When NFL Films, a company that devotes its resources to retrospective looks at the grandest football matches and rivalries over the past several decades, decides to produce a documentary about a video game, you know that it has crossed some sort of boundary into mainstream acceptance.
So it was with great delight to all gamers that NFL Films decided to produce a special episode about Tecmo Bowl, one of the defining sports video games in history. While it was certainly not the first game to simulate the sport of football, it was the first to generate significant commercial success.
The game was originally released in the arcades in 1988, but it was its debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System the following years that really made it a hit. As the documentary points out, there is an annual tournament that takes place to crown the Tecmo Bowl champion. A surprisingly large group of gamers ? as many as 180 ? show up every year.
In today?s gaming environment, when you talk about football games you talk about Madden. But for those who grew up in the early days of console gaming, Tecmo Bowl is where it all began. It was the first game to actually incorporate real NFL player names into the game. And for many pro or aspiring pro athletes, it was a novelty that they never forgot.
Former Steelers receiver Hines Ward called it the ?first game that most athletes played.? The documentary also gives former Kansas City Chiefs star Christian Okoye, often revered as one of the most unstoppable players in the game, his first chance to see how he was represented in the 8-bit world.
In this era where gaming is becoming more mainstream, it helps to take a look back and see the titles that pushed this medium at every step along the way. Tecmo Bowl is definitely one of those titles.
You can view the entire half-hour TV special above.
via Devour
Source: http://www.geek.com/articles/games/tecmo-bowl-documentary-reveres-classic-gaming-2012116/
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