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Historical facts, assumptions, and observations for the original Tecmo Bowl


Tecmo-Mad-Brad

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Reading through old threads, I noticed people often make incorrect assumptions about what year the original Tecmo Bowl is based on, or why the teams were chosen  

 

This podcast http://ypbpodcast.com/2015/09/07/episode-019-tecmo-bowl-1989-and-tecmo-super-bowl-1991/  talked about how a lot of history, and facts in putting the game together really aren't documented online. I've spent a lot of time researching the game and here's what I came up with. 

 

  • What year is Tecmo Bowl based on?

The original Tecmo Bowl for the NES was released in February of 1989.  Roster however were primarily derived from the 1987 season, but did reflect some notable player movement heading into the 1988 season.  By slightly combining the 2 seasons's rosters, it caused some confusion.   I contacted a former Tecmo employee, and he implied that it took roughly a year for them to create Tecmo Bowl from start to finish.  After teams were chosen, roster info would have been collected from the 1987 season.  The creation of the game certainly may have begun prior to the end of 1987.  Due to many factors I have found, it leads me to believe the rosters were assembled, then slightly revamped after offseason player movement occurred.  They were ultimately finalized early during the the 1988 NFL season.   

 

The Tecmo Bowl rosters, are nearly 100% aligned with actual 1987 NFL starting rosters.  Information for 1987 NFL rosters can be found at  http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1987/  The Colts starting defense in 1987 aligns 100% with the Tecmo Colts roster.  The 1988 Colts defense however is off by a player here and there.  Jerome Salley for example is on the Tecmo Indy roster, and he last played for Indy in 1987.  Sally was traded mid year(87) to the Chiefs, and was out of the league in 1988. 

 

Kenny Easley last saw NFL action for the Seahawks in 1987, and is found on the Tecmo Seattle roster.  Easley's career ended due to a medical condition, when he failed a team physical following a trade to the Cardinals.  I have found many players who played their final game in 1987 that are included in Tecmo.  

 

Many players that were rookies in 1987 are featured in Tecmo Bowl.  Broncos Ricky Nattiel, Cowboys Ron Francis, Dolphins John Bosa, Bears WR Ron Morris, along with many others.  That clearly rules out 1986.  There are however some Tecmo Bowl roster inconsistencies concerning 1988, which I'll address later on.   

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  • How did Tecmo settle on which teams to include?

Tecmo Bowl's release date of 1989, so many thought they used the playoff teams from 1988, but that's not the case.  3 teams who hadn't reached the playoffs in many years finally got to the 1988 post season.  The Bills, Bengals, and Eagles emerged from long playoff droughts in 88 and they're not included.  Furthermore, the NFL playoffs at that time only had 5 teams per conference.  Tecmo Bowl has 12.  A common assumption is that Tecmo was based on the 86 or 87 playoffs.  The playoff teams from 86 included the Pats, Jets, Chiefs, and Rams were in.  87 had the Saints, and Oilers in the playoffs.  Nope.

 

I believe the answer for how teams made their way onto Tecmo Bowl is rather simple.  It's based on the best franchises from that era...for the most part.  Team records from 1985 to 1987 show that virtually the 12 best teams in the NFL during that time were included....for the most part.  Considering the rosters were pulled from 87, there are some teams included that weren't playoff bound that year.  But when I say era, I was looking at 85-87, and not just 1987.  My speculation on why each team was likely chosen is below.  I'll also point to some teams that were left out that perhaps should have been included in Tecmo Bowl.

 

  • A look at the AFC in 1987

--Denver & Miami.  Elway and Marino.  Elway had 2 Super Bowls appearances by the end of the 87 season.  Miami as a team appearing to be in a downward trajectory since losing SB 19.  Miami didn't reach the playoffs in 86 or 87.  Marino however was a phenom at the time by setting passing records.  Despite Miami being .500-ish in 86/87, there was no denying Marino's name recognition.

 

--Cleveland was a div champ in 85, 86, & 87, and had previous playoff appearances earlier in the 80's.  They were continually successful at the time.  Kosar had made his mark on the NFL with high profile games.

 

--Seattle was a perennial playoff contender for most of the 80's, and had even reached the AFC CCG during the 83 season.  Largent was known commodity that was well on his way to the hall of fame. 

 

--The Raiders IMO were one of the few teams that were included despite their lack of recent success.  The 1980 and 1983 Raiders won Super bowls, and weren't that far removed from championships.  The last time they were relevant was 1985.  The organization was in transition by 87.  If 87 was indeed the launching point for creating Tecmo, then I have no apprehension in believing that the Japanese programmers who were admitted NFL fans marveled at Bo Jackson on that fateful Monday night game in the Kingdome.  If there were any questions lingering about adding the Raiders, Bo Jackson answered them all.  Hard to deny this theory when they made his character into one of the most dominant video game players.....ever.

 

--The Colts had been a dreadful franchise while heading towards the "Tecmo era".  They had drafted well, especially on the defensive side of the ball leading up to their division title in 1987.  A trade for Eric Dickerson pushed them towards winning the division, as he gave them the star power they needed.  That went along with the look of an "up and comer" to garner inclusion on Tecmo.  They fit the bill for a "what have you done for me lately" type squad than made the final cut.

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  • A look at the NFC in 1987

--Bears, Giants, & Redskins.  Obviously were SB champs from 85,86 and 87 season.  Bears had won the most games in the NFL from 85-87...and by a wide margin over 2nd place.  The Giants fell off the map in 87 following their SB win, but had the pedigree of talent on their side.  That further proved to me they looked at the era, and not just the records of 1987.  Parcells and G-men seemed to suffer a SB hangover and were rankled with injuries as they went 6-9 in 1987.  Much like Bo, Lawrence Taylor got the pomp and circumstance of sorts with a hellacious player rating, and made for an easy choice to include New York.   Washington had just won their 2nd SB of the decade in 1987, and had played in a 3rd(losing to LA in 83).  The Skins were typically a 10-12 win team during that era, and like Cleveland, a shoe in for consistency.  Considering Timmy Smith set a SB rushing record, It did raise some questions as to why they made him such a marginal RB?  Overall the offense wasn't really anything special from a ratings aspect.  They have a great defense, but I did find it odd coming off a SB win that Tecmo didn't inflate their ratings more.  Were they already assigning player ratings during the 87 season...long before the SB and didn't expect much from Washington. 

 

--San Francisco was a team in some transition during 85/86.  They were ushering out players instrumental to their earlier 80's SB titles, while getting the new batch in place that would help lead them to 2 more championships in 88/89.  The 49ers were as easy of a choice as there was at the time.  San Francisco probably should have won the SB in 87, because that team graded out as one of the best 49er teams ever.  The 49ers absolutely destroyed their final 3 opponents 124-7 in the regular season, and were odds on favorites to win it all.   They had the history on their side, the big names on offense, and outside of the playoff collapse, they had the look of the best team in 1987.

 

--When Minnesota lost in the NFC CCG at the end of the 1987 season, they had the look of a legit "up and comer".  However I don't think that would have been totally apparent during the 1987 season.  Despite going 8-4 in "non strike" games, they had lost 3 of their final 4, and really hadn't shown much in terms of dominating performances.  Then the playoffs happen.  They routed the Saints in New Orlean's 1st ever playoff game 44-10.  Up next, the SB favorite 49ers.  Anthony Carter puts on a clinic, and the defense showcases a glimpse of what was to come in future years from that unit.  I have a suspicion that playoff run cemented themselves into an addition on Tecmo Bowl.

 

-Lastly, Dallas is up next.  Easily the most talent deficient team in the game.  If they didn't have Herschel....woof, they'd be incredibly terrible to use.  But, Dallas still held the moniker of America's team, although like LA, they hadn't been exactly relevant since 1985. Despite winning the division in 85, they are best remembered for the 44-0 shellacking the Bears put on them.  Dallas was in clear decline by 87.  I think that led to them having a lack of talent that was portrayed by Tecmo Bowl, but there probably wasn't any question they would make the cut.  

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  • Who got left out of Tecmo Bowl?

Despite making a case for all 12 teams legitimacy, there's still the handful of teams that might have been included had an event not worked against them.  By all rights Minnesota had been a .500 squad in 85/86, and not likely choice at that time.  In all fairness, the Rams probably should have been represented here.  They had bested the 49ers for a division title in 85, and had a few playoff appearances on the resume, along with some star power.  However they parted ways with Dickerson, and probably lost their cachet in the process.  Meanwhile the Vikings go Beast-mode in the 87 playoffs, and bump out the Rams during a 120 minute onslaught of bludgeoning football...against 2 teams that finished higher in the Rams division.  Besides, the programmers probably would've had to come up with a creative way to discern the 2 LA franchises on the team select screen...so kicking the Rams to the curb was fortuitous for them.

 

As Dickerson set sail to Indy to win a division title in 87 and get Indy in the game, the Pats and to a lesser extent the Jets Tecmo Bowl ships collectively sank.  The Pats had the best resume of anyone not included.  2 Playoff runs,  SB loss, division title, and kept Marino from a 2nd SB appearance.  They even beat the Dickerson led Colts 24-0 in 87, but were edged out by Indy by a game for the division title.  Jets had some success, but not quite as much notoriety as the Pats had garnered.

 

When I really look at it closely, I think Eric Dickerson single-handedly kept the Rams/Pats out of Tecmo....and in turn got the Colts/Vikings in.  Of course, Dickerson later took Tecmo to court due to the inclusion of his likeness in the game.  Albert Bentley somewhat becomes a household name when Dickerson gets pulled from Tecmo Bowl.  Meanwhile Charles White who led the league in rushing in 87, fades into obscurity the next year as he's never immortalized by Tecmo Bowl had Dickerson stayed a Ram.  Eh, well you win some and you lose some.

 

One thing that really intrigues me...had Dickerson not been traded from the Rams, would they have still made it considering Minnesota's playoff run in 87.  Its seems to me that the programmers gave immediate consideration to the "up and comers" from 87.  Bo Jackson, the Colts, and then the Vikings are seemingly proof of that notion.

 

The Saints had a breakout 1987 and 4 pro bowl LBs.  If there was a flavor of the month team, it certainly could have been them.  Kansas City did win 10 games in 1986, but followed up with 4 in 1987.  Unlike Dallas for a good part of the 80's, the Steelers were really a non factor in the AFC.  Especially after Marino knocked them out of the AFC conference championship game following the 84 season.  The mystique of the steel curtain was long gone by the time Tecmo was looking for a dozen team to fill the game.  Without free agency in the 1st half of the 80's the good teams stayed good for the most part, while the mediocre and bad often were unable to gain any traction.  Of the 28 NFL teams at the time, only half were really in the conversation for inclusion, even when looking at a 3 year period of data.                                                     

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  • Tecmo Bowl roster anomalies

Timeline for finalizing the rosters

If Tecmo Bowl is based off 1987 rosters why is Wilber Marshall with Washington?  He played for Chicago in 87, then signed with Washington in the offseason.  Tim Brown was winning the Heisman for Notre Dame in 1987, yet he's a Tecmo Raider.  Tony Dorsett was a Cowboy in 87, then was traded to the Broncos prior to the 88 season.  Clint Didier played TE for Washington in 87, then signed with Green Bay in 88.  Yet Didier is still shown on Washington's Tecmo roster.  Walter Payton retired at the end of the 87 season, yet he's still on the game despite not being released until 1989.  What's going on with all these inconsistencies?

 

The best conclusion I can come to is that the programmers were aware of movement around the league by the "named commodities" in-between the 87 and 88 seasons.   They reflected that accordingly by integrating Marshall into the Washington defense.  Releasing a game in February of 1989 that still had Wilber Marshall as a Chicago bears for example would have been viewed as an rather egregious oversight.  However they possibly weren't aware of lesser recognizable players moving about the league, such as tight end Clint Didier.  They also could have just been lazy and failed to update minor rosters changes appropriately.  They may also have been dealing with a cut off date in order to submit the game for manufacturing, and ran out of time to get the necessary information from the 1988 season.   

  

If there was a such a cut off date for roster changes, perhaps the following information provides some insight into when it may have been.  Tony Dorsett was traded Jun 3rd 1988 to Denver.  Fredd Young held out with Seattle while seeking a new contract.  Fredd eventually was traded September 9th 1988 to the Colts.  That trad occurred mid-week following the 1st game of the 88 season.  

 

Dorsett is on Denver's roster, but Young is found on Seattle.  You may be asking was Fredd Young a marginal/inconsequential NFL player?  The answer is no.  4 time pro-bowl player from 84-87, and Young was given one of the better linebacker ratings in the game.  He wasn't a Clint Didier type.  Someone working on Tecmo Bowl knew exactly how good he was, and rated him accordingly.  I have a hard time believing his trade went unnoticed by the programmers early in the 1988 season.  That led me to believe the final rosters were submitted somewhere between the Dorsett trade and the start of the 88 season.  However Jay schroeder threw a wrench in that theory.  He was traded from Washington to Los Angeles on opening day, which was September 4th.  Jay is the Raiders Tecmo QB despite switching teams just 5 days prior to Young.  

 

I thought I had some evidence for the time table on the rosters, then the Jay Schroeder curve-ball led me to more questions.  Did they see Tim Brown as a Hesiman winner and "sight unseen" in the NFL and just project him with a good rating before he even played a game in the NFL?  Was opening day virtually the final cut off date?  Was the date later in the year but a trade of one of the best LineBackers in Tecmo Bowl was somehow overlooked?  If the date was well after opening day in 1988, they certainly could have looked at Tim Brown's production as a rookie and projected that as well with his ratings.

 

A former Tecmo employee(who came aboard after Tecmo Bowl was released) did tell me the players and ratings would be the last piece to be finalized in the game.  With some new revelations it appears that there is truth to this.   

Edited by Tecmo-Mad-Brad
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Some more thought on things we'll cover next is the NFLPA impact on the game, and lack of NFL team licensing.....I've never really gotten the whole seemingly manufactured angst in hindsight towards the made up team logos in the original Tecmo Bowl.  Did it really matter that much?  That crappy LJN game had the correct logos if I'm not mistaken and that game was reason to get up in arms because I blew 25 bucks on it as a kid.    


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  • More Roster anomalies

 

A couple things I found interesting with the rosters, which raised more questions.  In 1986 Derick Crawford had the most kick returns for the 49ers.  He also fielded a handful of punts in 86.....but Don Griffin was the primary punt return man.  Crawford is the 49ers Tecmo return man, despite no longer playing in the NFL in 1987.  He recorded no stats that year, and is not shown on their roster.  How did he make the cut on a game which had rosters based on 1987?    

 

Another questionable player is the Dallas return man, Robert Lavette.  In 1986 he led the Cowboys with 36 kick returns, and also fielded 18 punt.  Clearly a major player in the return game that year.  However, in 1987 Lavette had a severely diminished role returning kicks...with no punts, and only 4 kickoffs returned.,,,yet he was still tabbed as the Dallas return man.  Lavette played a very minor role for the cowboys offense with inimila rushes and receptions during his time there as well.  He was not a named commodity at that time.  

 

 Futhermore, Lavette was traded from Dallas to Philadelphia during the 87 season, and only played in 1 game for the Eagles.  He recorder 2 kick returns, and never played in an NFL game again after 1987.  

 

James Pruit is the Miami return man.  He fielded 11 punts in 1986, but returned one for a score...and had NO kick retunrs that year.  He handled NO punt of kick return duties in 1987, yet is Miami's return man.  

 

Phil McKonkey led the Giants in punt and kick return figures in 86.  No longer handled KR duties in 87...still featured as NY's KR and PR man.  

Edited by Tecmo-Mad-Brad
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