Super Nintendo
Released in 1994 by Mindscape
Grade: C-
This one was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting trash. It’s actually very playable and pretty cute. It’s also limited and one-dimensional.
Where it falls in the series
This was it for Mindscape’s football efforts.
Praises and gripes
It’s got a side view similar to the Tecmo games, but the physics are more like Madden, with some momentum and looseness. The action is plain and simple and very easy to control. Quarterbacks press a button to shuffle through receivers and press a button to throw. Defenders have an effective dive to take runners down.
On the downside, the “switch player” command is delayed, and there’s no juking, no turbo, and pretty much nothing else. Also, deep receivers run off screen and the cursor can get hidden at the top of the screen.
The playbooks aren’t bad. No need to fuss with formations — you have 50+ offensive plays (including some option plays and reverses) and 30+ defensive plays (which are curiously lacking any man-to-man coverage). The logic favors offense heavily, and even with 5-minute quarters, competent players will rack up 50+ points in a game, easy.
It’ll take a normal gamer maybe 20 minutes to get the hang of this game, and the fun will run out in about an hour max. The action is just too basic, with receivers usually standing wide open, in place, ready to catch passes. There’s not enough unpredictable chaos, except for the occasional fumble.
The game is deep with teams but very, very light on options. No difficulty settings, no coaching adjustments, not even a season mode.