10 Crazy Sports Video Games That Didn’t Play By The Rules

Sports and video games have practically been inseparable ever since the dawn of gaming as a serious industry prospect. The first arcade classic ever released, Pong in 1972, was themed after a sport in table tennis after all.

Since that one iconic moment, not a year has gone by where a sport hasn't been put in the gaming world, and even franchises such as Rayman, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man and Super Mario, that started out having nothing to do with sports, have launched their own spin off series to try and grab a slice of this lucrative subgenre.

However, it has since seen a serious drop in originality over the years, with more and more titles being hoovered up and monopolised by the likes of Electronic Arts.

It's definitely a meme that rolls on out every time a new Madden or Fifa is announced that everyone rushes out and loses their mind over a game that is basically the same as the one the year before, but it's also one of the ones grounded in reality the most. There's a formula and a recipe that each of these games has to follow, with all of these games focusing on being as accurate as possible simulations rather than original and unique in most cases.

So with the likes of EA's Fifa, NBA2K and Madden all turning up and making everything all safe and mainstream, here are the craziest games that dared to go out of their way and toss the rule book out the window in every sense imaginable.

Developed for the Sega Genesis in 1993, it had been believed for some time that Mutant League Football was built from the same engine used for Madden '93. The truth, however, is that this was a game built entirely from scratch to stand out from games like Madden.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans have mutated into vicious creatures and the dead have risen from the grave, Mutant League Football most resembles an American football simulator, but only if the NFL were suddenly in the business of allowing things like open fire pits and land mine explosions on their pitches.

Bludgeoning the opposing team is an absolute essential of the game's strategy, with even murder being completely viable on the field. Kill enough of the opposing team and there's not a lot of team to oppose a player after all.

As well as the carnage players can inflict on each other, there's also the added bonus of being able to bribe the referee a couple of times a match or just up and kill him as well, something every Madden or Fifa has wanted to do at least once.