6 Varsity Sports Games That Let You Have A College Career

Highlights

• College sports video games are making a comeback with
  EA Sports College Football 25
  , exciting fans and players alike.
• Athletic Director Simulator 4000
  offers a realistic look at the administrative side of college sports management in a fun text adventure format.
• MVP 06 NCAA Baseball
  stands out with deep gameplay, licensing over 100 NCAA teams, and innovative features like Load and Fire batting.

Varsity sports games are in a bit of a pickle due to issues regarding college sports athletes’ likeliness. However, with EA reviving its college football series with EA Sports College Football 25, the time seems right for college sports video games to come back. Although games about professional sports never stopped coming out, games that let players have a college sports career are simply a different beast.

College sports fans often say they enjoy college sports due to their developmental aspect. Fans want to see stars before they become stars or second-tier players blossom into elite talents. Whether they play as armchair GMs or the athletes themselves, the concept of developing these would-be pros in a gamified sense is pretty appealing, and is something these games try to capture.

One Of The Earliest College Sports Video Games

Bill Walsh College Football is one of the earliest varsity sports games to appearing in the industry. The game is also known as a precursor to EA Sports’ lauded NCAA Football series, but to fans, it was known as a champ among sports games during the Sega Mega Drive era.

This 1993 release didn’t have licensing rights for NCAA teams, something that the developers eventually accomplished in the sequel, but they did have a ton of knock-off teams to choose from instead. Players choose one of these teams to guide through a 16-team playoff with detailed formations. Timeouts and breaks between plays allow players to switch between offensive and defensive options depicted by graphs that hardcore football fans might be surprised to find in an early Mega Drive game.

5 NBA 2K22

College Boosts Gives Permanent Stat Improvements

To enhance the MyCareer mode’s realism, NBA 2K22 gave players the choice to declare for the NBA Draft, sign up for the G League, or enroll in an NCAA college. Playing for a college team gave players college boosts, or permanent stat increases in their player statistics. Every college has a unique boost that befits certain archetypes better, so players are encouraged to do their research instead of going to a specific NCAA college for the name alone.

The Northeastern Huskies, as an example, award bonuses for finishing and defense or rebounds. Shooting-focused players may fare better with the Villanova Wildcats, whereas playmakers will shine with the Michigan State Spartans. Team-specific bonuses aside, badge points are also awarded to players who win the NCAA Championship before declaring for the NBA Draft.

4 Athletic Director Simulator 4000

Start A Career In College Sports Management

Perhaps one of the more realistic sports management games out there, Athletic Director Simulator 4000 allows gamers to understand what their college’s athletic director may have been thinking with all their trades and moves. Through fun text adventure-style screens, players must manage press relations, budgets and fundraising, broadcast rights, facility improvement, personnel management, and even student players’ parents.

Rather than being a coach, ADS 4000 makes players think about what goes into the administrative decisions of running college sports departments. As such, the game is primarily targeted towards students who want a deeper understanding of varsity sports management, as well as sports management instructors who want an easier way of visualizing scenarios for their classes.

3 MVP 06 NCAA Baseball

Prime College Baseball Simulator

What’s remarkable about MVP 06 NCAA Baseball is its readiness to change its gameplay to reflect current standards in collegiate baseball at the time of its development. EA Canada also made the extra effort to license more than 100 NCAA Division I teams, giving this game some serious replay value. Stunningly deep player, team, and stadium editors available in-game made it possible to create even more teams from scratch.

Gameplay was enhanced by the Load and Fire batting minigame, which allowed precise player control of batters, and precision throw control, a counterpart system for pitchers. In terms of sports simulation, Dynasty Mode forces players to put their thinking cap on and learn the best ways to woo high school prospects to their varsity sports team.

2 College Hoops 2K8

Deep College Basketball Sim With High School & College Recruitment

Bring up College Hoops 2K8 to anyone, and the first thing they will mention is its Legacy Mode. College Hoops 2K8 still has a cult following of dedicated players who swear by this engaging management sim. Recruiting, in particular, was changed for the better when compared to its 2K7 iteration.

Players have an incentive to play through some of the exhibition games in the amateur basketball league where 1,500 recruitable high school players will compete. Instead of learning about prospects through interviews and game tapes, they can assess a player’s worth by watching them on the court, in addition to earning some sweet recruit points. Not to mention that 2K8’s gameplay was improved to feel more natural when running offensive and defensive sets, which makes all these exhibition games fun to run through.

The possible return of varsity sports video games wis being heralded by EA Sports College Football 25, the first NCAA-licensed game in years. Student athletes received payouts, along with their universities, after the NCAA allowed athletes to benefit from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) back in 2021. The NCAA deal is also great for fans, who no longer have to painstakingly update their old go-to college football game rosters every year.

Overall reactions to the upcoming college football game are, so far, positive. Running the ball is smooth, tackling and blocking are incredibly fun, passing and kicking are different from other football games, and playing defense is a test of skills. Managing player health through the new Wear and Tear system is mandatory, as too many big hits will put even the best players out of commission.

As for Dynasty mode, players have 30 years to play as the head coach or either the defensive or offensive coordinator of their team. Recruitment and scouting are narrowed down to several hours a week, but expanded to over 4,000 prospects to fill a 35-player roster. While there’s more to this mode, and to Road of Glory, details are sparse until EA reveals more information closer to the game’s July 2024 launch.