7 Sports that Should Have Their Own Video Game

Sports games are a ton of fun. My older brother loved playing NBA Live 2005 with his friends on the PS2. Even for those of us who aren't into Madden or FIFA titles, there are plenty of sports game to enjoy. I personally loved Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis Aces is a huge hit.

But some sports are featured in video games much more often than others. Some are only in video games as part of a theme or compilation, like Wii Sports or Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The world of sports is huge, and here are seven awesome sports that should have their own video game.

Badminton

If there can be 300 tennis video games, there can certainly be at least one badminton video game. Badminton is a cross between volleyball and tennis, where the player/team uses a racquet to hit the shuttlecock across a net. If a player/team hits the shuttlecock out of bounds, into the net, or is unable to return it, the other side scores a point.

Shuttlecocks and racquets may not sound athletic, but the sport requires stamina, agility, speed, and precision if you're among the best of the best. Those requirements are the same to be among the world's best gamers, so  badminton is a fitting game for the sports genre.

Jai Alai

Jai-a-who?

Jai Alai, if you don't know, essentially involves a ball, called the pelota, bouncing against the walls and between two players or two teams. Players use the cesta, the "elephant tusk" on their arms, to catch the ball and return it against the wall in one fluid motion. The sport originated in Spain in the 14th Century and is still popular today in the Philippines and in Latin America.

Not every sports game needs to feature American sports, but don't write it off just yet. The pelota in Jai Alai travels up to 150 miles per hour regularly in matches. The sport once held the world record for ball speed, clocking in at 188 mph. Jai Alai is filled with fast-paced action and acrobatics, all the makings of a fun video game.

Ultimate Frisbee

With the responsiveness of the Wiimote, the Kinect, and the Switch Joy-Cons, the technology is ready for an ultimate frisbee video game. Also known as ultimate, ultimate frisbee is very similar to football. The object is to get your team and the disc to your team's end zone. Unlike football, it's not a contact sport and players may not take steps while holding the disc. There are also no downs in ultimate. Any incomplete pass, interception or out-of-bounds throw turns possession over to the other team.

Ultimate is clearly not football, but presents strategy that would engage athletes and couch potatoes alike. Because its a disc, the weather can have a lot of impact on the game. Also, since turnovers happen often, every player is offense and defense and might have to switch roles in a split second. There's plenty within ultimate frisbee that would make it a great video game.

Wrestling

No, all those WWE video games don't count. Sure, those WWE folks are buff, but that kind of wrestling is not a sport.

Because "wrestling" games are pretty popular, I'm a little surprised there isn't a game featuring the sport played on the Olympic stage and in high schools across the world. There are several different forms of competitive wrestling, including Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, pankration and grappling/submission wrestling.

If a wrestling game were to feature all the different forms, players would be encouraged to learn, and win, in the different styles. Since each style of wrestling has slightly different rules, winning in each form in the game would require adapting the gameplay to each style.

Trampoline

First of all, if it's in the Olympics, it counts as a sport. Second of all, if you have to do it as part of 8th Grade P.E. class, it counts as a sport.

Nonetheless, a trampoline video game would be an awesome game. Think all the tricks of Tony Hawk or Cool Boarders without relying on the movement along a half pipe for momentum. 

Racquetball

Racquetball would be one of the tougher sports on this list to make into a video game. The main reason is camera positioning. In racquetball, all four walls and the ceiling are playable surfaces. After the ball is served, it cannot touch the floor. Although the ball must hit the front wall before the player returns the rally, it can hit any of the other playable surfaces.

Perhaps the camera could remain stationary at the front wall like in the video, but that might make it hard for players to gauge distance or how hard they may need to hit it to return the ball to the front wall.

Anyway, as stated before, if tennis can have 300 video games, then racquetball ought to have at least one.

Kickball

How is there not a kickball video game yet? Kickball is played by youth and adults on fields all over the world. It's not as obscure as some of the other entries in the slideshow, and it's very similar to baseball, of which there are plenty of video games.

Even if the game went with a cartoon feel and geared itself toward kids, a kickball video game would be great! The game could also include all sorts of twists and obstacles to kickball, like line kickball, or adding slip-n-slides, or having only one base (second base). Who said sports games couldn't be goofy?

What do you think? Are sports games fine the way they are? Or are there some other sports out there who deserve a shot at their own game? Let us know in the comments!