So, American Football. I know almost nothing about it and this is my first proper experience with it. While Baseball is quite easy to understand (especially based on Rounders and Cricket), American Football seems to have very specific rules and even my basic knowledge of Rugby did not help me out at all.

I can understand why sports games mainly target fans of the sport, but considering this game was released in Europe, I do find it odd that there’s no proper introduction or tutorial to entice new people into the sport. That said, I did learn some new things.

American Football is very stop-start. Every couple of seconds, with a bad pass or with a single tackle, the game stops, players regroup, discuss tactics, pick a plan and then wait for a new kick-off. You never seem to be able to play long enough to get used to the controls or actually enjoy the gameplay. I also found it interesting that wasting time by waiting as long as possible to choose tactics is a key part of the game, as the CPU player did it to me towards the end of the match.

American Football players also seem to spend most of their time just standing around, while the referee runs with the ball far more than the players. Even in this game (where you would expect that to skip these bits), I seemed to watch the referee more than the players. He’s clearly the most athletic person on the pitch.

It also seems that flopping over is a huge skill. Any slight touch will cause anyone with the ball to hit the ground instantly. Even if I barely scraped an opposing player (who does not make any kind of tackle animation), my player will pitifully fall over. I’m not sure if that’s the sport or if that aspect of Madden 64 is just broken.

N64 Magazine seemed to think it faithfully recreated American Football, though, rating it as one of the best games on the platform. I didn’t enjoy anything about this, but I found this more difficult to understand than any of the Japanese-only games.

Poor

But it’s the gameplay that counts, and Madden manages the difficult task of combining the complex strategic elements of American football that make it such a compelling sport, with the action packed athleticism and glamour.

Tim Tucker, N64 Magazine #10. Review Score: 92%

Remake or remaster?

These games evolve over time.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Madden 64