of the tons of Madden Ninety-Somethings for other consoles) they're rarely worth something...

[futureman2000]

They're very collectible in the sense that you can easily collect them.

[galam]

Whats funny is that PAL SNES and MegaDrive sports games based on US sports can get high dollar since there wasnt much interest overseas.  I think the PAL version of ken griffey baseball is considered a "grail" just like megadrive Lakers vs. Celtics NBA playoffs.
In general, sports games are "worthless", even though they offer some great replay value.  I strongly disagree about your aging statement.  Many of the older sports games are still great fun.  Hell, there are beer leagues around NHL 94 still.

[SignOfZeta]

Basically they are garbage unless its something like a Neo Geo sports game (these are very good usually, btw) or something with a gimmick like Mutant League Football. Realistic sports games are probably the most worthless type of game that exists.

[futureman2000]

I think EA ruined the whole console sports thing. Japanese baseball games (and football to a lesser extent) were usually a lot of fun, at least for multiplayer. I remember renting Madden for the Genesis because of the 'buzz', and I couldn't figure out why everyone liked it so much.

[jeffhlewis]

I'm not much of a sports person in real life.   I've never collected baseball cards when I was a kid or even played any sports at all.  My father never watched them when I was growing up so I just was not exposed to them.  When it comes to video games, I never look at sports titles at all.  I know there are gamers excited about the latest Madden football or new Electronics Arts sports game and play them a lot until the next version of Madden comes out....etc

Since many of you collect for other systems besides the turbo I thought I would ask you all how collectible are sports games?  Are any of them rare or highly desirable?  Ebay seems to be full of old Sega Genesis hockey, football, and baseball games that nobody ever bids on.  Personally I don't think these games age well when compared to the way these types of games are made today on the latest PS3/360 consoles.

Your thoughts?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.racketboy.com%2Fretro%2Fsports%2Fthe-rarest-and-most-valuable-sport-games&ei=zG6KUdWgJbaq4APXh4DwBw&usg=AFQjCNH86v-epPTy9dsZevzWICUEILJjEw&sig2=xS9BYHGqAH2JbICNWu-P-w

There ya go. Generally speaking unless it was some insanely low print run they're a commodity. Good to pick up though if you need spare cases! (you can buy a bag of Genesis sports games as MGC for like 5 bucks just to cannibalize the cases).

I used to love Madden every year but the EA exclusive license with the NFL kind of ruined the product. NFL 2k5 had some real potential there before they got screwed.

[Punch]

I think EA ruined the whole console sports thing. Japanese baseball games (and football to a lesser extent) were usually a lot of fun, at least for multiplayer. I remember renting Madden for the Genesis because of the 'buzz', and I couldn't figure out why everyone liked it so much.

I just loved International Superstar Soccer, and the earlier PSOne Winning Elevens. Super Sidekicks is very good, too.

[Black Tiger]

Sports games are more collectible than any other genre. It's also the oldest and most popular video game genre and the games age much more gracefully than most genres, as sports games continue to move further and further away from the "game" aspect.

The mythology of sports games in general, or even individual sports, are infinitely larger than other game genres, with a limitless roster of characters, stories, events, systems, stats, etc. It's so big that even if you don't touch anything before the current year, you still won't have the time to give every game the attention they deserve. Fortunately, there is so much flexibility for areas to focus on. Whether you decide to stick to a particular console general, sports, time period, fictional or licensed, fantasy/sci-fi, adventure/RPG, management, etc.

The infinite mytholgy gives you endless subject matter for fan art, fan fiction, tribute videos, etc. So if you begin working on a fan site, you'll never run out of inspiration for content and there is a huge non-video game fan base who will still be interested in many of your projects.

In the end of course, it doesn't matter how collectible your interest is over other ones, only that you are investing your time and energy into what you are truly passionate about.


However, if someone else isn't interested in collecting and is instead only looking for financial investments, sports video games are still video games and therefore a terrible investment.

[munchiaz]

I think EA ruined the whole console sports thing. Japanese baseball games (and football to a lesser extent) were usually a lot of fun, at least for multiplayer. I remember renting Madden for the Genesis because of the 'buzz', and I couldn't figure out why everyone liked it so much.

I just loved International Superstar Soccer, and the earlier PSOne Winning Elevens. Super Sidekicks is very good, too.

ISS was a great soccer game. I also really enjoy the sega 2k football games. f*ck EA for buying the whole  NFL license instead of making their  games more innovative

[Necromancer]

There as collectible as any other genre, I guess.  I don't enjoy 'em much at all, but others will say the same thing about FPSs, RPGs, digital comics, etc.

[Bardoly]

There as collectible as any other genre, I guess.  I don't enjoy 'em much at all, but others will say the same thing about FPSs, RPGs, digital comics, etc.

^^This.

That said, I still think that NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (for the SNES) is the greatest sports game ever made, and I still play it often when my brothers come over - 4-player is simply awesome!   

[esadajr]

If I collect a sports game is pretty much based on wheter or not my favorite team won the championship that particular year (ie TSB II). In other cases the gameplay is just awesome and has no equal (NES TSB).

Overall I've enjoyed more non licensed sports games than licensed ones.

Here are some of my picks:

Football:

TSB (NES)
TSB II
All Pro Football 2k8

Baseball:

Bases Loaded 2
Bad News Baseball
RBI
RBI 94
Tecmo Super Baseball
WS Baseball 96

Soccer:

Goal 2
Goal
ISSSD
Fifa 96

Hockey:

Blades of Steel

Basketball:

NBA JAM
Tecmo NBA (NES)

Golf:

NES Open Golf
Golf Blackbox
Mario Golf (GC)

Tennis:

Snoopy Tennis
Sega Super Stars Tennis
Mario Tennis
Virtua Tennis

[Jibbajaba]

OP, what do you mean by "collectible"?  Anything is collectible.  Are you trying to ask if some of them are worth money?  That's a whole different question.

Sports games are easily collected.  They are also "collectible" in the sense that you can work towards a clear goal of assembling a "collection", for example collecting CIB copies of every EA NHL game on the Genesis. 

Some sports games are rare.  All sports games that are rare are highly desirable for people who want to have rare things in their collection.  All highly desirable sports games are not rare, though.  NHL 94 is highly desired because so many people enjoy playing it.  But it's only worth about a buck.

I guess the question just rubs me the wrong way because I don't look at gaming that way.  It seems like what you're really asking is "which sports games should I look out for because they are rare and/or valuable."  Otherwise, who cares what others find "collectible"?  I have a lot of sports games in my library.  Not because I collect them, but because I like playing them.  I "collected" every edition of PGA Tour on the Genesis, not because I just wanted to own them all for its own sake, but because they're great games (except shitty PGA Tour 96.)  Same goes for Sports Talk Baseball, Madden 93 & 94, NBA Live 95, NHL 94, the entire Power League series on the PCE, etc. etc.  Buy games because they're awesome, not because of what they're worth or how rare they are.

[vestcoat]

Why is this stupid thread not in Console Chat?