Madden '92

"And it's been like that since Madden '92" - Ludacris, Madden 2000 theme

SEGA Genesis

NOTE: Click HERE for screenshots.

John Madden Football '92 is EA's second game in the Madden franchise on the SEGA Genesis. I never played this game growing up, but saw it in the bargain bin at Funcoland for 79 cents in the late 90's (back when Funcoland existed) and I thought it would be interesting to compare to ultra-modern madden games like Madden '99. It then promptly sat on my shelf and then in a box for the next decade. Now, mere days after the release of Madden '11, I am ready to finally turn my attention to Madden '92.

I actually have the box for this one, but no instructions. There was a lot of good information on the box- to begin, there is a giant unattributed quote (I am guessing John Madden) calling the game "The Greatest Play in Football History!" It also was apparently the 1990 game of the year on Genesis according to Game Player's magazine. The game was released in 1991 and is supposed to correlate to the 1991 NFL season, so I'm not sure how that works, but I will trust Game Player's judgment.

The box also boasts better AI ("Get away with your big play ONCE, but go back to it too soon and you'll get stuffed -- BIG TIME."), 29 teams, new formations, more player animations, a new "instant replay" feature, weather options ("wind" is introduced as a factor), QB substitutions, and player injuries. I never saw any injuries in the games that I played, but allegedly an ambulance comes into the field and runs over everything in its path (including players and refs) to get to the player who is down.

After putting the game in and firing up the Genesis, I once again saw the old EA logo and then the title screen with Madden himself. The music is awesome- SO Genesis- it sounds just like music from another popular EA game from that era ROAD RASH.

If you don't do anything, it dumps you to a screen featuring a little talking head of Madden (animated by about three frames on loop) in which text scrolls: "Hey, I did another Genesis football game!" The credits for the development team then scroll down the screen. There is something funny about this because Madden comes off as a dolt without actually speaking.

The menu screen is an improvement over the original- while it still has a similar style, it now includes pictures of football players at the top of the screen and their uniforms change color depending on which teams you choose. Once again, however, the game has no NFL license and so there are no team names or player names or anything like that. HOWEVER, players DO now have numbers that roughly correspond to NFL rosters in 1991 (these rosters are very easy to find with a simple Google search).

The team selection has been expanded to include the 28 pro NFL teams at the time (before Baltimore, Tennessee, Jacksonville, and Carolina had teams) as well as an "All-Madden" squad.

The game options are similar to the first Madden game in that a "regular season" game is really just an "exhibition" whereas the "Playoffs" let you string together games in a single-elimination tournament in the hopes of winning the (now officially named) "John Madden Championship Trophy". Being the competitor that I am, I really wanted another one of these to add to my collection.

I started up a "new playoff" and the first match-up was NE @ Oakland. John Madden provided the pre-game scouting report by telling me that "New England relies on defense to stay in the game." Very helpful, as usual.

The graphics are slightly improved from the previous game, although much is lifted directly. The jersey colors seem to better emulate the colors of the teams they are supposed to represent. Once again, there is no coin toss and the player is immediately launched into the kick-off (visitors always kick first). The kickoff meter is new and improved though and has a little wind meter to help you angle it better. Whenever there is a big play (I guess of 20 yards or more that helps the home team- something like this) a crude 3-frame animation of a crowd cheering will pop up. While this is a nice touch, the stands still appear empty after a field goal- just rows of empty seats.

Players seem a little less sluggish than before, but are still pretty slow by most standards. It can feel like the game is taking place under water at times and the player you are controlling only responds to the buttons you press most of the time (trying to string together a spin move followed by a dive or whatever can be frustrating).

The new instant replay feature is crude, but it basically works. It can only remember the last 5 seconds or so of the previous play, so on big returns the instant replay may only capture the player running from the 10 to the 5 and crossing the goal line while skipping the diving catch he made to get there.

I got a kick out of having the players numbers for the first time. My starting QB was #7 (who is supposed to be Hugh Millen, I think). Before my time, but I enjoyed linking up with #80, Irving Fryar, on 3rd downs.

The A.I. does seem to be improved over the original- I was stunned when the CPU controlled Oakland running back juked me with a spin move. There is also a drive summary after each score, which is a nice touch. Passing windows return and still are awful. The ball spotter is less forgiving than before- if you get hit and dropped, you can't bank on the automatic +3 yards added to the total as was the case before.

In the process of learning all of these quirks, I once again found myself losing to the CPU at half-time in my first game. This time, I was down 10-7. Madden popped up and gave me a tip- "When a run is a must, I want my big guys up in there." Okay...

After the (somewhat pointless) highlights shown from around the league, I launched into the second half. I realized that my linebacker #56 (Hall of Famer Andre Tippett) was notably faster than my other defensive players, so I leaned on him heavily. I shut out Okland in the second half and came away with a 17-10 win.

The next game against Cincinnati was one for the ages- here more quirks began to show up. To begin, some players are totally stacked. #30 on Cincinnati (Ickey Woods) was unstoppable and I was lucky to be up 14-7 at the half. I realized a trick that, while on offense, pressing the dive button ("A") is pretty much a guaranteed additional 6 yards after the run.

The second half began with a string of Ickey runs and after a shootout, the game was tied at the end of regulation 28-28. My first OT experience in the Madden series had no clock- whoever scored first would win. In the course of the game it became evident that there was no way for me to stop Ickey Woods (I hadn't forced a punt all day), so I was aggressive and went for it on 4th and 7 from deep in my own territory. I was able to convert by using the "dive" trick on a run to bring up a new set of downs. The game went a bit nuts at this point. What had been a turnover free game became a free-for-all. I threw a pick. They threw a pick. I ran up the middle (to play it safe) and fumbled the ball over to them. I stuff them three plays in a row and on 4 and 6 they went for it (on my 40 or so). This time THEY use the dive trick and pick up the first down. I thought the game was lost, but then #7 (Boomer Esiason) threw another pick, making it four consecutive turnovers. This time, I was able to return the ball 40+ yards. This put me well into scoring range. I didn't take any chances at this point and booted a short field goal to win 31-28.

Following the field goal, the "final score" screen, which normally just shows the score superimposed over an image of the field, showed little dots (representing fans) storming the field and tearing down the goal posts (no joke). It was a special moment.

The next game was at Miami. This game was far less interesting as I was in control throughout- after getting up 17-0, a late score by Miami did not matter. My 17-7 win put me in another championship game, this time against Detroit, to compete for my second straight "John Madden Championship Trophy".

As the game got underway in Detroit, it immediately became apparent that the Ickey Woods phenomenon of being lightning fast and unstoppable was even more pronounced in #20, Barry Sanders. Regardless of the personnel I had on the field or the defensive formation, every time Sanders touched the ball he seemed to go between 25-70 yards. My best strategy was to keep him off the field by having long drives of my own. This resulted in a 10-10 tie at the half.

It wasn't until this game that I realized that passing controls had been refined a bit from the previous year- if you needed to zip a ball to the receiver quickly, hold the button, if you want to loft it up to him, tap it. This might seem obvious to any current Madden player, but this did not exist in the first game (everything was a lob).

For the second half of the championship, I continued my strategy of trying to keep Sanders off the field at all costs. After trading scores with them, I managed to pull ahead 24-17 with 1:44 to go. The time constraints made the computer opt to finally start passing the ball (a terrible mistake given that Sanders could have scored at will). They managed to get to my 10 yard line nevertheless and stopped the clock with 3 seconds left. With one play left in the game, the quarterback rifled the ball over the middle to the tight-end, who was promptly dropped by my linebacker at the 1. The final gun sounded and I had escaped with my second "John Madden Championship Trophy".

Once again, the reward for winning the championship was lacking. A picture of the trophy flashed in front of the screen (as it had during every playoff game), but this time, "New England" was written underneath it. There was no special music or anything.

In conclusion, Madden '92 improves on the original game in a number of small ways making it a better package on the whole. Players are a bit faster, the computer DOES seem a bit smarter, things seem to work a bit better in general. However, in other ways it seemed less balanced on the whole- the games I almost lost had less to do with the CPU's superior strategy and more to do with the heavily skewed stats in favor of a couple of players. If I were to assign numbers to rate the games, I would say that the first game was a 3.5/10 and this one is 4/10.