Tecmo Super Bowl, is an American football video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was released in 1991. Developed by Japanese video game company Tecmo, it was the first sports video game that had licensing privileges with both the league it sought to emulate (National Football League) and the player's association (National Football League Players Association), thus allowing the game to use both the names and attributes of real NFL teams and real NFL players. (Prior games used the real teams or the real players, but not both simultaneously.) Although the game was released in late 1991, all team rosters and player attributes were based on the prior 1990-91 NFL season, which means no '91 drafted rookies and no newly signed or traded players prior to the beginning of the 1991 season were added to the game.



The original game utilized the 1991-1992 NFL schedule only; therefore, playing multiple seasons with alternate schedules was not possible. The game was very successful in the final years of the NES and, although more than 20 years old, it has maintained an extensive cult following.

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After the initial success of the NES version of Tecmo Bowl in 1989, Tecmo followed up with the release of Tecmo Super Bowl in 1991 in both North America and Japan.[2] The original NES version of Tecmo Bowl was licensed by the National Football League Players Association, but was unable to obtain an NFL team license because another NES football game, NFL, had an exclusive licensing agreement with the NFL.

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The sequel, Tecmo Super Bowl, added the NFL license making it the first NES game to feature both actual NFL teams and NFL players of the time. Unlike the original Tecmo Bowl for the NES, which consisted of twelve teams, a truncated roster, and limited play selection; Tecmo Super Bowl featured the complete league of (then 28) teams, expanded rosters, expanded playbooks, statistics tracking and many other improvements. Subsequent games in the series would build off of this foundation.

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Gameplay of Tecmo Super Bowl
In the original NES Tecmo Bowl, each team had 20 players on its roster, with nine players for offense, nine players for defense, a kicker, and a punter. In Tecmo Super Bowl, each roster had 30 different players. Each team had eleven defensive players, which could not be substituted, nor injured. Each team had seventeen offensive players, which included eleven starters and six substitutes. At any given time, eleven players were on the field for each team, consistent with NFL rules. A kicker and a punter were also on the roster.



In addition to using real teams and players, TSB incorporated the full-length 1991 NFL regular season schedule for the game. The playoff format, including the Super Bowl and the post-season Pro Bowl game, was also used.  Tecmo Super Bowl retained the arcade-style football gameplay of the original which included no penalties and the ability to break tackles. However, the game added new features, such as the coin toss, timeouts, statistics tracking, expanded and editable playbooks, the ability to substitute players, varying conditions of players, fumbles and player injuries. As it had previously, the game used cut scenes for important events like touchdowns and halftime shows. Tecmo Super Bowl also added cutscenes when injuries or big plays occurred.



As part of the gameplay, players can adjust offensive plays and substitute players for each NFL team and for the two Pro Bowl teams. The Pro Bowl team's roster can be edited as well. Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams players could be viewed as an individual "player card" with their statistics and attributes and their status, which can improve or decrease, making the player better or worse.



Game modes

The game has multiple modes, including season, preseason, and Pro Bowl. In season, a player controls a team through the entire NFL season. Multiple teams may be controlled. In addition, players can choose three styles of play in either season, preseason or Pro Bowl. The "MAN" option means the player calls plays and runs plays. The "COA" ("coach") option means players call the plays, but the computer runs them. The "COM" option means the computer plays all aspects, but the player can watch the game.  In all instances, season, preaseason and Pro Bowl, unless the player (or players) edit the Team Data beforehand (setting plays and starters), the default team depth chart and play selection would be used.

 



Reception

- In 1997, both Electronic Gaming Monthly and IGN video game publications named Tecmo Super Bowl as one of the top 100 video games of all time.

- In 2005, GameFAQs users ranked Tecmo Super Bowl at #84 in its poll of the top 100 video games of all time.

- In 2005, Jadedgamer.net ranked Tecmo Super Bowl #22 in its list of the top 100 video games of all time.

- In 2009, IGN ranked Tecmo Super Bowl #53 in its Top 100 NES games of all time.

- In 2010, PC Magazine ranked the game #10 in its list of ten most influential video games of all time.

- In 2011, ESPN named Tecmo Super Bowl the greatest sports video game of all time.[13]

[edit]Cult following



With the advent of modern console emulation on computers and even other console gaming systems, Tecmo Super Bowl may be one of the most hacked and modified Nintendo games in existence. This has contributed greatly to the game's cult following as the game can be, and has been, constantly modified and updated. There have been, and continue to be, numerous sites for pick up games online leagues and message boards dedicated not only to the original TSB but also to ROMs which contain current day rosters while maintaining the original gameplay. There is an updated 32 team ROM image with 2012 rosters.



A number of tournaments for the game are held, including annual tournaments held in Madison, Wisconsin.[15] This tournament was the centerpiece of an episode of NFL Films Presents, which documented the video game and its cult following. The episode included interviews with NFL greats like Emmitt Smith and Christian Okoye who were featured in the game, as well as interviews with modern NFL players like Philip Rivers, who discuss their passion for the game.