v2 original Tecmo, with complete LA fix! (and no reverses)

[shanfu0]

shanfu0's "Highly Unofficial" original Tecmo Bowl mod

Version 2: "No more pro set"

What's New in v2?

- The end of the pro set! In the interest of not having a formation give-away for pass and run plays, and in light of the TOLB not getting blocked on the original pro set run 1, which started all this mess, all of LA's plays have been exchanged for singleback-low formation plays. That means no more Marcus Allen, but it means the great Tim Brown will be seeing a lot more action in the top WR spot. In the bottom WR spot, there's a new kid on the block called Mervyn Hernandez. On par with the Willie Gaults of the Tecmo World, Hernandez will provide solid play on the rare occasions he gets the ball. See the issues section if you're weirded out by Christensen's new different rating system.

Highlights

- The end of the reverse! Minnesota and Washington are finally liberated from their terrible reverse plays.

- Bo Knows real blocking schemes! Los Angeles' crippled Run 1 and Run 2 are exchanged for normal single-back runs.

- No more pro set passes for LA, so that LA operates out of one single formation. Allen is gone, Tim Brown takes the top WR spot, deadly Todd Christensen still plays TE and the new Mervyn Hernandez moves into the bottom WR spot.

- No modifications have been made to player attributes, ratings, team colors or the like, except for the changes to LA: Hernandez is all new, but Brown and Christensen's stats have not been altered. Brown has been moved up top, and Hernandez slides in at the bottom. Brown and Christensen's ratings have been changed in the interest of accuracy for Brown and because of something weird about LA* that doesn't change gameplay for Christensen. There are no other changes to any personnel, and no other playbook changes besides the aforementioned reverse replacement and LA overhaul.

- Minor edits to the starting screens to credit me and reflect that this is absolutely not a licensed product of any kind.

(* - see the "Issues" section)

Playbook Changes

- Minnesota gets Indianapolis' Run 1 and Run 2 to replace its sweep and reverse.

- Washington gets Cleveland's Run 2 to replace its reverse.

- Los Angeles gets Dallas' Run 1 and Run 2 to replace its irregular pro set runs. In the interest of using one singleback formation, LA gets Dallas' pass 1 and New York's pass 2. (One bad pass and one good pass)

Issues

- Because of the way Tecmo lists LA's personnel and the differences between the pro set and the singleback formation, LA's Christensen has RB-style ratings. This is unavoidable without major hacking. Because remember, original LA has two RBs and two recievers (one WR and one TE). Now LA has one RB and three recievers like normal. To make a long story short, Christensen takes the slot that was used by Allen, which is an RB in the pro set, but TE in singleback, but the ratings for that slot are yards and touchdowns. Hopefully we all remember that Christensen is a dangerous man, second only to Mark Bavaro at TE. I figure this one minor imperfection is easily worth the exchange for two sensibly-blocked Bo runs and one universal formation for LA.

Thanks To

- The Tecmo Super Bowl Repository (knobbe.org) for hosting Tecmo Bowl roms at http://www.knobbe.org/nesroms.htm

- Emuware.com for hosting the incredibly convenient Tecmo Bowl Manager program http://www.emuware.com/tbm/index.php

- Cam Allen's http://www.geocities.com/cpa68/tecmo.html for hosting the completely complete Tecmo Bowl Playbooks at http://www.geocities.com/cpa68/playbooks.html

- A thread (http://www.tecmobowl.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8535) on the TSB Repository Message Board for providing information on how to modify playbooks.

- Tecmo (http://www.tecmoinc.com/) for creating this classic game in the first place.

shanfu0_originalTB_2.zip

[shanfu0]

Not to double-post, but a recent PM from Tecmo-Mad Brad makes me wonder- would you rather LA have a split singleback-running and pro set-passing playbook OR have an all-singleback playbook, but with no Marcus Allen?

(Who would be the other LA WR, then? And how good would he be? I personally know nothing about such things.)

Or does someone have crazy hacking skills sufficient to change the programmed blocking schemes so Bo's not screwed over?

As Tecmo-Mad Brad said via PM,

one question....i assume you gave the saints the raiders slot, so you could have both duece and reggie running the ball? ive wanted to re-work the raiders, but alas you'd have to re-do the whole playbook to go to a 1 back set. and i assume you know about the blocking glitch that causes the top LOB to have a free shot at Bo jackson. i guess if somehow you could change the blocking patterns(probably insanely complex) then this could be remedied....perhaps allen would go up top and engae the top OLB.

[shanfu0]

Bump, because I've updated the ROM to v2, replacing LA's pro set pass plays for normal singleback plays. Read all about it and download the latest version up top.

[BO FB Offtackle Left]

It's Fernandez.

Not sure what-all you did, I read the post quickly, but in answer to your question, Bo should run and Marcus should catch. I would say he was the third best receiver on the team behind Christiansen and Fernandez. Actually, probably better than Fernandez.

[shanfu0]

Yeah, #86 Mervyn Fernandez now lines up at bottom WR. I gave him "good" WR stats (ie, like Gault, Bouza, and company).

I'm aware that Allen could catch, but did he ever line up as a WR, or was he just an RB who was good at catching the football? Because if he was ever a WR, I'd swap him in in a jiffy, but barring a miraculous hacking of the LA run 1 play, we have to stay with the singleback formation, and you can only have one RB in singleback. And I guess I could put in Allen and give LA a half-back dump, but I think I'd prefer 2 Bo runs.

[bruddog]

Not sure why you wouldn't just change the plays before starting the game between someone. I don't see much of a point to this but then I don't see much point in playing the computer so I'm probably the wrong person to comment on this.

[capnjiffy]

Not sure why you wouldn't just change the plays before starting the game between someone. I don't see much of a point to this but then I don't see much point in playing the computer so I'm probably the wrong person to comment on this.

I don't see much point in playing Tecmo Bowl when an obviously superior game exists... I guess I crank it up once every year or two, laugh at it, and then let it rest again.

[Bo Knows]

I don't see much point in playing Tecmo Bowl when an obviously superior game exists... I guess I crank it up once every year or two, laugh at it, and then let it rest again.

Incredulous.

[capnjiffy]

I don't see much point in playing Tecmo Bowl when an obviously superior game exists... I guess I crank it up once every year or two, laugh at it, and then let it rest again.

Incredulous.

To me it's like playing Super Mario Brothers when you've got a copy of SMB3 sitting right next to you. Why would you ever play the inferior one?

[kingsoby1]

worst analogy ever.

[cxrom]

To me it's like playing Super Mario Brothers when you've got a copy of SMB3 sitting right next to you. Why would you ever play the inferior one?

next he's gonna say we should all start playin madden...

[averagetsbplayer]

worst analogy ever.

agreed

[Tecmo-Mad-Brad]

I don't see much point in playing Tecmo Bowl when an obviously superior game exists... I guess I crank it up once every year or two, laugh at it, and then let it rest again.

i never really took a liking to TSB. I prefer the original by a landslide. I dont care for the fluke factor of TSB. JJ's, fumbles, balls droped out in open space with no one with in 10 yards among other things.

In the original these flukey things dont occur. Theres more playpicks by the defense, and if i get beat in a game of TB its cause you beat me...not because joe montana and rice were able to hook up on 3 or 4 miracles. TB with its 4 plays is more of a mindgame for me than the 8 in TSB.

[capnjiffy]

I don't see much point in playing Tecmo Bowl when an obviously superior game exists... I guess I crank it up once every year or two, laugh at it, and then let it rest again.

i never really took a liking to TSB. I prefer the original by a landslide. I dont care for the fluke factor of TSB. JJ's, fumbles, balls droped out in open space with no one with in 10 yards among other things.

In the original these flukey things dont occur. Theres more playpicks by the defense, and if i get beat in a game of TB its cause you beat me...not because joe montana and rice were able to hook up on 3 or 4 miracles. TB with its 4 plays is more of a mindgame for me than the 8 in TSB.

Fair enough. You definitely have a point there, but most times when playing against human opponents teams like the 49ers are off-limits anyway. I just think TB is a little too repetitive, I get bored with it quite easily.

And Madden is inferior to TSB, obviously. Duh.

[Tecmo-Mad-Brad]

Fair enough. You definitely have a point there, but most times when playing against human opponents teams like the 49ers are off-limits anyway. I just think TB is a little too repetitive, I get bored with it quite easily.

And Madden is inferior to TSB, obviously. Duh.

SF off limits? WOW!

There is nothing better than knocking a team like San Fran right the fuck out of the playoffs in our league games!

They dont have that much of an advantage over the top 5-6 teams. Most anyone I know that plays a lot of original TB would take the Giants with the 1st pick. CHI/SF would be next with a slant on personal preference.