John Madden Football (1990 video game)

The game includes various field conditions and audibles. The console versions use passwords for saves. It is played from above and behind the quarterback rather than from the side as most games of the time. As in the previous version, no actual NFL teams are included due to the lack of NFL or NFLPA licenses for authentic teams or player names.

In the 1990 Sega Genesis release, only a total of 16 teams are available. Each team was based unofficially on teams from the 1990 NFL season. The following generic teams are included, with colors based on the local NFL team: Buffalo, Miami, New England, Cincinnati, Houston, Pittsburgh, Denver, Kansas City, New York City (colors based on Giants), Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, Los Angeles (colors based on Rams) and San Francisco. An All-Madden team is included as a bonus.

The Super NES release features twenty-eight teams and the All-Madden team. Like in the Genesis release, they are all generic, but each NFL city is represented and uses their respective colors (for instance, Cleveland's team colors are orange and brown). New York and Los Angeles’ teams are again represented by the Giants’ and Rams’ colors, meaning each city is only represented once. To fill out the team roster, teams from “Oakland” and “New Jersey” were added, with the former wearing silver and black like the Raiders and the latter green and white like the Jets.

Going into the project, Electronic Arts considered the title "the turning point" and "everything to us". As the company was also working on Joe Montana Football for Sega, they contracted out Park Place Productions to develop Madden. As opposed to EA's approach to the previous game, which emphasized realism, the new developers emphasized fun and arcade action. Much of the development team was made up of former Cinemaware developers who previously had worked on TV Sports: Football, a football game released the same year of the previous John Madden Football release, which, according to IGN, "stole some of EA's thunder"

An Atari ST version was announced and then later on cancelled with ST Review reporting, "Although great things were expected of the Atari version of John Madden's American Football, EA has decided to abandon its development."{{cite web| url=https://mega.nz/file/hFcgAIQY#uZcXtTyf0TjhiB-BHxTPJDX-4feMRp7SdUdzVsNGt9w|title=Electronic Arts Pull Out On ST (Issue 2, June 1992, page 12)|website=ST Review}}

{{Video game reviews

|award1Pub=C+VG

|award1=HitGame review, Computer + Video Games issue 110, January 1991, page 70

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Electronic Arts had expected the Genesis version to sell around 75,000 units, but instead the title sold roughly 400,000 units.{{Cite web |last=Brady |first=James |title=Exploring the (weird) story of the very first 'John Madden Football' game |url=https://www.sbnation.com/2018/8/7/17599240/john-madden-football-apple-ii-genesis-original-story-trip-hawkins |access-date=22 June 2020 |website=SBNation|date=7 August 2018 }} It became a killer app for the Genesis, helping the console gain market share against the NES.{{Cite web |last=Hruby, Patrick |date=2010-08-05 |title=The Franchise |url=http://www.espn.com/espn/eticket/story?page=100805/madden&redirected=true |access-date=23 January 2015 |website=ESPN}}{{Cite web |last=Fahs |first=Travis |date=2008-08-06 |title=IGN Presents the History of Madden |url=http://retro.ign.com/articles/896/896893p1.html |access-date=2009-03-30 |website=IGN}}

Computer and Video Games reviewed the Mega Drive version John Madden American Football and gave it a 95% score, praising the realism and the sound.{{Cite web |title=Out-of-Print Archive • Mega Drive/Genesis reviews • John Madden's American Football |url=http://www.outofprintarchive.com/articles/reviews/MegaDrive/JohnMaddenFootball-CVG110-3.html |website=www.outofprintarchive.com}} Sega Power gave it a 92% score.{{cite magazine|date=May 1991|title=Readers top 10 – Mega Drive|magazine=Sega Power|issue=18|page=6|url=https://retrocdn.net/index.php?title=File%3ASegaPower_UK_18.pdf&page=6}}

At the 1990 Golden Joystick Awards, John Madden American Football for the Mega Drive won the award for best console game of the year (16-bit).{{cite journal|title=The Golden Joystick Awards '91|journal=Computer and Video Games|issue=115|date=June 1991|page=10|publisher=EMAP|url=https://archive.org/stream/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_115_1991-06_EMAP_Publishing_GB/Computer__Video_Games_Issue_115_1991-06_EMAP_Publishing_GB#page/n9/mode/1up}}

In 2018, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted John Madden Football to its World Video Game Hall of Fame.{{cite web |title=John Madden Football |url=https://www.museumofplay.org/games/john-madden-football/ |website=The Strong National Museum of Play |publisher=The Strong |access-date=6 May 2022}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=1612|title=John Madden Football|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101010101/https://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=1612|archive-date=2014-01-01|url-status=dead|website=AllGame}}
• {{moby game|id=/john-madden-football_|name=John Madden Football}}

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{{Golden Joystick GOTY}}

Category:1990 video games

Category:EA Sports games

Category:Electronic Arts games

Category:Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year winners

Category:Imagineer games

Category:Madden NFL

Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games

Category:Park Place Productions games

Category:Sega Genesis games

Category:Super Nintendo Entertainment System games

Category:Video games developed in the United States

Category:Video games scored by Rob Hubbard

Category:World Video Game Hall of Fame