Tecmo Super Bowl

"When gameplay really counted..."

Let´s get one thing straight before you read anymore of this review: Tecmo Super Bowl (TSB) is the best football game that has ever graced a videogame console system.
Not Madden, not Joe Montana Sports Talk Football, not even the original Tecmo Bowl is more fun than this game.
The reason is quite simple really:perfect gameplay.

Overview
In Tecmo Super Bowl you have the ability to play as your favorite NFL team from the 1991 campaign. You have season, pre-season, exhibition and tournament to choose from, as well as coach, two player co-op or vs. play. Nothing fancy here.
Season play, though, includes complete week-by-week tracking of team and individual stats, real player names, logos, as well as league leaders, injury report, upcoming games, etc. As far as I know this was the first time any of these features was included in a console football game.

Graphics/Sound
Other reviews in this same site talk about the ''primitive'' left to right graphics you must deal with in TSB. Scrape that--you can´t get more functional drawings in any pigskin game. Recognized developers have stated time and time again that 2-D graphics allow the player to focus on situations and environments, while 3-D ones are better suited for up-close gameplay aspects. As far as I´m concerned, it´s better suited for virtual football to let the player ''read'' the situation on the field while he´s playing that to obsese on whether a character running down the left sideline should change the ball from his right to his ''safe'' hand, like 3-D games now let you. 2-D is just more fun, and quick.
Sound. Pretty average barks here, although I´m pretty sure this was also the first time a console game had digitized voices that were actually understandable (try discerning the voices in Ikari Warriors or The Adventures of Bayou Billy, for instance). ''Touchdown!''
As for the music, I dare anyone to try to forget the opening theme where LT, Montana, Sanders and other greats are presented. The in-game music is, above anything else, varied. In a game that has most of the time 10 second plays, different short songs help keep the on field action fresh.

Gameplay
Tired of all those players in today´s games that live and die by ''momentum''? Or how about Qb´s that get sacked often because you can´t see when the receiver has made his cut? You wont find that TSB. If a play you called in was destined to fail, you´ll know it immediatly: your runner will get pan caked at the line or the Qb will get sacked or force to throw the ball away instantly. This is a fast game. Running backs cut as if they had mechanical knees, receivers jump twice their height to catch overthrown passes, corners almost fly to cover their receiver, not to mention the 80 yard bombs you can throw running parallel to the line of scrimmage. Realistic? No. Fun as hell? Oh yeah.
TSB those have some aspects that resemble true life: players will get tired, injured, make fumbles (unlike the original Tecmo Bowl), and behave quite like their individual ratings (speed, awareness, quickness, durability, hands, power, etc) suggest.

Conclusion
An excellent game even when played 13 years after its original release. On the spot gameplay and memorable sounds and graphics. Stat-happy individuals will be more than satisfied, as well as players seeking a stint of strategy in their gridiron matches.
One last comment: 2-point conversions werent´t installed in the NFL until the 1996 season (although much earlier in college football), so reviewers complaining that TSB lacks this feature should hit the books before writing.
Oh, and by the way ''video Bo'', the ephimeral Raiders running back Bo Jackson, is not the best virtual football player ever, as most of you reading this review have probably heard. The most unstoppable force in video football is the alter-ego of Randall Cunningham (known as ''QB Eagles'' in TSB). Can ''video Bo'' pass or throw a 85 yard bomb while running backwards, or make the entire ´91 Giants D miss every single tackle they attempt to stop him?
I knew you´d agree.
10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/03