As we round the corner towards another Super Bowl, it’s the time of year when everyone likes to speculate on the outcomes. How did we get here, who did what right or wrong, and how will teams fare in the big game?
Sports games are eternally popular, and for the same reasons, many games are popular. People want to live out their fantasies of playing as their favorite team or players. The allure is eternal for anyone with a passing interest in both hobbies. Over the years, though, licensing agreements have limited the scope of options for NFL fans down to essentially only one.
If you’re someone like me who has never really cared for some of the modern Madden entries since the exclusive deal, then maybe you can find some help here too. Here are my favorite football experiences of all time that you can enjoy on your emulation handheld right now.
Tecmo Super Bowl
I couldn’t get away from using the “football” handheld at least once here.
The original “real” football game. Prior to 1991’s Tecmo Super Bowl, no football game had both the NFL Teams license and the NFLPA license. This meant that for the first time, gamers could play as their favorite NFL team with real-life player rosters represented on their screens.
LJN had previously owned part of the rights in its early release, NFL, also on the NES. This meant that the original Tecmo Bowl experience was limited to just 12 teams and a handful of players. No more.
So beloved is the classic Tecmo Super Bowl, that for as long as there have been ROM hacks, fans have been updating the team and player rosters for annual versions. You can still go to TecmoBowl.org right now and grab the ROM hack for this year’s roster! The original source code was released on Github in April of 2024 and ensures that the modding of this beloved classic can go on forever.
NFL Blitz 2001 (Dreamcast/Arcade)
The NFL Blitz series redefined the arcade sports title when it was first released in arcades back in 1997. I remember when the family arcade I worked at in high school wheeled one in, and it quickly became one of our most popular games.
Blitz took the basics of America’s favorite game and turned everything up to 11. Teams on the field are trimmed to 7v7 matchups and any rules that slow down the action are tossed out the window.
For years, the Blitz series was something of a white whale in the emulation community. Until recently, getting the arcade version up and running reasonably well on MAME was a big ask.
The game just didn’t translate well to multicore processor emulation, which caused frame rate and audio glitches to run rampant. The Dreamcast version of the game was my go-to when I wanted the best Blitz experience available to me at the time, and it still shines today.
Blitz 2001 is arguably the most refined version of the original formula. Later games failed to capture the same magic found in the original arcade version. Depending on your handheld’s horsepower, you can run this game in either its Dreamcast or Arcade iterations.
These are the definitive ways to experience the Blitz franchise. The recent Arcade1up release nerfed the entire experience and is not worth your time or money in this writer’s opinion. Let’s face it, Blitz without late hits, just isn’t Blitz. Now, get out there to fake some punts and split some skulls.
Note: If you’re looking for an updated roster ROM hack for the Blitz series, there are options for the N64 versions of the game like NFL Blitz 2023 – Signature Edition/Resurrection.
NFL 2K5 (PS2/Xbox)
You knew it was coming on the list. This is my favorite football game ever made — period. The 2K series attempts at NFL football started up on the Dreamcast and quickly became a righteous annual competitor to EA’s Madden series. Sega sold the games at an astonishing $19.99 price tag brand new.
The low cost of entry made budget-conscious gamers give the series a chance and most that did found an experience that left its competitors in the dust. With a robust and deep season mode, amazing ESPN Sportscenter presentation with killer VO work, first-person QB mode, and a host of other features players are still left wanting for from the competition 20 years later.
The exclusivity of EA’s NFL contract is net bad for the average gamer, and this series still stands tall to show us exactly why one company having exclusive rights doesn’t necessarily translate to doing the best job promoting your product. Modern Madden entries have become lazy and bloated with all the wrong sorts of features.
It took me longer to install the last iteration I checked out from the library than I spent playing the game. If you feel the same way, then fear not, because thanks to the magic of emulation and ROM hacks, there are updated experiences available like NFL2K5 Resurrected and NFL2K Mod projects.
NFL Street 2 (PS2)
If the Blitz series stripped the NFL experience down to its purest arcade-y base, EA BIG’s NFL Street series just throws any concept of realism out the window in favor of intense 3v3 multiplayer mayhem. The game features real licensed NFL teams and a roster that mixes up current players of the day with all-time legends.
A robust character creation system (why were these so much better 20 years ago?) allows players to insert themselves next to their favorite stars. You’ll earn exp along the way to unlock ridiculous new moves and abilities on the field. If you just want to turn your brain off for the evening and play arcade football with some buddies, Street 2 remains one of your best options.
Madden NFL 2005 (GBA)
So it may seem a little unfair to spend half this article slagging the folks over at EA and their exclusive rights, but that doesn’t mean that they haven’t made good entries along the way. Madden 2005 is my favorite 16-bit football experience and an argument for why there should be more competition in the NFL space, not less. This was one of the final football games prior to EA’s exclusive license and still stands today as one of their most original outings.
From the surface, the top-down football sim looks like a dozen others from the same era. Underneath the graphical underachievement, is a robust and deep football game that offers just about as much as could be considered possible on the GBA. The soundtrack is as hilariously cheesy as any EA game of the early 2000s, especially on the GBA, but it just adds to the charm. If you want a quick hop-in football sim experience, this is a great place to start.
Closing
These are just my personal favorite NFL games that I’ve played over the years. Whether you’re looking for a quick arcade game with friends or a fully realized season, there should be an option here for every gameplay taste. Even if there’s only one flavor of official NFL fun out there today, emulation lets you pick and choose, and maybe even ROM hack your way into a brand-new classic experience.
What’s your favorite football game? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!
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