From wrestling titles in the WWE SmackDown! series to anime games related to Captain Tsubasa, some sports RPGs can be great gaming experiences.
Since the beginning of video game history, sports and video games have always been connected. For example, in 1958, American physicist William Higinbotham created what is often considered the first video game, Tennis for Two, which simulated a tennis game between two players on an oscilloscope.
Despite it being decades since then, the sports game genre has continuously remained a popular category in the gaming industry. While the focus of the gameplay is usually the simulation of a sport, some of these games have begun adding elements from other genres, which includes the RPG genre.
Considered to be one of the best wrestling video games ever made, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain is a 2003 PS2 game that was the fifth main entry in the WWE game series. As a sequel to WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, the game has many of the same gameplay mechanics that made the previous title an incredible improvement from WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It. But, it also had plenty of great additions such as a new grappling system and the introduction of “legends.”
The best part about this title, however, was the new Season Mode, which is an RPG mode that allows players to take on the role of a wrestler. While experiencing different storylines that take some surprising turns, the player will compete in various matches and level up their character’s stats.
When it was revealed that the 2021 game Mario Golf: Super Rush was going to have a JRPG mode titled “Golf Adventure,” people who didn’t know much about the previous entries in the series were surprised. Long-time fans, however, saw it as a possible return to the JRPG mechanics that were introduced in the 1999 Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color. In this game, players control an original character that tries to become the best golfer and surpass Mario.
Years later, this same idea would return in the 2004 Game Boy Advance title Mario Golf: Advance Tour. Although both of these games didn’t have the most in-depth JRPG experience, they both were strong enough for players to get invested.
Created by the same developers who would later work on the Story of Seasons franchise, the Kawa no Nushi Tsuri series, which is called the River King or Harvest Fishing series internationally, is a fishing JRPG series that began in 1990. Legend of the River King is the 1997 entry for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, and was the first game in the series to be released outside of Japan.
In this game, the player controls a young boy who goes on a journey to catch the Guardian Fish, which is the only thing powerful enough to cure his sister who has fallen ill. To gain the abilities necessary to catch this legendary fish, the player will need to explore several towns, fight wild animals, and catch many different kinds of fish. Besides this game, three other entries in the franchise were released internationally, with the 2007 River King: Mystic Valley for the Nintendo DS being the latest one.
Inspired by Mario Golf on the Game Boy Color, Golf Story is a 2017 award-winning adventure RPG that follows a man who decides to reclaim his childhood love for golf by playing for the first time in 20 years and aiming for an eventual win at the professional tournament. To succeed, the player must travel across eight unique areas and beat multiple courses.
But, the golf-sim aspect is only one part of the whole experience. The main character will meet a diverse cast of characters who will help him grow, and there are many side quests and minigames along the way. Shortly after the success of this title, the studio, Sidebar Games, revealed that they’re working on a sequel called Sports Story.
Released in 2018, Ganbare! Super Strikers is a soccer sim mixed with a turn-based tactical RPG. Similar to the Captain Tsubasa series, the game follows a small-town soccer team in Japan as they work hard to become the best in the country. As the customizable protagonist, the player will encounter many different characters that each have their own unique abilities that they learn over time.
Through matches, the characters gain experience and new equipment that will not only raise stats but will also protect them against status effects. Eventually, the protagonist will join the national team and team up with previous rivals to compete against the rest of the world.
Inspired by popular shounen anime, Dodgeball Academia is a 2021 award-winning sports RPG that follows a student named Otto who joins the number one dodgeball school so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming the ultimate dodgeball champion. Throughout eight episodes, Otto will make plenty of interesting friends and enemies as he rises to the top.
Although the plot follows many typical tropes, the lovable cast and constantly evolving gameplay make it so that the player is invested from beginning to end. While searching for secrets, completing side quests, and playing minigames, players will experience an upbeat soundtrack and a dynamic art style that never gets old.
Created by Level-5, who is best known for their Professor Layton, Ni no Kuni, and Yo-kai Watch franchises, Inazuma Eleven is a 2008 soccer JRPG on the Nintendo DS that started the expansive Inazuma Eleven franchise. Originally only released in Japan and Europe, it finally became available in North America in 2014 as an enhanced 3DS port.
This first installment follows a young talented goalkeeper named Mamoru Endou, or Mark Evans in the translation, as he tries to save the Raimon Junior High soccer team from being disbanded by making the team the best in Japan. Despite the seemingly regular sports anime plot, the series takes a completely different direction that involves special powers called Hissatsu, murder attempts, aliens, and more.
Developed by Supergiant Games, which also created other beautiful indie titles such as Hades, Transistor, and Bastion, Pyre is a 2017 fantasy action RPG where players control the Reader, who is a faceless protagonist that was exiled from their home because reading was banned. Now, the reader must help themself and other exiled individuals escape the mystical land called the Downside by performing Rites.
Unlike the other games on this list that focus on sports that exist in real life, Pyre centers around a fictional sport where two three-player teams battle each other by throwing orbs at the enemy team’s Pyre. Though the game seems simple at first, the player slowly unlocks new abilities that give more tactical depth.
The 1999 street racing JRPG Racing Lagoon is another example of a great Japanese game that never got an official English localization. Luckily, in November 2021, an English fan translation was finally released for this classic game from Square. The game follows a rookie racer, Sho Akasaki, who joins a team of street racers called “Team Bay Lagoon Racing.”
As the player travels through towns, races against other racers, and customizes their car, Akasaki gets caught up in a complicated story surrounding his own forgotten past, a legendary racer, the corporate underworld, and the dangers of street racing. Since the game was written by Motomu Toriyama, it gets really absurdly poetic at times, but it also manages to convey some deep themes.
Released in 2020, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is a soccer game that is based on the 2018 anime remake of Captain Tsubasa. Because of its direct connection to the anime, the single-player story mode, “Episode Tsubasa,” lets the player literally play through the plot of the show. Depending on the player’s actions during matches, slightly different events and cutscenes will occur.
Along with that, the player can also choose “Episode New Hero” and make their own character within the universe. While the camera can be a bit annoying and the visual novel sections are a bit bland, the overall experience still lives up to the iconic series.
Anastasia Wilds is a freelance writer for Screen Rant. Because of her passion for video games, her main focus is writing video game listicles for the website. Along with writing, she also streams various video games on Twitch and uploads some of her highlighted streams onto YouTube. Before working at Screen Rant, she worked as the Senior Arts Editor for “The Spectrum” newspaper at the University at Buffalo.
