The game does have a couple of hiccups, though. The main negative is that on defense, once the ball is snapped you can't change defenders, meaing if you're far away you'll have to trust the CPU defenders to get the job done. Also on offense, you can pass the ball to receivers off-screen, but you can't tell if they're being defended or not, so you'll have to hope that no one's around. Finally in Season mode, you have to sit through the scoreboards of every other game before it's your team's turn to play, which can get tedious after a while. But the gameplay is still great enough that these quibbles can be overlooked.
Bottom line, if you're looking for the ultimate NES football game, this is it right here. Tecmo has done an excellent job making a football game with something for everybody, combining easy-to-play action with in-depth stats. This would have been the perfect football game if the slight flaws were ironed out (especially on defense), but as it, it's still a great representation of the sport. It even holds up well against the current crop of football titles, and serves as an excellent choice for players who are tired of today's complicated football sims and want to go back to something simpler and fun. Anyway you look at it, Tecmo Super Bowl is just that: the Super Bowl of NES football games, and a true champion in the sports games arena.
- Review posted on September 6, 2006