Who Else Misses Football?!
Football is an integral part of American culture, but it’s an even bigger part of video game history. From its roots on the Atari 2600 to the eight-bit classics that revolutionized the genre, football games are the rock that helps keep the industry afloat. Old School Gamer’s Patrick Hickey Jr. details the most influential pigskin games of all time. Do you know them all?
ABC Monday Night Football: While the actual gameplay was far from fantastic, Data East’s Monday Night Football for the Super Nintendo had an excellent create-a-team option that was the first in console gaming history. For the first time, gamers could put themselves and their friends and real players on the virtual field.
Mutant League Football: This was just a fun game that proved the genre didn’t need real players or an NFL license to be successful.
Tecmo Bowl: To this day, Tecmo Bowl is a fantastic football game. Konami’s gift to sports fans, the side view and frenetic gameplay don’t have the same effect on this generation, but anyone over 30 has fond memories of it.
NFL Gameday: This was the game that scared the crap out of Electronic Arts. Up to that point, the company, although it was already fighting off Sega’s pigskin entries, had a virtual monopoly on the sport. Sony’s football game was fantastic, fast-paced and just different. Although it fizzled out less than a decade later, its importance to the genre can never be understated.
Play Action Football: As far as Nintendo Entertainment System football games go, Play Action Football was the most realistic. Sure, the graphics were terrible, but with a friend, this was a damn good football game. With an extensive playbook as well, it was surprisingly deep.
NFL 2K: Sega’s football game helped put the Dreamcast on the map and to this day features the most realistic run-game ever. Finding holes in the line of scrimmage is fun, intuitive and challenging. Again, like the Gameday series, 2K football is no longer around, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t legendary.
Joe Montana Sports Talk Football: Other football players had been on the cover of football games before, but when Sega put Montana on a game for their Genesis system to draw attention away from the Madden series (Ironically a game EA would finish for Sega), the real competition began.
NFL Blitz: NBA Jam for football fans, this game was an arcade fan’s dream come true. Although later outdone by the NFL Street series, it had a few years of glory and proved the genre had deep legs to stand on.
John Madden Football: While it’s not the best football game ever created, it’s the father of the longest yearly-running series in video game history. That means something, doesn’t it?
ESPN NFL 2K5: The last entry in the fabled 2K series, it’s easily the best football game ever made.
