A Visual History of American Football Games vol. In B4 NFL 2k5

[dabottom305]

IGN takes a look back at 35 years of digital pigskin.
by Marty Sliva JULY 8, 2013

Football video games have existed in some form for the past 35 years. Before Mario slid down his first flagpole or our little vector ships blew apart digital asteroids, gamers were able to nestle up to an arcade cabinet and simulate a game of football. Looking back at the history of these games is pretty staggering -- they've ranged from hardcore simulations to complete arcade madness. Even if you're not a fan of the sport itself, games like Tecmo Super Bowl and NFL Blitz managed to transcend their real-life analogue and become purely entertaining video games on their own merits.

Looking at these screens highlights how far the genre, and video games as a whole have evolved. Join us as we look back at 35 years of interactive football.

Atari Football (1978, Atari)

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Widely viewed as the first game to accurately depict football...you know, minus the fact that players are represented by Xs and Os.

Tecmo Super Bowl (1991, NES)

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Arguably the best sports game of the 8-bit era, it transformed Bo Jackson into a video game deity. Seriously, he might be the most overpowered character ever.

Mutant League Football (1993, Sega Genesis)

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Portals to hell, alien invasions, and an endless supply of awful puns (Jerry Rice is called Scary Ice) made this one of the dumbest, most entertaining sports games of all time.

Madden NFL '95 (1994, Sega Genesis)

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Madden '95 ushered in the series’ emphasis on emulating real football by featuring NFL team logos and actual player names. Sorry, Scary Ice.

NFL Blitz (1997, Arcade)

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Blitz married arcade action with the actual fundamentals of football better than any other game. It's an arcade cabinet that still demands to be played whenever you happen to stumble by.

NFL 2K1 (2000, Sega Dreamcast)

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For a brief stint in the early aughts, Sega gave EA and Madden a run for their money through the fantastic 2K series. 2K1 still stands as one of the very best Dreamcast games.

Madden 2002 (2001, All the Systems)

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Once Madden found its way to PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, EA managed to strong-arm its way to the top of the digital football mountain. Gaining exclusive rights to the NFL license also helped.

NFL Street 2 (2004, So Many Consoles)

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Boasting a soundtrack featuring DMX, Papa Roach, Sum 41, Drowning Pool, and Ying Yang Twins makes NFL Street 2 the most 2004 thing ever.

Blitz: The League (2005, PlayStation 2/Xbox/Xbox 360)

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Without access to the NFL rights, Midway created a football game consisting of steroids, prostitution, and the only/worst storyline in the history of the genre.

NCAA Football 2010 (2009, 360/PS3)

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As visuals in games slowly creep towards the uncanny valley, success and failure is measured by what features are added to annual installments.

NCAA Football 2014 (2013, 360/PS3)

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Our own Greg Miller feels that NCAA Football 2014 doesn't quite hit the mark as it tries to wring out every last drop of this console generation...

Madden NFL 25 (2013, Current/Next-Gen)

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...but will the same be true for Madden NFL 25, which is set to celebrate the series' historic milestone when its released later this summer?

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07...+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

 

[mackmittenzz]

I loved this post, I remember techno bowl and madden, and. Blitz was THAT game we loved as youngins'

 

[dabottom305]

Blitz was probably the first football game that really made me want to play sports games.

 

[the hater boxden]

nfl street 2 was so damn fun

the nfl street that came out for the original psp was so addicting as well.

 

[adobecs4]

Man, **** Madden. Cheesy *** game. Non-responsive defender with no recognition abilities online

Will cop for next gen.

 

[swendro]

Tecmo Super Bowl reigns supreme to this day.

 

[Sir San Diego]

My favorite play on Tecmo Super Bowl was to give Bo Jackson the ball and run circles around the field from endzone to endzone until the time ran out. It would always piss my friends off, but they couldn't do anything except get mad.

Spoiler

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My stats looked way better than that though. I knew how to use my dude.

 

[ryda421]

still play blitz

 

[jballer20]

I remember i got nfl street free with buying a gamecube and it was meh, thought it would be as addicting as nba street. but it was free so i can't complain

NFL Blitz in the arcades and owning the N64 version was great, loved playing that game, good times.

i haven't bought a madden game since the xbox 360 launch one. i just rent it.



i still remember of course, $19.99 for a brand new copy of NFL 2K5 as opposed to $49.99 for Madden 2005. that was sick. lol EA was sweat'n so much they had to buy the rights for future games.

 

[dabottom305]

That EA contract is supposed to expire this year. I hope the aren't able to extend it again. I don't remember too much about 2k Football but I think the competition is great for the consumers.