Tecmo Bowl
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| Tecmo Bowl | |
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| Developer(s) | Tecmo |
| Publisher(s) | Tecmo |
| Release date(s) | 1990 (North America) November 30, 1990 (Japan) |
| Genre(s) | Football |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | NES, Game Boy, Mobile Phone, Virtual Console |
| Media | 2-megabit cartridge |
| Input | NES controller |
Tecmo Bowl is a video game released in 1988 by Tecmo, Inc. It was the first of several successful Tecmo American Football titles. The game was also ported to mobile phones in 2004 and the Virtual Console in 2007.
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[edit] History
Before the launch of the NES version, Tecmo had gained notoriety for the Ninja Gaiden series and the Tecmo Bowl arcade game. The latter was distinguished by a large two-monitor cabinet, support for up to four players, and the ability to break tackles (which was unique among American games like Bo Jackson's Football), that allowed an interesting two-dimensional view of the teams and players. The playbook consisted of only four offensive plays, and for defense one selected which play he thought the offense would select - if he chose correctly, it would result in a collapse of the offensive line and well-covered receivers.
Despite being more realistic than other games of the era, like Ten Yard Fight, Tecmo Bowl still had some faults. For instance, any pass thrown to a covered receiver resulted in an interception, and it was unrealistically easy to block field goals and extra points. A player using the New York Giants, for example, could easily block every kick using Lawrence Taylor simply by selecting him and running through the blockers. Also, each team had one pass play that, with the proper timing, was unstoppable against every defense of every other team. Further, any player using the Chicago Bears has an extreme advantage on both offense and defense. This is due to having Walter Payton (probably the fastest player in the game) incorporated in three offensive plays, and Mike Singletary's extreme quickness on defense. Most veterans of the game consider the use of Chicago to be "cheating".
[edit] Gameplay
The player can choose between 3 modes: 1 Player, 2 Players, and Coach. In 1 player mode, the player picks a football team and plays against the computer. After every game that the player wins, the computer picks another team to be and the player stays with their original choice. Once the player has beaten every team, they are the champion. In 2 player mode, the player and another human will play one game. In coach mode, the player and another play one game, but only the first player chooses the plays. The game acts out their choices on the field.
[edit] Teams
Tecmo Bowl contains twelve teams, each equipped with four plays. Most teams have two running plays and two passing plays. The exceptions are San Francisco and Miami who have three passing plays and one running play. Tecmo was not able to get the NFL's consent to use real team names. As a result, the teams in the game are identified solely by their home city or state. However, each roster mimics that of the NFL team based out of the same city or state.
The teams mimicked in the game are the Indianapolis Colts, the Miami Dolphins, the Cleveland Browns, the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Raiders, the Washington Redskins, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears, and the Minnesota Vikings. The reason behind the selection of these particular twelve teams is not known, though some guess that the Tecmo programmers attempted to include the most dominant teams from the era.
The 2007 Virtual Console release is a modified version of the game without the NFLPA license- players are represented only by number and not by name.
