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Remember the Days When Madden Wasn’t the Only NFL Game in Town?

Thomas Tripp

It’s the 100th Season of the NFL. All that aside, remember the days when there was not just Madden? When we had Tecmo Bowl, Tecmo Super Bowl, NFL GameDay (PlayStation exclusive), NFL Fever (Original XBOX exclusive), NFL 2K and many others??

Those were the great days of NFL video gaming when Madden had competition. Each game had its own unique characteristics that weren’t found in the other games.

One example of a game is ESPN NFL 2K5 (released in 2004 for the Original XBOX and PlayStation 2) is regarded as the greatest NFL video game of all-time. Sega took full advantage of the ESPN license, as well as added various modes, such as “The Crib mode,” “ESPN’s 25th Anniversary” – where you can re-create situations from historic NFL games, such as “The Sea of Hands” (1974), Wide Right (Super Bowl XXV, 1990), and many more. Let’s not forget about the awesome Halftime Report hosted by Chris Berman.

The NFL 2K series was released in September 1999, during the short, yet great stint of the Sega Dreamcast. It was known as the “Madden killer” and was released to rave reviews, even almost getting a perfect “10” from GameSpot. There would be two more released for the Dreamcast until its demise in 2001. Ironically, it would also see releases on the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox for 2K2-2K5, with only 2K3 being the only release of the series on the Nintendo GameCube.

 

 

 

ESPN NFL 2K5 sold so well, thanks to its $20 price tag. It even “scared the hell out of EA,” that they dropped Madden 2005 from $49.99 to $29.99. Unfortunately for us football gamers, this was the last NFL-licensed game to compete with Madden as EA signed an exclusive deal at the end of that season.

Another example is 1991’s Tecmo Super Bowl, which was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was ahead of its time by doing season mode to simulate the 1991 NFL season (although the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions did the three-year mode two years later) and had many NFL rosters and all NFL teams, improving tremendously on 1989’s Tecmo Bowl for the same system. In addition to this, TSB added the Super Bowl and the Post-season Pro Bowl to the game. This game would be later ported to the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and the ill-fated attempt on the PlayStation 1. This game still continues to be popular, thanks to mods to reflect the current season and tournaments played Nationwide, most notably in Madison, WI.

 

Since I just mentioned two of the greatest NFL video games of all-time. However, we must go into detail about NFL GameDay.

NFL GameDay was a Sony PlayStation exclusive, which was released between 95-2005. The first half of the series was more well-received than Madden and the premiere football game on the PS1. Once the PlayStation 2 hit shelves in 2000, it was a shell of its former self. However, I would say that NFL GameDay 2004 was decent on the PS2. The last effort the next season was a PS1 exclusive and unfortunately, it wasn’t well-received.

The music in NFL GameDay sounds like an actual football telecast and the intro, representing the atmosphere of what football is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kyt5T0OqEI.

For the Microsoft XBOX, another game I really liked was the NFL Fever series, which actually made its debut on PC in 1999, with then-Jacksonville Jaguars Quarterback Mark Brunell on the cover. In 2001, the second installment “NFL Fever 2002” was a launch title for Microsoft’s then-new system. Fever was one of the football titles that was easy to learn. It was a “best of both worlds football game” — mixing elements of Madden NFL 2002 and NFL 2K2, with very responsive controls and faster gameplay. It had an outstanding running game, second to Sega’s NFL 2K2.

The award-winning commentary of Dick Stockton and Ron Pitts was exemplary. They provided insights into what games happened earlier in the year when playing on season mode. That made the game in-depth.

(Gotta love Public Enemy’s “Welcome to the Terrordome” as the intro to the game.)

 

NFL Fever had a solid run. It was unfortunately canceled in 2004. Then-Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning was the cover of the last three installments.

Since EA signed the exclusive NFL deal in December 2004, Madden games have got worse over the years. A prime example of this is the XBOX 360 version of Madden NFL 06, being rushed in time for its launch. The game focused entirely too much on graphics and not on the gameplay part. They took out the Owner Mode and several modes that made the PS2, OG XBOX and GameCube versions fun to play.