Madden '96

SEGA Genesis

Click HERE for screenshots.

“Madden 96 SACKS the competition” – Electronic Gaming Monthly

Madden ’96 is the Madden game that I have played the most in my life, hands down. For me, as a 13 year old, Madden ’96 was the culmination of all that was great about football on the SEGA Genesis. I played the shit out of it every day after school (seemingly) for years. This game came out in late 1995 – mere months before the release of the SONY Playstation (and a year before the N64). This would- sadly – be the last time a Madden game was given full attention by developers on the SEGA Genesis. Fortunately for Genesis owners, they went out with a bang.

To begin, this was the first year that lots of extra features started to creep in- a “general manager” option was offered allowing the player to trade and sign players while taking the salary cap into account. This system is pretty crude by today’s standards, but it is an interesting effort nonetheless. A “scouting combine” allows you to create your own players and run through drills to determine your player’s stats. While this most often is little more than button mashing, it is still a novelty to create yourself in a Madden game on the Genesis.

One of the features that I find oddly fascinating and really appreciate is that you can clearly read jersey numbers on players while in-game. The player models may be closer to the “cartoony” style of Madden ’94 and less like the “realistic” models of Madden ’95, but there is practical value in being able to see jersey numbers while in game. I think it is a huge improvement.

On powering up the SEGA, the opening screens grab you immediately. The opening stomps from Queen’s “We will ROCK YOU” start playing as photo-realistic images of star players flash across the screen. This bliss culminates in a still photo of Madden with the FOX Sports theme song triumphantly blasting.

After seeing all of this, I resolved to play through an entire season. Why not? The game is based on the 1995 schedule, which is the first year I watched every game in the Pats season (they went 6-10). It was also Curtis Martin’s rookie year!

I launched right into it, taking note of the excellent presentation of the menu screens as I went. Photo-realistic images featuring on-field action and famous players are sprinkled throughout. I also noticed that Pat Summerall is now in the game as a play-by-play commentator to complement John Madden’s “color” commentary.

Week 1 in the 1995 season was against the Bill Belichick coached Browns. The first chink in the armor in presentation of Madden '96 was on the coin-toss. In a bizarre twist, the animation and sequence is IDENTICAL to Madden '95 - the player models, fonts, color schemes, everything is identical to Madden ’95 and nothing else in the game looks anything like this screen. It is like they forgot to program a new coin-toss sequence (or ran out of time) so they just threw in the old one at the last minute.

This gripe was quickly forgotten as the game got underway. The aforementioned jersey numbers, the team logos featured in the end zones, even Mary Snow with an injury report from the sideline. All of this was nice, but the gameplay itself was the biggest improvement. Player speeds feel more balanced. The controls are responsive and accurate- I felt completely in control.

Feeling like I was in complete command of the game was a double edged sword. While it was fun at first, soon the score got out of hand. I won the game 31-0 and outgained the Browns 300 yards to 9. I found one defensive play that seemed to always work (3-4/LB Blitz) and I just ran it every time I was on defense. The thought of playing through 18 more blowout games like this one seemed ridiculous, so I decided to abandon the idea of playing a full season and skipped right to the playoffs.

Ironically, my wildcard matchup was once again against the Browns. Once again, I employed a dumbed-down strategy and annihilated the Browns- this time 49-7. The only thing I really “learned” from this rematch was that pressing the “start” button while mid-play would let me lateral the ball and that the grass textures in the game were well done.

For the Divisional Playoff, I headed to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers and I fully anticipated yet another route. This time, the game played out differently. I couldn’t get anything going on offense and struggled to a 7-3 halftime lead. The slow and lumbering Drew Bledsoe had rushed for more yards than he had thrown for and was 1 for 10 through the air. In the third quarter, the Steelers managed another field goal, and I was barely clinging to a 7-6 lead into the 4^th. Pass after pass was either inaccurate or simply dropped by my wideouts. With less than 2 minutes to go, the Steelers managed to score a TD and take a 13-7 lead. I got the ball back and tried to get something going, but the outcome was the same as it had been all game. I simply could not move the ball and LOST the game 13-7.

I was stunned. I felt like I had been rejected by an old friend. It had been some time since I had last played Madden ’96 and even longer still since I had lost to the CPU playing the game. As was the case following my loss back in Madden ’93, I resolved to redouble my efforts and win the damn championship.

After being eliminated from the playoffs, I had to restart the season (there is no “start from the playoffs” option) and simulate the whole thing, crossing my fingers that New England would make it in.

As fate would have it, the Wild Card matchup was once again in Pittsburgh against the Steelers. This time the game was in the snow. A big play came early when I audibled to a deep pass on 3^rd and inches. The gamble worked and I scored a deep TD. Building on this momentum, I was able to put together two more scoring drives (I also remembered a bizarre quirk in Madden ’96 where players will actually run FASTER if they are on the sideline rather than in the middle of the field).

I was extremely aggressive in the first half and I was happy with my 21-0 lead going into the locker room. As I wrote in my notes: “In your FACE Pittsburgh!” My plan for the second half was to grind down the clock and come away with a win.

As the third quarter began, something changed. The Steelers had actually made halftime adjustments to counter my signature D (3-4/LB Blitz). I was stunned when Pittsburgh opted to go for it on 4^th down, deep in their own territory, early in the 3^rd quarter. The play worked and they ended up scoring on the same drive. The 4^th down call was surprising so early in the game, but what was even more surprising was when they went for the 2-pt conversion and got it, putting the score at 21-8 at the end of three quarters.

I got the ball back and relied heavily on the run- milking the clock with every play. When the drive finally stalled, I managed to shave nearly four minutes off the clock, but failed to score any points. The Steelers got the ball back with 1:17 to go and a few plays later, I was stunned to see them in the endzone once again, drawing closer with the score at 21-15.

What had happened? I was killing the Steelers and all of a sudden they were a TD away from winning? With less than 30 seconds left on the clock, they attempted the onside kick, and after a pileup, I ended up with it. I was fortunate to be able to run out the clock and come away with the 21-15 win. They dominated the second half, but fortunately came up a bit short.

The next game was at Oakland against the Raiders. Once again, I found myself in trouble against the CPU. The Raiders had a couple of quick scoring drives and raced to a 14-3 lead. When I got the ball back, I went with the no-huddle offense and was able to answer with a good drive, cutting the lead to 14-10. As the half expired, I managed to put through a 50 yard field goal with the wind at my back and narrowed the score to just 14-13.

The game felt even at the half, but the second half was a completely different story. I was able to put up another 22 points while blanking the Raiders to come away with what ended up being a dominant 35-14 win.

The AFC Championship game was at Cleveland, and once again (for the 3^rd frickin’ time) I found myself matched up against the Browns. There was snow on the ground and once again, I went to my 1 dimensional strategy on defense (3-4/LB Blitz). It was all I needed to destroy Cleveland for the third straight time. It was the worst blowout yet- not only did I get to a 38-3 lead by HALFTIME, I had also sacked Vinnie Testadverde so often (7X!) that he got injured. I tried to slow things down in the second half, but everything I did seemed to result in a touchdown. Everything worked and I came away with a 68-3 win, outgaining Cleveland 415 to 8 in total yards.

I thought it would be difficult to replicate my success against the Browns going into “Super Bowl XXX” against the 49ers. The 49ers of that era were an excellent team and had won Super Bowl XXIX (in reality). I was completely wrong.

The game proved to be a comedy of errors for the 49ers in every regard and my team was reminiscent of the basketball team in Pleasantville. No matter what I did, everything worked out beautifully. I seemed to be able to score on every play, offensively, defensively, special teams, whatever. I was up 35-0 at the half, but it was much worse than that. For this game, I shrank my offensive playbook down to 2 or 3 plays (and stuck with just 1 play on D) and it did not matter.

The one time I deviated from the strategy (and chose a defense that was not “3-4/LB Blitz), the 49ers scored a TD. This score, along with one in the closing seconds, meant nothing as I dominated with a stunning final score of 76-14. 49er QB Steve Young (a Hall of Famer in reality) was sacked 7x and David Meggett (an “above average” 3^rd down back) finished with 300 yards rushing. The game took forever to finish and was completely ridiculous and unrealistic in every regard. No matter, I got another trophy to put on the wall.