Saturday, October 13, 2012

Games I Love Part 2: Tecmo Super Bowl

Before Madden was the football juggernaut it is today, there was Tecmo Bowl for the NES. Several years later, it's sequel Tecmo Super Bowl came along and rocked the sports video game world forever. This game had it all. The full 1991 NFL season, all the teams and players and it tracked tons of stats as you progressed through your NFL season. In fact, the game is still played today as it gets hacked with updated roms in the Emulation world.

21 years after the fact and this is probably my favorite football game of all time. The games don't take 40 minutes like Madden, it's realistic enough and the most important thing... it's fun!

I would say I pick this one up and play again every couple of years. The last time I played with a hacked rom and took the 1999 Buffalo Bills to the Super Bowl. That's not the easiest of feats in the game. The AI gets tougher as you win games and gets smarter about playing defense against you. Going undefeated is a challenge with the top teams and with a mediocre team you'll be struggling to go 10-6 or 11-5.

For me, this game is about how playable it is. It's about playing the games. I can get through about 4 games in an hour and sneak in a season over the course of a week or two. It's not like Madden where the time commitment is obscene if you want to play a season.

I have fond memories of this game. I always hated seeing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on my schedule. There was just something about the Buccs that was a struggle for me. The Lions were a favorite team of mine to play and it was always a struggle to not have 2 losses to the Buccs throughout the year. Reggie Cobb tended to run all over me. The really sad part is the Buccs were a terrible team in the early 90s and my friends often teased me about my inability to beat the Buccs.

Before I end this post. Here's some gameplay of Tecmo Super Bowl:

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