Tecmo Super Bowl, or TSB, is an American football video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was first released in 1991. Developed by Japanese video game company Tecmo, it was one of the first sports video games that used the names and attributes of real National Football League teams and players (with the player rosters and attributes based on those of the 1990 NFL season).[citation needed] Although the game is in some ways considered outdated, it was very successful in the final years of the NES[1] and enjoys an extensive cult following.
| Tecmo Super Bowl | |
|---|---|
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| Developer | Tecmo |
| Publisher | Tecmo |
| Platform | NES |
| Release | 1991 |
| Genre | American football |
| Modes | Single player, multiplayer |
History
After the initial success of Tecmo Bowl, Tecmo followed up with the release of Tecmo Super Bowl in 1991. The company was able to obtain a National Football League (NFL) team license, making it the first game to feature all 28 NFL teams of the day.[citation needed]
In 1997, both Electronic Gaming Monthly and IGN, video game publications, named TSB one of the top 100 video games of all time.[1]
Gameplay and features
Tecmo Super Bowl expanded on the features used first in Tecmo Bowl. To do this, TSB replicated certain aspects of the National Football League's version of American football.
Every team in TSB was modeled after a real life NFL franchise. The teams used the same logos and the same city affiliations used by the NFL. As in real life, each team had its' own offensive and defensive playbook.
Each team had 16 players on their rosters with eight players for offense and eight players for defense. In Tecmo Super Bowl, each team had roughly 30 different players. Each team had 11 players that played defense, a kicker, a punter, and seventeen offensive players. Offensive players (sans lineman), Kick returners, and Punt returners could be substituted for one and other, with some restrictions based on a players real life position. Due to the expanded rosters, a team would field 11 players at a time during actual game play.[2] [3]
In addition to using real teams and players, TSB incorporated the full-length 1991 NFL regular season schedule for the game. The playoff format, including the Super Bowl and the post-season Pro Bowl games), was also used.
Tecmo Super Bowl retained the arcade-style football gameplay of the original which included the ability to break tackles. However, the game added new features, such as statistics tracking, expanded and editable playbooks[4] , fumbles, and player injuries. As it had previously, the game used cutscenes for important events like touchdowns and halftime shows. Tecmo Super Bowl also added cutscenes when injuries or big plays occurred.
Lastly, the gameplay allowed for a player with the ball to break a tackle. If the game operator pressed the "A" button fast enough, the player would free himself of the tackler.
CPU difficulty
If a human player is successful in season mode, the CPU player becomes increasingly difficult. While this is not uncommon in video games, a notably weak Week 1 opponent may be very difficult to beat in Week 17, a theme uncommon in real NFL football. Furthermore, the automated defensive players consistently miss in their tackles--often diving too early. Finally, if a user manages to break away from the computer's defense, the user can easily continue to avoid the computer's defensive players by zig-zagging. Although it may seem like the computer would present no challenge due to these flaws, randomly players for the computer will perform better than their statistics indicate they will. For example, Bob Nelson and Howie Long, two good overall players, often find themselves essentially snapping the ball from center and mowing over any offensive linemen that come in between them and the Quarterback, making it difficult to complete any passes. Due to the enhanced traits of these players, it is also possible to rack up points and statistics of another stratum when compared to reality.
Quirks in Gameplay
Many flaws in the game have been discussed over the years and many made the gameplay fun, while predictable. For example, some players were unstoppable to an extent, including Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders, Bo Jackson and quarterback Dan Marino. While these players were also very good in real life, some players were good though their real life counterparts were average at best. A prime example was Dwight Stone, the kick returner for the Steelers, who could score a TD about 30% of the time on a kickoff return. The Flea Flicker was another interesting play, though equally risky for both teams. If the defense predicted the flea flicker, they could sack the QB, and when the RB threw the ball back to him it would result in a fumble, which could easily be recovered by the defense. However, if the play got off, the hook route or deep route receivers were a lock to make a big offensive gain.
Sequels
Some gamers believe the added realism of the second and third installations in the series made them better football games, but it is possible that they suffered from bad marketing. As a result, they weren't as popular as the original NES version. The last Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis game in the series was subtitled "Final Edition," but in 1997 it was revived on the PlayStation, to fairly minimal press, and the series faded away.
The original Tecmo Super Bowl game remains popular among video game fans. NES emulators and ROM editors allow people to update the game's rosters to current NFL players. The game has also developed a cult following on certain college campuses and on websites where online leagues are common.
In recent years, Tecmo Bowl was re-released on full-color screen cell phones and a handheld TV game.
Footnotes
- ^ a b IGN's top 100 Games (ranked 24) retrieved 2006-10-31
- ^ In the first game, each team had eight players on the field.
- ^ Jim Kelly, Randall Cunningham, and Bernie Kosar were represented by generic names: QB Bills, QB Eagles, and QB Browns, respectively. This was due to the fact that the players were not members of the National Football League Players Association's marketing agreement. This prevented the NFLPA from licensing the players' likenesses.
- ^ Tecmo Bowl had four plays in the play book while Tecmo Super Bowl had eight