Madden before the monopoly: Part II

Madden 97 for the Nintendo Game Boy gave you most of the elements found in its large-console brothers, the key word being most.

Since the new Madden is game will be soon released to the public, and because I've reviewed the other two football games I own for the Nintendo Game Boy, I figured I'd go ahead and take a look back at Madden 97. But instead of breaking the game down by graphics, sound, etc., I'm just going to give you a "What I like/don't like" rundown. The game was released in 1996, the same year the series made its debut on the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Other consoles, such as the Genesis and SNES, also featured this title.

What I like: This game is all retro Madden and reminds me of my favorite Madden, John Madden Football '93 for the Sega Genesis. From the vertical, top-down gameplay to the use of passing windows, this game is old-school. Even though this is a Game Boy title, it still features the complex offensive and defensive playbooks featured throughout the series. There are some stats available for viewing during gameplay. Cutscenes and sound bytes featuring the referees and crowd are also present. And I really like the little dances players do when the score.

What I don't like: Notice the title of the game is "Madden 97" and not "Madden NFL 97," meaning the game doesn't feature actual team names (only cities, like in Tecmo Bowl) or player names (only numbers). Also, it took me quite some time to differentiate what was actually the ball (which is abnormally huge) and what was actually the shadow under the ball. Passes fly through the sky in slow-motion, and punts by the computer have a hang time in the 8-second range, as if you're playing football on the Moon. And since it's built on the Game Boy platform pre-GBA, you have to keep track of the medieval password save system to keep a season going.

If you're going to play this one, I'd highly suggest doing so using a Super Game Boy or Game Boy Player. My Game Boy Player gives the title screens and menus a green tint and the in-game screens a blue one, unlike the screenshot above. If not, you may have trouble seeing so many players on the screen at the same time. If you don't necessarily need Madden to get you video game football fix, then I'd suggest finding a copy of Tecmo Bowl instead.