This week we step away from the Gridiron to journey to the world of Video Football. From the Bo Jacksons to the Desean Jacksons, NFL Video Games have always been a big part of my life. Any NFL fan will certainly love to check out this one, Top 10 NFL Video Games of All Time Criteria 1. Presentation 2. Gameplay 3. Fun Factor 4. Realism Honorable Mention A lot of games didn't make the cut that are worth looking at. All of the Maddens that didn't make the list are naturally honorable. NFL street series, NFL Blitz 2001, Quarterback Club, Tecmo Super Bowl III, NFL Gameday, Mutant League Football(Not NFL but that good,) Kicker, NFL Fever, 10 Yard Fight, and Mike Ditka's Power Football. #10. NFL Blitz [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUcviDzm0sQ]NFL Blitz Me vs. My Brother (BEST GAME) - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 6/10 Gameplay 8/10 Fun Factor 9/10 Realism 3/10 Total 26/40 This game was really large when i was in middle school. We would have tournaments every wednesday and i would usually make 5-6 dollars beating up on people. This game was like football on crack. 7 on 7 action with no real order on offense or defense. The wide receiver could come run the ball, or even throw the ball. The game was so explosive that in order to reach a first down, you had to travel 30 yards. This was coupled with the most furious hits any game has seen, and no penalties. In this one there was no worrying about hitting the quarterback above the knees or below the head. In this one it was not only trying to kill the man, but also dropping the Hulk Hogan Leg Drop on his face after every play to let him know who was boss. Helmet to Helmet pass interference was basic defense, and this game was fun as hell. #9. NFL Sports Talk Football [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3L1MGkeu-U]Cooliex Presents: NFL Sports' Talk Football - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 10/10 Gameplay 5/10 Fun Factor 5/10 Realism 7/10 Total 27/40 I remember when i was young, and I first seen this game. This game was a long way ahead of it's time. The first game with commentary, even though looking back at it now it was crap. Boy do the times change? Well, this game had a huge step up on any other football game at the time. The Fake punts/field goals, the more realistic feel, the better clock work all made this game one of the classics. Featuring Joe Montana, this game lived up to the hype with a knockout of the market at this time. This game gave Madden a lot of ideas and helped pilot all football games. Multiple camera views, All of the teams, and saving your game was awesome for the time. #8. Tecmo Bowl [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjRTFx-QPjs]Tecmo Bowl Best Game Ever - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 5/10 Gameplay 8/10 Fun Factor 10/10 Realism 5/10 Total 28/40 If you haven't played this one, you really missed out. The first game (that didn't suck) to feature NFL players actual names(except Cunningham.) Tecmo provided me hours of fun, and hours of beating people down. Tecmo featured 11 on 11 football, where each team had their own four plays to choose from. The defense would guess which of the four plays was going to be selected, and if correct would create perfect pressure and coverage. In learning the game a player would not only learn the opponents patterns, but also learn how to play amazing defense with the one guy you got to control yourself. With amazing running backs like Bo Jackson, Christian Okoye, and Neal Anderson, Tecmo had the fun factor of no other game to this day has managed to copy. #7. NFL 2K [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_UgRLokt8]NFL 2k - HD - Dreamcast - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 10/10 Gameplay 7/10 Fun Factor 7/10 Realism 8/10 Total 32/40 With 20 bucks and a Sega Dreamcast, you could have experienced one of the greatest games to this day on 9/9/99. This games presentation was perfect. With EA choosing not to release Madden on the Dreamcast, Sega said screw it and went all-in with this one. This series in turn, forced EA to pay a lot of money to have the NFL player names only allowed in their game. This game rivaled Madden, and even to this day is every bit as good as Madden 25. On top of having a great presentation, 2K also had great gameplay, and a great feeling to their game. #6. Madden 2013 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzmn6iKD4RE]Madden 13:GIANTS Vs EAGLES Madden 13 Online Gameplay-Revenge!!! - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 9/10 Gameplay 8/10 Fun Factor 7/10 Realism 9/10 Total 33/40 This game is everything you could ever want in an NFL game. When you look back at this game in 15 years, it will be an icon for the Madden franchise. This game looked perfect, and it would have got a 10 if after the play was over they didn't trip and fall over each other. Introducing many new features, like a career mode that can cross into others career modes. Many improvements to the artificial intelligence and gameplay made this game superior to the last two. You could also see all of the great touchdown celebrations from the year. Tebowing, Victor Cruz's Salsa Dance, The Gronk Spike, and Cam Newton's "Superman taunt" were all included in the game to rub it in your opponents face a little harder. #5. Madden 2006 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEvxlYVyW5Y]madden 06 ps2 gameplay pats vs steelers - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 8/10 Gameplay 9/10 Fun Factor 10/10 Realism 7/10 Total 34/40 This game was my personal favorite Madden. I played this game religiously and barely ever lost. I remember in my prime I would play as the 68 overall San Fransisco 49ers, and beat people by 35+(by halftime because they would be given mercy at half.) This game brought in a ton of great new features to make the game more realistic. It featured a new quarterback vision cone, which showed where your quarterback was looking. This provided less stupid plays like running around with Vick and being unstoppable. To counter the previously added hitstick, they added a highlight stick for the offense. They also added precision passing to make quarterbacks more accurate. This game also introduced superstar mode which allowed you to start a career as one player. #4. Tecmo Super Bowl [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty0MGBCjHWQ]2009 Midwest Tecmo Super Bowl Tournament Championship Game - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 8/10 Gameplay 10/10 Fun Factor 10/10 Realism 6/10 Total 34/40 With the sequel to the aforementioned Tecmo Bowl, everything was improved ten fold. As great as the original was this improved on every element. Making more intricate stats for each player, more plays on offense available (8,) more cutscenes and customization. This game is actually still being made, by a small cult following. Gronk is on Tecmo Bowl 2013's cover. The game also added good days and bad days. Lets say i was playing as the Raiders, and Bo Jackson was having a great day. He would come into the game happy, and be an even better player than he already was. This game has received rewards as a top game of all time. #3. Madden 1995 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr1vkwP-pJI]Madden NFL '95 - SNES Gameplay - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 7/10 Gameplay 10/10 Fun Factor 10/10 Realism 8/10 Total 35/40 This Madden was the first where I feel they stepped it up to the big leagues. They removed the "passing windows," players stats were now tracked, and had the NFL logo and NFLPA logo. This game was official and it delivered. Don't let the crappy graphics fool you. This game was a monster in it's own time. It was a step up from 94', and the gameplay that was already great was improved to the next level. Far ahead of it's time, the realism for this game was actually pretty well also. You could customize your audibles, and also run the no-huddle offense in this great game. #2. Espn NFL 2K5 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IOtrtwBbaw]Blast From the Past - ESPN NFL Football 2K5 (XBOX) 1/6 - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 10/10 would give 15/10 if possible Gameplay 8/10 Fun Factor 9/10 Realism 9/10 Total 36/40 A lot of people would want Madden 05' for this years choice. They were missing out big. When Madden was plagued with glitches, this game was making the greatest presentation any football game has ever made. This game had a presentation equal to the actual ESPN presentation itself. On top of that it kicked serious butt. It looked great, and played even better. This game is a must play for any gamer, and a must play for any football fan. With Mel Kiper doing the draft in game, and Suzi Kolber on the sideline, this game was as close to real as any game I've ever played. Like I said earlier, this was the actual game that forced EA to make the exclusive deal with the NFL because if 2k was to keep making games, Madden would be dead. #1. Madden 2010 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwDKOaRIwwQ]Madden 10 - Super Bowl 44 Sim (Saints Fan Edition) (HD) - YouTube[/ame] Score Presentation 9/10 Gameplay 10/10 Fun Factor 10/10 Realism 9/10 Total 38/40 Where every other Madden to this date has failed (current gen,) this game succeeded. This game had the perfect balance of fairness and realistic gaming. A matchup disaster could provide a real problem, and coaching was key to any game. You could win a game with great coaching as easily as with great skill. This was the thinking man's Madden where you needed to dissect the opponent. This Madden was also very pivotal in introducing a lot of things for this gen's engine. The wildcat in this game was very fair, at first, then was later patched because people whined about it. I still play this game, and will for a very long time. This game has made me not purchase any Madden since it, and I am still happy with it. Wrapping it up This weeks top 10 was different than what i normally do. I like to switch it up though. Just want to ask my family what you all think about the new score breakdown i added? I will try to write more extensive lists with more detailed information.
I used to have Madden 2003... Oh, and Madden 98 was stupid. I was 13 at the time and not very skilled in videogames, but the way you could run Steve Young and not get tackled at all was ridiculous. lol
It's really a shame they let EA get the monopoly on NFL games...all the new cool stuff you mentioned in Madden 06 was a direct result of Sega kicking the crap out of them with 2K5, imagine where the games would be at now if they had continued trying to one-up each other for the last 9 years.
There is no way Tecmo Super Bowl isn't #1, at least in my book. But some of you know I am a Tecmo junkie... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrHtFNqm1Yc"]Tecmo Super Bowl: Legends of the Game - YouTube[/ame] I was addicted to this game as a kid. I got it the day it came out and got all my friends hooked on it like crack.
i was actually ranked top 10 in madden 2007 for ps2, and top 100 for madden 2006. The problems in the game were just too big to make them number one. For instance if you formation audibled very fast over and over, the defense would come out with 10 speed allowing anyone to laps the entire quarter if they choose to. Also all of the glitch plays, throwing the ball high on a slant/curl, stall glitches on kickoffs, and d/c glitches. Maybe the fact i was ranked so high and seen this stuff a lot kills it for me.
and i loved tecmo super bowl, but its just so unrealistic and outdated. The nose tackle glitch where you can jump the line was horrible, but if you put that aside a great game. Welllllll also, you could run diagonally and the computer wouldn't tackle you ever. The fact you could only control 1 player was horrible too. I loved the game though,
NFL 2k5 and Tecmo SuperBowl are the unquestionable no. 1 and 2 for NFL games and both would easily make the Top 10 for Greatest Sports Games of All Time. The impact they still have in todays gaming and remain fun and enjoyable put them above any of the Madden entries, which have in most part have/had limited shelf life. For Madden, I'd agree that 10 was the pinnacle for this generation but wouldn't be in my personal top 3...I'd probably put Madden 06 above it (Yeah, I'm one of the few that LOVED the QB Vision Cone). The PS2/Xbox/PC renditions of Madden tower over the recent ones in terms of fun, features and in some ways gameplay too. Oh, and props for including Joe Montana Sports Talk Football. I was addicted to that game as a kid, although the passing on that game was a bit broke as throws would be lobbed, making long streak passes literally the only catchable throws for the receivers lol.
