Submitted on: 05/16/2008 by
James Linden
We’ve come a long way since the Magnavox Odyssey released what I believe was the first football game for videogame consoles, circa 1972.
Growing up, NFL football has always been my favorite game to play. That being said, I’ve played a LOT of football games over the last 25 years and seen some great versions in my days. It’s tough to breakdown my top 10 football games of all-time, but here it goes...
#10. NFL Fever 2004 (Xbox)
The only reason this game made the list was because it was the first football game which I played online, which is par for the course now with sports games. The graphics were so-so (lineman all looked pudgy at best) and gameplay was suspect at times. Being able to play a guy in Des Moines, Iowa at 3:30 AM online for the first time, however, was enough to get this game on my list.
NFL Fever 2004 was one of the pioneers for online sports gaming.
#9. NFL Blitz (PlayStation)
Not a whole lot of “realism” with this game, but the arcade hit did make a good transition to the console world. The bone jarring hits and razzle-dazzle of this game made it a good “smack talking” game amongst buddies.
#8. NFL Quarterback Club 1996 (Nintendo 64)
The short lived NFL QB club series had some cool features that were eye opening to the sports game enthusiast as far as realism is concerned. I'll always remember the reaction my buddy and I had in 1996 in our college dorm playing this game. It was Chicago at Green Bay and once we realized that you could actually see the players' breath due to the cold temperature we were mesmerized. This was also one of the first games to feature unique stadiums and a franchise mode as well.
#7. Madden '93 (Sega Genesis)
The best feature in this version of Madden was the inclusion of 38 championship teams, post first Super Bowl. Granted the NFL didn’t allow player names to be used, but a football guru such as myself knew who was who after watching countless Super Bowl shows on ESPN. Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka were absolutely unstoppable for Miami '72, but the two teams I liked the most were the 1979 Steelers with Franco, Stallworth, Bradshaw, and Lambert; and the 1989 49ers with Montana, Rice, Taylor, and Lott.
#6. NFL 2K (Sega DreamCast)
"Wow" I think was the first word out of my mouth the first time I played this game. The initial release to the NFL 2K series, this game could simply not be put down. Some of the groundbreaking features in this game were the replays and the announcer dialog -- they were like nothing I’d ever heard or seen in previous football games. This game had it all: stats, practice mode, tournaments, franchise mode. Everything you ever needed in a football game and more could be found in this amazing first entry.
#5. Madden 2006 (Xbox)
This was my first return to the Madden series in quite some time since I'd been in love with the NFL 2K series since its inception. However, what I missed in the 2K series was quickly forgotten with the 2006 Madden game. I have always been a big fan of the franchise mode for systems and I felt this game more than any other football game I’d played to that point perfected the franchise mode. I played over 10 seasons with my beloved Seattle Seahawks and still had players from the 2006 season on the team in 2016! A feature that was great then, but is no longer available in Madden 08, was that you could import a player onto a team in salary cap mode (a frustrating feature in Madden 2008, only available without salary cap). Not only that, but the offseason was also very cool. The NFL Draft was set up like the real deal, in a room with people chatting and an announcer notifying you who was drafting and who was up next. Again, these features are not available in the 2008 "next-gen" versions. My gut tells me that EA Sports isn’t a big fan of franchise because they want you to buy the latest version every year. For example, the 2008 version also had a few glitches (pre-patch) when going beyond your first season. Coincidence? I think not!
Michael Vick and the vision cone ruled Madden NFL 06
The first football videogame I felt that brought any sense of NFL realism to the user experience was Tecmo Bowl. Despite the fact that the first version only featured 12 teams and 8-on-8 football, the game blew me away with real players, real stats, and real player movements. There were a few glitches with the game of course, such as the impossible-to-stop Cap Bosa pass or just Bo Jackson all together. I mean, check out this run on Youtube of Bo….unbelievable. However, overall, this game was revolutionary and brought us out of the dark ages of plain Jane football games.
#3. NFL Football (Intellivision)
I expect some grumbling amongst the Operation Sports fans out there about this one, but anyone whose been around long enough knows of the importance of this game in the video football game timeline. Previous versions of football games by Atari featured zero realism, gameplay, player movement, or anything that could be conceived as a football game. The Intellivision football game featured players with actual arms, legs, and a football field for Heaven’s sake! Moreover, the game came with a PLAYBOOK when you opened the game box. "8 enter" was a common term used around my block as a kid, which was the code punched in for punts. It may not have been as cool as games to come, but for me, this brought home the first NFL game that actually resembled what you watched on Sundays.
#2. Madden '92 (Sega Genesis)
The longest running title in sports game history, I wanted to give credit to this release of the Madden series for a number of reasons. This was the first NFL game that I can recall that featured all players, teams, depth charts, and kept stats on your games played. Simply put, these are breakthroughs in football gaming that I will never forget. This was also one of the first games that I recall having commentators that actually pointed out what happened on the field, such as "he’ll feel that one tomorrow" after a big hit. Speaking of big hits, how cool was it when the ambulance came onto the field after taking out your opponents starting QB?
#1. NFL 2K5 (Xbox)
The final version of the 2K series, I felt that this game was the tops on my list for everything football. This game continued to show great improvements year after year, and the franchise mode and player create mode on this version were the coolest things I’d seen in football videogames in some time. It’s a tragedy for any football videogame fan out there that the NFL decided to do an exclusive deal with EA Sports, and I believe a lot of Operation Sports fans would agree with that statement.
NFL 2k5 was the pinnacle of the NFL 2k series
Here's some other NFL games that didn't make the cut
NFL 10-Yard Fight (NES) - Should have been titled 10-Yard Bites.
Atari Football (Atari 2600) - See #3 Intellivision Football…the Atari football version was dog meat compared with what the Intellivision featured.
Joe Montana Football (Sega Genesis): This game had a few cool features, but just never jived with my style.
NFL GameDay (PS1): I always felt the graphics and gameplay in this series were horrible.
Fourth and Inches (PC): Not a bad game for the PC, but overall, had major glitch problems and never really felt like a solid football game.
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