Super Nintendo
Released in 1997 by EA Sports
Grade: C
Madden 98 is a simple, easy-to-grasp round of football, but it plays too choppily for full-on enjoyment. The Genesis edition is a solid game, but the technical performance in this SNES version is subpar.
Where it falls in the series
This is the last of eight Madden games on SNES.
Praises and gripes
This game has solid football logic under the hood. You can’t deny it that. There are lots of plays, and although they don’t always unfold the way they look on the playcall screen, they each result in a cute little chess match with a dash of football-like chaos thrown on top. I like that passing is very user-friendly. If you find an open receiver, he’ll snatch the ball and get moving.
The issue with this game is that it doesn’t have the same smoothness that works so well on the Genesis. The action often stutters, particularly on hand-offs. A fumble can cause half the players to disappear for a moment. Navigating crowded areas while dealing with choppy movement is a chore. The players run too slow, perhaps as a half-assed fix for the sluggish performance.
This game doesn’t perform as poorly as Madden 95, but it’s still pretty bad.
Let’s see, what else? Oh, the intro menus are the dumbest things ever. Hey, want to move your selection to the right? Push left! Genius!
By the way, who the hell designed the SNES controller and decided it was a good idea to put B to the left of A, and Y to the left of X? It sure took me a few possessions to start passing the ball the right guy. The Genesis controller may only have three buttons, but at least it makes sense!
Anyway, I don’t recommend playing any EA Sports games on SNES. The Genesis versions were consistently better.
Published July 19, 2022