While the Super Bowl is coming up close as a matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, there is a game that was created on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is known as Tecmo Bowl. It was a sports game that looked to target anyone who was a football fan.
The game itself is pretty simple as far as an objective. Get to the Tecmo Bowl and try to win every single game. More or less, think of it as the quest to the top. You are playing against every team and there are no leagues. Think of it as running a gauntlet so to speak. While this doesn’t have NFL team names or players, it is still football.
There are 12 different NFL teams, which leads to seven regular season weeks, three playoff games and the Tecmo Bowl. This is in the one player mode. Like a regular football, the objective is to win the game. There is overtime if it is needed. The time limit is 1:30 per quarter. After the second quarter, it reaches half time.
There is of course the option of playing against someone. It is like a pre-season game. The last mode is having the computer play each other. You get to pick the plays but the computer runs. There isn’t much to do as far as that goes.
The gameplay is pretty simple. There are four downs and it’s about trying to score. If you’re familiar with football, the scores are the same. There are no special plays, it two running and two passing plays. On fourth down, there is the option to go for it, kick a field goal, or punt. Use your own judgment on that. You also have to outsmart your opponent because you’re not going to know the play that they pick. If you get the one that they are going to pick on defense, chances are you’re going to lose yards or make a mistake that can cost you the game. If not, then just simply try to get the first down and go as far as possible.
Controls for it are pretty easy to figure out. They are responsive and have had no issues. There isn’t much else that could be added to it.
It is a fun little game to play. While it doesn’t have all the NFL teams or even a license officially, you can somewhat tell who the teams are. The later games would actually see NFL team names being used. It just has the city name, which is no big deal. It is recommended if you are into sports games and want something to challenge you a little bit.
