Tecmo Super Bowl - Football at its best

To celebrate the return of NFL football we are going to take a look at one of the greatest sports games ever made. I think you all know which game I am referring to, that’s right Tecmo Super Bowl. This game was the sequel to the very impressive Tecmo Bowl. The game play was fun, the graphics were great, and the series would rule all other football video games until John Madden Football was released on the Sega Genesis.

The really great thing about Tecmo Super Bowl (TSB) was the season play, and not just the season play but the stat tracking! This was such an awesome feature to be implemented into a sports game; countless hours were spent going over every stat to see where your players ranked compared to the rest of the league. Quarterback rating, rushing yards, Touchdowns, sacks and return yards are just a few of the stats the game was able to track for individual players, but hold on it also kept track of team stats too! This truly was the feature that really got me hooked on the TSB series.

The graphics for TSB were also pretty amazing for the NES. The close ups on big plays and touchdowns really looked great. The game was a smooth emulation of NFL football and playing a full regular season and reaching the big game was very satisfying. This was the true pioneer of all football games to be released.

Another great feature of TSB was the coaching mode. What?! Coaching?! That’s right you could just call the plays and let the computer run the plays. Now I wasn’t big on this but some people really got a kick out of this little feature. Coaching was a great alternative for those who mastered playing and could consistently win by scores of 77-0. The computer controlled QBs and RBs were not the brightest of the bunch. Many times my QB would have a wide open receiver streaking down the sidelines and instead of launching the famous 90 yard pass for a TD he would dump it to the covered RB in the flat and it would be intercepted! Frustrating, but it did add some difficulty to the game.

TSB was in fact the first true NFL football game and also still stands as one of the greatest football games out there. If you still have your old NES system you must find this game and purchase it.

*Jnes emulator used - you must own the actual cartridge to play roms!!