Sega Genesis
Released in 1997 by EA Sports
Grade: B
This game is like a carbon copy of Madden 97, which isn’t necessarily bad because Madden 97 is pretty good.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the last Madden on Genesis. The series was already on PS1 and Sega Saturn for the 97 edition, so no wonder we’ve got a basic “roster update” game here. My favorite version on Genesis is Madden 95.
Praises and gripes
I’m tempted to do something snarky like copy/paste my Madden 97 review, but I won’t…
The strengths of this game are simple controls, fluid running, a nice playcall interface, and active AI creating lots of action. Making 22 guys collide in a somewhat natural way wasn’t a task other game developers could accomplish back in the 16-bit days, so you gotta give it to EA for that.
For Madden 97 and 98, EA fixed up its offensive line play, which was previously a mess. Even so, you’ll probably need to drop way back or roll out before passing.
Your receivers often go off their routes and QBs regularly throw behind them, so you have to adjust the receiver’s position while the ball is in the air. Often times, you have better luck passing 30 yards into a crowd of guys than you do passing 5 yards to a wide open man, which is stupid. The exception is when you’ve got a top-notch QB/WR tandem, like Steve Young/Jerry Rice, and suddenly short passes are no problem, which makes this even more aggravating.
The running game is fairly balanced. It’s worth using, but you’ll have more overall success with the passing game.
Defense is, as usual, simple fun. The players move well in this version, and it’s intuitive to tackle and block passes.
The graphics are simple and cute. The sound is inconsistent and crackly.
Overall, this is pretty good for 16-bit football, but I prefer Madden 95 for its more fluid passing game. The thing Madden 97 and 98 has is multiple difficulty settings, so if you’re looking for a challenge against the CPU, they’re the go-to choices.