These 11 athletes are the best of the best. The pinnacle. The creme de la creme.

If there were such a thing as a video game athlete hall of fame, these guys would be the first ballot inductees. These are the athletes that are so good that when you face them, you  throw your controller and call your little brother a cheater.

So with a minimum of further ado here they are the top 11 Video Game Athletes.

11. Jango Fett – (Tony Hawk 4)

In the real world, 900 is pretty much the craziest vert trick anyone has ever pulled off.  With the use of his trusty jetpack, Jango could pull off a full 1800 degree spin before landing. That is double 900′s. Plus he has a cool helmet.

10. Brighter Red Light – (Mattel Football)

The Brighter Red Light didn’t even need teammates in this handheld classic. How many other athletes have the skills to go 1 on 5? Brighter Red Light is the ultimate North/South runner. He might not have a spin move or a stiff arm, but there is no way he is losing yards.

9. Quentin Sands – (Blitz the League)

Modeled after Lawrence Taylor, Quentin Sands played like the captain of the prison league football team. Whenever you play against him, at least one of your players was leaving the game with a broken leg (about 54 seconds in, don’t click if you’re squeamish.)

8. Jeremy Roenick – (NHLPA Hockey 93, NHL 94)

Besides having some sweet dance moves, Roenick was a beast on the ice. Incredibly fast and strong, Roenick was the go to guy if you wanted to get someone’s head to bleed.

7. Sunday Tiger Woods – (Tiger Woods series)

It doesn’t take too long for your created player to become a long ball driving, putting machine. In no time at all you surpass the stats for cover boy Tiger Woods. It is only on the last day of a tournament when you have to face Sunday Tiger Woods. Just like in real life, Tiger steps it up big time on the biggest stages. You better hope you have a big lead going into Sunday, because Sunday Tiger Woods will consistently hit the kind of shots they show on Sportcenter’s Top 10′s.

6. Randy Moss – (Madden series, NFL 2K series)

There is a noticeable panic whenever someone looks up and realizes that they left Randy Moss in single coverage streaking down the sideline. An inevitable “Oh $%&*!” escapes their lips as the QB releases the ball. My entire Madden 2001 offense was built on  the deep post to Moss. The ultimate big play receiver might only catch 3 balls in a game but all 3 would go for touchdowns.

5. Mario – (Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Hoops, etc.)

He might not be the fastest or the strongest, but no other athlete on this list comes close to matching Mario’s versatility. Never mind the physique, Mario has proven himself to be the greatest all around athlete. Mario can do just about anything; Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Golf, Tennis and the freakin Olympics.

4. Michael Vick – (Madden 04)

Madden 05 and Madden 06 were in many ways a response to Michael Vick in Madden 04. The league had never seen a QB who could move like Vick, and the game struggled to keep up. If you wanted to stop Vick from running you had to focus your entire defense on him. At which point he would throw a long TD pass.

3. Detlef Schrempf - (In the Zone)

This series has faded into obscurity, and even back in the day In the Zone couldn’t compete with NBA Live or NBA Shootout. However, no other basketball player in any game comes close to matching the awesome power of Detlef. In real life Detlef was the third best player on his team, but in the game he is a basketball god. If Detlef is within half court distance, that shot is going in. I would score in the mid 100′s with Detlef every game. He would have something like 40 3-pointers a game. We had to ban him because it felt like cheating.

2. Bo Jackson – (Tecmo Bowl)

Picking the Raiders felt like cheating. Bo Jackson was simply too fast and too strong for the game to keep up. He would outrun everyone, and if you managed to lay a hand on him he would shrug it off and keep going.

1. Mike Tyson – (Mike Tyson’s Punchout)

In the 80′s there was no one on the planet scarier than Mike Tyson. There were other great fighters through the years, but none could match the sheer ferocity that Tyson seemed to exude. Ali or Frazier might beat the snot out of you but Tyson seemed like he wanted to kill you. It wasn’t a question of whether he was going to win the fight, it was a matter of how long would someone be able to last. Tyson was literally the last man on the planet you wanted to mess with.

Somehow, the digital version of Tyson was even more frightening. Few moments in video game history can match the first time you fight Tyson. By the end of the first 30 seconds you’ve been knocked down 3 times and you haven’t even dented his health bar. Most gamers throw their hands up at this point and walk away.

My friend Nate is (arguably) a grown man. When he defeated Mike Tyson he threw his hands up in the air, threw the controller down, and yelled at the T.V. Everyone in the room high fived like morons. Nate was so excited it took him a couple of days to come down from that high.

To this day he still swells with pride whenever you talk about it.

Tags: Blitz the League, In the Zone, Madden, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mattel Football, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, NFL 2K, NHL 94, NHLPA Hockey 93, Tecmo Bowl, Tiger Woods, Tony Hawk 4, top 11

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 11:46 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.