I’ve been upset about sports games lack of year to year stats keeping, transactions, etc. pretty much since I started playing franchise modes back in the mid 2000s lol
It's because they don't care about qol stuff like that. They don't give a shit about us. Literally all they care about is streamers and RUclipsrs playing ultimate team. The rest of us can kick rocks.
One history feature I miss was in the old NCAA games rivalry game loading screens. Would give you an overview of the history between the 2 teams, the series record, trophies, and the recent meetings
CFB25 in dynasty mode right after the kickoff it flashes a graphic of the rivalry name, all time record in the game, and who won last years, and how many times you’ve won in a row( this part is bugged tho)
They got MEGA-detailed, too. I remember in the PS2 era the NCAA series having vivid descriptions and notable events down to the FCS level with schools hardly anyone would have heard of without the game. Nowadays that feature would cost $25 in EA Funbucks or whatever.
I love when real world history is briefly displayed in sports games, and just how easily it can break immersion after years have passed. Like in NBA 2K13 when I win a championship in my 15th season of MyCareer and take a picture at the White House with Barack Obama, which insinuates that in that universe he abolished the 22nd Amendment and became King of the United States.
I loved how on NCAA Football 07 there was a giant trophy cabinet and you could fill it up by winning rivalry trophy games. It taught me so much about the rivalry landscape of college football
@@jessyfretz5800old oaken bucket, indiana vs purdue, 2 sats from now...also why did they get rid of replaying old classics, the byu holiday bowl challenge was super hard
Yeah that was a W. Also loved College Hoops having "The Shrine" I think it was called, showing your trophies, unlocked uniforms, basketballs, etc. Pretty much like The Crib in NBA and NFL 2K
I cannot overstate how badly I wish we could get an "eras" sort of mode in an NFL football game. I would LOVE to interact with football history in such a deep way, but I doubt we'll ever get it.
You want an example of completely original history? Blitz: The League II. No, seriously, it's amazing the amount of lore they put in. Over a century's worth!
YES!!!!! Love Both Blitz 1 and 2 and 2 is so underrated and yes the lore if that series universe goes HARD! Perfect example is the Miami Hamerheads in Blitz 2. They have the best QB in the game and their stadium is partially wrecked because it's explained their QB is so expensive they cant afford to repair the stadium
In BTL1 there was also a game in campaign mode where you could pay for hookers for the other team and lower their stamina by 10, a common tactic used by LT in the NFL.
I will never forget how I originally beat the Cal/Stanford challenge in NCAA 04. I couldn't return the kick for the life of me, and blocking kicks was next to impossible in that game. So I just started running into the FG team committing intentional offsides out of frustration, not letting them kick the FG. Then the AI decided to do something insane. It was so close to the goal line, it decided to skip trying a FG and went for a normal play to punch it in for the TD. Confused as hell, I ran a normal defense. They got stuffed trying to gain a few inches... and I won, with a final score of 19-17. Still the most insane thing I've seen an AI do in a sports game.
@@samw.8734facts the madden 24/25 ai still does stuff like this all the time, sometimes they have chances to kick a game winning field goal too but they don’t call a timeout before the accelerated clock runs the last 15 seconds out I’ve won a game I shouldn’t have in OT like that😂
EA FIFA World Cup (when they released those), used to have important World Cup matches. I still remember France 98, if you choose to play an old finals match, even the camera would match the cameras/photos used in that era. It was really cool, even on old systems like PSOne and N64
The 2010 game allowed you to change the course of certain games in the qualifiers by picking up from a certain point in the game, and also some games from the 2006 World Cup too, with commentary for some of those matches being present to give context I wish those matches for the 2006 World Cup also had the accurate jerseys, player ratings and even some of the players no longer playing by 2010 but it still was awesome
Yeah World Cup 98 was actually my first ever FIFA game. It was crazy cool to me at the time that you could play the first ever World Cup final match. I'd never seen something like that in a game before.
the "special suprise" content is a big part of why tony hawk pro skater was so cool. you get skate video footage for beating the game with each character, and you can unlock lots of other easter eggs
My first ever video game was Madden 06 for the Nintendo DS, and it had some classic games & classic teams set up the same way as some of the games you mentioned - where it was just the player number. I spent hours going through and figuring out "who's this 7 on the Broncos in the 90s" or "who's 16 on the 49ers" Basically helped me get into the game even more than just "oh look, a game is on"!
I was going to comment about Madden 06 on the D.S. as well. It had the best, most informative version of "Madden Moments"; in that, it gave you a proper description of those classic games & moments that you were about to replicate. It genuinely taught me so much about NFL lore.
This mirrors my own relationship with a lot of sports games as well especially with regards to history because like I started becoming more of a stat nerd when I was a kid because of like the Madden record book
Those old NCAA football teams also wore old sports equipment. Ranging from leather helmets, to plastic helmets, single bar facemasks, to what was modern at the time
I think there was a lawsuit around licensing when they would use the "generic" players similar to college...Jim Brown didn't get a cut from a game that had Browns RB 32
Leaving out The Show collaborating with the literal best sports history museum ever the past two years...and it's so good, a player born in 1891 will probably get a Hall of Fame IRL plaque from the exposure.
@@damn_jaz9895 Is it though? Bar to get in is pretty low. And they don’t do a good job of covering legacy, hence why former players and current HOFers are far less revered by the public (denigrated, even) than in baseball or football
I know this video does not discuss NASCAR but one feature I loved was in the EA NASCAR games, where the original Daytona Beach course that NASCAR ran before the Daytona 500 became a thing was an unlockable track. It was such a cool feature, even if the cars driving on sand similar to how they drove on pavement was not realistic at all lol
It's insane how deep EA NASCAR games like Thunder 04 and Chase for the Cup are, with fantasy tracks, legend drivers, alternate schemes, and lightning challenges (even that Johnny Benson Rockingham one...)
@@OccasionalNASCARRaces For real man, sports gaming had it so good back then. Maybe we can get some genuinely good ones again with iRacing making them now, who knows.
@@OccasionalNASCARRaces It's amazing how things fell off even just feel-wise from Thunder 04 to today. The feel of having to pull yourself up from nothing and claw your way to improve bit by bit just felt so much better than today.
All Star Baseball had Rickwood Field playable, being the first baseball game you could play on a Negro League field, as well as official spring training facilities, and the Tokyo Dome.
@@PG2248CoasterNews and you learned a lot about those stadiums, including how to hit them; that game didn't have a huge budget, but i've never seen a baseball game to this day be so full of history.
One of the first things I do every time I start a new sports game is look for throwback uniforms and classic teams. If the game has them, I go through every team looking at every one before I play a single match lmao.
The Brian Lara cricket games were fantastic for teaching the history of the sport. They taught me about the infamous "Bodyline Series" in 1932-33, something i had no idea about as a teenager at the time.
When I was a kid, I played a lot of older games, including things like Madden and even the old NFL Quarterback Club games. And the history that those games gave me, even the overall sports knowledge they gave me, didn't go unnoticed by my brothers, who commented that I actually knew more about sports at that point than they did when they were my age
This was such a great watch! As someone that also grew up in this era with sports games, it really did bring me back to just how much history I learned from these silly little games :)
I bought NBA 2k25 after going 4 years without purchasing an NBA game JUST FOR MYNBA Eras mode. It took me a week to go from the 80s to the current era. Such a fun mode.
@@dustifilms facts, i’m still playing 2k24. eras is great, but there’s only so much you can do year to year for a mode based on history. i’m not sure if it’s a mod or a built in feature, but the only thing i’ve seen from 2k25 that seems interesting is the MyNBA mode that allows you to basically play MyCareer without VC and gimmicks.
I remember Pro Evo Soccer where I just spent many hours just fixing names and such from fake named historic players by going over iconic squads from those same teams IRL to figure out was even who as it wasn't always as obvious. This was in an era before PSN and what not, so I couldn't just download a better database on my console: console gaming was 100% offline for a long time.
I still have and play my NHLPA 92 for sega genesis (note it's from before the NHL 94, the 'first year'). because it was made by the players association, it has all the player names and stats, but not the team names, only the cities and colors. as a historical document, it shows how much the NHL has changed since. teams like the nordiques and whalers are still going strong in the game, and you can play as prime lemieux and gretzky. also had some of the most killer genesis sports tracks out there.
MVP Baseball 2004 was the very first videogame I ever owned and played as a kid. It completely set me on a path of loving that style of game and made me really appreciate the games that paid attention to those details. The game forever holds up to this day that's how good of a game it was when it was released.
I stopped this video to look up "1982 stanford vs cal the play". I had to hold in an unreasonable amount of laughter because I'm in the school library 😂😂 What you said at 8:29 really captured how I felt. Great video!
I still remember the 1998 World Cup game (not the Road to World Cup one, strictly the national team game) letting you play the finals of the earlier World Cups. There was also VIVA Football but we don't talk about that game.
I remember being a kid and just feeling mesmerized by all the details and info and history those old college games had. I was so young that I couldn't completely grasp everything and didn't have all of the context, but it sparked my interest in sports information and history that I have until this day. They really don't make these games like they used to😢
I can think of two stadiums I miss from old FIFA/PES games. The Olympiastadion in Munich and the Stadio del Alpi in Turin. Two places with real grandeur and design quirks that make them unique. Grand Prix Legends is great for seeing how circuits like Spa-Francorchamps and Monaco changed over time, too.
Kofie, you say "any school" (9:38), but I don't remember them having the D2 and D3 schools, and I would've loved to put Barry Sanders on Clarkson University.
In my era, I made draft classes with random players across time. With the ‘83 hawks (we’re now in ‘87), and I have John Wall drafted in ‘84, Chris webber in ‘85, and Jason Richardson in ‘86, and we’re committing witchcraft whenever i play.🤣
This is a really beautiful video Kofie. I think there's something brilliant about a sports game that lets you sit and read about the history of the sport, the journey of the players, the great teams of the past, the memorable moments and victories. If it treats the sport seriously, it can go some way to making the video game feel special, closer to the lived world and having the human element that makes sport such a huge part of life. I think, especially in trying times like today, it can be a pleasant experience to just reminiscence about happy memories and histories. It's a shame games have drifted from this ethos, and are so overtly corporate cash-ins now.
I have been attempting for years to make a historical replay of each of the Big 4, plus as many other sports as possible. This comes from modes like the ones you mentioned, as well as other, less graphics based games (looking in your direction, OOTP Baseball).
NHL 2K's Skybox mode that had unlockable teams and jerseys & all time stat tracking is a core childhood memory for me & definitely influenced my career choice in working at the NHL
They didn't have old historic moments but the older NASCAR Thunder games had lightning challenges where you had to recreate a moment or change it from the past few seasons. It was super cool to me to be able to put myself in a scenario I'd seen play out in highlights, plus you could unlock legendary drivers
First video and I loved it. A bunch of comments also sharing the love with some others talking about things you didn’t touch on. The only one I didn’t see getting love in the comments is Fight Night. That game hits my heart, especially when you talked about the the visual shift in games making them feel retro. I’m not even a huge boxing fan, almost all of the love and appreciation I got from boxing came from Fight Night Round 3 letting you recreate fights from different eras with different filters to make them so immersive.
thank you, Kofie, for making this tremendous tremendous video. as someone who studies history and race in sports, conceptualizing the games as archives is super expansive
It is expensive, but once they have the base for the mode created it's just a matter of updating it every year. But, game companies are run by their board of directors aka penny-pinching maniacs.
My NBA Eras is a top tier gaming experience. I thought I knew so much about NBA History then all of the sudden I’m reading up on Jeff Ruland and Joe Barry Carroll
the super bowl history feature from ps1-gen maddens and the mode in nfl 2k5 (8:40) where you can jump into historical game situations were so fucking goated
The algorithm showed me this video and I am absolutely on board with it. Shoutout to MVP Baseball for being way before it's time with great classic content.
I remember in Madden 08 having one of those fantasy franchises where Joe Montana was my QB and Bronko Nagurski was my FB. You'll never see anything that cool again
I always think back to the Jordan moments in what I believe was 2k11. It made want to learn more about each game, the teams that season, how they got there, and just a deeper love for sports history
Playing Basketball-GM’s real player league sim from the start of the NBA exposed me to a ton of old players, including ones who are very obscure nowadays. Playing from the start of the league to the modern day and beyond is one of the best sports sims experiences out there imo.
I loved learning about the history of different schools in Ncaa football with the rivalries. The pontiac classics was amazing. 25th anniversary on nfl 2k5 was amazing. I also enjoyed learning about hall of famers in madden 10. Some people I didn't even know were in had blurbs and info about their time in the league. Bring back history appreciation inside of video games. NOT BEHIND A PAYWALL!
One of my favorite modes to play right now is the custom league in the NHL. You can set, the number of teams, the divisions, the conferences, the number of games, the playoff structure. You can set it to 8 divisions with 4 teams in each like in football. You can set it to a 30 team league with 6 divisions like in baseball or basketball. AND.... you can choose the number of games you want against divisional teams, conferences teams, and non-conferences teams. What I end up doing is a home and home series against the other 31 teams in the league for 62 games, with no regular season games going into overtime, where a win is worth 2 points and a tie is worth 1. And I take the top 16 teams in the league making the playoffs that reseed after every round. I want absolute parity in my custom league. And it's is absolutely possible for my league to have Florida vs Edmonton in the 1st round because that's how their seeding ended up, instead of their matchup being an exclusive to the Stanley Cup finals because they play in opposite regions on the map. I want other sports games to follow this. I would customize Madden to go back to a 30 team, 16 game, and 12 playoff team league. I would realign the divisions so that Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans don't play in the NFC West or the Arizona Cardinals aren't in the NFC East.
I’m so glad you brought up Pistol Pete’s 3pt rating on 2k8 because that drove me up a wall as a kid who was a huge fan of his and played the crap out of that game lol
I really miss the Classic teams during the Madden games of the 2000s. Once I unlocked 1/4 of them, I’d replay each playoff season during the Super Bowl era. I got as far as the late 80s. I get why they no longer do it but I wish there was a way around for them to do it again.
the EA NASCAR games starting with NASCAR Thunder 2003 had their own version of Pontiac College Classics called Lightning Challenges/Dodge Challenges where you get to reenact certain moments from the previous year
NASCAR Thunder 2003 and 2004 and NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup had two different aspects of history: Legendary cars and drivers as Thunder Plates, and the Lightning Challenge mode putting you into racing situations from the past season or farther back. The latter were introduced by Michael Waltrip interviewing the driver you’re taking over for. Survive a big wreck, save fuel, manage a spinout and get back into position, or just win a race!
The EA NASCAR games did this pretty effectively too - you'd have to replicate something a driver did, much like the Pontiac College Classics. It's 5 laps left and you're about to run out of gas, or you've got old tires, or you've gotta pass 6 cars. The best ones were where you'd have to make it through a really big wreck without taking damage
I’ve always thought it was a nice touch when a game franchise added the teams history. It adds a whole new immersion to the game, and I do wish gaming companies would add more.
God someone who gets my niche i was an addict for this stuff, and I think thats how some of us got hooked on the ultimate team-like modes, because it wasnt about the money at first. First few years across the board were authentically about "hey build teams of past and present guys" and at least some of us who craved learning history through the games hooked on. But then they sadly noticed that this wasnt just a fun silly side mode and something that they can make massive profits off of and its never been the same since.
One of the best ways to capture the history of the sport is what MLB The Show has done in collaboration with the Negro League Museum and Bob Kendrick to showcase moments on historically great Negro League players, especially the players we don’t normally hear of.
Man, I could watch this stuff for hours. Would love more of the off-shoots like NBA Street, Blitz, Slugfest, etc… also the music in these games would be interesting to look at.
Literally just got done talking with a friend about how you used to have to have save files from other games on memory cards to unlock hidden teams and such.
I always found these modes so fascinating. An idea for another video could be how sports video games projected the future, I was always curious how randomly generated draft prospects would turn out in NBA Live each year, hoping you get a franchise player.
I'd like a time capsule compilation video of all the times you say "byyee" at the end of your videos so I can listen to it non-stop on my commute to work
these old games were about making money but it felt like they were created by people who loved each sport and the history surrounding them. the priorities felt like: 1. compelling game, fun experience 2. profit even if money was the overall goal nowadays it feels like a 180 degree flip and has for years. 2K is trying with myeras which is really cool but I feel like it could be way deeper and more lovingly crafted, like all the historical aspects of these older games, and the games themselves. Ballers felt like a labor of love, as did NFL 2K5, NBA 2K12, and most of these other games. yearly releases and virtual currency profits are killing the passion
With the DLC stuff in games, I really wish EA would have classic stadiums for teams. So then we could play as the Steelers in Three Rivers Stadium, Bears in Wrigley Field, Broncos in Mile High, Giants in Yankee Stadium, ect.
History in sports games goes the other way, too. You touched on it in your NBA2K MyEras video, but every franchise or career mode is its own divergent alternate history of the league. I'm running a Superstar mode game in Madden 08, and ten games into the first season, the Oakland Raiders, helmed by JaMarcus Russel (and helped out by their new weirdo rookie blocking TE) has already won more games than the real team did that season.
If we're talking about history in sports video games, we can't forget how NBA Street and SSX On Tour highlighted the unexpected multi-sport dominance of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach! Rare is the athlete who can make the jump between sports at a high level of skill so seamlessly, and somehow the three of them managed to do it together!
First of all, this is a dope ass concept for a video. Yes! I been playing MyTeam since 2K21 and it's great to learn about older players. Same with Diamond Dynasty in MLB. Just, MT is so hard to get into because of MTX.
NFL QB Club 2000 (maybe the others? Only one I've ever played) had unique scenarios for every super bowl that had happened to that time. Young me learned so much about history from that game
The first game I saw do this was QB Club 96 on the Genesis. The wild thing with that one was then they'd try to do "future" scenarios. They had a Super Bowl I rematch of Chiefs/Packers that went into triple OT and you gotta win as the Packers while the Chiefs have possession of the ball. Only malfunction (and it was a biggie) was they'd not use retro rosters. It'd just be current teams and rosters but pretending it's the retro teams.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
I just don't understand why the new games don't remember who your franchise stats season to season its nice to look at your players year to year
Yeah its crazy
Yeah the history is the biggest drawback of the new NCAA football game. Even in a dynasty it doesn't keep basically any history.
I’ve been upset about sports games lack of year to year stats keeping, transactions, etc. pretty much since I started playing franchise modes back in the mid 2000s lol
It's because they don't care about qol stuff like that. They don't give a shit about us. Literally all they care about is streamers and RUclipsrs playing ultimate team. The rest of us can kick rocks.
@@JUnit41484real
Youngans these days will never believe us when we say "Seriously, EA Sports used to care about making a good Video Game"
Once upon a time they were the little underdogs competing against giants like Atari. Now they don't need to care.
@EETDUK facts
“EA Sports, it’s in the game”
@@JT-RebelOK old dude
@@malikwilson7387 👴👍
One history feature I miss was in the old NCAA games rivalry game loading screens. Would give you an overview of the history between the 2 teams, the series record, trophies, and the recent meetings
Same!
CFB25 in dynasty mode right after the kickoff it flashes a graphic of the rivalry name, all time record in the game, and who won last years, and how many times you’ve won in a row( this part is bugged tho)
NCAA 06, anyone? Love their description of the detached hate that is the Black Diamond game.
NCAA games from mid 00s to 2014. What a time.
They got MEGA-detailed, too. I remember in the PS2 era the NCAA series having vivid descriptions and notable events down to the FCS level with schools hardly anyone would have heard of without the game.
Nowadays that feature would cost $25 in EA Funbucks or whatever.
I love when real world history is briefly displayed in sports games, and just how easily it can break immersion after years have passed. Like in NBA 2K13 when I win a championship in my 15th season of MyCareer and take a picture at the White House with Barack Obama, which insinuates that in that universe he abolished the 22nd Amendment and became King of the United States.
He saw FDR's record and said "I want that". What a legend😂
I loved how on NCAA Football 07 there was a giant trophy cabinet and you could fill it up by winning rivalry trophy games. It taught me so much about the rivalry landscape of college football
The PS2 games had it after about 2004 iirc, you just had to go into a separate menu. I think the "My NCAA" section.
One rivalry trophy was a plain wooden bucket.
@@jessyfretz5800old oaken bucket, indiana vs purdue, 2 sats from now...also why did they get rid of replaying old classics, the byu holiday bowl challenge was super hard
Yeah that was a W. Also loved College Hoops having "The Shrine" I think it was called, showing your trophies, unlocked uniforms, basketballs, etc. Pretty much like The Crib in NBA and NFL 2K
I cannot overstate how badly I wish we could get an "eras" sort of mode in an NFL football game. I would LOVE to interact with football history in such a deep way, but I doubt we'll ever get it.
Not in the base game from the jump at least. I can totally see them doing that as DLC in this current landscape
You want an example of completely original history?
Blitz: The League II.
No, seriously, it's amazing the amount of lore they put in. Over a century's worth!
Aw man. When I got to Blitz The League 2 and found out the commissioner moves the Aztecs from Dallas to Mexico City, I was HEATED
@@DenniDownBad There's a wiki somewhere that compiles all the lore into one page. Hopefully Kofie sees it.
YES!!!!! Love Both Blitz 1 and 2 and 2 is so underrated and yes the lore if that series universe goes HARD! Perfect example is the Miami Hamerheads in Blitz 2. They have the best QB in the game and their stadium is partially wrecked because it's explained their QB is so expensive they cant afford to repair the stadium
The Blitz lore is one of my favorite aspects of League 1 and 2, especially the pre-game videos going over the best players
In BTL1 there was also a game in campaign mode where you could pay for hookers for the other team and lower their stamina by 10, a common tactic used by LT in the NFL.
I will never forget how I originally beat the Cal/Stanford challenge in NCAA 04. I couldn't return the kick for the life of me, and blocking kicks was next to impossible in that game. So I just started running into the FG team committing intentional offsides out of frustration, not letting them kick the FG.
Then the AI decided to do something insane. It was so close to the goal line, it decided to skip trying a FG and went for a normal play to punch it in for the TD. Confused as hell, I ran a normal defense. They got stuffed trying to gain a few inches... and I won, with a final score of 19-17. Still the most insane thing I've seen an AI do in a sports game.
The 🎉and my 😊
I am pretty sure my brother or I did this as well. Definitely have won it with Stanford missing the kick.
It's funny because you just mentioned an old glitch that is even still around in this era of EA Sports football video games😂😂🤷♂️
@@samw.8734facts the madden 24/25 ai still does stuff like this all the time, sometimes they have chances to kick a game winning field goal too but they don’t call a timeout before the accelerated clock runs the last 15 seconds out I’ve won a game I shouldn’t have in OT like that😂
They missed the kick or I would fair catch and do a hail mary since I thought that was more likely
EA FIFA World Cup (when they released those), used to have important World Cup matches.
I still remember France 98, if you choose to play an old finals match, even the camera would match the cameras/photos used in that era. It was really cool, even on old systems like PSOne and N64
The 2010 game allowed you to change the course of certain games in the qualifiers by picking up from a certain point in the game, and also some games from the 2006 World Cup too, with commentary for some of those matches being present to give context
I wish those matches for the 2006 World Cup also had the accurate jerseys, player ratings and even some of the players no longer playing by 2010 but it still was awesome
Yes! I used to play that game to death!
Yeah World Cup 98 was actually my first ever FIFA game. It was crazy cool to me at the time that you could play the first ever World Cup final match. I'd never seen something like that in a game before.
FIFA WC games lowkey used to be better than the actual fifa games in the years they came out
the "special suprise" content is a big part of why tony hawk pro skater was so cool. you get skate video footage for beating the game with each character, and you can unlock lots of other easter eggs
My first ever video game was Madden 06 for the Nintendo DS, and it had some classic games & classic teams set up the same way as some of the games you mentioned - where it was just the player number. I spent hours going through and figuring out "who's this 7 on the Broncos in the 90s" or "who's 16 on the 49ers"
Basically helped me get into the game even more than just "oh look, a game is on"!
I was going to comment about Madden 06 on the D.S. as well. It had the best, most informative version of "Madden Moments"; in that, it gave you a proper description of those classic games & moments that you were about to replicate. It genuinely taught me so much about NFL lore.
@@Jertie84 I was trying to think of the name "Madden Moments", thank you for reminding me!
Now this just makes me want to go back to it again lol
Idk why I have such a vivid memory of the Lions 49ers game from like 1958 that was like the first game on there to do
This mirrors my own relationship with a lot of sports games as well especially with regards to history because like I started becoming more of a stat nerd when I was a kid because of like the Madden record book
Those old NCAA football teams also wore old sports equipment. Ranging from leather helmets, to plastic helmets, single bar facemasks, to what was modern at the time
Was recently playing Madden 06 and was fascinated by the amount of classic teams. Don't know why these games shy away from this now.
Unlocking the '84 Dolphins or the '99 Rams in that game 🥲
GameDay!!! love your vids
Hey GameDay! You should collabs with the Secret Base guys in fumble dimension lmao
@solideYe11 they're waaay outta my league haha
I think there was a lawsuit around licensing when they would use the "generic" players similar to college...Jim Brown didn't get a cut from a game that had Browns RB 32
Madden 08 was wild when it had the nfl Europa teams. Was a very cool touch from EA
Leaving out The Show collaborating with the literal best sports history museum ever the past two years...and it's so good, a player born in 1891 will probably get a Hall of Fame IRL plaque from the exposure.
Dis they collaborate with the naismith hall of fame? Cause that's the best sport history museum
@@damn_jaz9895 Is it though? Bar to get in is pretty low. And they don’t do a good job of covering legacy, hence why former players and current HOFers are far less revered by the public (denigrated, even) than in baseball or football
I know this video does not discuss NASCAR but one feature I loved was in the EA NASCAR games, where the original Daytona Beach course that NASCAR ran before the Daytona 500 became a thing was an unlockable track. It was such a cool feature, even if the cars driving on sand similar to how they drove on pavement was not realistic at all lol
It's insane how deep EA NASCAR games like Thunder 04 and Chase for the Cup are, with fantasy tracks, legend drivers, alternate schemes, and lightning challenges (even that Johnny Benson Rockingham one...)
@@OccasionalNASCARRaces For real man, sports gaming had it so good back then. Maybe we can get some genuinely good ones again with iRacing making them now, who knows.
@@OccasionalNASCARRaces It's amazing how things fell off even just feel-wise from Thunder 04 to today. The feel of having to pull yourself up from nothing and claw your way to improve bit by bit just felt so much better than today.
All Star Baseball had Rickwood Field playable, being the first baseball game you could play on a Negro League field, as well as official spring training facilities, and the Tokyo Dome.
it also had those virtual stadium tours, which is even more cool to include
@@PG2248CoasterNews and you learned a lot about those stadiums, including how to hit them; that game didn't have a huge budget, but i've never seen a baseball game to this day be so full of history.
One of the first things I do every time I start a new sports game is look for throwback uniforms and classic teams. If the game has them, I go through every team looking at every one before I play a single match lmao.
The Brian Lara cricket games were fantastic for teaching the history of the sport. They taught me about the infamous "Bodyline Series" in 1932-33, something i had no idea about as a teenager at the time.
When I was a kid, I played a lot of older games, including things like Madden and even the old NFL Quarterback Club games. And the history that those games gave me, even the overall sports knowledge they gave me, didn't go unnoticed by my brothers, who commented that I actually knew more about sports at that point than they did when they were my age
This was such a great watch! As someone that also grew up in this era with sports games, it really did bring me back to just how much history I learned from these silly little games :)
You’re killing it with these topics man
I bought NBA 2k25 after going 4 years without purchasing an NBA game JUST FOR MYNBA Eras mode. It took me a week to go from the 80s to the current era. Such a fun mode.
Gonna be another 4 years before they change enough to make it worth getting again lol
@@dustifilms facts, i’m still playing 2k24. eras is great, but there’s only so much you can do year to year for a mode based on history.
i’m not sure if it’s a mod or a built in feature, but the only thing i’ve seen from 2k25 that seems interesting is the MyNBA mode that allows you to basically play MyCareer without VC and gimmicks.
Lmao i'm still on ps4 and have no my eras, heck i'm still playing my league mode,still fun ngl
@@damn_jaz9895there are no eras on PS4? That's disappointing
I remember Pro Evo Soccer where I just spent many hours just fixing names and such from fake named historic players by going over iconic squads from those same teams IRL to figure out was even who as it wasn't always as obvious. This was in an era before PSN and what not, so I couldn't just download a better database on my console: console gaming was 100% offline for a long time.
Nothing quite like looking up the lists of players on the web and going "the fuck, who the hell is Antônio Carlos Zago?". Fun times.
PALM AND MALGANI 😂😂
But you'd keep the commentary name because Butatista and Roberto Larcos sounds so right.
I still have and play my NHLPA 92 for sega genesis (note it's from before the NHL 94, the 'first year'). because it was made by the players association, it has all the player names and stats, but not the team names, only the cities and colors.
as a historical document, it shows how much the NHL has changed since. teams like the nordiques and whalers are still going strong in the game, and you can play as prime lemieux and gretzky. also had some of the most killer genesis sports tracks out there.
I'd love to live in a parallel universe where those two teams still exist and sports weren't ruined by greed.
MVP Baseball 2004 was the very first videogame I ever owned and played as a kid. It completely set me on a path of loving that style of game and made me really appreciate the games that paid attention to those details. The game forever holds up to this day that's how good of a game it was when it was released.
I stopped this video to look up "1982 stanford vs cal the play". I had to hold in an unreasonable amount of laughter because I'm in the school library 😂😂 What you said at 8:29 really captured how I felt. Great video!
I see u rocking the Half Past Noon hat🔥 they make great basketball retrospective content
I still remember the 1998 World Cup game (not the Road to World Cup one, strictly the national team game) letting you play the finals of the earlier World Cups.
There was also VIVA Football but we don't talk about that game.
"There are so many historic moments in history" - Kofie 8:51
I remember being a kid and just feeling mesmerized by all the details and info and history those old college games had. I was so young that I couldn't completely grasp everything and didn't have all of the context, but it sparked my interest in sports information and history that I have until this day. They really don't make these games like they used to😢
I can think of two stadiums I miss from old FIFA/PES games. The Olympiastadion in Munich and the Stadio del Alpi in Turin. Two places with real grandeur and design quirks that make them unique. Grand Prix Legends is great for seeing how circuits like Spa-Francorchamps and Monaco changed over time, too.
Kofie, you say "any school" (9:38), but I don't remember them having the D2 and D3 schools, and I would've loved to put Barry Sanders on Clarkson University.
Barry Sanders to the NAIA
In my era, I made draft classes with random players across time. With the ‘83 hawks (we’re now in ‘87), and I have John Wall drafted in ‘84, Chris webber in ‘85, and Jason Richardson in ‘86, and we’re committing witchcraft whenever i play.🤣
This is a really beautiful video Kofie. I think there's something brilliant about a sports game that lets you sit and read about the history of the sport, the journey of the players, the great teams of the past, the memorable moments and victories.
If it treats the sport seriously, it can go some way to making the video game feel special, closer to the lived world and having the human element that makes sport such a huge part of life. I think, especially in trying times like today, it can be a pleasant experience to just reminiscence about happy memories and histories. It's a shame games have drifted from this ethos, and are so overtly corporate cash-ins now.
Ah man, all these classic games. NBA Ballers was so fun and I too loved how much love the game showed the history of the NBA.
I have been attempting for years to make a historical replay of each of the Big 4, plus as many other sports as possible. This comes from modes like the ones you mentioned, as well as other, less graphics based games (looking in your direction, OOTP Baseball).
NHL 2K's Skybox mode that had unlockable teams and jerseys & all time stat tracking is a core childhood memory for me & definitely influenced my career choice in working at the NHL
They didn't have old historic moments but the older NASCAR Thunder games had lightning challenges where you had to recreate a moment or change it from the past few seasons. It was super cool to me to be able to put myself in a scenario I'd seen play out in highlights, plus you could unlock legendary drivers
First video and I loved it. A bunch of comments also sharing the love with some others talking about things you didn’t touch on. The only one I didn’t see getting love in the comments is Fight Night. That game hits my heart, especially when you talked about the the visual shift in games making them feel retro. I’m not even a huge boxing fan, almost all of the love and appreciation I got from boxing came from Fight Night Round 3 letting you recreate fights from different eras with different filters to make them so immersive.
Love the content man!
Keep grinding! You’re a legend.
thank you, Kofie, for making this tremendous tremendous video. as someone who studies history and race in sports, conceptualizing the games as archives is super expansive
for me, specifically looking at the WWE games to showcase how deeply racist and sexist the presentation (marketed to children) was
It is expensive, but once they have the base for the mode created it's just a matter of updating it every year. But, game companies are run by their board of directors aka penny-pinching maniacs.
My NBA Eras is a top tier gaming experience. I thought I knew so much about NBA History then all of the sudden I’m reading up on Jeff Ruland and Joe Barry Carroll
I miss these features. So sad. In NCAA 13 I put RG3 on UTSA and would run four verts all day
That's awesome lol. I love using UTSA. I have a 17 year dynasty with them in CFBR. Need to start a new one with them in CF25.
the super bowl history feature from ps1-gen maddens and the mode in nfl 2k5 (8:40) where you can jump into historical game situations were so fucking goated
The algorithm showed me this video and I am absolutely on board with it. Shoutout to MVP Baseball for being way before it's time with great classic content.
God damn a PONTIAC sponsorship in a video game, how time flies
Pontiac's sponsorship of college football was HUGE between 2003 and 2010. They were the NCAA's lead CFB sponsor.
bro the memories hit watching this
thank you Kofie i am so glad this is what you do for a living because boy do i enjoy it
I remember in Madden 08 having one of those fantasy franchises where Joe Montana was my QB and Bronko Nagurski was my FB. You'll never see anything that cool again
I always think back to the Jordan moments in what I believe was 2k11. It made want to learn more about each game, the teams that season, how they got there, and just a deeper love for sports history
Playing Basketball-GM’s real player league sim from the start of the NBA exposed me to a ton of old players, including ones who are very obscure nowadays. Playing from the start of the league to the modern day and beyond is one of the best sports sims experiences out there imo.
Great video, thank you for your excellent work here
I loved learning about the history of different schools in Ncaa football with the rivalries. The pontiac classics was amazing. 25th anniversary on nfl 2k5 was amazing.
I also enjoyed learning about hall of famers in madden 10. Some people I didn't even know were in had blurbs and info about their time in the league.
Bring back history appreciation inside of video games. NOT BEHIND A PAYWALL!
Great video, Kofie. I have such great memories from these sports games that it was a great trip down memory lane. Kudos on such great work man.
One of my favorite modes to play right now is the custom league in the NHL. You can set, the number of teams, the divisions, the conferences, the number of games, the playoff structure. You can set it to 8 divisions with 4 teams in each like in football. You can set it to a 30 team league with 6 divisions like in baseball or basketball. AND.... you can choose the number of games you want against divisional teams, conferences teams, and non-conferences teams.
What I end up doing is a home and home series against the other 31 teams in the league for 62 games, with no regular season games going into overtime, where a win is worth 2 points and a tie is worth 1. And I take the top 16 teams in the league making the playoffs that reseed after every round. I want absolute parity in my custom league. And it's is absolutely possible for my league to have Florida vs Edmonton in the 1st round because that's how their seeding ended up, instead of their matchup being an exclusive to the Stanley Cup finals because they play in opposite regions on the map.
I want other sports games to follow this. I would customize Madden to go back to a 30 team, 16 game, and 12 playoff team league. I would realign the divisions so that Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans don't play in the NFC West or the Arizona Cardinals aren't in the NFC East.
Thats why i really wish EA would include classic teams in their fifa games or even a gamemode similar to myeras mode in the 2k series
I’m so glad you brought up Pistol Pete’s 3pt rating on 2k8 because that drove me up a wall as a kid who was a huge fan of his and played the crap out of that game lol
Great video man!
Dude Kofi you are the man, and it’s so cool you’ve made a career out of making this content! Keep it going!
I really miss the Classic teams during the Madden games of the 2000s. Once I unlocked 1/4 of them, I’d replay each playoff season during the Super Bowl era. I got as far as the late 80s. I get why they no longer do it but I wish there was a way around for them to do it again.
the EA NASCAR games starting with NASCAR Thunder 2003 had their own version of Pontiac College Classics called Lightning Challenges/Dodge Challenges where you get to reenact certain moments from the previous year
Loved the Time Machine editing joke.
NASCAR Thunder 2003 and 2004 and NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup had two different aspects of history: Legendary cars and drivers as Thunder Plates, and the Lightning Challenge mode putting you into racing situations from the past season or farther back. The latter were introduced by Michael Waltrip interviewing the driver you’re taking over for. Survive a big wreck, save fuel, manage a spinout and get back into position, or just win a race!
This is really cool. You should think about doing this as a full time job.
The EA NASCAR games did this pretty effectively too - you'd have to replicate something a driver did, much like the Pontiac College Classics. It's 5 laps left and you're about to run out of gas, or you've got old tires, or you've gotta pass 6 cars. The best ones were where you'd have to make it through a really big wreck without taking damage
I’ve always thought it was a nice touch when a game franchise added the teams history. It adds a whole new immersion to the game, and I do wish gaming companies would add more.
God someone who gets my niche i was an addict for this stuff, and I think thats how some of us got hooked on the ultimate team-like modes, because it wasnt about the money at first. First few years across the board were authentically about "hey build teams of past and present guys" and at least some of us who craved learning history through the games hooked on. But then they sadly noticed that this wasnt just a fun silly side mode and something that they can make massive profits off of and its never been the same since.
whens the NBA Ballers Peja video coming?
My favorite instance of this is the ESPN classic fights in Fight Night
Great video. Makes me think the game companies do care and love the product when they add these historic parts
One of the best ways to capture the history of the sport is what MLB The Show has done in collaboration with the Negro League Museum and Bob Kendrick to showcase moments on historically great Negro League players, especially the players we don’t normally hear of.
Just discovered the channel. Love the videos and the different material compared to a lot of what's out there
Brand new sub, I love the video man. Keep this up. I'd love to see more content thank u ❤
Man, I could watch this stuff for hours. Would love more of the off-shoots like NBA Street, Blitz, Slugfest, etc… also the music in these games would be interesting to look at.
Literally just got done talking with a friend about how you used to have to have save files from other games on memory cards to unlock hidden teams and such.
There’s extra historical context for ‘Pontiac’ College Classics, great video man
Great video man, love your work!
I always found these modes so fascinating. An idea for another video could be how sports video games projected the future, I was always curious how randomly generated draft prospects would turn out in NBA Live each year, hoping you get a franchise player.
Polo Grounds is so hilariously unhinged 😂
Looking back at how slow a thrown football was in the first eight or ten Maddens shows us how far they've come.
MLB 05 and madden 08 were lit on the GameCube! And Wii for the madden like the only game that worked right for me haha
Love this kind of sports gaming video
I'd like a time capsule compilation video of all the times you say "byyee" at the end of your videos so I can listen to it non-stop on my commute to work
This is why I watch the NBA. Because 2K’s historic teams. Now I know about essentially every good team in NBA History.
these old games were about making money but it felt like they were created by people who loved each sport and the history surrounding them. the priorities felt like:
1. compelling game, fun experience
2. profit
even if money was the overall goal
nowadays it feels like a 180 degree flip and has for years. 2K is trying with myeras which is really cool but I feel like it could be way deeper and more lovingly crafted, like all the historical aspects of these older games, and the games themselves. Ballers felt like a labor of love, as did NFL 2K5, NBA 2K12, and most of these other games. yearly releases and virtual currency profits are killing the passion
Rocco Baldelli’s cousin is my dentist, that’s it, that’s the story.
With the DLC stuff in games, I really wish EA would have classic stadiums for teams. So then we could play as the Steelers in Three Rivers Stadium, Bears in Wrigley Field, Broncos in Mile High, Giants in Yankee Stadium, ect.
Love the sport video game vids, need more of them
This guy with the Tampa Bay legend, Rocco Baldelli name drop! You have earned my like, and subcribe.
History in sports games goes the other way, too. You touched on it in your NBA2K MyEras video, but every franchise or career mode is its own divergent alternate history of the league.
I'm running a Superstar mode game in Madden 08, and ten games into the first season, the Oakland Raiders, helmed by JaMarcus Russel (and helped out by their new weirdo rookie blocking TE) has already won more games than the real team did that season.
I don't even play sports video games and this video was interesting as hell. Great stuff
If we're talking about history in sports video games, we can't forget how NBA Street and SSX On Tour highlighted the unexpected multi-sport dominance of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach! Rare is the athlete who can make the jump between sports at a high level of skill so seamlessly, and somehow the three of them managed to do it together!
First of all, this is a dope ass concept for a video.
Yes! I been playing MyTeam since 2K21 and it's great to learn about older players. Same with Diamond Dynasty in MLB.
Just, MT is so hard to get into because of MTX.
1:12 it took 2k WAY too long to add the '03-'04 Pistons.
NFL QB Club 2000 (maybe the others? Only one I've ever played) had unique scenarios for every super bowl that had happened to that time. Young me learned so much about history from that game
The Kofie Foundation has made a generous contribution to my evening
I was not expecting a big-up to NBA Ballers this week…or any week
The first game I saw do this was QB Club 96 on the Genesis.
The wild thing with that one was then they'd try to do "future" scenarios. They had a Super Bowl I rematch of Chiefs/Packers that went into triple OT and you gotta win as the Packers while the Chiefs have possession of the ball.
Only malfunction (and it was a biggie) was they'd not use retro rosters. It'd just be current teams and rosters but pretending it's the retro teams.