I bought Tecmo Super Bowl again the other day (owned it in the past as well) and after messing around with it again I might have a slightly controversial opinion. I know this game is well liked but I think it is rarely talked about at the level of say Mario and Zelda. I think there is a strong argument to be made that Tecmo Super Bowl is one of the greatest games ever and the best NES game. I'm not even arguing that it's my favorite game but I think it might be the best.
Keep in mind I'm not a sports game guy and when I was younger I sort of viewed sports game dudes as not "real" gamers. I've never owned a Madden game or any sports game to speak of in the past 20 something years.
If you really step back and think about what is going on in this game and the amazing depth it has it's incredibly impressive but it goes beyond even that. It has SO MANY fantastic aspects that it does well to a degree that I'm not sure any other NES game comes close to what it accomplishes.
If it helps don't even think of it as a sports game but instead as some sort of large party real time action RPG.
Now think of everything it does well in a single game:
- It's both a fantastic single player and two player game. It's well known as one of THE best two player games on the NES and of all time.
- It's great for both short quick almost arcade like play sessions while having almost infinite complexity and variety in play when doing full seasons.
- Somewhat related to #2 but it's simultaneously one of the easiest games to learn to play despite the incredible depth. This is pretty rare.
- A huge selection of "parties" to play with all with truly distinct strength and weaknesses. Not only are your individual party members distinct in ability you can change their role and position and the way they will carry out their attack and defense (changing your play book). The game even lets you move party members around to rolls they aren't exactly designed for and it can actually be valid. Want to make Jerry Rice your running back and design a play book around that? Yeah you can do that. Tecmo Super Bowl legitimately has more meaningful complexity than probably every RPG from this ERA (and hell most beyond it as well).
- A dynamic world due to changing player conditions and injuries. Imagine an RPG where every time you played it the available party members still roughly fit into their class and ability but with varying degrees on how good they are going to be.
- Fairly comprehensive in game stats for you to nerd out on. You can test things out and objectively measure it in the game. You can play with direct player control, as a coach or even run freaking high speed simulations to test out ideas (the SKP function).
Again I'm not saying that it has to be your favorite game or anything but instead of it just being noted as a great sports game I really think it should be lauded as an amazing gaming achievement. I believe it's overall game design and the fact that they were able to nail blending incredible complexity with easy to pick up play is more impressive from a design perspective than almost any other game in the NES library.
submitted by /u/Tokyo_Metro
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Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/nes/comments/1 ... for_tecmo/