1.  NFL 2K (Debut: 1999, Dreamcast)

I’m Canadian, so what I’m about to say might be considered light-treason. I love hockey, but I love football even more. I’m not even talking about the CFL (Go Riders -- even though you suck this year). I’m a fan of the National Football League. I watch as many games as I can. If I’m home on a Sunday afternoon and for whatever reason a garbage game like Detroit vs. Buffalo is being aired, I’ll watch it.

I love football. A part of me lives for it. Why? It’s simple. One Christmas, and I don’t know how this was able to happen, but my parents blessed me with a Dreamcast of my very own (way to earn it, kid... I dodged guilt by convincing myself that other kids from my high school were getting Ford Mustangs). Not just any Dreamcast. The limited edition black Sega Sports Dreamcast. NBA 2K and NFL 2K were in the box! I used to be into basketball, so I was more excited to play the NBA game. One afternoon, however, I decided to try NFL 2K. I was hooked.

Fast-forward a few years, my love of football was reaching critical mass. Unfortunately, my pockets were loose with an abundance of space and I needed a football fix. Sega, in their infinite wisdom, released NFL 2K5 for $29.99 ($19.99 for you Americans). I bought it, being the type of gamer who buys a new football game every 2-3 years.

Vick enjoying the dog days of summer.

NFL 2K5 is one of my favourite games of all time. I’ve put more hours into that game than any other football game I have ever played... combined. I had the franchise mode down to a science. In the last full season I played (and it wasn’t that long ago), I was so meticulous in my trading and cap decisions that my Green Bay Packers were unbeatable. I drafted a running back in my final draft and by the end of his first pre-season, he had a 98 overall rating. Yeah. A science.

It was a better game than Madden. Technology is such that from a gameplay standpoint, current iterations of Madden have long since passed it. But the franchise mode has yet to be beat.

I miss it. I lament what the series could have been. What would NFL 2K12 be like? We’ll never know. EA and the NFL have seen to that. I don’t mean to disparage neither EA nor the NFL, but there is no way to deny that the series died because of those two organizations.

In a way, I’m grateful for the absolution. With every other game on this list, there remains the faintest of hopes. But with NFL 2K, I know that I have seen the last of that series... Too bad.

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