This edition of Madden NFL Football is a game that started a legend and a legacy. Released in the late eighties by Electronic Arts Incorporated after development by the same, John Madden Football is one of the longest running American football games ever invented. This particular version was made for the personal computer running the MS-Dos operating system, the Commodore 64, and the Apple II. It features a top down perspective and is the first in a long line of fully licensed titles that feature real players and teams from the United States’ National Football League.
It is endorsed by former player, Oakland Raider coach, and current NFL analyst, John Madden.
This version of John Madden Football concentrates heavily on tactics, as opposed to action, although the game has evolved heartily since this inception. The game was somewhat unrealistic due to the graphical limitations of games at this time. There were only six player per team allowed on the field at one time. Still, the game was tactically sound, provided many plays from both running and passing books, as well as some trick plays and options for kicking. The game is commentated by John Madden, which was what gave the game its initial appeal.
Later, as the game advanced, the focus of the game drifted towards stellar
graphics and some amazing realistic plays, complete with some uncanny likenesses of actual NFL players from very many teams. The game became famous for portraying an exceptionally good player on the cover of the ensuing year’s game. What became known as “the Madden curse” evolved from this, as the individual pictured on the game’s cover had a notoriously dismal season. Coincidence, or curse?
This edition of John Madden Football was more similar to the text-based simulations of the late seventies and early eighties. The game was exciting in that it offered so many actual plays, and real football fans were drawn to Madden’s color commentary and the opportunity to play as their favorite teams and command their favorite NFL personalities. These concepts, combined with the raging popularity of the NFL in general at this time, helped to propel John Madden Football to the head of the sporting game class.
Overall, John Madden Football is a solid play and deserves an enormous amount of recognition and play time based on the franchise that it started. It is also a good play in its own right, and should be considered by sporting fans, NFL junkies, and collectors of great and historic football games.
