Tecmo Bowl Throwback

The upcoming release of the classic SNES Tecmo Bowl Throwback title has been on my radar since it was announced. The video game page at ESPN has a nice Q&A with the game’s producer.

Jon Robinson: Without the NFL license, how are the team and player names handled in the game?

Mike Fahrny: Because of the NFL licensing with EA, we couldn’t use any of the teams or players, so they’re all different. All the team and player names are different. But the one thing we did do is to allow all the team and player names to be editable by the player. So if you want to go back and play as one of those old NFL teams, feel free to. It just depends how much you want to go back and micromanage. All of the original stats are there, so your favorite players are in there, and we kept the teams in the same city location, so you should be able to find and figure out where your old favorites are pretty quickly.

That EA/NFL license thing is really the bomb, no? Even without the licensing issues, I doubt all of the players would have appeared correctly “as is” due to issues with NFL Player Association licensing deals.

The article had one further comment that gives some hope to the game; apparently “Q/A team keeps complaining that the game is too hard” – good times. I suspect Tecmo Super Bowl Throwback will do well with a certain middle age gamer demographic.

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2 thoughts on “Tecmo Bowl Throwback”

  1. I’m in! I really wish they would have taken the 3 season limit out and spent a little more time on the online tournament play in this release, but I do appreciate the simplicity of the 3D interface and trying to release a game true to the spirit of the original. Had they ripped out the 3 season limit, they could have put in two decades of new season talent uncannily resembling the same talent pool that came into the NFL but with some random names.

    Talk about good memories – I wore the original out. Hopefully the AI is little tougher, but again – if you build in a good online mode, who needs the AI.

    I guess now I just need to come to terms with being a member of the “middle age gamer” demographic.

  2. Tecmo Bowl Throwback is finally out …

    Tecmo Bowl Throwback ($9.99)
    The legend is back! Tecmo Bowl Throwback is a remake of the classic Tecmo Super Bowl, with the same rules and fast-paced gameplay as the original, but with the option to play it in brand new high definition 3D graphics. Switch it back to old school in real time with the same graphics and music from back in the day!
    ESRB Rated E
    File size: 213 MB

    I may get it, but I am not that excited about throwing $10 at a downloaded game.

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