Tecmo Bowl 2008

[MizzouRah]

From IGN: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/787/787604p1.html

Next, Tecmo Bowl...

7:23: Seriously, Tecmo Bowl? People at the press conference cheer. Mr. Inaga, Vice President of Tecmo Inc, takes the stage. Inada takes the stage and jokes that the title of the game wasn't supposed to ahve been revealed until the end. "Just pretend like you don't know that it says Tecmo Bowl here" (pointing to the logo on the screen) "Instead of telling you about it, we're going to s how you a video that is very memorable."

The video begins. The video shows Tecmo employees (including Inada himself) playing SNES Tecmo Bowl. Jumps to a trailer for the full game. Set for release in 2008. But, no footage of the game itself ... just a logo. And no platform announcement, intentionally. "I can't tell you what platform we're making it for. But I can tell you that it's probably not going to be on the platform that you're expecting... if that makes any sense." This 2008 game will not be a port. It's a band new game for one of the new systems. But which one?!? "That's one thing I can tell you for sure. This is going to be a brand new game for one of the new systems ... We're confident that the new Tecmo Bowl is going to be the talk of the town in 2008."

Forget Madden, forget NFL 2k8, this IS what football was all about years ago baby!

Now I'm really wondering which console this is coming out for.

I'll take a guess and say PSP (better hold on to mine now).

[molson]

I never got the obsession with that game - but good for them for cashing in on it.

[rkmsuf]

meh, they'll never recapture the magic

[Chubby]

they should just fo a port of the SNES version with updated rosters and make a killing instead of another failed redo of the game (like the PS version was)

[Celeval]

My long shot guess: A Virtual Console game for the wii.

[Kodos]

Maybe I'll finally get to play it.

[cthomer5000]

Just port the NES Tecmo Super Bowl version with updated rosters. Best game eva.

[Hurst2112]

I always wanted a stand alone, hand held game of TSB3. Just a nice clean walkman sized game. Replaceable battery for stat saving. Nothing more, nothing less. They could sell it for $100 and I would buy it in a minute.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Just port the NES Tecmo Super Bowl version with updated rosters. Best game eva.

That too would be fine.

I really don't see many differences between the NES and SNES versions (tho I have both right now, I'm playing the NES one through a Bills season) outside of bigger playbooks.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

If it's not on a system that I already own, it will be a system seller for me.

It's actually a perfect time to release a new Tecmo football game. Madden isn't doing anything innovative. 2K Sports doesn't have a franchise mode. Tecmo could heat up the competition in a hurry if they do things the right way.

[Hurst2112]

Originally Posted by Chubby

That too would be fine.

I really don't see many differences between the NES and SNES versions (tho I have both right now, I'm playing the NES one through a Bills season) outside of bigger playbooks.

the season to season with FAs was the biggest upgrade IMO. Unlocking old school players and being able to sign them was pretty cool too.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

the season to season with FAs was the biggest upgrade IMO. Unlocking old school players and being able to sign them was pretty cool too.

I thought that was only with TSB III:Final Edition or whatever the last TSB on SNES...

[Hurst2112]

Originally Posted by Chubby

I thought that was only with TSB III:Final Edition or whatever the last TSB on SNES...

you are right. I don't think I ever played the SNES version of regular TSB. Wait, I might have once or twice. All my memories of regular TSB was on the NES.

[JediKooter]

Next to Micro League Baseball, Techmo Bowl probably 'wasted' more hours and days of my youth than just about anything else at the time.

Nice to see something is going on with it.

[Hurst2112]

In the immortal words of Geoff Tate:

I remember now

http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:14153

[Julio Riddols]

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.. Oh boy.. Oh shit..

Please give us old school tecmo with franchise mode. That is all.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

If it's not on a system that I already own, it will be a system seller for me.

It's actually a perfect time to release a new Tecmo football game. Madden isn't doing anything innovative. 2K Sports doesn't have a franchise mode. Tecmo could heat up the competition in a hurry if they do things the right way.

I might have to concur here. My wife would kill me, but daym!

[Anthony]

with today's rosters, who would be the equivalent of Bo Jackson?

I say Vick or LT.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

with today's rosters, who would be the equivalent of Bo Jackson?

I say Vick or LT.

Vick = QB Eagles
Urlacher = LT
L Johnson = Bo (career wise most def, I don't put anyone on par with Bo in the physical running style)

[tanglewood]

Johnson = Okoye
LT = Bo
Harrison = Rice
Brady = Montana
Manning = Marino
Reed = Lott
Peppers = White

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by tanglewood

Johnson = Okoye - this fits too
LT = Bo - don't have a problem with this, tho I would make LT = Thurman
Harrison = Rice - yup
Brady = Montana - you're on drugs
Manning = Marino - no way, QB Bills MAYBE
Reed = Lott - sure
Peppers = White - sure

See above.

[Passacaglia]

You Super Tecmo weirdos. Give me my 8 men and uninterceptable "Pass 3" with San Fran any day of the week.

[Julio Riddols]

Roger Craig had to be PISSED that he only had one play in the playbook..

[Izulde]

This is the single best news I've heard all week.

[JeeberD]

Oh hell yes. I may have to get a next gen console after all...

[Maple Leafs]

I think it will be hilarious when they released a full-fledged next generation 3D football game, and everyone just plays it in "classic" mode.

P.S. I would buy a system just to play Tecmo with updated rosters.

[Pyser]

um, doesnt ea own nfl players names exclusively?

[Pyser]

dola

so, bo=chargers rb

not as exciting, unless its hackable

[sooner333]

Originally Posted by Pyser

um, doesnt ea own nfl players names exclusively?

Yeah, but maybe Tecmo still has the rights to the rosters they bought in the respective years the games came out. I'm just speculating and could very well be wrong, but maybe they could just release a game with 1991 rosters once again. They did that for game boy when they released Tecmo Bowl in '91 with the '87 rosters.

[Big Fo]

"I can't tell you what platform we're making it for. But I can tell you that it's probably not going to be on the platform that you're expecting... if that makes any sense."


It doesn't make sense to me, what would be the platform that we are expecting?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by molson

I never got the obsession with that game - but good for them for cashing in on it.

Pretty simple actually. It was a fun game that didn't care about being realistic (not that running Bo back to the 1 and then having him go 99 yards for scores couldn't really happen), but also provided for full season play with stat tracking. That last part allowed for just enough "realism" where you could just have a blast playing through your season.

[MJ4H]

This and baseball stars were pretty much the best thing ever.

[JeeberD]

MJ4H just wrote the most perfect post evar.

[Rizon]

Vick = Jack Trudeau (but with speed)

[Kodos]

EA doesn't own former player names. Just current guys.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Logan

Pretty simple actually. It was a fun game that didn't care about being realistic (not that running Bo back to the 1 and then having him go 99 yards for scores couldn't really happen), but also provided for full season play with stat tracking. That last part allowed for just enough "realism" where you could just have a blast playing through your season.

This is dead on.

It was the first game on the nintendo that used real players and had full season mode with stats. The fact that it was tecmo bowl and its focus was fun, not realism, meant the insane stats you'd see much more easy to swallow. The AI could be a challenge when you'd meet a good team that was amped up and it made for some incredibly tense games.

To this day, nothing I've played on a console has come close to being as fun as grabbing a friend and playing a season on Tecmo Super Bowl and trying to meet in the Super Bowl.

I'm very skeptical that the same format could work today. It does appear to be nothing more than trying to cash in on the Tecmo Bowl name.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

"I can't tell you what platform we're making it for. But I can tell you that it's probably not going to be on the platform that you're expecting... if that makes any sense."


It doesn't make sense to me, what would be the platform that we are expecting?

They probably expect that we'll expect it to be a PS3 or 360 game, and so I expect they expect we won't expect a Wii version.

The only problem I expect is that if they expect us to expect that they expect we won't expect a Wii version, we might expect that...so they might expect we wouldn't expect them to expect us to expect that Wii edition...so maybe we should expect it for the PS3.

[Big Fo]

Yeah man, it boggles the mind as to what Tecmo meant with that statement. Watch it be a PSP game or something. Whatever platform they choose this could be the best thing ever or a gigantic letdown.

[wade moore]

I had to be mr. naysayer, but does anyone really think that a new Tecmo SB would really be that fun? There is tons of nostalgia going here that I'd be shocked if we actually like/approve of the game that comes out.

The whole Tecmo SB phenomenae is hilarious to me... We all complain about the minor problems that Madden has yet Tecmo was just so far from reality..

*shrug*.. this just screams of things like the new Excitebike, etc, etc... I just don't see it being a good game...

[Logan]

Originally Posted by wade moore

The whole Tecmo SB phenomenae is hilarious to me... We all complain about the minor problems that Madden has yet Tecmo was just so far from reality.

That's the point though...Tecmo didn't try to be real, Madden is. And it can surely be entertaining to play Madden now, but is it really "fun" like Tecmo was? Not in my opinion.

And there's plenty of arcade-type games like Blitz that people love because it's not real and it's just fun to play. Just like how there's plenty of people who will have a blast playing Madden because one guy and a buddy could have a 87-84 barnburner where Manning and McNabb throw for 9 touchdowns each.

[MJ4H]

It's sort of like the problem with "realistic" computer graphics and/or animation like in that Final Fantasy movie awhile back. When they try to make it super-realistic, we tend to notice the flaws more because they stand out so much from the actual real things we observe every day. Things start to just seem freaky or bizarre instead of realistic.

[Julio Riddols]

Tecmo was easy to pick up and get good at, but relatively hard to master. The controls weren't complex, and the game produced realistic stats in its own universe. Meaning, the CPU could rack up numbers damn near as good as a human could. Everything about it was fun, and it made no pretensions about being a "realistic" game.

The players were larger than life, the superstars really played like superstars, and the drama of the game was untouchable. You never felt out of a game late when you were pinned deep in your own territory, because you just knew that there was always that chance you could launch the ball 90 yards in the air and your receiver could win the (cut-screen for added effect) jump ball in the opposite end zone. That didn't feel like a fluke either. That was just how tecmo was.

If I could get a game with generic but editable rosters, franchise mode, and the same gameplay of that 1991 masterpiece of sports gaming history, I don't think anyone would know I existed anymore. I would get totally lost in the Tecmo universe.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

The players were larger than life, the superstars really played like superstars, and the drama of the game was untouchable. You never felt out of a game late when you were pinned deep in your own territory, because you just knew that there was always that chance you could launch the ball 90 yards in the air and your receiver could win the (cut-screen for added effect) jump ball in the opposite end zone. That didn't feel like a fluke either. That was just how tecmo was.

This gave me wood.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

It's sort of like the problem with "realistic" computer graphics and/or animation like in that Final Fantasy movie awhile back. When they try to make it super-realistic, we tend to notice the flaws more because they stand out so much from the actual real things we observe every day. Things start to just seem freaky or bizarre instead of realistic.

The "Uncanny Valley". Absolutely applies to Tecmo.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Logan

That's the point though...Tecmo didn't try to be real, Madden is. And it can surely be entertaining to play Madden now, but is it really "fun" like Tecmo was? Not in my opinion.

And there's plenty of arcade-type games like Blitz that people love because it's not real and it's just fun to play. Just like how there's plenty of people who will have a blast playing Madden because one guy and a buddy could have a 87-84 barnburner where Manning and McNabb throw for 9 touchdowns each.

You help to prove my point. I mean, how popular was Blitz really? I just don't see how Tecmo can hope to reach more than the status that Blitz did...

[Logan]

Originally Posted by wade moore

You help to prove my point. I mean, how popular was Blitz really? I just don't see how Tecmo can hope to reach more than the status that Blitz did...

Blitz had a nice run from the arcade stage in the mid-90's all the way into the early 2000s. That's nothing to sneeze over.

You know how we always tell people like our resident EA Sports basher that Madden will never try to improve upon its game because 99% of the population (with the 1% being people on this board and other forums that discuss sports games) doesn't care, because they will keep buying it anyway?

Well here's a game that us hardcore football people would buy. And the arcade seekers would buy it too. Tecmo is a huge brand name, despite it not having been made for 15 years.

[Maple Leafs]

Honestly, I enjoyed the original Tecmo so much I'd probably spend $50 on a new one just on principle.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Logan

Blitz had a nice run from the arcade stage in the mid-90's all the way into the early 2000s. That's nothing to sneeze over.

You know how we always tell people like our resident EA Sports basher that Madden will never try to improve upon its game because 99% of the population (with the 1% being people on this board and other forums that discuss sports games) doesn't care, because they will keep buying it anyway?

Well here's a game that us hardcore football people would buy. And the arcade seekers would buy it too. Tecmo is a huge brand name, despite it not having been made for 15 years.

I don't think that most hardcore football people would enjoy it - that's my exact point. Some might buy it out of nostalgia, but that is not for hardcore gamers.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by wade moore

I don't think that most hardcore football people would enjoy it - that's my exact point. Some might buy it out of nostalgia, but that is not for hardcore gamers.

No, you're still missing it. The "hardcore gamers" I noted, and you're describing, was in reference to the "1% being people on this board and other forums that discuss sports games," and not the "99% of the population" who don't care about realism because they're always buying Madden.

[stevew]

Ideally it will be a "party" type game and come out on the wii. Imagine some sort of interactive "tackle breaking" paper rock scissiors style head to head matchup every time one of the players is about to be tackled. The real fun of the original was in the limited play calling, and trying to outthink who you were playing.