From Pong all the way to Madden, sports have been a dominating genre of video games. They give you the chance to take control of your favorite teams and athletes, and destroy the competition. Even if you’re a Jacksonville Jaguars fan, you could finally taste victory.
But even in video games, not all athletes are created equal. There are a select few who have made their mark as some of the most dominant characters in video game history. Let’s take a look at the GOATs of video game sports!
11 AJ Styles Gold – WWE 2K19
AJ Styles is easily one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, having dominated in both TNA and WWE. He’s fast, has incredible high-flying maneuvers, and knows how to work a crowd. In 2018, WWE decided to make him even better, by making him gold.
If you successfully beat the AJ Styles Million Dollar Tower in WWE 2K19, you’ll unlock AJ Styles Gold. As the name suggests, he’s AJ Styles, but his whole body is covered in gold. This is significant, not just because he makes a metal sound everytime he hits someone, but because he’s the only wrestler in WWE history to have an overall rating of 100.
10 Three Michael Jordans – NBA Street Vol. 2
If you ask anyone not from Los Angeles or Cleveland, they’ll tell you that Michael Jordan is the greatest NBA player of all time. And basketball video games seem to agree, since almost every single one has some form of All-Star team with Michael Jordan leading them to dominance. However, NBA Street Vol. 2 was different. They had three Jordans.
Since the game launched in 2003, the developers had access to Michael Jordan when he played for the Washington Wizards. On top of that, they split the the earlier parts of Jordan’s career into two characters: 1985 Jordan and 1996 Jordan. This means that in NBA Street’s 3v3 gameplay, you can make a team of Michael Jordans, each with their own specialties. It was a great way to establish superiority in your friend group.
9 Jon Dowd – MVP Baseball 05
When a game wants to use an athlete’s likeness, the people behind it have to get the player’s permission to do so. Sometimes they’re unable to do so and have to improvise, creating completely new characters that have the exact same stats. The best example of that is Jon Dowd from MVP Baseball 05.
Named after an assistant producer at EA, Jon Dowd is a left fielder for the San Francisco Giants, and who happened to be one of the best hitters of all time . That’s right, this player was really Barry Bonds — yet somehow, Dowd was better than Bonds. Despite that goofy face, his batting stats off right-handed pitchers and plate presence were maxed out, with his other hitting stats in the high 80’s. Plus, he could run pretty well for his size, since they used Bonds’ stats from earlier in his career. Basically, Jon Dowd was the best version of Barry Bonds.
8 Emmanuel Emenike – FIFA 13
If you’re not a fan of international football (soccer for Americans), there is a very good chance that you haven’t heard of Emmanuel Emenike. He’s a Nigerian footballer who played professionally for about ten years, and was the top scorer for Nigeria when they won the 2013 African Cup of Nations. On top of all of that, he was also one of the best athletes in FIFA 13.
That’s right, even amongst the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Emmanuel Emenike found a way to stand out from the packs of players. This was mainly because he was ridiculously fast, and could score goals from a good distance. The man was unstoppable, and a boon for any team he wound up on.
7 Peyton Manning – Madden
Many people debate over who is the best NFL quarterback of all time. There are good arguments for the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Joe Montana, but Madden disagrees. Their answer is clearly Peyton Manning, because the man has had an overall 99 rating in six of his sixteen appearances.
This is major, because not only were those six games all in a row, but in all sixteen games he only went below 92 once — in his very first season. It’s pretty ridiculous, really! Compare this to his closest competition: Tom Brady. The former New England quarterback reached a 99 rating just five times, and dipped below 90 three times — two of those were in the 50s! So, according to Madden, Peyton Manning is the best quarterback ever.
6 Peja Stojakovic – NBA Ballers
Peja Stojakovic is an often-overlooked NBA great. While he never achieved superstar status, he was consistent and a very good shooter — making the NBA All-Star Team three times and winning the Three-Point Contest twice. But for some reason, this shooting made him the best character in NBA Ballers.
NBA Ballers was made in the same vein as NBA Jam and NBA Street, meaning it was all about dunks. While Stojakovic couldn’t dunk well at all, he did have the highest three-point rating out of the rest of the players, at 90. This meant he could make shots from just about everywhere. In fact, there was one spot past the three-point line where he was guaranteed to score. Peja Stojakovic may not have been a major superstar, but he reigned supreme in NBA Ballers.
5 Jeremy Roenick – NHL 94
Whenever you hear about hockey, you think of Wayne Gretzky. At one point he held 61 NHL records, and he scored at least 100 points over 16 seasons. His nickname is The Great One. However, if you played NHL 94 or watched Swingers, you’d think of Jeremy Roenick.
For that single game, Jeremy Roenick had the perfect balance of stats to completely destroy the opposing team. He could shoot from far away, maneuver between opponents, and knock people over like they were made of cardboard. None of this is to say that he wasn’t a good player in real life — he’s one of three American players to break 500 goals — but nothing could top his dominance in NHL 94.
4 Michael Vick – Madden ’04
A quarterback’s job is to survey the field and get his team to the other end, by either passing the ball to receivers or handing it to the running back. But sometimes, that’s just too many steps. Why can’t you just run and put the ball in the endzone? Well with Michael Vick in Madden ’04, you could.
Michael Vick’s throwing stats were pretty good, but you weren’t using him for that. His speed, agility, and acceleration were unbelievable, and he could easily outrun even the fastest defense. And right when the defense was ready to block Vick, you could just switch to a basic throw play. In Madden ’04, Michael Vick wasn’t just a quarterback. He was a cheat code.
3 Pablo Sanchez – Backyard Sports
The Backyard Sports series was a mainstay for every child born in the early 90’s. In these games, children would gather to play basketball, baseball, football, and other sports in a local neighborhood. It had a great aesthetic, with every kid getting their own sports card for stats. Amongst those dozens of kids, no one was as good as Pablo Sanchez.
A boy who didn’t speak English, Pablo was nicknamed “The Secret Weapon” because he was the best at every sport he played — despite his short and portly stature. He could throw, run, hit, catch, kick, and tackle, and be better at them than just about everyone. No one has dominated multiple sports quite like Pablo Sanchez.
2 Bo Jackson – Tecmo Bowl
Many people nowadays don’t realize just how good Bo Jackson was, but Bo knows. Not only did he play football and baseball professionally at the same time, but he did both unbelievably well. However, if you really want to see how great Bo Jackson was, just play Tecmo Bowl on the NES.
To put it bluntly, Bo Jackson was broken. He was so fast and strong that he couldn’t be stopped. Opponents would try and tackle him, but just bounce off. Players would run to their own one-yard line, and then run all the way back to score a touchdown. What Oddjob was to Goldeneye 64, Bo Jackson was to Tecmo Bowl, and he’d be banned amongst friend groups around the world. Bo Jackson was hands down the best playable character in sports game history.
1 Mike Tyson – Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out
…but you don’t always get to play as the best athletes. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out is a game where you box against multiple stereotypical fighters, and it’s a lot of fun. However, waiting for you at the end of the game is one of the most difficult final bosses of all time: Mike Tyson.
The boxing legend was a beast in this game, and could knock you out in a single punch. He was faster, stronger, and more intimidating than any boxer you’d faced before, and if you lost, that was it. You’d either have to fight the gauntlet again, or use a cheat code. No single athlete has dominated the player quite like Mike Tyson and because of that he is easily the most overpowered video game athlete of all time.
