Reviving Nostalgia: The Need for EA Sports…

It’s that time of year again when EA Sports starts to unveil its annual sports games, and on Thursday, they dropped a trailer for EA Sports College Football 26. The trailer featured an exhilarating vibe set to Metallica’s iconic track “Enter Sandman,” showcasing various teams engaged in their traditional pre-game rituals. While the graphics in College Football 26 look impressively realistic and the ambiance feels grand, my real desire is for engaging gameplay. What I truly miss is the return of EA Sports BIG.

Can I take a moment to reminisce about an old friend?

Launched by Electronic Arts in 2000, EA Sports BIG was tasked with delivering extreme sports games. Spearheaded by Steve Rechtschaffner, the EA Sports BIG brand made its debut with SSX, a snowboarding game that reinvented the sport with its flamboyant style, tricks, and a whole lot of personality. The game was a critical darling, celebrated for embracing the thrilling exaggerations of gaming rather than the down-to-earth realism typical in most sports simulations. The success of SSX paved the way for a cherished franchise and transformed EA Sports BIG into a successful powerhouse.

EA Sports BIG ventured into a variety of sports, including soccer (FIFA Street), motocross (Freekstyle), snowmobile racing (Sled Storm), rallying (Shox), wrestling (Def Jam Vendetta), basketball (NBA Street), and football (NFL Street). Notably, both the basketball and football franchises emerged as fan favorites during the EA Sports BIG era.

NBA Street made its debut in 2001 on the PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube, amidst a flood of basketball simulations such as NBA Shootout 2002, NBA Live 2002, NBA Hoopz, and NBA 2k2. Following in the footsteps of NBA Jam, EA Sports BIG chose to take a different route with NBA Street, featuring real NBA players while channeling the essence of streetball culture.

The game’s 3-on-3 format encouraged players to express their individuality, allowing them to execute jaw-dropping moves that would typically be fouls in genuine NBA play. Players could accumulate trick points to fill a trick meter, empowering them to unleash a gamebreaker—a spectacular shot that earned them points while diminishing their opponent’s score.