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With all the later, more advanced offerings by Sega and Electronic Arts, most people tend to forget the early sports games released on the Genesis. Some of them are rightly forgotten, but others such as Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, still hold up pretty well. Granted, you’re not going to get the full PGA experience, but it’s still a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Sega’s done a great job of getting its tennis franchise back to form with Virtua Tennis 3, and it brings a great deal of fun and realism to the sport. Not that tennis has ever really lacked in the fun department. From the excellent Super Tennis on the SNES to the great Pete Sampras Tennis series on the Genesis, there has always been a good game within reach.
Think of furry mascots that didn’t make it, and the first one to come to mind is usually Bubsy the Bobcat. Accolade’s famous feline gave it the ol’ college try, but he too was left in Sonic’s dust. Never achieving the success of his blue rival, Bubsy still managed to muster enough energy for two sequels, each less successful than the original game.
The Genesis debuted in 1989 with a wide variety of games from all genres, sports included. Alongside the great Tommy Lasorda Baseball and the simple, yet fun Arnold Palmer Golf was a soccer game that well, sucked. To be honest, World Championship Soccer wasn’t even fun when it came out, and with the plethora of incredible soccer games to be had on the system, there’s no reason on Earth to play it today.
When it was first released in 1994, Virtua Racing wowed gamers with its incredible use of polygons and its $100 price tag. The exorbitant cost (the highest for the time) was due to it being the one and only game to ever make use of the powerful Sega Virtual Processor, or SVP chip. Until the 32X got a port a year later, this was the only way to play the arcade hit at home, and it was darn close to having a real Model 1 arcade board. It may be outdated now, but Virtua Racing’s place in Genesis history is assured.