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.
Here are the biggest games from each holiday season in the 90s. For past decades, check out the following lists:
[1990] Joe Montana Football (Genesis)
A funny thing happened on the way to kick off the 16-bit era. Electronic Arts, disappointed with the deal offered to them by Nintendo, wanted to make their growing Madden game for the Sega Genesis. But Sega had already started working on a first-party title, Joe Montana Football. EA decided to reverse engineer the Genesis to learn how it worked, got Madden running, and went to present it to Sega before Christmas, expecting at least some pushback that they had completely worked around Sega to make the game against their wishes.
They were surprised to learn that Sega was…relieved? Joe Montana Football was simply not ready for the holidays. So, in a bizarre behind-the-scenes deal, EA would release both games, secretly stripping features out of the Joe Montana version to ensure that Madden would be king.
Beyond that, on the field, Madden played more like a true simulation, with the coach himself insisting on real playbooks and realism. Suddenly, a generation of kids knew what a nickel defense was. Joe Montana Football, for its part, was more accessible and arcade-like, a sort of pick-up-and-play option.
However, together, the two games created a justification for sports fans to purchase the Sega Genesis over the NES (or the upcoming SNES). Ultimately, Madden would be the title that would elevate to new heights, with this being the Christmas that Madden was launched into the dynasty it remains today.
[1991] John Madden Football ’92 (Genesis)
It’s odd to posit that the thing that made this release of Madden the most memorable had nothing to do with the on-field football product and everything to do with the medical profession. That’s because it introduced the chaotic mechanic of driving an ambulance directly onto the field after an injury and…running over everyone in sight, undoubtedly making the situation far worse.
I have always wondered what that design meeting looked and sounded like, but the result was comedy gold as the ambulance, desperate to get to the guy in trouble, created more trouble for others (and didn’t discriminate against referees).
Another chaotic addition was the ability to tackle players after the whistle. You could shave off some frustration by trucking the opposing QB while he’s harmlessly walking back to his huddle. Beyond the chaos, however, the game’s simulation elements did make strides. In were weather effects like mud that made you slow or snow that made you slide. If you were lucky over Christmas break, maybe you could injure your friend’s QB and then observe as more players on both sides suffered the aftereffects.
[1992] Super Mario Kart (SNES)
Heading into the holidays of 1992, the console wars were reaching their peak, and Sega had just launched Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in November with a worldwide street date, ensuring that the world would play the next adventure at roughly the same time, an incredible feat at the time. Nintendo, with its own 16-bit console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, landed a counterpunch with a racing game that essentially created an entirely new genre.
Super Mario Kart consciously stripped away everything serious about racing and made it, well, fun. Who needs gear-shifting when you have bananas? A genius innovation was the game’s equalizers, items of varying power that could give a losing player the chance to make an exciting comeback. The lightning bolt, the star, the mushroom, the blue shell. These items instantly reached legendary status as tools of victory and defeat. The addition of a battle mode in which the goal was to attack the other players and pop their balloons was the cherry on top of a monster hit for Nintendo heading into Christmas.
[1993] NHL ’94 (Genesis/SNES)
As the console wars were coming down to earth, Electronic Arts was continuing its ascension and expanding its library of sports gaming offerings. In 1993, that would include NHL ’94, the sequel to NHLPA ’93. Many fans still identify this as the best hockey game ever made, so much so that the NHL series for many years has included an NHL ’94 throwback mode in its modern titles.
So, what made it special? Previous games had either the players or the teams, but never both. This game finally united them, allowing you to play as the New York Rangers and control Mark Messier. It also gave you the option to take direct control of the goalie to make a miraculous manual save (and earn living room bragging rights).
One absent thing: fights. EA would remove the fighting to focus exclusively on speed and skill. While perhaps jarring at the time, few ended up minding as the gameplay was just that good.
[1994] NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Arcade/Various)
These holidays, the focus shifted back to the local arcades, in an era where the best arcade titles, such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, were expected to come roaring into homes before long. NBA Jam belonged on that list of anticipation, becoming a runaway hit, with the Tournament Edition launching late in the year. It was faster, louder, just better. T.E. took the original formula and set it on fire.
While the original title only included two players per team, T.E. introduced the substitution system, giving each team a bench. Suddenly, you could sub in Toni Kukoc or swap out some other tired guy. With “juice” mode, the tournament settings allowed for gameplay modifiers such as hot spots (where shots were worth double) and other power-up icons such as infinite turbo. The shove mechanic actually became more useful, with the assaulted player losing stats for the rest of the quarter.
The marketing for the game didn’t even need to explain much; it just needed to use the catchphrases that had already become part of the lexicon. “He’s heating up!”, “boomshakalaka”, “he’s on fire!” and more became playground taunts for a generation. Missing from the game was His Airness, Michael Jordan (who was playing baseball at this time and getting ready for a game in space, I think), making teams like Seattle (Kemp/Payton) and Orlando (Shaq/Penny) the go-to dominators. Tournament Edition would release in time for the holidays in some regions, with others taking pre-orders for Jan/Feb.
[1995] NFL GameDay (PlayStation)
This holiday season, magazines were abuzz with the story of an attempted assassination in the gaming industry. This was the year Madden almost died, failing to reach the market before Christmas and coming up against a new contender from upstart Sony and its powerful PlayStation.
While many may have anticipated a placeholder football game until the return of the king, they instead found a game that was…better. This was the moment that sports games moved from the 2D flat images of sprites to true polygonal 3D models. Players could be viewed from multiple angles, allowing the stadium camera to swoop through the stadium with ease, zooming in on players and panning around the stadium. Madden players were in shock, as well as EA Sports itself. The controls were fluid, the presentation slick.
Sony marketed GameDay as the Madden killer, and this may have been the only time in gaming history that John’s darling was truly looking at its potential end.
[1996] Wave Race 64 (N64)
Christmas 1996 was N64 mania, with Nintendo’s new console becoming the hot seller of the season. Parents were tackling each other in Toys’ R’ Us aisles. It was crazy (at least in my memory). Released just weeks before Christmas, Wave Race 64 was an extreme tech demo that felt like it fell out of the future, capitalizing on a surge of beach culture and jet-skis in the mid-90s. (I blame Baywatch. You had to be there.)
This game did one thing better than any other in history to that point: water. It wasn’t just a moving blue thing, it was alive, a true physical simulation. The waves rose and fell and if the water was too choppy you might catch some air. If it was calm, you could carve out some smooth turns. You had to basically read the ocean.
Adding a layer of cool was official licensing from Kawasaki, and the upbeat soundtrack kept your head bobbing through the waves. As Mario 64 was single-player, Wave Race became the go-to multiplayer experience of the holidays.
[1997] Gran Turismo (PlayStation)
While it missed the holiday season in America (not releasing there until May 1998), the launch of Gran Turismo (Grand Touring) in Japan on December 23rd was a revolution and the moment the Sony PlayStation secured its dominance. Before this, racing games tended to be more arcade-like, with Ridge Racer and Need for Speed going the way of spectacle. Gran Turismo arrived just in time for Christmas to shatter that mold.
It wasn’t just a racing simulation; it was an encyclopedia, featuring 140 real-world cars when at the time most racing games carried 8 to 10. Gran Turismo had everything from a used Honda Civic to a Dodge Viper. Polyphony Digital spent five years perfecting the physics and, in turn, defied the limitations of the PS1 in graphical quality and control.
The licensing tests turned driving into something to be learned, and the sense of satisfaction of finally drifting at just the right time and stopping on just the right point was elation personified. The Replay mode used cinematic camera angles that mimicked TV broadcasts and were so realistic for 1997 that they were often used in electronics stores to sell televisions.
Gran Turismo was the gift that made you feel proud to shave milliseconds off your time at High-Speed Ring just because of how you adjusted your gear ratio. It was the gift under the tree that came with an entire garage of world car culture.
[1998] Madden NFL ’99 (PlayStation)
For most of the decade (bar that one time), Madden was a defining culture, but it wasn’t until 1998 that it took the next needed step. Before, the game was essentially a series of exhibition matches, which changed forever when Madden ’99 introduced franchise mode. Now, you could play up to 15 seasons. Players aged, their stats declined, they retired, and you drafted rookies. This addictive churn, where your games actually mattered from one to the next, made it a must-have Christmas break treat.
This was also the first Madden on PlayStation to (finally) use fully 3D polygonal players. Previous versions were somehow still using sprites, and this was the point where Madden was able to actually start pushing back against the surge from GameDay. Commentary was vastly improved and added to the broadcast realism. Commercials focused heavily on the 3D polygons, as EA showcased that they had finally mastered the PlayStation hardware.
[1999] Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (PlayStation)
While the N64 and Dreamcast versions would not debut until 2000, for Christmas ’99, PlayStation owners were graced with a skateboard under the tree. Suddenly, everyone at school knew what an ollie was and that Tony Hawk was that dude. It became the highest-rated game of the year and one of the most culturally significant sports titles ever released.
The buttons were intuitively easy to learn, but deeply difficult to master (if you wanted to land upright). The 2-minute runs to complete objectives like finding S-K-A-T-E or secret tapes created an addictive “one more time” loop for gamers. And the soundtrack, oh the soundtrack. Dead Kennedys, Primus, The Vandals, and more became anthems for 1999.
Millions played the game before it even came out thanks to a demo disc distributed by Pizza Hut and in magazines. The demo featured the iconic Warehouse level, more than enough for players to know that this was the must-have experience if they were picking that one game to ask for at Christmas.
By tapping up-down on the d-pad, you could now balance on two wheels, allowing players to link a vert trick on a ramp to a street trick on a rail. And this amazing combo was not limited by gravity; it could seemingly last forever or until you ran out of stuff to grind or land on. For the first time, you could become a skater in the game with the new create-a-skater and decide where you shred with the new park editor, adding near-infinite replayability.
What holiday memories do you have from the 90s? 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.
