Tecmo Bowl

Tecmo Bowl

NES - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Tecmo Publisher Tecmo Published 1989-02-?? Platforms Game Boy, NES, PlayChoice-10 Genres Action, Sports Themes Sports Series Tecmo Bowl, Tecmo Sports Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

Tecmo Bowl is a football video game developed and published by Tecmo in February of 1989 for the NES and PlayChoice-10. A surprisingly accurate Game Boy port was developed by Sculptured Software and published by Tecmo in September 1991. The game is based on the earlier arcade game and is the second game in the Tecmo Bowl series.

The game takes a novel approach on football. Rather than try to accurately simulate the sport, it turns it more into a video game by focusing on passing and rushing and removing a lot of the more boring aspects of the sport. Each of the twelve represented teams has only four plays they can make (plus punting and field goals), and the opponent must try and call their play, where success usually results in a sack. Although Tecmo was able to include a large portion of each team's roster and their team colors, the game does not include the official team names, logos, or championship titles.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. NES as New York and Chicago. Game Boy as New York.
Finished	2003-07-06 / Game Boy: 2021-12-27.

If my memory servers me correctly, I first saw Tecmo Bowl on the NES when my step brothers visited from Illinois. Both my step brothers and my older brother loved football, so, naturally, they loved this game while I had far less interest in the sport or the game. Later, my brother got a copy of the game and frequently encouraged me to play with him, but he was much better at it than I, so I always lost so I didn't enjoy playing. Their love only grew when the sequel, Tecmo Super Bowl, was released. Years later, when I was in my 20s, I decided to give the game a fair shot and played it on my own. I discovered that the game, although it features incredibly unfair AI, is actually quite fun and well made. In 2003, I beat the NES port with New York and Chicago, then, in an effort to beat more Game Boy titles, I beat it with New York.

Review

6	5	7	7	8

Best Version: NES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• When this game came out, it was far and away the best football game on any platform. Not necessarily the most realistic, but certainly the most enjoyable.
• Calling plays in 2-player mode makes a very interesting psychological mechanic. You have to try and predict what your opponent will do, but they have to try to anticipate what you're going to pick.
• When playing defense, you're able to dive or grapple. This presents a nice strategic choice because diving guarantees a tackle, but is harder to control.
• The game has wonderful music by Keiji Yamagishi and makes great use of the NES's DPCM channel.
• Having the player's names in the game really makes Tecmo Bowl more exciting for football fans in a way that generic names just can't beat.
• The Game Boy port is shockingly accurate and plays very similarly. The digitized voice and instrument samples are missing, and the screen is a bit more cramped, but still very accurate.
• The coaching mode, although a bit pointless, is a nice addition.
• The game has a pretty thorough manual.

Bad

• Due to the limited hardware, AI-controlled players often stand still doing nothing which is not only frustrating, but also looks stupid.
• Although calling the opponent's play is a fun mechanic in 2-player games where you have to read your opponent, it doesn't work against the AI which picks randomly, resulting in 1-in-4 hikes being called.
• Although gamifying football can make it more fun for some players, it hurts the game for those who crave more realism. Much of this is solved by Tecmo Super Bowl which I think finds a happy medium between realism and fun.
• I hate that you have to select a player with every defensive play. It would be nice if the game just remembered the last player you selected.
• Passing is noticeably harder in the Game Boy port. I don't know if this is due to the smaller screen size, but, even in the first game, you're given just a few seconds in the pocket before the defensive linemen pummel you. However, this also prevents players from making a 110 yard pass which is possible in the NES port.

Ugly

• As you near the championship game, the opponent AI becomes unfairly overpowered while your own AI becomes weaker and slower. When you're on defense, your own players will either stand still and do nothing or dive too early and miss your opponent as they run unchallenged for 50+ yards for a touch down. When you're on offense, your linemen will fold like paper as the defense, running double your speed, relentlessly chases you down. By the final game, it's so bad it's often hard to tell when your defense just crumbled, or they called your play. And, sometimes even when you call the AI's play, they still make a decent play! The game is still beatable, it's just wildly unfair, and this kind of lazy AI programming results in a very frustrating experience.

Media

Box Art

• 

  This layout was used for the US NES cover. It's a photo of a grimy generic football player with a generic college lettered logo.

• 

  The Japanese Famicom box uses a painting of generic football players with a similar text logo, but in red. I think I like this box a little better.

• 

  The PlayChoice-10 topper uses monochromatic line art with a red logo.

• 

  The USA Game Boy box uses the NES photo with slightly different arrangements.

• 

  Rather than use their Famicom art, the Japanese Game Boy box uses the US NES photo.

• 

  I made a vector version of the US logo.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Game Boy - USA - Rev 1.

• 

  Manual - NES - USA.

• 

  Manual - NES - USA - Digital.

• 

  Ad - Tecmo - 1988.

• 

  Ad - Tecmo - NES.

• 

  Ad - Tecmo.

Font

See Video game font collection.

Videos

Review - NES Works.

Longplay - Game Boy - San Francisco.

Longplay - NES - New York.

Longplay - PlayChoice-10 - Denver.

Play Online

Famicom, Game Boy (Japan), Game Boy (USA), NES

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The only women are cheerleaders.
Bechdel test?	Fail	The women never talk.
Strong person of color character?	Pass	Many of the players are black.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no clearly queer characters.

Credits

Roles	Staff
Director	S. Cruyff
Programmer	Akihiko Shimoji (Akihiko)
Music	Keiji Yamagishi (K. Y. Jet)
Title Design	Youichi Hirose (Yoichi)
Box and Manual	Shinobu Iwabayashi (Bayashi)
Assistants	Kenny Duck, Makomaru
Data Works	Yotsutin, H. Sato (Nosuke)
Debuggers	Haebaru, Uma, Faw, Moritaka Nakamine (Kamine), Meijin, Tsukasa Chibana (Chiba)
Game Boy Director	Larry Hutcherson
Game Boy Programmer	Adam Clayton

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Tecmo Bowl
Japanese	テクモボウル	Tekumo Bouru	Tecmo Bowl

• MAME code: pc_tbowl

Links