Super Bowl Special - Madden Football II

Editor’s note: I originally authored and published the below post on a now defunct site called “The Cool Ship,” where it ran on February 5, 2012. Enjoy this reprised content!

You have two types of people, those who know who John Madden is, and those who don’t. For those who don’t, I wonder if they think Electronic Arts conjured the name to use for their NFL themed games. Those who know are the ones who probably remember his commentary, if not his coaching and Super Bowl wins with the Oakland Raiders.

Super Bowl. Hey isn’t that supposed to be coming up soon? Like today? Well, while you pore over season statistics for the Giants and Patriots and follow the latest ESPN opinions and polls, I’m going to go retro. Time for some classic Madden football.

Summary

How far back are you willing to go with me? To Madden Football II for PC perhaps? This is the dumpster baby of Madden games, the one we all try to forget but that eventually has a kid and gets a reality TV show. Now Madden Football II is just a creepy old person with floppy disks and other assorted floppy things, living in the shadow of Madden Nation.

Why am I wasting my time on such a dated game with audio that sounds like a broken eardrum and graphics as smooth as Swiss cheese? Because I remember it fondly, and because with one simple play the game was easily exploited on beginner difficulty settings. Also, this was before Madden got the NFL license and became a household word for gamers.

Everything we need from a football game is here, too. In-depth plays, decent competition, some help from John Madden (of course), and realistic gameplay, at least for 1991.

The nostalgic perspective

I’ll talk about those things, but first I want to explain why I loved this growing up. First, I grew up with a PC, not consoles. For some reason, we had Madden Football II, therefore I played it as much as I could. I still have the box somewhere, but the actual floppies have mysteriously vanished. Good thing it’s abandonware and easily found on the Google.

Second, I found an offensive play that allowed me to run for a touchdown regardless of the down or my field position, every time. I remember playing game after game just to cheat the computer controlled team out of victory, which at the time was very fulfilling.

Lastly, this might be a game where you had to be there. You had to play it at its inception or you might not find it appealing at all. I found myself thinking that on my modern day play-through for this review as I struggled to figure out the controls, the interface and why the heck the computer was winning.

The now perspective

This brings me to the now. And now I pronounce this game dead. My post mortem conclusions are that significant and repeated releases of the exact same game with “just a few more features” killed any joy or fun I might have had with this ancient video game, and John Madden is not as cool as he used to be.

If you ask me, I think EA Sports will soon have a dilemma on their hands. Before long, people will start asking, why is this football game called Madden? Is it because we consumers feel maddened that EA likes to push out a new release every year instead of making a good game and just updating the rosters every year? No, critical consumer. It was named after a football athlete replete with victories both as a player and a coach, who later grew to fame as a commentator.

Who cares anymore? Even if you do, who is going to care in five years? Ten?

One thing is certain, I can’t predict the future, but I can tell you the past. Madden Football II has passed, and the pass to Terry B was incomplete.

Final Thoughts

I felt closure in playing this game one more time, like I was burying a loved one and saying goodbye. Now I know I’ll never see it again, but I’ll always have the memories of running the same play over and over, and hearing the tackle sounds and making fun of them. Ask me anytime in person to make the tackle noise from Madden Footbal II, I can replicate it perfectly. Trust me.

If you were hoping I would simulate the current Super Bowl match up with a relatively recent football game, well I didn’t. I lost the game I played, so I think that means the Giants are going to lose today. That’s scientific fact.