The annual releases of the likes of NBA 2K23 unsurprisingly dominate the sports market in the video game industry, but the more arcade-like titles have their respective appeal as well.
The arcade sports games stand apart thanks to their inherent over-the-top premises, which are great for variety. Such games range from family-friendly mascot games like the various Mario sports spinoffs to nonsensically violent ones like the Blood Bowl or Blitz: The League series.
Knockout City
Dodgeball isn't usually a sport that audiences see emphasized in the gaming space, possibly because it typically being a "school recess" sport while the conventional ones are what garners the most attention. It's entertaining nonetheless, and Velan Studios' multiplayer Knockout City rectifies that lack of dodgeball-focused action.
Players split up into teams and play in practically sci-fi-like arenas to defeat the competition. What adds the "unrealism" factor the most, though, is how players pick up balls around the maps that each hold superpowered traits to gain an edge over the opponent.
Super Mario Strikers
There are Super Mario Strikers series is worth a shout for its arcade-like fun and bombastic gameplay. Taking a much more violent approach to the world's most beloved sport, the Strikers games are unabashedly action-focused.
Players can pick a variety of their favorite characters from this colorful and otherwise relaxing world, make teams, and take part in soccer matches that encourage violent tackles, Smash Bros.-like combat items, and special moves that may as well be from a fighting game like Street Fighter.
Rocket League
Another arcade soccer game, publisher/developer Psyonix's Rocket League started as a simultaneously creative and outlandish sports game that lives up to its title. The game has players control rocket-propelled cars to play soccer with a giant ball, with this premise spinning out into one of the most lucrative and competitive esports.
And that seemingly simple concept turned to inspire some of the most skilled and outrageously fun metas in the gaming scene. Rocket League is arguably a game that falls under the "easy to learn, difficult to master" category.
MLB Slugfest
While the MLB Slugfest series, which was last seen back in 2006, don't adopt a vibrant or stylized art direction with its characters or atmosphere, it undoubtedly turns up the chaos in baseball that no sports-sim game would.
It initially looks like a normal baseball game, but the gloves come off once the players are allowed to throw absurdly angles curve balls, setting players on fire, and outright attacking field players to force them to drop the ball. When it comes to titles like these, violence is often the deciding gameplay factor to give them a wild alternative angle to a conventional sports game.
Blood Bowl
It's unsurprising that developers eventually took to American football for their oddball premises for a video game and the Blood Bowl games are no exception. The games are adaptations of the 1986 miniatures board game of the same name, which comically mesh a version of the sport with high fantasy settings and creatures of the wider Warhammer parent franchise.
Interestingly enough, as opposed to most sports games in general, the Blood Bowl games have turn-based strategy gameplay mechanics. This is an ittedly impressive shakeup to what players typically see available for an arcade sports game.
Captain Tsubasa: Rise Of New Champions
A creative cocktail of anime and sports is a great combination for an unrealistic arcade title, with Tamsoft's Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions providing the experience that prospective players would expect. Another soccer-based game, Captain Tsubasa also functions as a loose adaptation of writer Yoichi Takahashi's manga and the anime TV shows it inspired.
It features an original story where players can choose the school they represent and create an original character they can level up akin to FIFA. But the flair kicks in when in the middle of the match, as the anime spin on this sport allows for fittingly exaggerated plays and colorful style, even without the aggression of Mario Strikers.
Blitz: The League
Many arcade sports games tend to take realism to colorfully charming heights, but the Blitz: The League series takes its brand of inventiveness to violently dark places.
It's another spin on American football, but developer Midway Games effectively turns the game into a full-blown bloodsport. There are essentially no rules, with players free -- and even encouraged -- to brutalize the opponent in a gory fashion. Even more so, players even have the option to give their team performance-enhancing drugs.
Pyre
Though (now) primarily known for Hades, the team at Supergiant Games has an impressive backlog of indie hits. Pyre is one of them, proving to also be one of the most creative sports games -- technically -- by primarily functioning as an action RPG rather than an arcade sports game.
The game takes place in a stylistic high-fantasy world, where a rich and character-driven story sees the player participate in "Rites," which is essentially the world's ritualistic sport. The object of the game combines almost soccer and basketball-like movements, but now with demons, harpies, and more using magical powers to gain an edge in-game.
Mario Tennis Aces
Dating back to the days of the GameCube, the tennis Mario games were some of the most delightfully over-the-top. And while some of the recent arcade sports have been criticized for launching with half-finished features, Mario Tennis Aces was overall well regarded for tapping into that nostalgic gameplay element.
As with other spin-off sports titles, players can pick from their favorite colorful characters in singles or doubles, but with the added flair of superpowered plays that can slow down time, borderline teleportation "trick shots," set served balls on fire, and even engage in game modes like the RPG-like adventure mode.
NHL Hitz
Like MLB Slugfest, the NHL Hitz games don't take a cartoonish approach to the players or game world, but it does for the gameplay. Hockey is already an aggressive sport, but NHL Hitz amplifies that greatly.
Players can ram opponents through the barrier glass and into the stands with no breaks in gameplay, high-octane speed, anthropomorphic characters, and even lightning strikes when charged up. Goalies are allowed to handle the puck as well, including taking shots on goal. Rounding out the game's content are even wilder mini-game modes.