Why The NFL 2K Series Was Truly Great And Why You Should Miss It

[SpectralThundr]

Quote: Originally Posted by jyoung

High Score Productions was doing the SEGA Genesis and SEGA CD versions of those games, while Visual Concepts handled the Super Nintendo editions. Back in the early days of EA Sports, there was much less parity between consoles, hence there was one development team assigned to each platform. High Score Productions' only Super Nintendo games were NHL 96 and Madden 96, both of which they were only doing because EA Sports was swamped with work that year trying to release 16-bit and 32-bit versions of all their sports series at the same time. This "About the Artists" profile on Visual Concepts is from the Super Nintendo manual of Madden 95: Spoiler

Appreciate the clarification, I thought I was going insane or stepped into the twilight zone as I still have all those games and was a genesis guy over a SNES guy. All has been righted in the world. Carry on.

[DJ]

Jayson, you always do a great job with these look-back pieces for games like NFL 2K. I still have a PS2 and a copy of 2K5 that I play to this day. I also have APF 2K8 that I fire up from time-to-time. I still recall the great battles a group of us had in an online league here; those that played will remember my squad running wild with The Nigerian Nightmare Christian Okoye.

Neither game feels that dated, which says a lot about the teams that put out the games. The tiered star rating system in APF is sorely needed in other sports games.

It's hard not to get a little sad reading these features, though. Being in my mid-30's, I recall fondly the days when gamers had OPTIONS as to what sports game to play. It pains me to see just one football, hockey, wrestling, MMA and baseball game. Basketball only recently brought a 2nd game back into the mix (Live) and it has a ways to go to catch up to 2K. I know the rights fees severely crippled the ability of some smaller publishers to make a game and see any kind of profit (or at least avoid a huge loss), but man, it was so nice to try out Madden, Gameday, Quarterback Club, Tecmo Bowl and later, 2K. Each brought something different to the table.

I did my best to give them all an honest go and while I usually played Madden, there were years I opted for another game, like NFL 95, QB Club 96 (or 97) and Gameday 98, the game that got me to buy a PS One. Of course, NFL 2K5 was a game-changer and I've never been able to truly enjoy Madden since that game was released. Such a shame we, the consumer, are stuck with such limited options.

[jyoung]

Yes, Christian Okoye was a beast in All-Pro Football 2K8. Thanks to his "Workhorse" ability, he would break the first tackle from just about everyone except silver and gold defenders if you kept feeding him the ball enough times. It was a good way of simulating how defenses get worn out by having to tackle power backs over and over again.

I'm glad that Visual Concepts added a bunch of special player abilities to the NBA 2K series, because it really helps to make each player in All-Pro Football 2K8 feel unique.

[givemethemnachos]

i'm still playing ESPN 2K5 I play Madden 25 too

[Demoncrom]

I still play 2k5 and have owned every 2K football game since its inception. Its so funny, since all the Maddens that loved back in the Nintendo games were make by Visual Concepts and for my football kicks in the 90s it was all about Sony's Gameday football and then on Sega all 2K and Xbox on.

The writer missed the audio. Audio in the 2K series has always been amazing including custom soundtracks - just quality across the board. Miss that series. Tiburon tries but they are just not very good at football gaming. Hopefully this year with Pat Kirwin assisting them to actually get the SPORT into the game they will get it right.

[videlsports]

NFL 2k was great, I remember playing Madden on ps2 with eddie George on the cover, and Then My cousin Came over with His dream cast, and said play this Game with me, I checked it out and Loved the Big Models, cool animations , Intros. I was immediately in love with the Memory card too. For the First Time head to head you could call plays in secret with out your opponent knowing or guessing. And it just got better with time.

[bxphenom7]

Quote: Originally Posted by BCDX97

Not this again. NFL 2K5 did a lot of cool things, but if it wasn't $20 I don't think I would have bought it. Or a bunch of others. I hate the exclusive license crap as much as the next guy, but 2K5 is one of the two most overrated, over reminisced games of all time, along with WWF No Mercy (king of slowdown and cheap AI.)

I don't know what game you played.

[Segagendude]

Nice trip down memory lane.

I still have 2k5 which I play on my BC PS3 "Fatboy". Still amazing to take it all in and get lost in the immersion.

And gameplay, wow. It's a chess match, moreso than a score fest!

Only regret I have is I don't have an XBOX. I prefer video highlights over still photos.