First released in June 1988 for the PC, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:John Madden Football was endorsed by the legendary former Oakland Raiders coach as a tool for teaching people about the sport of American Football. Madden famously insisted the game be as realistic as possible, leading to poor game performance on underpowered machines. In the early 1990s, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Electronic Arts began developing John Madden Football for the Sega Genesis, and the game immediately outperformed expectations.Over the years, Madden NFL games have added features like Franchise Modes, Playbook and Team creation, Highlight and Hit Sticks, Owner Modes, and single-player Career Modes. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Madden faced stiff competition, leading EA to sign an exclusive rights deal with the NFL and NFLPA in 2004, effectively killing off the competition. In 2014, when EA decided to stop releasing NCAA Football titles, Madden suddenly bec🐷ame the only football sim around.
10 𒁏 NFL Fever (1999-2003)
NFL Fever 2000 was Microsoft's att🔯empt to gain a foothold in the football simulation market with a Microsoft PC exclusive. Upon the release of the original Xbox, Microsoft moved the franchise from the PC to the home console. Boasting powerful graphics and fun, fast gameplay, NFL Fever had the potential to chall꧅enge Madden and NFL 2K as a top option for football fans.
Unfortunately, NFL Fever 2002 was the series' peak, with subsequent offerings reviewing progressively less favorably. The series wasn't making gameplay and graphical imp𝕴rovements like its competitors and was selling poorly because of it. NFL Fever was the game of choice for people wishing to play a football game online with friends (there was virtually zero lag - amazing for 2003), but that alone couldn't save this franchise.
9 ൲ ဣ NCAA College Football 2K (2001-2002)
NCAA College Football 2K saw only two games released in the🍸 series — NCAA College Foꩵotball 2K2: Road to the Rose Bowl on Dreamcast and NCAA College Football 2K3 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Defensive AI was an improvement over its competitors, making offensive success a result of strategy and skill, not just picking a play that is guaranteed to gain yards ("money" plays).
NCAA College Football 2K featured engaging franchise modes, allowing for full control of a college program over several seasons. Unfortunately, the franchise and other modes weren't particularly deep, leading to a noticeable gap bet𒅌ween 2K and its better-selling compet📖ition. After two titles, College Football 2K was benched to focus on NFL 2K.
8 NFL Street (2004-2006) ꦗ
NFL Street is a series of informal "street football" games featuring informal 7-on-7 contests. Scoring touchdowns isn't the only way you score - you have to earn style points by showboating and pulling off tricks. Tricks and style points unlo🍬cked gamebreakers, which make you impossible to tackle as the meter runs out.
When playing solo, the computer is punishingly difficult and gameplay is repetitive due to smaller playbooks and a lack of modes. NFL Street is best played with friends, as the gameplay resembled arcade smash hit NFL Blitz. A lack of innovation hurt the franchise, and Madden incorporated a few of the features in its popular 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Yard mode.
7 🀅 NCAA Gamebreaker (1996-2003) 💦
Sony immediately had a breakout hit oꦦn its hands with NCAA Gamebreaker in 1996. Notable for being the first 32-bit college football game, Gamebreaker laid the foundation for one of the top exclusive football simulations on the market. During the PlayStation e෴ra, Gamebreaker was consistently praised for its graphics and its fast and engaging gameplay.
Gamebreaker did not transition well to the PlayStation 2, with the gameplay, graphics, and AI stagnating. Whereas early Gamebreaker games were arguably some of the best college football games, PS2 versions were noticeably worse than EA's NCAA Foജotball and reviews progressively got worse. In 2003, the final Gamebreaker🌃 game (NCAA Gamebreaker 2004) was released to mediocre reviews and a once-proud franchise went out with a whimper.
6 🌟 Joe Montana Fo🥂otball (1990-1997)
Developed by EA for the Sega Genesis at the same time Madden was being worked on, Joe Montana Football focused on a less realistic a❀nd more arcade-style football game. Intentionally developed to be different from the Madden series, one of the lead designers admitted in an interview with ESPN that and intentionally made worse than Madden.
The result was a fun, passing-centric arcꦫade football game. Though the franchise cycled through many names in its sequels (Joe Montana Football II: Sports Talk Football, NFL Sports Talk Football '93, NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana, NFL '95, and Prime Time NFL Starring Deion Sanders, NFL '97, and NFL Prime Time '98), the focus remained on arcade-like action. However, Prime Time couldn't keep up with EA's juggernaut and became yet another victim of Madden's market dominance.
5 NFL Quarterback Club (1993-2001) ಞ
Originally a game to simulate the NFL's yearly "Quarterback Challenge," NFL Quarterback Club quickly added more modes by the second game. Players could take part in the QB Challenge, ꦦpractice, exhibition games, or historic situations with classic teams.
While the passing mechanics were smooth and polished, the other facets of the game (running, blocking, defense) lagged. A lack of franchise mode didn't hurt the series initially, as franchise modes were not yet commonplace in football si💖ms. However, by the final release in 2001, the flaws were too har🐻d to ignore with Madden and NFL 2K rapidly improving each year.
4 🥃 NFL Blitz (1997-2012)
Originally an arcade game, NFL Blitz contained a loose interpretation of NFL rules and encouraged aggressive and violent play. Late hits, excessive celebrations, and showboating were not only allowed but e🌄ncouraged. Playbooks were simplified and players could pull off violent wrestling moves.
NFL Blitz was a smash hit in arcades and on home consoles, as🧸 the fast-paced gameplay encouraged playing with friends. As the series grew older, it began to creep towards a more traditional football sim, cutting down on the late hits and over-the-top action that made the early games so memorable. As such, interest faded and the series quietly ended in 2012.
3 NFL GameDay (1995-2004) ﷺ 🔯
Sony's exclusive football sim positioned itself to be a direct competitor to EA's Madden, and early on it performed well. Focusing on 🦄motion-captured animations, GameDay offered more realistic graphics and gameplay. In 1998, GameDay became the first football sim to use 3D polygonal models, which made the players more blocky at first but set the foundation for more lifelike models in future titles.
Like NCAA Gamebreaker, GameDay struggled to transition from PlayStation to the PS2. Gameplay, graphics and AI did not make the same leap as 2K and Madden. Slight improvements were made by thꦬe final relꦗease in 2003, but Madden and 2K had reached such heights that GameDay was officially left behind for good.
2 NCAA Footbal🃏l (1993-2013) 🅠
NCAA Football was released in 1993 as Bill Walsh College Football without NCAA licensing, officially rebranding as NCAA Football in 1998. That year also saw the addition of a dynasty mo꧙de, essentially a franchise mode for your college of choice. Single-player "legend" modes were added to play a specific player through his career. Notable for capturing the Saturday gameday feel, NCAA Football was a top choice for many football fans.
NCAA Football utilized similar engines to the Madden games and was used as a testing ground for new features throughout its lifespan. The PS2/Xbox/GameCube era saw the best-reviewed versions of the games, though they remained popular in the subsequent generation of consoles. Ultimately, the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit over using player likenesses without compensation led to EA putting the series on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an indefinite hiatus.
1 NFL 2K (1999-2004) ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ
Though NFL 2K entered the scene nine years after Madden, it immediately cemented itself as a serious challenger to the Madden throne. Upon gaining ESPN licensing for the 2003 offering, ESPN NFL Football featured commentary from real-life NFL personalities Chris Berman and Suzy Kolber. Notably, Madden 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:did not feature women at all ⭕until Madden 18, despite women being a fixture in sideline reporting for decades.
♋To boost sales, ESPN NFL 2K5 was released for $19.99 compared to Madden's $49.95 price. This led to EA dropping the price of Madden and then securing exclusive rights to the NFL and its players. Due to EA's exclusive rights deal with the NFL in 💜2004, ESPN NFL 2K was no longer able to compete with Madden. NFL 2K went out on a high note, with ESPN NFL 2K5 still considered one of the top sports games of all time.
