Best Sega Genesis Sports Games - That Are Worth Your Time!

Why would anyone want to play those awful Sega Genesis sports games that have horribly outdated rosters, less than stellar graphics and sometimes the teams don't even exist anymore?

Fun factor, that's why!

Let's head back to the 90's where Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky were the most popular sports figures to date. I remember having posters hanging in my bedroom, billboards around town and shoes that were some of the most iconic sneakers to ever be released.

The game developers back then knew they couldn't just recycle the content and rely on a yearly simulation mode to sell copies of their beloved sports franchise. They had to actually make it count with the limited availability on that 16-bit cartridge and boy did they ever!

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The Sega Genesis had countless sports games from boxing, hockey, basketball, football and baseball. Many of them using licenses from real sports pros that were incredibly popular at the time. We've covered the best SNES sports games and wanted to extend it for the absolute best Sega Genesis sports games.

Tecmo Super Bowl

To put it simply, Tecmo Super Bowl is an all time classic. Sure, it's got outdated graphics and rosters however the fun factor is downright madness. We love how you can just pick up and play given the simple controls and gameplay mechanics.

You only have a total of 4 running and 4 passing plays while on offense, which is all you really need. When you're on defense, hopefully you can match whatever is selected on offense for an almost automatic stop.

If you're looking for the franchise that offered fantastic gameplay and fun factor and is considered to be one of the best American football games released on the Sega Genesis before the likes of John Madden took the market by storm, you owe it to yourself to check out Tecmo Super Bowl.

International Superstar Soccer Deluxe

US Genesis owners didn't actually receive Konami's International Superstar Soccer Deluxe and we're not sure why! The screen scrolls incredibly smooth, the gameplay is fast paced and is a bit more on the arcade side and the sampled speech is simply world class.

There's also a bunch of options from friendlies, tournaments and even be able to train yourself. There's no officially licensed players but does have real countries to choose from. Fifa did offer some great 16-bit entries but International Superstar Soccer Deluxe takes the cake for soccer game on the Genesis.

Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing

Boxing games were incredibly popular on the NES, featuring one of the hardest bosses of all time. Holyfield introduced a boxer creation that allowed you to train your boxer and fight your way up the rankings. Once you start to get older, your fighter will start to loose momentum. This was a fantastic feature simulating what would happen to a heavyweight as they aged.

With no one punch KOs in Real Deal Boxing, Genesis owners got a more realistic simulation style boxing game that really brought great things to the table. A year later, Sega released Greatest Heavyweights that gave you updated graphics and updated your favorite boxer names within the game. That's right, choose from Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and even Joe Frazier to name a few!

Super Baseball 2020

The Neo Geo was a fantastic device and us Genesis owners got a great port of Super Baseball 2020 that didn't get too many cuts in terms of the graphics or gameplay elements. Everything is here, Robots, Jetpacks and the insane upgrade system to give you zero elements of baseball simulation and we absolutely love it.

Graphically, there are slight cutbacks from the source material but it definitely resembles the overall look and feel of this classic Neo Geo baseball game. We absolutely loved hitting home runs even though it was a bit lucky at times.

NBA Hang Time

NBA Jam TE was a fantastic basketball game that was brought to both the SNES and Genesis. NBA Hang Time takes what made NBA Jam so great and improves on it in every way. The sprites are nicer, the dunks are insane and the graphics are wildly improved over the predecessor.

The multiplayer is where NBA Hang Time really shines. Grab a friend and enjoy shoving the computer team to the ground while you dunk on them. We just wish the sound effects were a tad bit better than they are with the Genesis sound chip.

Pete Sampras Tennis

If you were a tennis fan back in the early 90's, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were two of the hottest names back then. With Sega using brand licensing to their games, they brought to you Pete Sampras Tennis back in 1994.

It was a great multiplayer experience on the Sega Genesis, playing doubles with up to four players! It offered great animation and smooth gameplay. You didn't necessarily need crazy animations and powered up sprites to get the point across for a tennis game.

PGA Tour 3

With loads of courses and pro golfers to choose from, PGA Tour 3 is the best golf game on the Sega Genesis. It was just so easy to pick up and play and we had a blast teeing off from the green with those wonderfully animated pseudo 3D graphics that the Genesis had to offer.

When controlling the drives or puts, the controls felt accurate to how we wanted to angle the ball. This is something that is often difficult to solve for when making a golf game back in 1994.

Mutant League Hockey

Sega Genesis exclusive games gave Super Nintendo owners something to envy. Mutant League Hockey is the epitome of jelousy in the school yards. It's made by EA so you'll notice it's very similar to NHL 94. You can get into a scrap that sets you into a brawl, very similar to Blades of Steel on the NES.

Mutant League Hockey is so ridiculous with it's over the top violence, the explosions that happen on the ice and great gameplay using the NHL 94 engine. We enjoyed this cult classic to pieces, please go and play Mutant League Hockey today!

Mutant League Football

Genesis owners not only got a great hockey game to make SNES owners jelous, they also got one great football game in Mutant League Football. The players and team names are absolutely absurd and the levels are really cool. You get to play on the moon or ice or toxic wastelands.

We had a ton of fun playing through the unique concepts that were produced in Mutant League Football and can't say enough great things. If you're a Genesis owner, this should absolutely be in your collection!

WWF Royal Rumble

In terms of wrestling games on the Genesis, we had to go with WWF Royal Rumble. It's the one that feels the most realistic, even though we felt that button mashing was a far superior way to lay the smack down on your opponent with the use of the meter.

The Genesis and Super Nintendo had variations of wrestler rosters to choose from. We ended up getting Rick Flair, Hulk Hogan, Papa Shango and Jim Duggan. We loved using the weapons like the steel chair. We could definitely come back to WWF Royal Rumble on the Genesis!

NHL 94

NHL 94 might very well be the best hockey game of all time. It set the bar for years to come and arguably nothing ever since has not lived up to the benchmark. To this day, fans have created rom hacks to update the rosters for current NHL players and teams. Now that's dedication to a hockey game!

NHL 94 is a timeless classic that you could sink thousands of hours into. With it's indefinete replayability and pick up and play gameplay. The invention of the one timer or body checking your opponent into the bench was such a monumental improvement to hockey fans.

We hope you enjoyed our list of best Sega Genesis sports games. If you think something missed the cut or liked our selections, feel free to reach out to us on Twitter!