10-Yard Fight

"10 Yard Fumble..."

In the beginning of NES there were games that came around that didn’t really make much sense but because there wasn’t anything else like it on the market, it made a decent game to play. Ten Yard Fight is one of those games that, looking back on it, doesn’t really make much of a game but at the time was hell of a lot of fun to play! Considering the time frame it was released and when people played it, a lot of people don’t take the time to really go into the game and play it for what it is or even give it consideration for what it was back in the day.

…And The Red Chooses North…

Choosing a team, your main goal was to run the ball all the way down the field without getting tackled in the process and score a touchdown by gaining ten yards per run. The sheer difficulty of the game amounts to opening an unlocked door, in which you could easily score fifty points in just a few minutes of play as long as you ran the ball at an angle all the way down the field! There were no selectable teams, no extensive plays and quite honestly, nothing that gave the game challenge, but for NES owners at the time, this was the best there was.

The game play really was very simple in what it was and how you had to play. Basically, you receive a kick off and run the ball all the way down the field. Once you get tackled, then you simply have to make it ten yards each time in order to get a first down and continue your drive down the field and towards the goal line! There isn’t much else to it except that once you know just how to run and where to run to, you can easily score touchdown points each and every time. Basically, by angling yourself down the field, you can create a pocket in which the opposing team can’t catch you, and by running in a zigzag pattern, you can’t be stopped! Once you got the touchdown, you kick off to the opposing team and down the field you go, trying to stop them from getting ten yards or a touch down point. Really, it is that simple to play and again, there was nothing better to play at the time.

The control is simple enough to use in which you just use the directional pad to move your player with the ball down the field and try to avoid the different ‘enemies’ who are trying to stop you. There aren’t any menus or extensive plays that you have to learn with different players corresponding with different buttons are anything like that! All you have to do is hand off the ball and then control your player down the field at the angle in order to score and then stop the receiving team from scoring a touch down on the next play. Anyone with any sort of gaming experience can pick up on this game and beginners at the time could find the control very easy to work with and win with as well!

View From Nose-Bleed Seats…

The visuals are vintage Nintendo Entertainment System visuals with nothing flaring coming across the screen. There are no special effects, no real detail and you’ll be staring at a green field with white stripes as well as different colored blobs running at you as you rush down the field. The kick off was probably one of the better visuals to look at with the ball rising into the air and then falling to the receiver, but after that, you really have nothing that looks all that great! The lack of detail in this time and age really sets in the minds and eyes of most gamers, but back in the day, this was top of the line stuff with nothing else going up against it. If you’re looking for a foot ball game that has realistic visuals and plenty of extensive plays and impressive action, then you need to stick with the next generation systems and leave this one alone!

Silence On The Field…

Audio wise, there wasn’t any. The music in the game, not that I heard any, was non-existent with the sound effects also being kept to a minimal! When I say minimal, I mean that there wasn’t much other than the bodies flying through the air trying to tackle you and the somewhat interesting cheer of the crowd when you scored a touchdown. Other than that, the only other effect that you had was when the gun sounded off at the end of each quarter, but again, go into consideration that the game was made almost twenty years ago. You’ll find that for the time it was made, it was perfect in every aspect, even though it lacks severely by today’s standards!

End Of The Season…

Overall, Ten-Yard Fight is one of those games that really started the rest of the foot ball games and how they were to be improved. While I see reviews on this game that are below average, there are points that the game has that aren’t realized, simply because of the age of the game! The game play, as simple as it is now with the experience that most gamers have, was cutting edge in which you had to avoid your opponents and make it all the way down the field. The visuals, while not three dimensional or as detailed as the Madden games, were top of the line and the best that a home console video game had to offer in which bright colors, flying bodies and running players made up the eye candy. The control was simple enough that anyone with a brain in their head could learn how to use it and there wasn’t extensive menus that allowed for huge plays that only come off if you’re dead on with your aim and otherwise. All in all, you’re looking at a game that doesn’t just create the mold, but allows other foot ball games to break it and improve. Anyone with an NES should probably pick this up simply because of the historical value if nothing else!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/01, Updated 02/05/03