All of the characters from Freekstyle are actually real professional freestyle motocross riders, and I met Mike Metzger (from the cover and intro) like 20 years ago at Disneyland. They were doing this action sports thing one summer, so they had a ton of professional athletes doing shows, including a young Shaun White! They held autograph sessions after every show, and Mike Metzger signed my copy of Freekstyle!
Woah that’s actually really cool, I assumed they were made up like the SSX crew. Ignorance led me to my negative opinion it seems haha, I can’t think of any other game where you can have the actual character sign it for you 🤘
@@EvanHelblingYT Also, leaning back when hitting a ramp is called preloading your suspension. It's a well known mechanic in most dirt bike games. It was a skill issue. :x no offense, haha. But that game was pretty good for the time. Just subbed. Great videos. I've been binging all day
I love that you open your video with Rhazel's big booming "EA Sports Big" opening. Lots of mostly great memories came back to me as I watched your video, and although I played a significant role in many of the games and the creation of the brand, the best games got to be amazing because of so many talented, hard-working & passionate Producers, Engineers, Artists, Game Designers, Audio Designers, Testers and a wide variety of important collaborators who really added the spice to an already series of flavorful dishes. In looking back, we had to create the space where members of the team could take outlandish and unreasonable risks in order to deliver the unexpected. This is never an easy task in a big company, because many of the ideas don't work, but that sort of failure is essential on the journey to get to the really, really great stuff. I'm so proud I got to be a part of the BIG journey and was able to work with so many great people, for me, that's the juice. That, and having people that still feel passionately about these games 20 years later :)
I consider myself a gaming historian of this era and I didn't know EA Big was responsible for so many games! It's pretty fascinating stuff. The SSX series is also an all-time favorite of mine and those games so clearly had a special kind of love in them. Sometimes you can just tell when a game was made with passion and care, and those 3 main SSX games have it.
Yep I love that they just went all in on the creativity and fun in these games! SSX 3 and NFL street are my all time favorites, it’s great when the developers actually like and play video games.
As a retro video game collector, and a kid who grew up in the mid PS2 era/PS3/early PS4 era, I never played theae growing up as I was never a sports fan. While I'm still not into sports, there's an appeal to these games. Finally playing them as an adult, the games are suited for a wider audience. Even though they're technically sports games, they play differently from regular sports games and feel more like an action game. Great video Evan!
yeah same here, I think these games got me to like sports but I'd definitely still play them if I didn't. The action gameplay and rpg progression can be fun for literally anyone. Thankyou!
While I didn't play much of the BIG titles outside of SSX as a kid, they definitely had an impact for the brief time they were being released. EA sadly does have a track record of taking a talented studio and dissolving them however.
As long as you played one of em that’s all that matters. EA just centers their games around micro transactions and there’s nothing anyone can do about it sadly lol
I spent a good deal of my PS2’s life playing EA BIG games (mainly SSX, SSX Tricky, FIFA Street and NBA Street) so this video was another blast for me. Keep up the good work. Another entertaining and funny video.
Man the nostalgia hits with this one, I absolutely loved Fifa Street 2/3 and also played a lot NBA Homecourt.... sports games of my early teenage years
EA Big were great but IMO nothing comes close to Midway in that era.. Between basically inventing arcade sports with NBA Jam and then NFL Blitz and then solidifying those titles with amazing follow ups. NHL Hitz 2002 is probably the best 3 player sports game ever made and I will die by that.
The EaSports Big titles are great games and I still have a few copies of the nba street titles and nfl street games. These games by ea sports big are still classics. Good video man and take care.
I think because your American and not interested in football you don’t understand how big fifa street was in Europe it was loved and a perfect game and at the time was the biggest game
Not only in Europe, here in Latin America we continue to remember FIFA Street with affection, since it remembers the great moments that we played football on the street
NBA Street was my introduction to Playstation 2 and i loved it adding in SSX NFL and DEF JAM games to the same console was like a dream come true that know one even knew they was dreaming, never played the FIFA games but aside from that i would love love LOVE to see a remaster of these AMAZING games! maybe not the last 3 racing games but the others are a needed in my life somehow someway EA!
@ yes and absolutely is, no game could ever come close to that but if they ever were able to bring it back that would of been amazing sadly it’s never gonna happen 😢
I remember playing the SSX demo a lot on one of those demo discs that you can get from gaming magazines back in the day. I still have those discs as well, but they're so badly scratched up now. Don't know why I never got the game back then, I actually enjoyed. Then again, there were too many games to choose from and my parents only get me one game every couple of months so I had to choose.
I remember being a kid at a videogame store trying to decide between NBA Street 2 or American Chopper The Videogame. I chose American Chopper and still think about that decision to this day
Wouldn’t happen in todays world the licensing would be insanely expensive because take video games seriously now so they know the profit it would generate and everyone would want a million or more labels would become involved it would just be a insane cash grab of mess we truly we’re blessed to get a game series like def jam it will never be duplicated again because EA will not pay for it
I just discovered your channel and I can't seem to stop watching! Anyways, you seem like a fan of extreme sports games, have you ever played Downhill Domination? It's a mountain biking game made by the same studio that did Twisted Metal. It's a lot of fun and I think it'd be right up your alley.
Amazing video, my only critique is the lack of Def Jam: Fight For NY being covered. 100% one of the best fighting game ever. There is a reason it goes for $100+ now. Great video though!!
Was it the nostalgia you activated in this 33-year old? Or the dry humor? I don't know, but what I do know is that this video did indeed make me smile.
I'm still hoping we get the SSX, NFL and NBA franchise remastered. They're easy money grabs and actually more fun than today's disappointments. It's frustrating and shocking how EA hasn't started yet.
Can attest to sledstorm being freaking good! Or at least like 6 year old me can when this came out. It was weird because before that I had played sledstorm on PS1 and their very different games.
I loved def jam fight for newyork i remember i got so good at it i had a match that was only like 30 seconds and as a kid that made me feel like a g xD
All of the characters from Freekstyle are actually real professional freestyle motocross riders, and I met Mike Metzger (from the cover and intro) like 20 years ago at Disneyland. They were doing this action sports thing one summer, so they had a ton of professional athletes doing shows, including a young Shaun White! They held autograph sessions after every show, and Mike Metzger signed my copy of Freekstyle!
Woah that’s actually really cool, I assumed they were made up like the SSX crew. Ignorance led me to my negative opinion it seems haha, I can’t think of any other game where you can have the actual character sign it for you 🤘
@@EvanHelblingYT Also, leaning back when hitting a ramp is called preloading your suspension. It's a well known mechanic in most dirt bike games. It was a skill issue. :x no offense, haha. But that game was pretty good for the time. Just subbed. Great videos. I've been binging all day
@@EvanHelblingYTNFL STREET even 21 years after release, its still legendary despite only has 81 on Metacritic.
@@DopefriedCheeseNFL STREET VOLUME 2 is like next gen NFL STREET I.
Played so much NBA vol 2 that Pete Rock beat is embedded in my memory. S tier game
Forsure one of the best sounds ever produced
SSS tier game imo.
I love that you open your video with Rhazel's big booming "EA Sports Big" opening. Lots of mostly great memories came back to me as I watched your video, and although I played a significant role in many of the games and the creation of the brand, the best games got to be amazing because of so many talented, hard-working & passionate Producers, Engineers, Artists, Game Designers, Audio Designers, Testers and a wide variety of important collaborators who really added the spice to an already series of flavorful dishes. In looking back, we had to create the space where members of the team could take outlandish and unreasonable risks in order to deliver the unexpected. This is never an easy task in a big company, because many of the ideas don't work, but that sort of failure is essential on the journey to get to the really, really great stuff. I'm so proud I got to be a part of the BIG journey and was able to work with so many great people, for me, that's the juice. That, and having people that still feel passionately about these games 20 years later :)
You’re a legend and pioneer. You should be proud you provided enjoyment to all those people!
I had no idea that was Rhazel's voice!
Psymon Stark in Sled Storm PS2 is absolutely OP.
Fun Fact: Mario, Luigi & Peach Appeared In The GameCube Version Of SSX On Tour & NBA Street Vol 3.
Wish Mario and Luigi also added in SSX BLUR and On Tour and SSX 3 PS2.
Binged your vids recently after one popping in my recommended, keep it up man
Thanks a lot man, i’m glad ya found me :)
I consider myself a gaming historian of this era and I didn't know EA Big was responsible for so many games! It's pretty fascinating stuff. The SSX series is also an all-time favorite of mine and those games so clearly had a special kind of love in them. Sometimes you can just tell when a game was made with passion and care, and those 3 main SSX games have it.
Yep I love that they just went all in on the creativity and fun in these games! SSX 3 and NFL street are my all time favorites, it’s great when the developers actually like and play video games.
0:01 EA Sports BIG!!!
As a retro video game collector, and a kid who grew up in the mid PS2 era/PS3/early PS4 era, I never played theae growing up as I was never a sports fan. While I'm still not into sports, there's an appeal to these games. Finally playing them as an adult, the games are suited for a wider audience. Even though they're technically sports games, they play differently from regular sports games and feel more like an action game. Great video Evan!
yeah same here, I think these games got me to like sports but I'd definitely still play them if I didn't. The action gameplay and rpg progression can be fun for literally anyone. Thankyou!
SHOX on PS2 is as underrated as EA SPORTS WRC.
While I didn't play much of the BIG titles outside of SSX as a kid, they definitely had an impact for the brief time they were being released. EA sadly does have a track record of taking a talented studio and dissolving them however.
As long as you played one of em that’s all that matters. EA just centers their games around micro transactions and there’s nothing anyone can do about it sadly lol
I spent a good deal of my PS2’s life playing EA BIG games (mainly SSX, SSX Tricky, FIFA Street and NBA Street) so this video was another blast for me.
Keep up the good work. Another entertaining and funny video.
That’s what I like to hear, SSX 3 and NFL Street 1 were my mains.
Thankyou man I appreciate ya :)
Bro these games have a special place in my heart forever it’s so amazing seeing someone go into depth on these titles
Hey man I’m really glad to see your videos growing in popularity! You definitely deserve it! Keep it up!
Still aged well even in January 2025.
Freakstyle is one of best games ever!!! Really wished they made more. I was addicted to it when it came out
Originally there is Freekstyle 2 but was scrapped in 2007.
So much nostalgia in one video. Also those cars do be driving.
Thankyou brotha, they really do 😤
Dude i really like the format you're using for your videos. You give everything a twist of your own presence 👏
That's crazy, I saw your first video on SSX when it came out, subbed, and didn't see another video until now. Good video fun video long live SSX3
That’s kinda funny how it worked out lol. I’m glad you returned, thankyou man :)
Man the nostalgia hits with this one, I absolutely loved Fifa Street 2/3 and also played a lot NBA Homecourt.... sports games of my early teenage years
I wish I played more of Fifa street, it was fun for the short time I tried it!
I appreciate these videos so much 🙏🏾
Subbed just for you shining light on these games nobody talks about anymore
I appreciate it man, these games need to be talked about wayy more :)
EA Big were great but IMO nothing comes close to Midway in that era.. Between basically inventing arcade sports with NBA Jam and then NFL Blitz and then solidifying those titles with amazing follow ups. NHL Hitz 2002 is probably the best 3 player sports game ever made and I will die by that.
For me EA SPORTS BIG > MIDWAY.
Freekstyle was sick asf when I was younger. And the nba and nfl street series are classics
That fuckin scarface fight still gives me that stereotype "gamer rage"
The first 2 Def jam games are like visual adrenaline.
lmao I never mentioned how angry I was after losing for the 10th time against him. Winning in this game was so rewarding haha
The EaSports Big titles are great games and I still have a few copies of the nba street titles and nfl street games. These games by ea sports big are still classics. Good video man and take care.
The way you edit your videos always gets a couple really good laughs out of me lol
Haha thankyou im honored
I used to love playing Allen iverson and dunking on Shaq and yao Ming from half court
Manny, Proof, Peewee and Snoop Dogg are equally OP in DEF JAM VENDETTA.
I think because your American and not interested in football you don’t understand how big fifa street was in Europe it was loved and a perfect game and at the time was the biggest game
Not only in Europe, here in Latin America we continue to remember FIFA Street with affection, since it remembers the great moments that we played football on the street
@@vendyscott3232exactly
Omg brooo I’m an American and I absolutely loved FIFA Street. Probably my favorites out of all the EA big games. It introduced me to football really.
3:48 wdf I thought street home court was street volume 3 😂 been thinkin this for like 16 yrs
NBA Street was my introduction to Playstation 2 and i loved it adding in SSX NFL and DEF JAM games to the same console was like a dream come true that know one even knew they was dreaming, never played the FIFA games but aside from that i would love love LOVE to see a remaster of these AMAZING games! maybe not the last 3 racing games but the others are a needed in my life somehow someway EA!
Ssx3 was my child hood!!
Ssx3 was my top fav snowboard game
Same. I installed SSX 3 again on PS3 because of how legendary SSX game truly is.
@ yes and absolutely is, no game could ever come close to that but if they ever were able to bring it back that would of been amazing sadly it’s never gonna happen 😢
Love the content, I feel like a video about Wakeboarding Unleashed would fit the style of content you make.
Thankyou! That sounds exactly like something I wanna try out haha
NFL Street to this day is the only NFL game id ever play
The only one you need 🤝
"Scarface wasted no time charging me, like I was his Iphone on 1% battery" 😄
NFL Street 2 is probably my favorite game of all time. I played it so much as a kid.
FIFA street was like my child hood in Argentina it had d tier teams from my hometown
Your game taste is epic! Instantly subbed
I remember playing the SSX demo a lot on one of those demo discs that you can get from gaming magazines back in the day. I still have those discs as well, but they're so badly scratched up now.
Don't know why I never got the game back then, I actually enjoyed. Then again, there were too many games to choose from and my parents only get me one game every couple of months so I had to choose.
I never came across those magazines demo disks, just the ps1 ones. I’m with ya, just picked a random game to rent a couple times a month haha
I have 1/3 of these games even with no system to play them. Just like to keep ‘em around.
Shox is absolutely MIND blowing. It's speedy, electric and majorly fun. That zone racing bit makes it awesome
I played NBA street 3 into oblivion the Mario characters being there was just pure silliness
nba street 2 was my jam, loved that game to death 😍😍
One of the few games that will hold up for eternity 🤘❤️
I finally got around to watching this. Another fantastic video!
I said it before and I'll say it again, SSX Tricky is the best out of all of those!
Hey you’re never too late man, thanks as always! And hey it’s hard to make argument against that!
SSX on tour, Vol 3, Vol 3, FFNY and thug 2 are my my childhood
SSX Tricky was such a good game
Totally forgot about sledstorm. Used to rent that one a lot when… renting games was a thing
This video speaks to my soul
I wore out two copies of SSX On Tour and still listen to the soundtrack
the crazy thing is these games are still played till this day and people obviously love them. i play them on my channel and love them
DefJam fight for NY is also one of the best games in playstation history
The 2000s was truly the golden era of video games.
Nearly every single EA SPORTS BIG game are absolute masterpiece including NBA STREET 1 to V3, SSX 1 to 3 and Freekstyle...😢
Home court and v3 were so fun but not as good as the first 2!
I remember being a kid at a videogame store trying to decide between NBA Street 2 or American Chopper The Videogame. I chose American Chopper and still think about that decision to this day
I don’t think I ever won a game against my cousin in street vol. 2 😂
It's sad that FIFA hadn't taken off in USA by this point, cos fifa street 2 was the best of all these games
Def Jam games were great would love to see a modern take with some old school artists and characters as well.
They could definitely make an amazing version with an unlimited roster of artists
Wouldn’t happen in todays world the licensing would be insanely expensive because take video games seriously now so they know the profit it would generate and everyone would want a million or more labels would become involved it would just be a insane cash grab of mess we truly we’re blessed to get a game series like def jam it will never be duplicated again because EA will not pay for it
I just discovered your channel and I can't seem to stop watching! Anyways, you seem like a fan of extreme sports games, have you ever played Downhill Domination? It's a mountain biking game made by the same studio that did Twisted Metal. It's a lot of fun and I think it'd be right up your alley.
Amazing video, my only critique is the lack of Def Jam: Fight For NY being covered. 100% one of the best fighting game ever. There is a reason it goes for $100+ now. Great video though!!
Thankyou bro! I agree with ya haha, that game deserves it’s own video - the roster alone crazy i’m lookin forward to playin it. I appreciate that!
More like $200+
Algo did me justice today. Awesome vid
Love to hear that. Thankyou!
A lot of my childhood was spent playing Fifa street 3, and playing into the delusion that "yes Rooney could kick it on the streets of Rio De Jeneiro"
nice detective Conan music in the background. Great video idea looking foword to your next video
I actually used the Taiyou ni Hoero Adventure theme for that part but it sounds almost identical, i’m glad you mentioned that haha. Thankyou dude!
It wasn't from EA BIG, but the NHL Hitz series was amazing too and i always lumped it in with these.
Nice vid dude! I had never heard of EA sports big, but this was an interesting story indeed. SSX is one of the best franchises imo
Hey thanks dude, good to see ya! I understand it, the only game I ever discovered myself was SSX, the others I luckily saw a friend/babysitter playing
@@EvanHelblingYT good to see you too bro! And damn, you were lucky indeed!
"Scarface wasted no time charging me. Like I was his IPhone at 1%."
Bro how are you coming up with this?lmao
Imagine if EA was like you know what boom!!!! Remastered EA Sports BIG games, no microtransactions just fun $30 games
def jam vendetta Fight for NY was a litteral God game
I gotta play that, the roster looks crazy
I remember downhill domination had the same feel, and man.. these games from that era just wow!
Thanks for giving these games attention
I can't tell you how many hours I put into NFL Street 2. I was all about sports AND Xzibit at this time. They just don't make em like they used to.
You got the sub from me keep up the great work
I appreciate that a lot thankyou!
Not explaining FFny for a second agitated me
Yeah i know man, It’s not ea sports big
They NEED to revive EA Big to make a new/remastered entry in basically all of their titles
7:22 lmao
😏
Interesting timing, I just watched a video before this that was about EA sports and the SSX games. Spoopy.
Yeah I think I saw the same one as I was researching stuff for this video lol the timing is def spoopy lad
Not incredibly detailed, but decently good quick summary of all the games of EA Sports BIG.
I wonder if the non EA Big employees at regular EA just felt like they were EA Small or Medium. Gosh that must have been tough.
When the timesplitter soundeffects play. We are reaching godly endorphine levels ❤❤
Also there was a earlier sledstorm game by EA on ps1 😊
Let us rejoice in R109 pain 1 sound effect ❤️
No way I need to look that up 🤘🤘
Ssx on tour is an s tier game. I have to say that
Was it the nostalgia you activated in this 33-year old? Or the dry humor? I don't know, but what I do know is that this video did indeed make me smile.
Incredible that EA sometimes makes good games. Shame they can, but refuse to do often
My only regret z obout FIFA street is that none of friends were football fans.... I had no one to play with
NFL and NBA Street series are top 5 all time for me
I'm still hoping we get the SSX, NFL and NBA franchise remastered.
They're easy money grabs and actually more fun than today's disappointments.
It's frustrating and shocking how EA hasn't started yet.
i got all them games running on my xbox series s the whole series from fifa,nba,nfl,ssx, and def jam series using a ps2 emulator in dev mode
Bro that’s crazy, I gotta look into that
the only ssx game I played was on tour and I loved it
and I played street 1 only and loved it😭😭
Got my first ps2 with ssx it was so fucking amazing back then it slapped cheeks like no other
NBA Vol 2 definitely had the most heart, but volume 3 was pretty good and had some fun additional stuff.
Most definitely
Vol 1 was pretty damm good too
Can attest to sledstorm being freaking good! Or at least like 6 year old me can when this came out. It was weird because before that I had played sledstorm on PS1 and their very different games.
It felt really good to be honest, I would’ve forsure played it back in the day!
Freekstyle has a preload button lol I get the game doesn't say it but its not hard to google a game
Brooo do a video on Blitz The League . Classic football game
I bought that one haha, I really want to
You should do a category of all the games from EA games.
P.S. challenge everything.
The first Fifa street is absolute god tier
As soon as you said you'd dive in head first, I was hoping you'd do what you did
NBA street vol 3 had the Beastie boys as playable characters
That’s a solid crossover I didn’t expect
You gotta do freekstyle if you can find it
I loved def jam fight for newyork i remember i got so good at it i had a match that was only like 30 seconds and as a kid that made me feel like a g xD
Did you make you patreon as a creator or supporter?
Oh wait I never published the page haha it’s up now, thanks for mentioning that :)
How to play these games again
Ps2 emulator the best way
@@EvanHelblingYT I didn’t think about that. For nostalgia i will get a ps2 anyway
I need a new SSX in my life
def jam fight for new york is a all time great, i completed over 10 times when i was younger
Def Jam Vendetta my first game