Tecmo Super Bowl

The Good
I seriously doubt that anyone could have predicted in the mid-1980s that the best American football video game series would come from a company otherwise famous for Ninja Gaiden and Mighty Bomb Jack. But that is, as they say, why they play the games. Yes, Tecmo set the 8-bit standard with its first installment, Tecmo Bowl, for the NES in 1989. Like a true champion, Tecmo went back out on the field in 1991 and topped itself with an incredible followup: the decidedly super Tecmo Super Bowl.

Of all of the American football games I have played over the years, both on personal computers and game consoles, none has surpassed Tecmo Super Bowl (TSB) for all-around enjoyment. All football games before TSB pretty much fell into one of two camps: unrealistic-but-fun arcade games and realistic, stats-heavy simulations. (Naturally, the joystick-and-gamepad consoles favored the arcade versions, and the keyboard-oriented PCs leaned toward the sims.) TSB broke through the wall of separation and gave both crowds what they wanted: fun and realism.

Super Bowl was a significant improvement over the excellent Tecmo Bowl in almost every way. The player sprites were a made a bit smaller, but this was the price to pay for putting the full 22 players on the field. The graphics still looked good, though—especially the Ninja Gaiden-esque cut scenes that would pop up from time to time. The sound and music were equally impressive. The pulsating soundtrack varied whether you played regular season or playoff games, and both tunes were very catchy and memorable.

This game was a definite college dorm hit because of the over-the-top action. Not over-the-top like NFL Blitz, of course; no dirty plays allowed on the old NES! No, TSB was all about the long bomb. Every play could be a hail mary pass, because it always had a chance to score. This wasn’t realistic, but it didn’t matter, because it was just so darn much fun, and besides, there was plenty of realism elsewhere in the game.

Everywhere, in fact. Things that should have been possible in other football games (including ones made after TSB) were made possible in this game. Running the ball consistently, for example. Two-deep offensive player rosters with variable player conditions, including injuries, to give another example. An eight-play offensive playbook with a robust edit mode: exhibit number three.

You can play a preseason warm-up match, but the heart of the game is the full regular season mode. With full team and individual stats-tracking and battery backup, what gridiron fan could resist? The coach mode has always had a special place in my heart, since it combines the graphical appeal of a console game with the cerebral quality of old text-based PC games like Lance Haffner’s 3-in-1 Football. It was certainly the most challenging mode—and still well worth playing, more than 15 years after TSB’s release.

The Bad
It pains me to admit TSB isn't perfect, but it's true. When you play a game to death for over a decade, the flaws eventually reveal themselves. There are a host of minor glitches, quirks, and omissions that wouldn't be so bad were TSB not so good.

Occasionally the programmers seem not to know the rules of American football. When a kickoff returner doesn't make it out of the endzone, it's scored as a safety for the other team instead of a touchback. Lame! Even more bizarrely, punts taken in the endzone are automatically ruled as touchbacks—so it's not like Tecmo had never heard of the touchback rule before.

There are no penalties of any kind. Perhaps that concession was necessary to speed up gameplay. This was obviously a priority, since there's no other good justification for having five-minute quarters. The kicking game seems strangely underdeveloped, too. Whereas Tecmo Bowl featured distance-only kicking, TSB features directional-only kicking. Even football video games before Madden had direction and distance meters, right?

The full-season mode can be spoiled if a playoff berth comes down to a tiebreaker with another team. In the real NFL, this tiebreaker has always gone to the head-to-head matchup winner, or to the team with the best division or conference record. In TSB, the tiebreaker goes to the team with the best scoring differential, period. So yes, TSB does encourage running up the score.

The postgame box scores are nice, but the information presented is incomplete. How come I get to know how many interceptions my QB threw, but not touchdown passes?

The whole statistical model for the game seems a bit off at times, depending upon how you prefer to play. If you play in arcade mode, then season stats are fairly realistic and in-line with other teams. However, if you play in coach mode like I usually do, your offensive and defensive numbers are all going to come in on the low side. (I've played full seasons with Dan Marino's Miami Dolphins where I called passes on every single play of every single game, and I still just barely led the league in passing yards). It's a very minor point, but as I said, it's the little things that keep a classic like TSB from being a PERFECT classic.

Of course, you don't play to be perfect, you play to be #1, and TSB achieved that mark easily. If you like console/computer football games, then you should at least grab the ROM and emulate this one. Trust me— it's better than a lot of the football games that will come out this year.

The Bottom Line
Not designed solely for the hardcore simulation freaks or the arcade junkies, Tecmo Super Bowl threw both of them just enough red meat to satisfy their pigskin lust. Highly recommended for retro-gaming football fans of all stripes.

REVIEW DATA
Last Update: 9-13-2009
Review Hardware: NES Top-Loader (USA-NTSC)
Star Rating: ****+ (out of five)