With the release of NFL Street Reborn and the 2025 season of the National Football League starting this week, I want to take a trip down memory lane and reminisce about the NFL Street series of games. A collection of three football games released under the now-defunct banner of EA Sports BIG, these games brought a bombastic playstyle and attitude to the world of professional American football.
Above all, they were simply fun to play!
EA Sports BIG
If you’ve ever played a game from the EA Sports BIG label, I doubt you could forget that iconic intro.
EA Sports BIG was a subsidiary of Electronic Arts that was founded in 2000. Created with the goal of bringing more extreme branding and over-the-top gameplay to sports video games, the label would go on to publish a total of 23 games across the GameCube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, and Wii console lines.
EA Sports Big Catalogue
As you can see from the catalogue list above, they were responsible for games across multiple sports; American Football, Soccer, Basketball, and Snowboarding, to name a few. One of my all-time favorites, a wrestling game featuring popular rap artists called Def Jam Vendetta, was also released under the EA Sports BIG label (that’s hopefully a topic for another day).
EA Sports BIG was ultimately shuttered in 2008, due in part to a shift in focus by EA and the much bigger global financial crisis. While the label would never return, many of their games live on in the hearts and minds of gamers and fans around the world, this author included.
NFL Street
Developed by EA Tiburon, NFL Street was released on January 13, 2004 for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. The game featured players like Barry Sanders, Shannon Sharpe, and Ricky Williams playing seven-on-seven American football, with players wearing street clothes instead of uniforms. The goal of this game was “style”, and it certainly wanted you to know it.
There were some basic American football rules that applied, but gone were the common fouls, penalties, or injuries that would often hamper a more realistic American football game. Instead, players were encouraged to accumulate style points by making big, aggressive plays, or by taunting the other team during gameplay.
NFL Street Gameplay
With enough style points, players would entire a “Gamebreaker” mode, which would allow offensive players to mow down opposing defenders with relative ease, or allow defensive players to more easily blow up blocks and create turnovers. These “Gambreakers” would only last for one play, so you had to make them count!
NFL Street was a rousing success in sales numbers and in the eyes of Electronic Arts. So, of course, a sequel had to be made.
NFL Street 2
Also developed by EA Tiburon, NFL Street 2 was released on December 26, 2004 (note: look at that turnaround time!) for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, as well as the PSP under the name NFL Street 2 Unleashed. NFL Street 2 would go on to include many of the same features in NFL Street, but it would also introduce one that stood above all the rest; the Wall Move.
In the name of style, NFL Street 2 brought “Wall Moves” to the game. These moves allowed player to utilize the environment – namely chain link fences and concrete walls – to perform jukes, dives, and leaping passes and catches. Nothing was more embarrassing for an opposing defense than to watch your quarterback leap and kick off the wall, flinging a pass in mid-air that would fly over the heads of defenders and safely into the open arms of one of your receivers.
NFL Street 2 Gameplay
A new mode called Own The City was also introduced, allowing the player to create their own team and beat all comers in a series of pick-up games that allow you to recruit better and better talent. Ultimately, the player will eventually take on Xzibit (yes, that Xzibit) and his team of NFL stars. It’s as wild as it sounds.
While NFL Street and NFL Street 2 sold well, many reviewers and players lambasted the second game for not bringing enough new items to the table and for it’s hands-off Gamebreaker system (your player would basically auto-run a touchdown or interception, taking nearly all the control away from the player).
NFL Street 3
Once again developed by EA Tiburon, NFL Street 3 was released on November 14, 2006, this time only gracing the PlayStation 2 and PSP. The Wall Mode has been ramped up in this one, allowing not only lateral movement along a wall, but flips and leaps were included to increase the style factor even further.
The focal point was the Career Mode, where your created team of players would take on teams of NFL players and clubs to earn cash and respect. The more cash you earn, the more gear you can outfit your player with. The more respect you gain, the more areas you can unlock and the more plays you can get in your playbook. Furthermore, enough respect would allow you to poach players from other teams. Sweet!
NFL Street 3 Gameplay
New match styles were introduced as well, such as Time Attack, Bank, or my personal favorite, Play Elimination. Play Elimination has a pretty simple, but brutal rule; if you fail to gain positive yardage with a running or passing play, it’s removed from your playbook. The first player to lose all their plays, loses the game. While the other match types were fun, this one brought some real stakes to the games and ratcheted up the tension.
While another fun entry in the franchise, NFL Street 3 would ultimately go on to be the least successful of the three Street games. No mention was ever made if an NFL Street 4 was ever in development, and EA Sports BIG would shutter their doors not even two years later.
NFL Street Reborn
Releasing September 5th, 2025, NFL Street Reborn is a free fan-made PC mod of the original NFL Street that can be played on the Dolphin (GameCube and Wii) emulator. The game will feature improved graphics and various gameplay tweaks and improvements, as well as updated rosters for all 32 NFL teams to include current NFL players.
NFL Street Reborn Graphical Improvements
The hope is that this new fan-made mod will bring some modern conveniences and improvements to the game, while maintaining the charm and style that we’ve come to know and love across the years.
Hit the Streets
While many of the games in the EA Sports BIG catalogue were associated with poor graphics and sometimes overly silly or janky gameplay, it’s hard to deny that these games were also fun; unabashed, unafraid, outrageous fun.
The NFL Street series holds a special place in my heart, and I hope that the release of NFL Street Reborn will bring some new fans to this wonderful series of games.
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This article is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Electronic Arts (EA), EA Sports, the National Football League (NFL), or the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).