NES

10-Yard Fight

Back in 1985, Irem released this game, which has the distinguished honor of being the very first football game for the NES. It fit in with the simplistic, arcade versions of every popular sport that the Big N was pushing out during the console's early year, despite not simply being named "Football." Of course, then it would have to be "American Football," which wouldn't make such a great title.

10-Yard Fight is a terribly outdated football game that combines the shallow gameplay of an arcade title with the sluggish pace of a simulation. The tiny players move like snails, and the vertical field scrolls in a jerky manner. Before each play, a receiver goes "in motion", but it takes him forever to run down the line. In addition to that slow-ass receiver, your quarterback has two other players that run on each side of him. The only advantage to this dumb-looking formation is how it lets you pull off the old "flea flicker" play. You only control one guy on defense, but the overly effective "dive" move lets you to soar through the air like Superman! 10-Yard Fight's sound and graphics are poor, but I might have been able to overlook them had the gameplay not been so marginal.

I'd have to say that writing this review on 10-Yard Fight was one of my most agonizing experiences. I felt no interest, no muse, no creativity, nothing as I wrote these words of mine. There can only be one reason and one reason alone, it's a game so unnoteworthy I'm not sure why I even bothered reviewing it because I doubt anyone would want to play it after I've bashed most of it into oblivion. Had I not had this weird urge to complete the NES section in alphabetical order, I probably would have tried to pretend this was never released and hoped no one cared. It deserves to be placed into the pits of video game history footnotes with the likes of Mouse Trap for the 2600. Never heard of it? Good.