*Originally published by former DSN writer Ryan Van Dusen in August of 2015.
Let’s get this clear right from the start: this is a list that, for the most part, set out to identify the most dominant Detroit-based video game athletes of all-time. But this rundown isn’t all about overall ratings. We made sure to leave at least a small bit of wiggle-room to celebrate some of the outsiders and underdogs who found their way onto our countdown in large part thanks to their unique video game-given talents.
With that said, if our countdown seems heavy on the old school, well, it is, and there’s a reason for that. With modern sports games pushing for more and more simulation and real life replication with each passing year, cartoonish athletic superpowers have become a thing of the past (with a few rare exceptions). As a result, more realistic portrayals = significant reduction in 400-yard rushing games and free throw line dunks on Shaquille O’Neal. With that in mind, forgive us if, say, our three hockey choices all came between 1993 and 1995.
Without further ado, let’s get down to business:
8. Joe Dumars – Tecmo NBA Basketball (NES)
1992’s Tecmo NBA Basketball often gets lost among the NBA Jams, Double Dribbles and NBA Lives of the world. There’s a reason for that: the on-court product wasn’t incredible (which is about par for the course among basketball games in the early 90’s). Still, aside from Tecmo teaching my third grade self about backcourt violations and the startling effectiveness of a slashing Sean Elliott, it also offered up a secret weapon for us Detroit folk: the Joe Dumars mid-range jump shot.
Dumars, like every other Tecmo character, didn’t have many moves with the ball in his hands. Okay, Dumars had zero moves with the ball in his hands. A gamer’s best hope was to beat their defender in a beeline following a made basket. But Dumars’ offensive success had a caveat: if a gamer could slowly inch their way to either of the free throw elbows (careful not to commit a charge!), Dumars was capable of knocking down approximately 80% of his mid-range J’s. In my most recent endeavor, Dumars went for 39 on 19-30 shooting (at least five of those misses were point blank layups, don’t ask me how or why).
You might be asking, couldn’t any Tecmo player with a solid mid-range rating theoretically exploit the elbow game like Dumars did? To which I would answer: please stop asking ridiculous questions.
