Home > Pretty Flashing Lights > Archives > 2005 > September > 30 > Entry
Greatest Game Ever …
My list of “Ten Games That Have Had Probably Way Too Much Influence On My Life” concludes with biggest of Kahunas …
No. 1: “John Madden Football” (1989)
The Game: Football. 11-on-11 football, with real player names, real player stats and even a “matchup analyzer,” which I pored over endlessly but never really knew what it meant.
It was the very first “Madden,” and by today’s standards, it might as well be cobbled together by stones and twigs. There were a few plays that always worked (I ran Brent Fullwood for well over 3,000 yards in a season of Green Bay Packer football) and it didn’t keep track of season stats.
But I loved it, and have never devoted as much time to a sports video game as I did to that.
What Was So Great About It: For a kid raised on Strat-o-Matic football (I played both sides for hours … the parents did, indeed, worry), this was such a step up from the original console versions of football that I can’t really put it into words.
I got around the “not keeping stats” thing by keeping track of the printed out records from each game I played (scheduling them myself).
It was also the first time I ever got “Maddened,” as I advanced to the Super Bowl with a one-loss regular season … only to face so many injuries along the offensive line that the computer started leaving gaps up there.
The result? The Cincinnati Bengals wiped me out — easily — to win the Lombardi Trophy.
That’s weird on so many levels, I can’t even deal with it appropriately.
But can you believe I remember all that? Oh, I do. I do very well, indeed.
Impact On The Rest Of Humanity: It’s really the title that’s launched a thousand consoles … as no new product is complete without a John Madden version of football playable on its circuits.
Last year, it also became the only official brand of football, as EA Sports snatched up the exclusive license from the NFL.
But nothing will ever improve on the sweetness of the original.
Permalink | | Categories: Greatest Games
