Madden '94

MADDEN '94

SEGA Genesis

Click HERE for all screenshots.

"He's All Pro tight end. He's big and pretty. Big as a dump truck. Runs like a gazelle. Buy hey. Come across the middle and I send him to another zip code. C.O.D. Next trip through my zone and he'll remember. It's a long season. Stay outta my ZONE!" - Any strong safety, NFL (r)*

*Quote from the back of the Madden ’94 box

While the bad grammar in the opening sentence makes it sound like “any strong safety” is a Russian spy, what really should stand out here is the last bit - this is an NFL strong safety. Madden ’94 is a milestone in the series for a number of reasons. First, it has the NFL license. Second, it includes the option of playing through a 16 game regular NFL season, followed by the playoffs and the Superbowl (yes- THE Superbowl).

The game boasts an astounding 80 teams to choose from (28 NFL teams, 12 All-Time Franchises, 38 Super Bowl Teams, and 2 All-Madden Squads), and features greatly improved graphics and animations. This was clearly a year in which EA decided to invest heavily in their NFL football franchise.

Upon starting up the game, the improved graphics and sound were immediately noticeable. Everything about the presentation is improved- starting with the opening EA Sports logo and the digitized speech (“It’s in the game!”). Even the cheesy animation of Madden is improved. This said, there is one frame where he talks out of the side of his mouth that looks like Madden is telling an off-color joke or using a slur. Asshole.

Madden ’94 has personal meaning for me as it was the first Madden game I ever played. I was 11 years old and my neighbor Brian let me borrow it for a week. I still didn’t watch NFL games on TV at that point, and I had no idea how the game really worked. Brian told me two key things: 1. The Dallas Cowboys were the best team (always be Dallas), and 2. Use the “hail mary” play every time.

Using that strategy as an 11 year old meant I could beat the CPU every time. I won the Superbowl back then with relative ease. But would this simple strategy work with the terrible New England Patriots who were the worst team in the NFL following the ’92 season?

I scrolled through the options screen and chose “New Playoffs” as the Patriots (featuring the new “flying Elvis” logo). (Note: I might start doing full seasons at some point, but for the sake of expediency, I am sticking with Playoffs only for the time being.) The Pats were ranked as “poor” (the lowest ranking) in virtually every phase of the game.

After a splash screen showing the Lombardi Trophy (the prize), I immediately got into the game- Patriots @ Chargers. Once again, I was struck by how much better the presentation was in ’94. The player models are bigger and better defined. Even the coin-toss looks better, with its zoomed in image of realistic looking football players and the referee. The graphics overhaul can be seen everywhere (even the fonts are better).

Once the game got underway, I noticed that the overall speed of the game had also been increased. While it was not lightning fast, it was still faster than the previous three games. This said, the controls had been switched around somewhat. I didn’t have the manual for this game, but I was stunned to find that the “speed-burst” button was missing- now “C” would only do a “hurdle” move and “A” would cause the player to dive straight up in the air (and not forward). I was also baffled by the player numbers on my team- this was supposed to be Drew Bledsoe’s rookie year—why was he wearing #14? There was no #14 QB on New England in 1993! In fact, none of the player numbers matched the rosters that I had.

This player number issue was baffling to me as other teams seemed to have the right numbers (Troy Aikman on Dallas was #8 and Emmitt Smith #22). My best guess is that it had to do with getting an NFL license vs. getting a NFLPA license, but I don’t really know. This lack of consistency basically meant that I had no idea which players I had on my team or who was supposed to be who.

In any case, by halftime, I was still figuring out the controls and was down 7-6. I noted that the crowd was more involved in the game- after big plays, good or bad, there would be a “photo-realistic” depiction of fans cheering or booing. There were also new player animations- including one where a defensive player would take off his helmet and do squat thrusts over a sacked QB’s head. This looked terrible.

Halftime stats were more detailed and in general, the game just felt more polished than in previous years- there were no frame-rate issues on punts.

After I scored a TD in the second half, I was stunned when my XP was blocked by the CPU, leaving me with an awkward 12-7 lead. Some quirks started to show by this point- as was the case in the previous two editions of the game, some players were stacked. The Chargers running backs were unstoppable, for example. Also, some of the new animations just looked awkward. Besides the squat-thrust example mentioned above, some of the tackle animations look bizarre. A tackled player will sometimes tip over like a tower, and will not use his arms to brace for impact. He will just land on his face in the turf.

The rest of my 12-7 game felt like a stalemate UNTIL the last minute or so. The Chargers got the ball back with just under a minute left and no time outs, deep in their own territory. After three incomplete passes, they went for it on 4^th and 10 with a surprise run up the middle. Caught off guard, they picked up the first down and much more, stopping the clock with :01 at my 38 yard line. I decided to blitz with my linebackers while keeping everyone else deep. On the last play of the game, I got heavy pressure and knocked down Chargers QB as he rifled the ball deep down the left sideline and the final gun sounded. My safety dove to make the tackle as the WR hauled in the pass at the 8, but MISSED, and it looked like the receiver was home free. I took control of the closest corner and frantically DOVE to make a game saving tackle. I thought I MISSED, but the WR crumbled at the 1 yard line. I had just barely won 12-7.

My next game was the Pats @ the Dolphins- I decided that I would employ Brian’s old strategy of throwing hail mary after hail mary in order to stay competitive. This strategy was not ideal, but it led to my having a 10-3 halftime lead. For the second straight game, the CPU had horrible clock management skills. Miami had a clear chance to score a field goal before the half that was squandered by bad clock management.

I continued the “bombs away” approach in the second half and realized that if I took control of my WR while the ball was in the air, I could jockey for position and throw the DB out of the way before catching the ball (there is no “offensive pass interference” in the game). I was up 24-3 before Miami tried to mount a comeback. Too little too late- in spite of a safety and a questionable defensive pass interference call against me, Miami came up short, 24-12. They mangled clock management at the end of the 4^th quarter by allowing me to take a ton of time off the clock. I finished the game with 2 yards rushing and 24 points. Brian’s “hail mary” strategy seemed to have worked, even with the lowly Pats.

The AFC Championship game was against the Bills. In the early 1990’s, the Bills were consistently the best team in the AFC (4 consecutive AFC Championships!). Their stats reflected this and it was disheartening to see “excellent” ratings compared against my “poor” ones more or less across the board. I went into the game trying to repeat my deep ball strategy from the Miami game, but was failing miserably in the first half. I simply couldn’t move the ball- running or passing. In contrast, the Bills could do whatever they wanted- especially on the ground. I was down 10-0 at the half, but it should have been worse.

It got worse fast- I started the second half with a fumble. Another questionable pass interference call against me on the Bills drive that followed resulted in my falling behind 17-0. I managed a quick score at the end of the 3^rd quarter, making it 17-7 into the fourth.

Things got weird at this point. The Bills offense- which had been unstoppable- suddenly shut down. All of their runs were lateral and went for no gain. All of their passes were incomplete. I was not complaining, and was able to narrow the score to 17-14 with 1:30 left on the clock. After forcing a 3 and out, I got the ball back on my own 6 yard line with 1:00 left on the clock. Suddenly, my incompetent offense roared to life and I was able to march 94 yards downfield with relative ease to score with :06 left on the clock.

In the end, I overcame a 17 point deficit and 3 turnovers to win the game 21-17. I was relieved, to be sure- I didn’t want to have to start the playoffs over again- but I also couldn’t shake the fact that the CPU seemed to have laid down when I should have lost the game. There is an important lesson here- in Madden ’94 on the SEGA Genesis as well as in life- “Hang in there!”

The “Superbowl” matchup was vs. the Bears- a rematch of Superbowl XX! This was a weird game that involved yet ANOTHER bad pass interference call against me (and subsequent CPU score) - every game I played in Madden ’94 involved at least one major pass interference call against me. When I blocked a punt deep in their endzone, I managed to score a safety and after two field goals, I was up 8-7 at the half.

As I glanced through the halftime stats, I realized that there had been no mention by Madden or anywhere else that this game was the SUPERBOWL. Given that this was the first year that EA had the NFL license (and the right to use the “Superbowl” name/logo), I was surprised at the lack of effort here.

My analysis of the stats led me to believe that I could run the ball against the Bears. I opened the second half by giving this a try and it worked beautifully- a 10 play, 80 yard drive that took over 5 minutes off of the clock and put me on top 15-7. While the Bears threatened to score late in the game, I stopped them four times in a row at the goal line to preserve the win.

I eagerly awaited the picture of the Lombardi trophy with “PATRIOTS” written underneath it, but this moment never came. Instead, I was treated to a cheesy animation showing a generic parade with players driving by in sports cars. This animation repeated itself endlessly and when I finally pressed a button, I was dumped back to the main menu! What happened to the trophy???

I am including the picture of the trophy from the playoff bracket on my trophy gallery on the right column. For evidence that I actually WON it, click HERE .

Ultimately, Madden ’94 marks a huge stride forward in the series. Getting the NFL license, overhauling the graphics and presentation while improving the play selection all add up to the best game yet in the series. This said, it still has issues- the apparent lack of a “speed burst” button is missed and the excessive “pass interference” calls mar the experience. The player speeds are also still a bit sluggish, but this is undoubtedly the best of the first four Madden games.