My Super Bowl Season - Why We Still Play Tecmo Super Bowl
Bo Jackson played only four seasons in the NFL. He never rushed for 1,000 yards, had only sixteen career touchdowns, and started just twenty-three games. But in a world formed from late 80's nostalgia he is remembered as something greater. I don't believe his popularity stems from the hilariously dated "Bo Knows" commercials, or his baseball bat shattering reputation. His All-Star ability in the top two American sports gained him notoriety, but it didn't create a legend. Tecmo Bowl made him a legend. Tecmo Super Bowl made him a God.
Let's briefly backtrack as I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Perhaps I should begin this in "open letter format":
Dear EA Sports,
Since 1995 I have purchased your interactive professional football products known by the "Madden" brand. I have not owned every one, I'm not a complete sucker, but roughly seven editions across four console generations. I've have dedicated hours which became days, which became weeks, which became months, to creating a virtual NFL on my television. I have won the Super Bowl with Brett Favre's Green Bay Packers, with Aaron Rodgers' Green Bay Packers, with Kurt Warner's St. Louis Rams, with Tony Romo's Buffalo Bills (don't ask), and with Johnny Utah's Cleveland Browns. (Seriously, he's their only hope. Noooooooooo!!!!!) Chicago Bears fans probably had an even greater number of quarterbacks claiming virtual championships.
Each game was engaging, and generally innovative. But every one of them had a limited lifespan. They faded away when the next annual edition rolled out onto store shelves. I can't fondly remember one Madden game as being perfect, even through the false coloring of time. Every incarnation comes with improvements that seemingly create a better experience, until the realization that other features have been removed.
-2005 had the deepest franchise mode, the radio broadcasts and newspaper coverage of the season added a nice atmosphere.
-2003 allowed the user to move a team somewhere and give them an old NFL team's logo, something conspicuously missing since.
-2009 had an amazing amount of hall of fame players to use in fantasy drafts. Of course, you guys got sued for that.
-1999-2001 had the card system used to unlock bonuses and All-Madden Pros. Plus epic stadiums like the Cereal Bowl.
-2002 had an expansion draft for the Houston Texans.
-1996 had a draft combine for created players.
All of those were unique parts of your games. Yet there's not one, classic version that combines them into a succinct package. There's not one iteration of Madden that will go down in the annals of pop-culture or video game lore as the definitive football experience. Nothing you've made between the sidelines rivals the legendary experience of your 8-bit predecessor, the visionary Tecmo Super Bowl. In two decades your company has managed to straddle the line between simulator and arcade, but you never nailed the American football experience as perfectly as a Japanese company did with two attempts.
EA, you've done a heck of a job. But I think we need to take a break. It's not you, it's me.
W.H.
Football Video Game Enthusiast,
Occasional Wordsmith, and Part-Time Editor
Sporty McBloggin.com
Tecmo Super Bowl is, in terms of pure accuracy, out of date. The NFLPA players that endorsed it have long since retired. There is a team populating a no-longer-existent division which, fittingly, no longer exists: Houston Oilers. (Technically TSB's Cleveland Browns are really the Baltimore Ravens, but historically the Browns are still the Browns according to the NFL. So, yeah.) There are other franchises who have changed cities: Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Raiders. There's another team which merely claims it's from a different place: Phoenix Cardinals. Many of the helmet logos have been updated after the grunge colored 90's forced their comedic irony to expire: Buccaneers, Patriots. Uniforms changed as well, but with the limited detail provided by 8-bits of memory, there's little difference to behold even now.
However, there is a simple beauty in gazing through the early 90's NFL window that Tecmo Super Bowl provides. It was the first time the NFL and NFLPA license was combined into one complete experience. Furthermore, it was the first game to give the user an accurate NFL schedule, with full playoffs, while keeping track of stats ranging from passing yards to punt returns. If you had a friend who wanted to join, all twenty-eight teams were available and could be selected each week or in exhibition mode. For its era there is no comparison to a similar virtual sporting achievement. Blades of Steel and RBI Baseball were classic, Tecmo Super Bowl was groundbreaking.
Beyond its gold-standard season mode, the simplicity of the game bolsters its legacy. The NES has two buttons and a directional pad. Someone unfamiliar with the game faced a minimal learning curve. A simple team choice could balance any two player competition. Lawrence Taylor's Giants are a force, good luck beating them with the Dickerson-less Colts. And that is why Bo Jackson is a legend. Only a few of the twenty-eight teams had uncontainable superstars like Bo. The most dominant ones had gamebreakers on both sides of the ball.
Let's briefly backtrack as I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Perhaps I should begin this in "open letter format":
Dear EA Sports,
Since 1995 I have purchased your interactive professional football products known by the "Madden" brand. I have not owned every one, I'm not a complete sucker, but roughly seven editions across four console generations. I've have dedicated hours which became days, which became weeks, which became months, to creating a virtual NFL on my television. I have won the Super Bowl with Brett Favre's Green Bay Packers, with Aaron Rodgers' Green Bay Packers, with Kurt Warner's St. Louis Rams, with Tony Romo's Buffalo Bills (don't ask), and with Johnny Utah's Cleveland Browns. (Seriously, he's their only hope. Noooooooooo!!!!!) Chicago Bears fans probably had an even greater number of quarterbacks claiming virtual championships.
Each game was engaging, and generally innovative. But every one of them had a limited lifespan. They faded away when the next annual edition rolled out onto store shelves. I can't fondly remember one Madden game as being perfect, even through the false coloring of time. Every incarnation comes with improvements that seemingly create a better experience, until the realization that other features have been removed.
-2005 had the deepest franchise mode, the radio broadcasts and newspaper coverage of the season added a nice atmosphere.
-2003 allowed the user to move a team somewhere and give them an old NFL team's logo, something conspicuously missing since.
-2009 had an amazing amount of hall of fame players to use in fantasy drafts. Of course, you guys got sued for that.
-1999-2001 had the card system used to unlock bonuses and All-Madden Pros. Plus epic stadiums like the Cereal Bowl.
-2002 had an expansion draft for the Houston Texans.
-1996 had a draft combine for created players.
All of those were unique parts of your games. Yet there's not one, classic version that combines them into a succinct package. There's not one iteration of Madden that will go down in the annals of pop-culture or video game lore as the definitive football experience. Nothing you've made between the sidelines rivals the legendary experience of your 8-bit predecessor, the visionary Tecmo Super Bowl. In two decades your company has managed to straddle the line between simulator and arcade, but you never nailed the American football experience as perfectly as a Japanese company did with two attempts.
EA, you've done a heck of a job. But I think we need to take a break. It's not you, it's me.
W.H.
Football Video Game Enthusiast,
Occasional Wordsmith, and Part-Time Editor
Sporty McBloggin.com
Tecmo Super Bowl is, in terms of pure accuracy, out of date. The NFLPA players that endorsed it have long since retired. There is a team populating a no-longer-existent division which, fittingly, no longer exists: Houston Oilers. (Technically TSB's Cleveland Browns are really the Baltimore Ravens, but historically the Browns are still the Browns according to the NFL. So, yeah.) There are other franchises who have changed cities: Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Raiders. There's another team which merely claims it's from a different place: Phoenix Cardinals. Many of the helmet logos have been updated after the grunge colored 90's forced their comedic irony to expire: Buccaneers, Patriots. Uniforms changed as well, but with the limited detail provided by 8-bits of memory, there's little difference to behold even now.
However, there is a simple beauty in gazing through the early 90's NFL window that Tecmo Super Bowl provides. It was the first time the NFL and NFLPA license was combined into one complete experience. Furthermore, it was the first game to give the user an accurate NFL schedule, with full playoffs, while keeping track of stats ranging from passing yards to punt returns. If you had a friend who wanted to join, all twenty-eight teams were available and could be selected each week or in exhibition mode. For its era there is no comparison to a similar virtual sporting achievement. Blades of Steel and RBI Baseball were classic, Tecmo Super Bowl was groundbreaking.
Beyond its gold-standard season mode, the simplicity of the game bolsters its legacy. The NES has two buttons and a directional pad. Someone unfamiliar with the game faced a minimal learning curve. A simple team choice could balance any two player competition. Lawrence Taylor's Giants are a force, good luck beating them with the Dickerson-less Colts. And that is why Bo Jackson is a legend. Only a few of the twenty-eight teams had uncontainable superstars like Bo. The most dominant ones had gamebreakers on both sides of the ball.
Like a choice between Sub Zero or Scorpion in Mortal Kombat, each team had its own powers. And because the idea of annual installments was not yet part of the sports video game culture, the best teams and players transcended the actual physical sport of football. They lived on past a season that some never were lucky enough to participate in. They lived forever in a realm of console heroes.
Posted by W.H. Patton at Wednesday, November 30. 2011 
Categories: Tales from Sporty's World, Button Pressing
Categories: Tales from Sporty's World, Button Pressing
I was equally nervous when I had a similar experience.
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