John Madden Football (1990 video game)

John Madden Football is a football video game, the second Madden football game released by Electronic Arts. It is the series debut on the Sega Genesis and later on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Commodore Amiga.[1]

John Madden Football
Cover art
Developer(s)Park Place Productions
Publisher(s)EA Sports
Designer(s)Troy Lyndon, Michael Knox, Scott Orr, Richard Hilleman and Jim Simmons
Composer(s)Rob Hubbard
SeriesMadden NFL
Platform(s)Genesis, Super NES, Commodore Amiga
ReleaseGenesis
  • NA: December 1990
  • EU: 1990
Super NES
  • NA: November 1991
Commodore Amiga
  • NA: December 1992
Genre(s)Traditional football simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Features

Its features include various field conditions, audibles, and password-saved games. The game is played from above and behind the quarterback rather than from the side as most games were. However, as in the previous version, no actual NFL teams are included due to the lack of NFL or NFLPA licenses for authentic teams or player names.

During the first initial release (1990) on a console, which was on the Sega Genesis platform, only a total of 16 teams were available to choose from. Each of these teams were based unofficially on teams from the 1990 NFL season. The following generic teams were chosen, with colors based on the local NFL team: Buffalo, Miami, New England, Cincinnati, Houston, Pittsburgh, Denver, Kansas City, New York City (colors based on Giants), Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, Los Angeles (colors based on Rams) and San Francisco. An All-Madden team was included as a bonus.

Development

Going in to the project Electronic Arts considered the title "the turning point" and "everything to us"[2] As the company was also working on Joe Montana Football for Sega they contracted out Park Place Productions to develop Madden. [3] As opposed to EA's approach to the previous game which emphasized realism, the new developers would emphasize fun and arcade action. [2] Much of the development team was made up of former Cinemaware developers who had previously worked on TV Sports Football, a football game released the same year of the previous John Madden Football release which according to IGN " stole some of EA's thunder" [3]

Reception

Electronic Arts had only expected to sell the Genesis version to sell around 75,000 units, instead the title sold roughly 400,000 units. [4]becoming a killer app for the Genesis, helping the console gain market share against the NES.[2][3] Computer and Video Games awarded the Mega Drive version 95%, praising the realism and the sound.[5]

References
  1. "John Madden Football review from Amiga Power 11 (Mar 1992) - Amiga Magazine Rack". amr.abime.net. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  2. Hruby, Patrick (2010-08-05). "The Franchise". ESPN. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  3. Fahs, Travis (2008-08-06). "IGN Presents the History of Madden". IGN. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  4. Brady, James. "Exploring the (weird) story of the very first 'John Madden Football' game". SBNation. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  5. http://www.outofprintarchive.com/articles/reviews/MegaDrive/JohnMaddenFootball-CVG110-3.html
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.