I thought it would be fitting at the kickoff weekend of the NFL season to highlight the NFL (or just simply football) related games that are in my collection for the Sega Genesis. So with that said, my game of the week is John Madden Football, released in 1990 for the Genesis and was the first Madden game for this console. Unlike future versions of Madden starting with Madden ’94, the original Genesis version did not include license from the NFL so only generic team names based on cities and made-up player names were used. I own 5 versions of Madden for the Genesis but I’m sticking with the non-NFL licensed original for my GotW. I guess this continues to speak to my preference for early titles released in a console’s lifespan as those are the formative years that shape it’s success or lack there-of.
I don’t have a lot of solid memories of playing this particular version of Madden at the time of it’s release. I can’t recall which versions of Madden my friend with the Genesis had in high school nor can I recall playing it much in college either although I’m sure I did. My most vivid memories of Genesis football were formed while playing Tecmo Super Bowl. I had spent a lot of time playing the NES version before I played the Genesis version and both games were stellar in my opinion. The ease of calling plays, controlling the players on the screen and the (sometimes unrealistic) ability to light up the scoreboard with certain teams were the keys to Tecmo owning my 8 and 16 bit football heart. I personally preferred the bottom of the screen viewpoint of Tecmo vs. the overhead/behind the quarterback look of the Madden series at the time but eventually became accustomed to it over the years when the Madden franchise took over for later consoles that I owned.
I also own another NFL/Football related Genesis cartridge, NFL ’95, featuring Joe Montana in full Kansas City Chief gear. I do remember Joe Montana in the Genesis-does commercials back in the day so it was only right for Sega (it was a Sega sports title after all) to launch their own football franchise with Joe as their spokesman. I haven’t spent too much time with this game to be honest so I will need to sit down with it before I can properly review it. I will be adding grades to the rest of my Genesis football games later once I have spent enough time with them.
Pro Football Games in my collection:
- John Madden Football
- John Madden Football ’92
- Madden ’94
- Madden ’95
- Madden ’96
- NFL ’95
- Tecmo Super Bowl – A I love this game and can pick it up and play without losing a beat.
Cartridge Corner 