Top 50 Video Games: Number 19

#19: Tecmo Super Bowl
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Publisher: Tecmo
Released: 1991
Players: 1-2


Eagles vs Falcons. It doesn't get any more real than this. At least it didn't in 1991.


I am a sports fan. I also play dungeons and dragons. These things are generally mutually exclusive, so I think I am something of an oddity. When I say I like sports, I mean to say I like pro football and pro hockey. I suppose this largely comes from an odd fascination with sports statistics. I've participated in fantasy sports leagues since Jr High school. How I originally got interested in football is playing Tecmo Bowl at my friend Kris's house in elementary school. The different players on each team had varying skills and these were based on real players. Displayed at the top of the screen were statistics from that players most recent NFL season. I found this fascinating. For example I wanted to know why, if he only ran for 700 yards last season, could did Bo Jackson run like the wind and bowl over the first 5 players that tried to tackle him? (That 700 yards came in less than half a season, the rest of which he spent playing pro baseball for the KC Royals.)

This eventually led to me to the tawdry world of collecting football cards and eventually I purchased the sequel to the game I played at my friend's place, Tecmo Super Bowl. TSB was a landmark in the sports genre in a lot of ways. First, it allowed you to play as a team through the entire season and throughout the playoffs while keeping track of stats. It also had conditions for each player (excellent, normal, bad, etc) that affcted that player's abilities. Your players could also become injured and miss any number of games during the course of a season. Roster depth always came into play over the course of a 16 game season. All 28 NFL teams were represented rather than the 12 from the first game.


Injuries play a major role in this game. Here we see Bobby Humphrey running out of the hospital towards the stadium in his uniform. RECOVERED!


TSB combines realistic stats and features while keeping true to the simple, fun gameplay. Each team now has 8 plays to choose from and an entire playbook from which to select those 8 plays. Choosing a play works kind of like Rock/Paper/Scissors and if the defense chooses the same play the offense did, that play will bomb. And gameplay was simple. One button throws the ball, the other selects which reciever you throw it to. You mash on the A button to try to tackle someone or break a tackle. On defense, push B to dive at someone. That's all you need to know.

TCB has had a number of sequels for the Genesis, the SNES and the Playstation though none is quite as good as the original. There is an amazing community out there that has updated the rosters for the roms which is just awesome. There's a terrific site here. Tecmo Super Bowl is the best football game I've ever played. There've been some other good ones like the Madden series that obviously have superior graphics and tons of features. No football game has surpassed it in fun though.