By Jason Jones, Chris Burke and Damon Sayles
Here’s a flashback: Plug in the video game controllers that look primitive compared with anything resembling today’s gaming devices. These controllers have only four buttons — an A, a B, a Select and a Start.
Then, slide that 5.25-inch-by-4.75-inch cartridge into a console that looks like it could be an extra in the 1986 animated flick “The Transformers: The Movie.” It’s big. It’s boxy. It’s two-toned gray with black trim and red lettering.
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And before someone hits the power button on the console, maybe (or, should it be said, most likely?) someone gives a big blow through the back of the cartridge. Because the game always worked better after that for whatever reason.
And when the game was ready to start, the quarterback cadence — as repetitive as it was — seemed to jump-start emotions …
Ready, down! Hut! Hut! Hut! Hut! (And the “Hut!” kept going until you hit the A button.)
This is the nostalgia that came with using the Nintendo Entertainment System back in the late 1980s. Released in the United States in 1985, the NES is one of the most popular consoles in gaming history, and in 1989, football fans received hours of fun on the NES courtesy of the iconic game Tecmo Bowl.
The game featured 12 NFL teams: Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Minnesota, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington. It was the first console game to include real players by way of a license from the NFL Players Association. Tecmo Bowl had the color schemes of each team (the Los Angeles team represented the Raiders and not the Rams, and the New York team represented the Giants and not the Jets), although the game’s introduction featured completely different helmet logos from what fans are accustomed to.
For die-hard gamers, Tecmo Bowl was easy. There were four plays to choose from per team. The offense chose its play; the defense chose the offensive play to defend. Rather than 11-on-11 competition, the game had a nine-on-nine player format.
Tecmo Bowl was the simpler version of the even more popular Tecmo Super Bowl — released on the NES in 1991 and considered one of the top 25 games of all time, according to IGN Entertainment. With Tecmo Bowl’s 1989 NES release in the United States, it featured players from the 1988 season.
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This month marks the 35th anniversary of an unforgettable game introduced to a legendary game console. We at The Athletic decided to have some fun by forming an All-Tecmo Bowl Team — and it wasn’t easy.
Friendly reminder: Tecmo Bowl didn’t have every NFL team … so no Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders or “QB Eagles” (Randall Cunningham’s player since he wasn’t a member of the NFL Players Association’s marketing contract at the time) in this game.
Quarterback: Joe Montana, San Francisco
Jason Jones: Montana had solidified himself as perhaps the best quarterback to ever play at this point. There was no question who the best quarterback was in the game. John Elway was nearly a decade away from winning the first of his two Super Bowls, and there was still hope Dan Marino could get back to the Super Bowl.
Chris Burke: Montana probably was the most lethal quarterback option in the game (having Jerry Rice running go routes on the CPU defense helped), but the Dolphins had a pretty wide-open offense — by four-play playbook standards — so Marino was tough to play against. I always liked playing as an underdog, so truth be told, I rolled with Seattle’s Dave Krieg or Indianapolis’ Jack Trudeau quite a bit.
Damon Sayles: This game had a trio of studs running their offenses in Montana, Marino and Elway. That said, Montana was gifted, one of the best to ever do it. It made perfect sense if you chose San Francisco for the sole reason of having Montana throw passes to all of that offensive firepower.
Honorable mentions: Dan Marino, Miami; John Elway, Denver
Running backs: Bo Jackson, Los Angeles; Walter Payton, Chicago
Jones: There was no one like Jackson in the game. The fact he was paired with Marcus Allen was unfair. There weren’t a lot of plays to run with this game, but you didn’t need a passing game with Bo — just run a sweep until he broke free for a score. Payton was already one of the greatest running backs of all time and a Super Bowl champion with Chicago, but I was always partial to Los Angeles’ backfield.
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Sayles: Some consider Jackson the greatest video game athlete of all time. (This funny scene from “Family Guy” tells a lot. It’s of Bo in Tecmo Super Bowl, but it still paints the picture.) He and Payton would have made the perfect thunder-and-lightning package for gamers of the late ’80s and early ’90s if the game allowed us to make trades. Those two accounted for multiple touchdowns and were a big reason gamers racked up victories.
Burke: Bo deserves top billing, and this was right at the tail end of Payton’s career; he wasn’t even an option in Tecmo Super Bowl. Eric Dickerson also was right in the midst of a stretch when he averaged 1,889 yards from scrimmage over five seasons. To add, San Francisco’s Roger Craig was an underrated asset, especially as a receiving threat out of the backfield.
Honorable mentions: Marcus Allen, Los Angeles; Eric Dickerson, Indianapolis; Curt Warner, Seattle; Roger Craig, San Francisco
Wide receivers: Jerry Rice, San Francisco; Mark Clayton, Miami
Sayles: Rice is considered the greatest receiver of all time. In some circles, he’s the greatest NFL player of all time. You’ll have no argument from me with either claim. When I needed a play, Rice delivered. Clayton was one of so many options for Marino and Miami, and his real-life numbers during the 1988 season served as proof. Clayton had 22 more receptions and five more touchdowns than Rice that year.
Burke: Rice wasn’t as hard to tackle in the game as Bo Jackson, but he was darn near impossible to catch if you timed the zig-zag down the field just right. But I’d agree that Clayton — especially paired with Mark Duper — was a serious asset. My sleeper pick in this category: Washington’s Gary Clark.
Jones: There isn’t much else that can be said about Rice. He’s the best wide receiver I’ve ever seen and a top-five player regardless of position. If you decided to pass the ball in the game, there wasn’t a better target. Clayton was really good, along with Duper as part of Miami’s passing game. In the late 1980s, Clayton might not have been Rice, but he was fun to watch and fun to use when playing Nintendo.
Honorable mentions: Steve Largent, Seattle; Anthony Carter, Minnesota; Gary Clark, Washington
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Tight end: Steve Jordan, Minnesota
Jones: Hard for me to go against New York’s Mark Bavaro, but Jordan is deserving. He’s probably best known now as the father of New Orleans Saints star defensive end Cameron Jordan, but back in the day, he was a potent threat in the passing game in Minnesota.
Burke: I grew up in Big Ten country in the late ’80s and ’90s, so I probably fed the tight ends more than anyone should’ve in these games. Bavaro was an absolute beast in the game. Los Angeles’ Todd Christensen was, too — but who wasn’t just handing off to Bo Jackson or Marcus Allen with that team?
Sayles: All respect to Cleveland’s Ozzie Newsome, but when this game came out, he was near the end of his Hall of Fame career, and his stats were decreasing. Jordan was an incredibly good tight end among a solid group of pro tight ends. He was a reliable option for a Minnesota team that balanced a trio of quarterbacks, Tommy Kramer, Wade Wilson and Rich Gannon. In fact, Jordan was the second-leading receiver on that team, behind Anthony Carter.
Honorable mention: Mark Bavaro, New York; Todd Christensen, Los Angeles
Offensive linemen: OT Cody Risien, Cleveland; OT Gary Zimmerman, Minnesota; C Ray Donaldson, Indianapolis; OG Keith Bishop, Denver; OG Russ Grimm, Washington
Sayles: Choosing an O-line is tough, considering they weren’t featured players on the game — or any football video game for that matter. The silent disrespect is something they are used to, but today, we give them their flowers. Zimmerman and Grimm are among the players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Jones: Grimm was one of the famous “Hogs” in Washington. Outside of the offensive line that helped Dallas win three Super Bowls in the 1990s, there aren’t many other offensive lines that gained the kind of fame the Hogs did, as Washington was one of the better teams of the 1980s.
Burke: I mean … I guess this all checks out. Either the defense picked the right play and blew through the line, or it didn’t and your call had time to develop. I’m sure the lines factored into the equation somehow. We have a darn good list of honorable mentions, too. Jay Hilgenberg probably doesn’t get enough love when we look back at those powerhouse Chicago teams.
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Honorable mentions: OT Chris Hinton, Indianapolis; OG Jesse Sapolu, San Francisco; C Jay Hilgenberg, Chicago; OG Nate Newton, Dallas; OT Joe Jacoby, Washington
Defensive linemen: DE Howie Long, Los Angeles; DT Michael Carter, San Francisco; DE Chris Doleman, Minnesota
Burke: Long and Lawrence Taylor (more on him shortly) are the only players I recall just blowing up offenses in this game, regardless of whether you correctly guessed a play. But there were some fierce fronts — Carter, Washington’s Charles Mann and Dexter Manley, and Chicago’s Steve McMichael and Richard Dent, for example. Maybe you needed a strong offensive line in this game more than I thought.
Jones: Full disclosure: Long was my favorite player growing up, so there’s no way I’d leave him off this team. He’s also deserving as a Hall of Famer who disrupted things for opposing offenses. Carter doesn’t get talked about enough for being a part of San Francisco’s winning ways. Those teams had some great players in the trenches.
Sayles: With Tecmo Bowl defenses running a 3-2-4 set (see the nine-on-nine explanation in the intro) instead of a four-down-lineman look, it’s tough to find only one combination of starters with so many gifted linemen to choose from. Long, Carter and Doleman all are super talented and worthy of recognition. They gave offensive linemen fits in the game.
Honorable mentions: DE Richard Dent, Chicago; DE Charles Mann, Washington; DT Steve McMichael, Chicago; DE Jacob Green, Seattle; DE Bob Golic, Cleveland, DE Dexter Manley
Linebackers: Lawrence Taylor, New York; Mike Singletary, Chicago
Jones: Taylor was unblockable. He’d have a perfect rating in a modern video game. No matter where Taylor was on the field, he altered plays. It was unfair to have to deal with him. Singletary was a tackling machine and not too far removed from being the leader of the dominant 1985 Chicago defense.
Sayles: If Bo is considered the best football video game athlete, Taylor would be considered No. 2 by some — maybe even 1A. Good luck in trying to stop Taylor in this game, especially if you were new to it. He was so fast off the line of scrimmage, and he was Option 1 if you needed someone to block an extra point or field goal. Add in Singletary’s incredible ability to be a part of every play, and you have a wild one-two defensive punch.
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Burke: Echoing the prior comments on Taylor, as he was borderline unfair. (To add, if you accidentally picked the wrong Giants defender and landed on Carl Banks, you also had a chance to dominate a play.) Singletary was a close second to Taylor, though. Taylor got you sacks, but Singletary could stuff the run and swipe passes across the entire field if you used him right.
Honorable mentions: Karl Mecklenburg, Denver; Carl Banks, New York; Duane Bickett, Indianapolis; Fredd Young, Seattle; Clay Matthews Jr., Cleveland
Cornerbacks: Darrell Green, Washington; Frank Minnifield, Cleveland
Jones: If you know nothing about Green, know that he was fast. Really fast. That speed is a reason he played 20 seasons — which is wild for any position, but especially a cornerback. It’s a reason Green is in the Hall of Fame. Mike Haynes was at the end of his Hall of Fame career, but if not, he’d be right there with Green.
Burke: Feels like we’ve sort of glossed over Cleveland’s Tecmo Bowl representation, but the Minnifield-Hanford Dixon cornerback duo was legit. Together, Minnifield and Dixon produced a combined 20 interceptions from 1986 to 1988, and they at least gave you a shot defensively in this game. But, yeah, Green was special — for a long, long time.
Sayles: Remember the NFL’s Fastest Man competitions of the ’80s? Green won the competition in 1988, topping star athletes like Rod Woodson, Herschel Walker, Willie Gault and Mark Duper. Apply that speed with an incredible awareness for finding the ball, and you have a worthy Pro Bowl Hall of Famer in Green. Minnifield and Green were similarly built — short, shifty and speedy — and both were pit bulls on an island for their defenses. Minnifield was a four-time Pro Bowler, and he was an underrated menace for Cleveland.
Honorable mentions: Hanford Dixon, Cleveland; Barry Wilburn, Washington, Tim McKyer, San Francisco; Mike Haynes, Los Angeles
Safeties: Ronnie Lott, San Francisco; Joey Browner, Minnesota
Burke: Lott should’ve been an NFL Blitz character. That game would’ve done more to show off Lott’s knack for knocking pass catchers into next week. But he’s deserving of his spot here, too. Dave Duerson was another eraser in that Chicago defense. You had to be legit playing alongside guys like Dent, McMichael and Singletary, and Duerson made the most of it.
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Sayles: It’s unfair to just say Lott hit people. He hit people. Lott to this day is one of the NFL’s most feared hitters. His game was enhanced because of his ball-hawking skills in the secondary. As for Browner, when I played Tecmo Bowl with the Vikings for the first time, I remember him recording my team’s first two interceptions. His video game production matched what he did on the field in real life.
Jones: Back in the day, the NFL would release VHS cassette tapes featuring the most violent hits in the game. Lott usually was somewhere in those videos obliterating someone who either tried to catch a pass or dared to run near him with the ball. Browner was no slouch, either. Like Lott, he played at USC and would make six consecutive Pro Bowls (1985-90) for the Vikings.
Honorable mentions: Dave Duerson, Chicago; Kenny Easley, Seattle
Kicker: Dean Biasucci, Indianapolis
Sayles: It’s not absurd for kickers to be among the all-time scoring leaders for a team. Biasucci ranks third all time for Indianapolis, behind Adam Vinatieri and Mike Vanderjagt — two kickers who came after his playing career ended. If you needed a field goal in Tecmo Bowl, Biasucci was your guy.
Burke: I’m gonna bang the table for Chicago’s Kevin Butler here, even though Biasucci probably gave you a little more distance in the game. Tecmo Bowl’s limited team list squeezed out a bunch of kicking heavyweights like Morten Andersen, Gary Anderson and Eddie Murray.
Jones: Not gonna lie: I don’t remember ever kicking a field goal in Tecmo Bowl. I remember the names much more than I remember seeing them in the game.
Honorable mentions: Norm Johnson, Seattle; Kevin Butler, Chicago; Matt Bahr, Cleveland
Punter: Sean Landeta, New York
Jones: Landeta is one of the first punters I remember. But I wasn’t about punting in Tecmo Bowl. Landeta certainly was a great option in the game … but who wanted to punt?
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Burke: Landeta’s leg, combined with the Giants defense, added some field-position strategy to the game, if you wanted to go that route. I’m also on Team Never Punt, by the way.
Sayles: First off, let’s forget what happened to him in 1986. When Tecmo Bowl was released (three years later), Landeta with his single-bar face mask was good. To a video game player, Landeta never disappointed — even when you didn’t get all of the juice from that punting strength bar (you Tecmo Bowl gamers know what I mean).
Honorable mentions: Reggie Roby, Miami; Mike Horan, Denver
Kickoff returners: RB Kevin Mack, Cleveland
Jones: Mack was a cheat code in the game. Only in the world of Tecmo Bowl would the bigger and stronger runner make sense because he would be harder to tackle. That’s what makes video games fun. You can try things that might not make sense in the real world. But in the world of Tecmo Bowl, good luck stopping Mack in the return game.
Sayles: Mack’s teammate, Gerald McNeil, would be the better choice in reality, but as mentioned, the gaming world is where you tried different things. Some players literally bounced off the video game version of Mack (here’s a Tecmo Super Bowl clip as proof). Having him return kicks almost guaranteed good field position every attempt.
Burke: I returned a lot of kicks with New York’s Phil McConkey, and I think Minnesota’s Anthony Carter deserves a mention here (again, I’m a Big Ten homer). I think our pick at punt returner (see below) is a reliable choice, as well. This game came out near the start of his pro career, but he quickly established himself as one of the NFL’s most dangerous threats.
Honorable mentions: WR Gerald McNeil, Cleveland; WR Phil McConkey, New York; RB Herschel Walker, Dallas; WR Anthony Carter, Minnesota
Punt returner: WR Tim Brown, Los Angeles
Sayles: This is one of the positions where you can choose a variety of players. With punt returners, speed and elusiveness are key. Brown had the quickness that if he got around the corner, a big gain was in the cards. Made sense, as he was a Hall of Famer in real life.
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Jones: Before Brown established himself as a Hall of Fame wide receiver, he was explosive in the return game. He racked up 1,098 kick return yards and 444 punt return yards in 1988, making the Pro Bowl as a returner as a rookie. He’s best known for his exploits as a receiver, but that’s not where he made his first major impact in the NFL.
Burke: Yep, no complaints. Brown could fly, in the game and in real life.
Honorable mention: WR John Taylor, San Francisco; WR Gerald McNeil, Cleveland; WR Kelvin Martin, Dallas
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Damon Sayles / The Athletic)