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.
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
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!
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.
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
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.
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
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!
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!!
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 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.
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 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 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.
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 didn't play all of the EA BIG games either. Although, as a teenager I mainly grew with two that I still adore, with a few others. For me those were NFL Street 1-2 and SSX 3. I also played both Def Jam's but I've never been a great player or huge fan of fighting games. SSX I originally started playing both the first and Tricky in McDonald's for a bit, until I later bought SSX 3 on GameCube a few years after. On the PlayStattion 2, I played all of the NFl Street. I tried Fifa 3, liked it, but not great, and also NBA Street V3 mostly after trying out the second. I just assumed V3 was improved, but idk, I like it. Ultimately though, I'm 29 today, and fucking loved SSX 3 and NFL Street 1-2. I played them again a few years ago and still cannot wait with hope that these franchises get remastered. Every other sports games pale in comparison. I've barely tried any since. SSX on Xbox 360 sucks. Steep and whatever next gen sucks. It's a damn shame.
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
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
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 :)
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!
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!!!
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
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!
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 :)
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
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.
NFL Street to this day is the only NFL game id ever play
The only one you need 🤝
Bro these games have a special place in my heart forever it’s so amazing seeing someone go into depth on these titles
Freakstyle is one of best games ever!!! Really wished they made more. I was addicted to it when it came out
Fun Fact: Mario, Luigi & Peach Appeared In The GameCube Version Of SSX On Tour & NBA Street Vol 3.
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!
So much nostalgia in one video. Also those cars do be driving.
Thankyou brotha, they really do 😤
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 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!
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
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 :)
Dude i really like the format you're using for your videos. You give everything a twist of your own presence 👏
Nfl Street 2 was my shiiiiiiitt, good times good times
The online servers for NFL Street 2 is coming back so be ready to jump off the walls again. 😆
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 :)
Hey man I’m really glad to see your videos growing in popularity! You definitely deserve it! Keep it up!
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!
nba street 2 was my jam, loved that game to death 😍😍
One of the few games that will hold up for eternity 🤘❤️
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+
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 used to love playing Allen iverson and dunking on Shaq and yao Ming from half court
The way you edit your videos always gets a couple really good laughs out of me lol
Haha thankyou im honored
Freekstyle was sick asf when I was younger. And the nba and nfl street series are classics
3:48 wdf I thought street home court was street volume 3 😂 been thinkin this for like 16 yrs
I appreciate these videos so much 🙏🏾
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
Your game taste is epic! Instantly subbed
Totally forgot about sledstorm. Used to rent that one a lot when… renting games was a thing
I wore out two copies of SSX On Tour and still listen to the soundtrack
Shox is absolutely MIND blowing. It's speedy, electric and majorly fun. That zone racing bit makes it awesome
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
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
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!
Ssx3 was my top fav snowboard game
NFL Street 2 is probably my favorite game of all time. I played it so much as a kid.
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's sad that FIFA hadn't taken off in USA by this point, cos fifa street 2 was the best of all these games
Ssx3 was my child hood!!
"Scarface wasted no time charging me, like I was his Iphone on 1% battery" 😄
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
"Scarface wasted no time charging me. Like I was his IPhone at 1%."
Bro how are you coming up with this?lmao
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 played NBA street 3 into oblivion the Mario characters being there was just pure silliness
I have 1/3 of these games even with no system to play them. Just like to keep ‘em around.
It wasn't from EA BIG, but the NHL Hitz series was amazing too and i always lumped it in with these.
FIFA street was like my child hood in Argentina it had d tier teams from my hometown
This video speaks to my soul
Not incredibly detailed, but decently good quick summary of all the games of EA Sports BIG.
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.
They NEED to revive EA Big to make a new/remastered entry in basically all of their titles
I remember downhill domination had the same feel, and man.. these games from that era just wow!
Thanks for giving these games attention
SSX Tricky was such a good game
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.
The 2000s was truly the golden era of video games.
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'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.
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
DefJam fight for NY is also one of the best games in playstation history
Ssx on tour is an s tier game. I have to say that
Algo did me justice today. Awesome vid
Love to hear that. Thankyou!
I don’t think I ever won a game against my cousin in street vol. 2 😂
Home court and v3 were so fun but not as good as the first 2!
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 🤘🤘
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.
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!
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
the only ssx game I played was on tour and I loved it
and I played street 1 only and loved it😭😭
You should do a category of all the games from EA games.
P.S. challenge everything.
I didn't play all of the EA BIG games either.
Although, as a teenager I mainly grew with two that I still adore, with a few others.
For me those were NFL Street 1-2 and SSX 3.
I also played both Def Jam's but I've never been a great player or huge fan of fighting games.
SSX I originally started playing both the first and Tricky in McDonald's for a bit, until I later bought SSX 3 on GameCube a few years after.
On the PlayStattion 2, I played all of the NFl Street.
I tried Fifa 3, liked it, but not great, and also NBA Street V3 mostly after trying out the second. I just assumed V3 was improved, but idk, I like it.
Ultimately though, I'm 29 today, and fucking loved SSX 3 and NFL Street 1-2.
I played them again a few years ago and still cannot wait with hope that these franchises get remastered.
Every other sports games pale in comparison.
I've barely tried any since. SSX on Xbox 360 sucks. Steep and whatever next gen sucks. It's a damn shame.
Got my first ps2 with ssx it was so fucking amazing back then it slapped cheeks like no other
def jam fight for new york is a all time great, i completed over 10 times when i was younger
Incredible that EA sometimes makes good games. Shame they can, but refuse to do often
Brooo do a video on Blitz The League . Classic football game
I bought that one haha, I really want to
They really need to bring EA BIIIIIG back, absolute bangers, SSX is one of the best franchises ever
As soon as you said you'd dive in head first, I was hoping you'd do what you did
Not explaining FFny for a second agitated me
Yeah i know man, It’s not ea sports big
nfl street was sooo goood
I'll probably take the day off of work if you make a video on Def Jam FFNY! One if the beet fighting games ever lol
Def Jam Vendetta my first game
people want sports games that are simple, gameplay focused and don't take themselves super seriously
this is why rocket league is a smash hit.
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
Shox is one of the favourites
The first Fifa street is absolute god tier
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
1:28 GTA:SA Orange 12 Ped
I need a new SSX in my life
Yes
My friends and I would play nfl street for hours
I’m right with ya on that one
Happy 20th anniversary NFL street
NBA street vol 3 had the Beastie boys as playable characters
That’s a solid crossover I didn’t expect
NFL Street 3 was just kinda meh… Had a cool soundtrack though.
Yeah it just seemed uninspired. The Korn x Lean Wit It Rock Wit it remix was crazy