TECMO SUPER BOWL by Tecmo

When I first played TSB, it was living up to my expectations of a normal Tecmo sports game. I saw the game in a magazine and thought to myself, "Didn't I see this game on NES a year ago?" I wondered what the differences were between the two games. I found out there isn't much of a difference. TSB is just a souped-up version of the NES classic. It has all 28 NFL teams and the players on the 1993 schedule. Like the original NES game, TSB shows a side angle view of the field with slightly smaller characters than the NES version. I thought the bigger characters looked better and were easier to manuever.

The real strength of this game is its number of options. For instance, you can play an entire scheduled season for anyor many teams. Any team can be controlled directly or by a coaching option that lets you pick the plays, then watch the results. If your a person who likes real players and real teams, then TSB has the right stuff for you including plenty of stats and prefer reality and playability in your football, TSB has some problems, starting with the control of the players. The characters are rather small and the field perspective is so removed that you don't really feel in control of either offensive or defensive players.

When you are on defense, try your best not to even brush up against someone, because if you do you and the blocker wrestle for a while then you're usually the one that gets thrown to the ground. When you're on the ground, it takes a while to get up. By that time, the other team has scored, or the guy that threw you down is standing next to you waiting to throw you down again.

Finally, if you manage to get up and run after the guy with the ball, there is virtually no way to catch him unless you're Flash Gordon or in a brand new Corvette. The number of plays you can choose from is also limited, especially on the defensive side. I think the more plays you have to choose from, makes the game more realistic and fun. If you are like me and you like having lots of plays and patterns to choose from, then I would go with John Madden '93 or '94. On those games, the plays seem endless. On the other hand, some people don't like to mess around with choosing plays and would rather just play the game, TSB is for people with John Madden '93 or '94, but they suit the game. The sound on the game is basically made up of bad music and difficult to understand speech. I don't know much about animation, but I do know this; the players move pretty smooth on the screen and look good when they run fast.

It is fairly easy to figure out how to play this game, it's not very complex. I like complexity in the games that I play, you can enjoy them longer by doing different things and trying new stuff. With this game, it's like your playing the same game every time you play, except you have different teams when you do it. The fun factor of this game depends on how often you play it. You could play it maybe once or twice a day then after that you would most likely die from boredom. There is nothing worth talking about when it comes to the ending. I could tell you what happens, but trust me, you wouldn't care.

My overall opinion of this game? If you are looking for a realistic and detailed football game, don't get Tecmo Super Bowl.If you want that type of game, I would definately recommend John Madden'93 or '94. On the other hand, the simplicity of Tecmo Super Bowl will appeal to those who are just looking for a quick game.