Since 1973, video games controlled with hand-held devices have captured global attention, with sports games taking center stage right from the start thanks to an early, simple tennis-inspired classic. For countless gamers, their love of gaming began on Christmas morning, unwrapping packages that matched the size of those coveted titles seen behind glass in stores. Sports games, in particular, have held a unique place in the festive magic of the holidays.
So which sports titles had the greatest impact on each holiday season? This list was compiled based on factors such as sales figures, the game’s influence on console sales, and its overall cultural significance.
For the previous decade, check out our list for the hottest sports video games of every holiday in the 1970s.
[1980] Major League Baseball (Intellivision)
1980 would begin what was likely the very first “Console War” for the holidays. The Atari 2600 had dominated living rooms unopposed when Mattel, fresh from its handheld success and perhaps feeling a tad invincible, entered the home console market with the Intellivision (Intelligent Television). Atari branded itself on “arcade action” while Intellivision touted “realism.” Mattel’s weapon of choice in this battle for wrapping paper was Major League Baseball.
This is going to sound odd by modern standards, but the very first realism point for this game is that the field was green, rather than black. The players had what could be recognized as limbs and weren’t just stick figures. When the player hit a home run, the crowd actually cheered. These were all monumental for the time, and helped Intellivision launch an aggressive campaign starring sports journalist George Plimpton that would present Intellivision as the console of choice for those seeking the real thing. Major League Baseball would go on to break 1 million units in sales because, for the first time, people actually felt they were playing America’s favorite pastime.
[1981] Ice Hockey (Atari 2600)
Enter: Activision. In 1981, a group of rebel ex-Atari programmers started releasing games that looked and played better than Atari’s own first-party software. Ice Hockey, specifically released for the holiday rush, proved that the Atari 2600 could handle faster, more fluid sports titles if the talent behind the coding was there.
Perhaps most entertaining was the ability to ‘check’ opposing players, leaving them in a crumpled heap on the ice for several seconds. Endlessly satisfying on a console that had once made such a thing feel impossible due to the sluggish nature of games like Pong. Players controlled both a goalie and a forward simultaneously. The forward would chase the puck while the goalie shadowed the net automatically until needed, where the player would take control for the attempted save.
Fun fact: if you took a photo of your high score and mailed it to Activision, they sent you a physical “Ice Hockey” patch for your denim jacket.
[1982] Pole Position (Arcade)
Attention this year would shift back to the arcade scene with the looming collapse of the home gaming market due to oversaturation of poor-quality games. Meanwhile, titles like Pole Position carried the flag of progress for the industry. It transformed the racing genre from top-down basics to vibrant speed. It would become the highest-grossing arcade game of 1983, with its boom starting during the 1982 holiday season.
Introducing the third-person rear-view camera, the tires spinning, the exhaust, and the track curving into the distance provided a sense of speed that simply had not been experienced before in gaming. The game also cared about presentation, from the booming voice bellowing PREPARE TO QUALIFY, to the advertisement billboards for Marlboro as you flew by. This was the first game that could truly be identified as an attempt at a racing ‘simulation.’
With the Atari 5200 arriving in November 1982, the home version of Pole Position was still a few months away. However, the coming promise of being able to play it and other arcade staples was the major selling point for the expensive new console that had been dubbed the “SuperSystem”.
As a side note, my own video game journey would begin on an Atari 5200 with the dazzling speed and excitement of Pole Position.
[1983] Summer Games (Commodore 64)
While the dreaded crash of 1983 temporarily destroyed the home console industry, arcades and home computers were rising to fill the void. Atari 2600 was collapsing under the weight of bad games, and the Commodore 64 was instead becoming the new must-have gaming machine. With the 1984 Olympic Games coming the following year to Los Angeles, Epyx took full advantage in creating a simulation of the event (in all but official licensing).
The Opening Ceremony was a master class in what could be done with sports game presentation, as it featured an athlete running with a torch, lighting the flame, and releasing doves, none of which looked like dots that required a generous dose of imagination. Presentation being only the beginning, the game featured a collection of events including pole vault, sprinting, gymnastics, platform diving, and skeet shooting.
The Commodore 64 was able to create fluid character movement, allowing for the player to control the rotation and entry angle of a diver, for example. And rather than just selecting a color, you selected the country you represented, complete with digital versions of national anthems. The game presented a much more impactful vision of what a fully featured sports title could be. It became a perfect gift for the holidays, as up to 8 players could compete (taking turns), allowing the entire family to compete from the comfort of their own homes as they prepared to watch the real games on television the following year.
[1984] Dr. J And Larry Bird Go One-On-One (Apple II/Commodore 64/Atari 8-bit)
As the slump in the home console market continued and home computers were presented as the “smart” alternative, elsewhere, the NBA was reaching a golden era of its own. Two of its biggest stars of the decade, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, and Julius “Dr. J” Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers, helped an upstart Electronic Arts launch the first game that didn’t focus on teams but instead focused on the colorful personalities in basketball.
This game is possibly the first time that players can be said to have attributes. Larry Bird was deadly from deep, but slower. Dr. J was a menace in the paint and faster. Speaking of the Doc, if you dunked too often, the glass backboard would shatter, leaving a poor janitor to come sweep up the shards while you bragged to your nearest friend or family member.
Plus, look at that cover. That just screams vinyl album cool.
[1985] Baseball (NES)
By the start of 1985, video game home consoles were still a concept rarely whispered in department store aisles. That was until October 1985, and the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System (bundled with a Trojan horse named R.O.B. to convince parents this was not in fact a “video game”, but rather a “toy”).
Baseball became one of the original 17 launch titles of the iconic black box packaging. Being the first sports game to utilize a d-pad rather than a single joystick, precision became more possible with pitching (even after the pitch was thrown). There were no licenses (yet). The teams were simply letters (A, C, D, G, P, R, T, W, Y). But to a kid in 1985, “Y” was clearly the Yankees and “D” was the Dodgers. Imagination filled in the gaps.
The cover art featured a pixel-perfect screenshot of the game on the cover. No lush paintings of fake athletes (like Atari used) to trick you. Nintendo was saying: “This is exactly what the game looks like, and it looks better than anything you’ve ever played.” This, along with that familiar golden “Official Nintendo Seal of Quality,” let burned-out customers know that home consoles were back with care, and gave parents confidence to place the new gray box from Nintendo under the tree.
[1986] Black Box NES Titles (NES)
While the NES featured a test launch in October 1985 in time for the holidays, 1986 would prove to be the great awakening for the home console with the full launch of the NES. While Super Mario Bros. came with the console, the Sports Series (Golf, Tennis, Baseball, Volleyball, Slalom) were the must-have additions to build a library.
Slalom, released just in time for Christmas, was developed by Rare, their first NES game. Tennis featured Mario as a referee and pioneered the idea of position-based physics — where the ball went depended on where you connected with it. Golf introduced the now-familiar power bar/swing meter that is still used in golf games today.
The black boxes provided endless possibilities for the holidays. “Now You’re Playing with Power” became a truth of life for many children of the ‘80s.
[1987] Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! (NES)
It’s hard to put into words the chills one would get when they heard the name of a single man in 1987: Mike Tyson. He was a pop-culture supernova, unstoppable in the ring with a violent uppercut. He felt invincible. Nintendo’s founder, Minoru Arakawa, secured Tyson’s likeness for a certain NES port that was coming from arcades: Punch-Out!!
By Christmas 1987, that license became the most valuable asset in gaming, allowing anyone to step in the ring with the baddest man on the planet and, if you weren’t careful, becoming one blow away from ending Mac’s career.
The addictive nature of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! can be attributed to being more of a rhythm game than a boxing simulator. There were patterns, tells. A flashing eye here, a raised eyebrow there, and a hair of a second to capitalize. Players would need all they learned in rhythm and lightning reflexes in order to withstand the final bout with Tyson himself. If you were lucky, then after Christmas break you could brag on the playground that you downed the champion.
007 373 5963 Mac, you’ve got this.
[1988] RBI Baseball (NES)
Tengen came out swinging for the 1988 holiday season by securing the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association) license. While the game did not include the actual MLB team names, it had the names of the players, and that mattered to a whole lot of people. Rather than seeing a generic baller, the player could control Clemens, Gooden, Strawberry, and McGwire.
Each player included unique physics based on their real-life stats (another step towards the attributes we know today). Vince Coleman was fast, Nolan Ryan was a flamethrower, and Fernando Valenzuela threw an impossible screwball. It was seemingly all there for the serious baseball fan, wrapped in a neat package that could then be wrapped into another neat package under a tree.
The marketing campaign “Don’t play with nameless rookies” told the tale as the ads themselves listed the stats of the real players included in the game.
[1989] Tecmo Bowl (NES)
In 1989, the NES was reaching the peak of its powers. While the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive) would launch late in the year, Nintendo’s market share accounted for an NES in nearly one out of three American homes, providing a more than solid foundation for the breakout sports hit of the holidays.
Tecmo Bowl was released early in the year, but by way of word of mouth, it had become a legend by Christmas. It was the first console game to feature real NFL players (securing the NFLPA license), though, like RBI Baseball before it, it was forced to use generic team names such as Chicago and New York.
The four-play playbook may sound like it was a hindrance, but it was instead one of the crucial elements that gave the game both simplicity and complexity. Both the offense and defense would choose from one of four plays, and all eight could generate an exciting play. Tecmo Bowl also introduced cut scenes, celebrations with teammates after scoring or following an interception. While the game was only 9 on 9 due to hardware limits, the sprites moved with arcade-like speed and provided a consistently fun football gaming experience that many still swear by.
Many on the playground Bo-lieved that if you picked Los Angeles, you couldn’t lose.
What holiday memories do you have from the 80s? Any years you would have changed?
What are your predictions for unrevealed years? Join the conversation below and come back tomorrow for the next decade in the series as we keep counting down to another sports gaming Christmas.
