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 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
Jim Simmons
Composer(s)Rob Hubbard
SeriesMadden NFL
Platform(s)Genesis, Super NES, Amiga
ReleaseGenesis
  • NA: December 1990
  • EU: 1990
Super NES
  • NA: November 1991
Amiga
  • NA: December 1992
Genre(s)Sports (American football)
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

The game includes various field conditions and audibles. The console versions use passwords for saves. It is played from above and behind the quarterback rather than from the side as most games were. 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.

In the 1990 Sega Genesis release, only a total of 16 teams were available. Each of these 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, but instead the title sold roughly 400,000 units.[4] It became 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
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