Tecmo Super Bowl

Moby ID: 16868

[ All ] [ Genesis ] [ SNES ]

Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 76% (based on 6 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 18 ratings with 2 reviews)

A fun football game for those on the go!

The Good
Based on the original Tecmo Super Bowl for the Nintendo Entertainment System, this genesis port is true to the original. Plain and simple, this is fun, fast-paced, arcade-style football at its best. First off, you've got all the teams (think early 1990's here), tons of statistics for individual team players, ability to change team players, ability to change your playbook at any time during the game, frequent animated scenes during plays, and fast-paced play with energizing sound-effects and music. You can select the weather conditions for the game and time allotted for each quarter. Passing plays, running plays, dives, touchbacks, fumbles, interceptions, sacks, and timeouts, the game has it all.

The Bad
Really not many complaints here. The game is meant to be played in a fast-paced, low "strategy" manner. For example, you can only control one defensive player per play (and selected ONLY before the offense snaps the ball) so you cannot select another defensive player who may be closest to the ball after the snap, you cannot call audibles; and when you choose a long-yardage passing play (a bomb), you're receivers will disappear of the screen since you can only see about 30 yards of football field at a time. When you play the game, you'll see very quickly that it's played and controlled in a very different manner than the Madden football series (and other football games) where the gameplay is much slower BUT with much more control of plays and players (offensively and defensively) and strategy is much more important. In essence, these games are geared more toward football "purists" whereas Tecmo Super Bowl is geared toward those who may not even know much about football in general and may not even care to learn but want the simplicity of play.

The Bottom Line
Anyone who likes football video games will like this (maybe even love it!). Set apart from most other football games like the Madden series, Tecmo Super Bowl gives you the opportunity to make big plays without having to deal with formations, intense strategy decisions, and slower game play. For a fun, fast-paced, arcade-like football game, Tecmo Super Bowl is a nice change of pace in the large pool of football video games.

Genesis · by Mark Weber (8) · 2008

If you enjoyed the NES version, you'll love this one too.

The Good
- Simple controls.
- All 28 NFL teams, complete with full rosters, official team colors, and logos.
- Real NFL schedule.
- Pro Bowl mode and the ability to create your own Pro Bowl teams.
- Playbook editor.
- Very good soundtrack.
- Simple, but effective weather simulator.
- Improvements over the NES title include user-control touchbacks and kick blocking.


The Bad
There are minor roster issues with missing players, possibly from them not being part of the NFLPA's marketing agreement at the time. Since there's nothing the developers could do, I don't hold this against them.

The Bottom Line
To someone who knows the now legendary NES title well enough, I'd describe TSB for the SNES as a version updated in every way. Updated graphics, logos, music and gameplay features not present in the NES version. The mechanics are largely the same and anyone who played the NES version will have no problem picking this game up and playing right away.

To a new player, I'd describe the game as simple, but fun. Easy to play, understand and control. "A" plays are run. "B" plays are pass. Kickoffs and punts are controlled by a simple power bar. Field goals and extra points are controlled by an accuracy arrow and the kicker's personal kicking power.

A note: this game was released in 1993. The National Football League did not adopt 2-point conversions until the next season in 1994, so, if you're a new player and you're wondering why the screen automatically transitions to an extra point attempt instead of the playbook, that is why.

There is no penalty system in this game, but the game doesn't really allow you to foul. You can't move your defenders before the snap, so you can't go offsides. Offensive players don't false start. You can (and will routinely see) players continuing to tackle after the play, but unnecessary roughness is not called. In regular season mode injuries do occur, but post-play tackling does not injure players.

There are 3 weather settings in the game: clear, rain and snow. Clear games are pretty much "neutral" mode. Rain and snow games cause players to fumble more frequently and QB's sometimes slip when dropping back to pass. The effects are minor compared to modern games, but the visuals are nice to change up the gameplay.

Much of the music is updated renditions of the same songs heard in the NES game. Each mode has different songs and there are different songs used for player 1 and player 2 just like the NES version. They're all good, energetic tracks fitting for a football game.

The main goal of the game is obviously to win the Super Bowl, but in this game you truly beat the game in 3-year Mode where you take control of one team and win the Super Bowl 3 years in a row, becoming the first franchise to do so. To this day (in 2020), no NFL franchise has won three straight Super Bowls.

In season mode, you can control as many teams as you want, but the goal is to win the Super Bowl 3 straight years with one team. During the regular season, the game gets progressively more difficult as the game goes on, with the playoffs being especially difficult.

The game keeps track of all player and team statistics. If you are a numbers nerd for sports, you'll have fun trying to lead the league in various statistical categories.

Another trademark of TSB is the cutscenes. If you played the NES game, you are aware of this trademark feature. All the players basically look as jacked as Hulk Hogan, but these cut scenes are a fun part of the TSB experience.

Tecmo wasn't going for the most realistic football experience here and considering the time, that was for the better. All the other games of the time that tried to be realistic failed with overly complex controls, design and features that handicap the player and make for a boring experience. TSB gives us video game football in a fantasy video game land and in my opinion it was the best football game of the time.

Today, a game like this would never be a hit, so I'm not sure how much fun the casual, younger gamer would have playing this compared to modern-day Madden titles. TSB is a total product if its time, but an important product of its time and a title that has retained a strong cult following over the years. For a younger player, I suggest you give it a playthrough. The learning curve is very short, so there's no intimidation factor in having to sit down and learn a new style of gameplay and controls completely foreign to you. Just hit start, select your team and play.

SNES · by Matthew Ouellette (7) · 2020

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Baron79, Big John WV, chirinea, Scaryfun, Patrick Bregger.