Sports RPGs?

I have been playing a lot of NBA 2K15 lately. For those that do not know, you can make your very own NBA player, get playing time at the coach's whim and slowly upgrade your player's abilities as you accomplish things in the game. It is actually quite a bit of fun, although I suspect your level of fun will depend heavily on how much you like basketball. I'm sure we could debate whether it is an RPG or merely a different type of game with RPG elements, but for purposes of this thread only, let's just call it an RPG…

It got me thinking about what others sports RPGs might be out there, especially where you control just one character on a larger team and upgrade him/her over time. Are there others out there? I'm not super interested in the "management sim" sports titles, personally.

Mario Golf for the Gameboy Color was a great sports RPG. If I recall correctly, you gained skill points by winning matches and the quest was to beat the Grand Champ. Played it a long time ago so don't recall the details but it was incredibly addictive.

Most EA sport titles have the "career mode" now from what I've read online. Madden 15 allow you to play a player, a coach or a owner in career mode. I've seen someone complaining online his character was always benched. lol

I'm going to bet Japan has a lot of these type of games though, most probably not translated.

Perhaps the Blood Bowl titles ? And the similar games created before that by the same developers ?

I created a game called FIFA EXECUTIVE where you played a shareholder of FIFA. The object of the game was to amass as much cash as possible. You negotiated sponsorship deals, world cup events, steroid and doping forums etc.

Everything was going so smoothly I thought it would be a great hit. But then Grand Theft Auto called and said with the drugs, hookers, bribery, theft, and crimal element… it was a copyright infringement on their games.

Damn.. so close..

I have been thinking lately that a sports RPG is definitely something that should be made. I know this sounds crazy, but I even think that a turn-based RPG would work in a sports setting. Or perhaps, real-time with pause. Imagine playing an NBA basketball game where your players have various skills they can trigger on the court, and trying to defeat the opponents using clever strategies and tactics like a turn-based RPG. It could work, I think.

NBA 2K16 is an amazing game, by the way. Great simulation of the sport and very true to life. I love it.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I have been thinking lately that a sports RPG is definitely something that should be made. I know this sounds crazy, but I even think that a turn-based RPG would work in a sports setting. Or perhaps, real-time with pause. Imagine playing an NBA basketball game where your players have various skills they can trigger on the court, and trying to defeat the opponents using clever strategies and tactics like a turn-based RPG. It could work, I think.

NBA 2K16 is an amazing game, by the way. Great simulation of the sport and very true to life. I love it.

Just don't know how this would work.

I could see a game where you have a youth starting off and all the choices they have to make growing up to make it to the Show!

The best sports RPG is LARPing it and just going to the gym .

The guys that do Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP) did a sort of RPGish like text based stat-baseball game where you could get drafted, climb the ranks of the minors to the majors, buy various pieces of equipment to give you better stats, like batting gloves that give you a +2 in contact and +1 in power or cleats that give you a +2 in stolen bases, etc….Its a pretty cool game, but it never really got fleshed out much after the initial release and I much preferred to play the parent game OOTP

Inside the Park Baseball

Operation Sports Review

Chaos League and Blood Bowl 1&2

I'm surprised no one mentioned them.

Originally Posted by azarhal
Most EA sport titles have the "career mode" now from what I've read online. Madden 15 allow you to play a player, a coach or a owner in career mode. I've seen someone complaining online his character was always benched. lol

I'm going to bet Japan has a lot of these type of games though, most probably not translated.

My first character in Madden 13 rode the bench for the first two seasons, which meant I didn't meet any goals, which means that my character's skills kept degrading. They eventually added an option to be an instant starter.

Only sports "RPG" I played is M.U.D.S. - Mean Ugly Dirty Sport (1990)

You play and manage a whole team though.

Inazuma Eleven?

Well, in FFX they have semi-turn based sports RPG integrated in the game called Blitzball. So it has already be done.

There are also old Sega soccer games which was turn-based and had stats. There are many more too. Can't remember the name of all of them though, but in Japan it is quite common.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Chaos League and Blood Bowl 1&2

I'm surprised no one mentioned them.

I didn't mention them because the OP says "It got me thinking about what others sports RPGs might be out there, especially where you control just one character on a larger team and upgrade him/her over time."

we definitely don't have enough Sport RPGs and contemporary RPGs set in reality

thanks guys - I guess I thought there would be a lot more that I had been missing. Thanks for your responses!

You can become a professional boxer in Fallout 2.. That's all I got.

Originally Posted by azarhal
I didn't mention them because the OP.

I noticed you love to respond my replies. I feel honored.

"It got me thinking about what others sports RPGs might be out there, especially where you control just one character on a larger team and upgrade him/her over time.

Well most Sports games with RPG elements have you managing a team. This thread is just like the other one asking site members for turn-based Diablo games.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well most Sports games with RRG elements have you managing a team. This thread is just like the other one asking site members for turn-based Diablo games.

I respectfully disagree that this is a silly question for a thread, Couch. Have you played any of the recent NBA 2K games? There is a very different feeling managing and controlling one character as part of a larger team you have no control over, as opposed to controlling and upgrading the whole team over time. I don't mind the latter - could definitely be fun. I have Blood Bowl but haven't gotten around to playing it. But controlling just one player that you created is very immersive - very much gives you the feeling that, wow, that could have been me in the big leagues or whatever. Really, this is just another aspect of the age-old debate of single character RPGs vs. party-based. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I prefer single character due to the immersiveness, although there are plenty of multiple character games I have liked.

In any event, if nothing else, I hope this thread has made some folks aware of the NBA 2k games and the career mode. I wish I had known about it years ago.