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I don't know if this thread belongs here, so I will feel no offense if it gets moved or removed. I just didn't know where to put it. Anyhow, my brother and I have a running argument: he says that tecmo bowl is the best NES sports game of all time, and I say that R.B.I. Baseball takes that title. I actually have a game of RBI paused as I type. (For you young'uns, these were games on a mystical ancient box called NINTENDO. It was, and in many ways still is, the epitome of badfuckingassness.) Don't get me wrong, Tecmo Bowl is one of my favorite games of all time, but I could never get over the fact that ATL and alot of other teams were excluded from the game.

So i guess what I have for you guys is a 2 part question:

1) What is your favoite "old school" sports game of all time?

and

2) Would you buy an updated (stats and rosters only...maybe online play) version of that game for say $30? For instance, if they came out with a new Tecmo Bowl or RBI every year - with the same graphics and game play, but updated rosters - I'd be in line at midnight with $30 quivering in my hand. Why don't they do this???!!!

Funny thing, me and my brother earlier this week were reminiscing about Tecmo Bowl. We were talking about how it would be a gold mine if XBOX Live Arcade released an updated version with today's rosters available for download. It would be the greatest competitor to Madden. We're partial to Super Tecmo Bowl due to the fact that every NFL team was represented and basically being the first game where you could simulate a season, basically making it the template for everything that the Madden series is today.

But RBI baseball was also pretty sweet. But at the end of the day, the beast mode of Bo Jackson pushes Tecmo Bowl over the top.

But you might find this site interesting:

http://www.tecmobowl-vs-rbi.com/index.html

Purely AWESOME! Good find.



Believe it or not, this is one of my arguments against Tecmo Bowl. It was fun as hell to play as Bo against the computer, but I feel like sports games are th most fun when 2 people are playing. If you were playing against someone else, and they took the Raiders, you had no choice but to take LT and the G-Men...and the Giants' offense suuuuuuucked.

I also feel that Ice Hockey was a very underrated game. Blades of Steel always gets the hockey credit, but I really liked how Ice Hokey let you pick your own mix and match of fat, medium, and skinny guys.

Yes, you're right, about the Raiders being off-limits. I find this always interesting in sports game. That every few iterations of some games, comes along a conglomeration of talent that makes teams unbeatable in the video game universe (although it rarely applies in real-life sports). I recall my freshman year in college, my RA had NCAA Football 02 on PS2. And that sick Miami team was off-limits. We had a rule that the only way you were allowed to play with Miami was if you had never played NCAA Football (or Madden) before. For the record, in that game my team was Oregon State. I used to put up 200+ yard games with Ken Simonton on folks.

For whatever reason, Double Dribble is often considered the classic NES basketball game, although I feel like that might have to do with it being an arcade game (?) first...

Ice Hockey was fun, I'd personally give it the edge over Blades of Steel. But that might be my bias, since I owned Ice Hockey, while a neighbor friend of ours had Blades of Steel.

An underrated baseball game was the Little League World Series game for NES. In that game, Mexico was a monster.

Do not speak ill of Double Dribble in my presence!!! It was worth every penny, if only for two things:

1) In the slo-mo dunk sequences everyone turned into a white guy with an epic jew-fro/perm.

2) If you were L.A., You were treated to a GIANT blue dildo dancing at halftime.

both priceless.

Joe Montana's Sports Talk Football on the old Sega was also underrated, IMO. The game play was really fun, even if the "sports talk" was a joke.

5 seconds (atleast) after the play was over: "And a....com-plet-ion to....the wide....receiver...for...a gain of.....(mumbled number) yards. ........................................
.......................................................................What a...great.. play!"

Cut Joe Montana some slack. 16 bit. It was an innovator. I watched a video on the "Evolution" of Madden football games, dating back all the way to 1989.

And it made how unimpressed I was. The games today aren't any more fun than they were 15 years ago. All that has improved is the graphics.

I haven't bought a Madden game since '07. EA has one of the best rackets ever in video games. They dupe people into buying the same game that is repackaged with a nice new haircut and wardrobe change. They'll add a few minor features every now and then. And they don't have to worry about competition, because they have an exclusive NFL license.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU5N84Wof1s

The Raiders aren't as dangerous as people think....
An oversight with the blocking scheme due to the player personnel for the Raiders meant the top outside linebacker was not blocked on Bo's Run 1. The raiders didn't have a top WR to block that top outside LB on run 1.

That in a nut shell meant Carl Banks(TOLB) & LT were not blocked on that run 1 play. Banks was basically a slightly slower version of LT. Based on Banks being a backside defender for the Marcus Allen run(to the bottom), Banks was not blocked on either run play. Banks by himself could shut down LA's offense. The raiders pass routes were pretty beastly and could do damage, but a simple call of pass 1 eliminated that play....and you got the computer controlled coverage on pass 2......which meant the bottom WR would be covered. From there all Carl banks had to do was cover Allen and Todd Christensen who ran their routes very close to each other. (See the illustration below)


The pic is actually the Vikings defense, but banks is would be in the top box, and LT would be in the bottom box going out in deep coverage. Because the game wont let you throw while dropping back for a moment, Todd gets into his slant and Allen does the wheel route. Banks can cover both very well because they get too close to each other.

For us the Raiders really struggle to even move the ball against the Giants let alone score. The Redskins D is another Bo stopper as well. Wilbur Marshall is their standout TOLB, and he corrals Bo pretty well also. Oddly enough Marshall only has a 14 speed rating(average on the aggregate for Tecmo Bowl) but his initial, and acceleration ratings meant he got to top speed in a freaking hurry...making him a beastly defender. We play seasons of Tecmo Bowl in 2 player mode and I was shut out by both NY & Washington this past season.

As for the other 9 teams, there isn't another standout top OLB in the bunch. The strategy is the same, but you have to actually call some Bo-run 1 on defense once in a while. In the pic above the raiders are at the bottom hash mark. Thats where a slow TOLB can at least keep Bo from a big run....provided he doesn't get juked....just herd Bo to the bottom and catch him from behind. Now when LA is at the top hash mark, it means Bo has a few extra yards to run before the sideline, so the top hash Bo run can still net a good 5-6 yards a pop. Overall the raiders can still move the ball against the slow TOLB, but the days of breaking off those big 25 yards runs because the human controlled defender gets blocked are over. Overall I got very good at keeping LA to 6-10 points, even when I had a freaking bum defense. My buddy hasn't quite mastered it yet, so hes still susceptible to occasionally giving up 17-20 points to the Raiders in a bad game on defense.

On a day where the offense zigs, when the defense zags(minus NY or Washington), the Raiders can still rip off good chunks of yardage in the air if they get a few open pass 1 calls while the defense is hammering away on some Run 1 calls. Thats where the mind games and strategy really come into play for my friends and I. Bo still Jukes the hell outta the TOLB's from Miami and Dallas....and most importantly makes easy popcorn out of a lot of those 2 teams weak/slow computer controlled defenders. Those 2 teams really have to call precise games against LA these days, but most of the rest can do a pretty decent job of shutting that offense down.

We play a lot of different styles of competition....84 game long season where we draft the 12 teams and play it all out, 25 game tecmo cup, and a 11 game single elimination royal rumble....and the raiders made the most recent playoffs in season play and the tecmo cup. Came in as the last team in the royal rumble and beat the colts to claim the title. They can still do some things, but not like before. Unless they randomly fall into the perfect situation with who is randomly placed in their conference, I don't think they will ever win a season championship or tecmo cup title.

etc...

Jesus, that's impressive. You must play sober or something. My strategy is close left eye if drinking bourbon...mash A and B. Close right eye if drinking waaaaayyy too much bourbon ...mash A and B

You play way too much Tecmo Bowl. I love it!

Indeed we play a lot of Tecmo Bowl, and with a lot of bragging rights on the line, we don't drink while we do it. Based on our seasons(80+ games long), and a bunch of exhibition, we can roll through about 100-120 games per year.

My buddy and I are going to get the ball rolling on some in-depth strategy video's to put on youtube and up on the strategy page. Despite Tecmo Bowl only having 12 teams/4 offensive plays.....I count about 6-7 different ways to play defense.

1. Strongside run---Be a bookend defender (DE, OLB, or DB) and call the run that goes towards your defender to protect him from the blockers on the other run play.
2. Linebacker protect---There are certain run calls combined with being a particular middle linebacker that in affect "short circuits" the opposition's blocking scheme. Meaning fast MLB's like Fredd Young/Karl Mecklenberg/John Offerdahl can go unblocked on run plays and really wreak some havoc. The trick is knowing the call for each playbook.
3. Bunk Bed defense---Being a top DB and calling the bottom run play, or vice versa. Again, like "LB protect" it "short circuits" the offensive blocking scheme and allows the DB to not be blocked on a run at his half of the field. Makes it so the defender that's the farthest from the line of scrimmage can still shut down the run
4. Cat & Mouse defense---premise surrounds a ploy of switching around from one half of the field to the other(top/bottom)....really makes it tough for the opponent to get the run game going....meanwhile the defense can sell out with a lot of pass calls. Very effective vs teams with slow running backs.
4b. Cat & Mouse can be used in 2 ways....such as breaking your tendency like once or twice in a game and switching to a defender on the side you have not used all game, or just bringing a ton of switching around all game to confuse the offense. When its rolling wel, the offense has no clue which way a run will be successful.

5. Computer Controlled Coverage----Calling the wrong pass play means the defense still does get a reward, with 1 receiver getting covered by the computer on defense. So what we do is call the most dangerous pass play often, and force the opposition to work harder with the pass play with the least advantageous routes. When playing Seattle for instance, you don't want Largent going deep on pass 1, so we often call that play. Largent gets covered on pass 2 by the top DB, and Kreig only has two option to throw to, and they are close together...and can be easily covered by 1 defender.
6. Trifecta defense---Based on how strong-side run works, and how run calls can also invoke computer controlled coverage in the passing game....1 call can pretty much take out 3 plays. Trifecta defense is geared towards a bend but don't break style when you want a 75% chance of not giving up a big play. Trifecta is pretty much the call to make on 3rd and long. The prblem being is that there typcailly is one pass play the offense can call that will hurt you. Thats part of the 3rd down mind game. Will the D go for the Trifecta, or will they try to get the playpick. Trifecta works very well vs most of the teams on the game that have 2 run plays.

Many people prefer Tecmo Super Bowl because it has all the extra bells and whistles, but the original Tecmo Bowl played at our level is a supreme cerebral battle. Once we get those videos posted, I'll let you guys know.

I'm going with every Madden on Sega Genesis and NBA Jam on SNES. Classics.