Nintendo 64
Released in 1999 by EA Sports
Grade: B-
It may seem like an irrelevant distinction today, but I think this is the first game I’d call a serviceable football simulation. Madden 99 gave it a shot but is too messy to be much fun, and the games before that might have been fun but not a simulation.
Madden 2000 lets you enjoy football in a way that sort of resembles the real thing.
Where it falls in the series
It’s in the middle of five releases on N64, starting with Madden 64 and ending with Madden 2002.
Praises and gripes
There’s a precision to the action this year that you didn’t see before. Players follow the play diagrams step for step, and control is very tight.
After any play, you could watch the replay and see why it happened the way it did. Why’d your runner get stuffed? Because the linebackers clogged the gaps. Why was your pass intercepted? Because your receiver was too far downfield and your pass was short.
This also means that when your play works great, there’s a certain reason why. You followed your blocks, or you found the 1-on-1 matchup and timed the pass right.
You can generally use real football instincts to give yourself the best chance at success.
The game keeps things realistic, with a decent risk and reward for any tactic. The playbooks are big and there are a few pre-snap adjustments, including hot routes for the first time in a video game.
Of course, there are plenty of limitations. The animations are very basic, particularly tackles that automatically sprawl the runner on the turf and catches that teleport into a player’s hands.
Players sometimes run routes out of bounds. You can’t view your playcall before the snap. The extra tight control makes graceful turns impossible. The CPU makes bonehead calls, usually failing to make an urgent comeback.
Later versions added new animations and more tactics, so you may opt for a later game if you’re looking for the ideal N64 football purchase.