Tecmo Bowl was released in 1987. It quickly be came all the rage among NES owners and far outshined any other football titles on the console. It featured simple and fast gameplay which appealed to both sports and non-sports fans alike. There had been no other game like it.
Tecmo's football title has the NFLPA license. 12 teams are on the game. They are: Indianapolis, Miami, Cleveland, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco, Dalls, New York, Chicago, Minnesota. An official NFL license would have been a nice added extra, but it was not needed, so it wasn't included. Would you waste thousands of dollars on a license? Nah.
Nine large players are on the field for each team at a time. Games take place from a side view of the field. Around 20 yards are viewable at a time. This doesn't serve as much of a problem, though. Read below. You'll see why.
Quarters in the game last for a mere 1:30 of game time. Game's still take a good 30 minutes+ to play, since the clock doesn't run after plays. One minor gripe; The clock runs while the ball is in the air during the kick-off. Maybe this is a special Tecmo rule?
Each team has a play selection screen of ONLY 4 plays. You guessed it; two running and two passing plays. One defensive formation is on the game, so the defensive play caller's goal is to call the same play as their opponent. If this happens, the defense becomes super-fast and hard to gain yards on.
Passing is simple and efficient. Drop back and use the ''A'' button to change receivers. A blinking arrow will appear above the receivers head to show he's being targeted. If he runs off of the screen, an arrow will point offscreen to where he is. If a receiver is being covered, the ball will be intercepted by the other team every time. So if your play is called, you're best off taking the sack.
Field Goal kicking is very simple. Just like when kicking off and punting, a bar fills up and you have to stop is as it fills up to acheive maximum kicking power. Pretty standard fare. Beware, after the bar fills up it goes straight back to minimal power. Press it too late and you'll squib the ball about 15 yards.
The main goal in the game is to win the Tecmo Bowl. This is accomplished by defeating each of the game's 11 other teams. You can either play or coach (call plays only) through the tournament. When you beat one randomly selected team, the next team you play is randomly selected. Defeat all of them and you're the Tecmo Bowl champion! My cat is squeaking on the door to get in... Be right back...
Back... Now for the stand categoried. Sound, gameplay... Yada Yada Yada...
Graphics 8/10
Players look very nice, considering 18 players are on the screen at a time and are fully animated for running, catching, tackling, etc. Teams are easily distinguishable from one another; that's a plus. A couple of teams, like Seattle, wear some flamboyant colors, thus demeaning their ''tough'' image a tad.
Sound 10/10
The intro music in this game is one of my favorite little tunes. It plays right as you turn on the machine while the title screen scrolls. In game tunes are great as well. The limited in-game speech is clear and easy to understand. No flaws in the sound department.
Gameplay 6.5/10
This game seems vastly dated compared to the much better *Tecmo Super Bowl.* Minor things like having only nine players, no season mode, having to use passwords, defenders always intercepting balls, etc., make the score drop a little. It's still very fun!
SUMMARY
The second-best football title for the Nintendo. I strongly recommend having both *Tecmo Bowl* and *Tecmo Super Bowl* in your collection... I do!
BEST FEATURE- 2-Player mode
WORST FEATURE- Limited play-selection
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