"Patience and practice reap great rewards....(and don't forget to mash!)"

In a traditional football sim (ala Madden and countless others for every home console imaginable), we love and appreciate the flawless control, the amazing player animations, the ability to customize our teams and effortlessly switch between players before the snap, the Playbook accuracy of the team plays, the in-depth statistical analysis, the option to re-play great game's from history by setting your own team rosters and the 'I was there!...' quality of the sound and graphic contributions...

Unfortunately, Football Frenzy contains only a few of these elements. But this is the arcade after all, not your home console! If you want a sim, get out your Playstation!

SNK came out with some pretty quirky titles in the early nineties for their boxes, characterized by their sideshow machine vibrant graphics and sound,and the way they played (Metal Slug, King Of Monsters, Nam etc). Football Frenzy is no different, in that the colours are insanely bright, the gameplay sheer fun and the subject matter none to realistic or accurate. But I like that this title is about just arcade fun. Even in 1992 (when this game debuted in Japan), I was bored with PC Engine/Megadrive football sims and their slant on more realism, rather than actual old fashioned and simple enjoyment of picking up and playing.

This all comes at a price though. While Football Frenzy is easy to play, it is not the fairest machine in the world. As GlucoseJoe rightly points out in his review elsewhere on this site, just 3 minutes of gameplay for your quarter is a pretty lousy deal (although I've lost money to new machines myself much quicker than that! ^_^ ).

And this game is a bit of a button masher. The player has to keep slamming the 'A' button to run anywhere fast while in possession and when you need to tackle someone you must press the 'B' button, which really is a hit-or-miss affair. Sometimes you'll tackle the ball carrier, sometimes you won't.

Passing can be tough too (although no tougher probably than in real life!). While you wait for your 'B', 'C' and 'D' button receivers to go down field, it's real easy to get sacked where you started. And sometimes when they are open, the change of control from Quarterback to Receiver happens so quickly that you actually move your Receiver out of the way of the incoming ball! That's a frustrating quirk (but one you get around with practice).

The good points of this coin-op though outweigh the bad. Yes, the player sprites are very large and it can get pretty crowded in the scrum of players all milling about at the line of scrimmage. But if you concentrate on your player (who is always clearly marked with a PLAYER 1 label above his animation) and learn to read the opposing team players (and that takes time), you'll soon be ducking and weaving better than Emmett (Tip: mash that 'A' button from the snap, and when tackled lean down and right on the stick, still pressing 'A'....you'll be amazed how strong and agile your running men can be).

And those player sprites are interesting! These guys jump up and down for joy, slam the ground with their fists when they miss a first down, hug each other, drag each other around the field by their shirts, smile and cry and generally don't look anything like other game's very serious (and sometimes very BORING) football players!

Yes, the Playbook you receive is limited (usually around 14 of the same choices total, per down) and you only have about 8 seconds to choose one fro the Playbook each time, but this is an arcade game where you only get 3+ minutes total playing time per quarter. Do you really want to spend thirty seconds in a huddle while making your choice each time, so you can have completed 3 lousy downs at the end of it? The programmers made a deliberate choice to keep that selection part short and in the end, it was the right choice.

Besides, choose ANY of the play choices you're offered (Run or Pass) and do your own thing from the snap. That's a freedom you'll seldomly see in a more serious football sim! This game is forgiving enough to enable you to enjoy the play, without knowing all the plays in a book! (and I like that too!). (Tip: Part of the fun of this game is telling the CPU you're going to Pass, then running a first down right through the middle of their stupefied defensive line!).

The CPU is a tough opponent in the later stages of the championship, but you'll find your offensive lineman do a pretty good job overall with protection during passing, and that they hold their own as blockers when you do decide to run (make sure you're mashing that 'A' button though!). Playing in Two Player mode is interesting, depending on what your human opponent knows about football. If they do know about it, you can enjoy some real battles on the field. If they don't, the game is forgiving enough to get them into it after a few quarters (Tip: read the screen scroll when the game is sitting idle: it contains instructions on all the buttons you need to learn and shows you on-screen example play).

Interceptions do happen regularly, but on BOTH sides of the play. I stick to running the ball only, passing when I have yardage to spare and changing up and down plays (selecting a Pass play, but running up the middle myself, instead) to confuse the machine. When you do intercept (Tip: always keep a keen eye on what play the CPU chooses and then mill around near your closest nominated receiver) you'll have the chance to run like hell for the goal-line and most times the CPU will let you get a long way there. Very satisfying! ^_^

The views are from side-on, but that's no big deal for a title from 1992. The camera angle zooms automatically and is so smooth I never even notice it anymore. The line of scrimmage view gives you a good look at the setup before the snap, then zooms back to your quarterback and the back of the offensive line, from where you'll be able to see all your receivers run their patterns and have good passing channels. If there isn't enough being shown here, I can't notice it?

GlucoseJoe reviewed this title fairly harshly and I believe it's because he simply didn't spend enough time on the machine. Look, it's certainly not the greatest football game on any platform, but I've played MUCH worse (and definitely one's that weren't as much fun!!)

I've been playing FF now for more than 7 years and you'll find the average player is rewarded with a great fun arcade title, if they have enough patience to learn the game controls and idiosyncrasies first (no offence intended Joe...it took me ages to get into this game originally too). ^_^

7/10 (points off for sloppy control at times, a mean CPU with time limits and patience in learning-the-ropes factor...points on for the obvious fun factor and also for a coin-op title that even women should get into due to lack of serious-sim quality).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/21/00, Updated 12/21/00