SWX Announces Best Ever Sports Tournament: Video Game Edition

Let’s face it: the world is a better place with brackets. March Madness left a deep, gaping void in our lives when the NCAA Tournament was canceled. But SWX is here to help. All month long, the SWX team is joining forces with our favorite video game channel Just Add Monsters (JAM), to decide the best sports video game ever. It was a daunting task, but a brave crew came together to form the Best Ever Sports Tournament (B.E.S.T.) Selection Committee, to determine a final 36-team field. “I have been a video game junkie for as long as I can remember,” said Eastern Washington Men’s Basketball Coach Shantay Legans. “These games have built relationships but they have also torn some apart. Winning and losing is almost like the real thing to me!” Legans is one of the twenty-two members of SWX’s Video Game Selection Committee members, which includes: Josh Braaten: Actor - “Semi-Pro” Shantay Legans: Head Coach - Eastern Washington Basketball Austin Rehkow: Punter/Kicker - XFL Dustin Toms: Madden Game Reviewer - IGN Gary Gorski: Game Developer - Wolverine Studios Eric Edelstein: Actor/Voice Actor - “Jurassic World” and “We Bare Bears” Ben Hill: Writer - Major League Baseball Rod Benson: Blogger, Artist, Former Basketball Player - the University of California, Berkeley (Cal) Brian Zane: YouTuber - Wrestling with Wregret Kip Hill: Video Game Journalist - The Spokesman-Review Shaun Rainey: TV Sportscaster - SWX Montana Their video game credentials are as varied as their opinions on sports titles. When it came to deciding the top seeds, they were near-unanimous in choosing “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” as one of the best. “How can you not give the nod to Punch-Out?” asked Kip Hill, who writes about video games while also covering the marijuana industry and local politics in Spokane. “It’s culturally insensitive and fiendishly difficult, but it perfected the NES idea theme of learning the pattern to progress. It’s still fun to play, even if the Mike Tyson version is difficult to find.” “Mike Tyson was the first game I can remember playing that I got addicted to,” Legans said. “I would not stop playing until I got a spanking or got punched out myself. Worth it!” Punch-Out!! will lead the “Bruisers Bracket,” a rough-and-tumble division encompassing boxing, wrestling, fighting, and hockey games. EA Sports’ NHL franchise took the number two seed in the division, with committee members pointing to the seminal ‘94 version of the game. “NHL 94 alone puts the series in the upper echelon,” said gamer Brian Cobb, who works for a minor league hockey team. That 90’s nostalgia was the backbone of several ballots, providing the ideal blend of fun and entertainment. “NBA Jam has a lasting legacy for its look, sound, and flaming basketball,” said Wrestling with Wregret’s Brian Zane. To the surprise of no one, NBA 2K and Madden headlined the fields in basketball and football respectively, with both longtime franchises earning top seeds in their 8-team brackets. Sometimes the players overshadowed the games themselves. “Michael Vick was not fair in this game,” said college basketball blogger Keith Ybanez of the Slipper Still Fits. “I’d give him a #1 seed in the bracket of most god-like/unfair video game characters in the history of video games.” “It’s the sports game that all other modern sports games are measured by,” added Cobb. “It was better when Madden was on the cover.” Though the committee loved older sports titles like Ken Griffey Junior Presents, Bases Loaded, and Baseball Stars, MLB The Show still outpaced the field to earn the Baseball Bracket’s top seed. “As a general rule, baseball video games aren’t very good,” explained Hill. “The mechanics of pitching and hitting have never been perfected, and are usually better served by being simpler. That’s why Ken Griffey is the lone standout here. It’s easy to pick up and play, but there’s enough nuance to keep genre veterans entertained, even today.” The Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Bruiser Brackets make up the lion’s share of the 32-team field, broken up into four brackets. But a fifth bracket of just four teams will play, for the right to square off against the winner of the 32-team tournament. “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is an all-timer,” said Cobb. “Not only was it a groundbreaking video game, but almost a culture changer. It helped bring skateboarding to the mainstream.” THPS will be the #1 seed in “The Other Four” bracket. Sadly, many worthy titles were left out of the tournament. Though sports sims have been on the rise, none wound up making it into the field. Out of the Park Baseball nearly made the cut, as did Draft Day Sports: College Basketball 20. Game developer Gary Gorski is quick to credit older titles for laying the ground work for the sims of today. “Front Page Sports Football Pro ‘97 was the greatest game I have ever played,” said Gorski. “I spent an amazing number of hours not only playing the game, but running an online league. The Front Page Sports series was the first that truly gave players a career mode, and was the biggest inspiration to me making the games I do today.” Now that the committee has spoken, it is in the hands of you to decide the winners. Results will be determined daily on @SWXRightNow Twitter polls, as games fight their way from the first round all the way to the championship. Good luck, and may the best game win.