Madden NFL '97
System: Super Nintendo
Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: Tiburon
Released: 1996
Genre: Football
Capabilities: 16 Megabits, Battery Backed Memory

********REVIEW CONTEST REVIEW***********

Graphics: 7: The field is done pretty good, you can even see mud trucks throughout the game. All the players are tiny sprites so the action does tend to get a little confusing at times. All the game play menus have a convenient layout and nothing gets confusing. During game play whenever you throw the football in a passing play, the football gets huge in size so you actually know where the ball is going to land. Some of the modes in create-a-player are done well.

Sound: 7: You get the decent opening Madden '97 theme. During gameplay you hear the sound effects of the players bumping into each other. You also hear all the patented, Maddenisms from John Madden and Pat Summerall, especially the most annoying one, "I heard there helmets collide way up here" and "he'll be having nightmares for weeks!"

Game play: 8: The Create-a-Player mode was innovating. Instead of just beefing up your players by just distributing attribute points(like in all football games today) you had to complete a certain event, and by your performance you were given an attribute rating. For example, if you made a running made you had to see how fast you can finish the 40 yard dash to get a speed rating, then you'd have to do this "Coach Rogers" thing where he told you a certain movement to pull off(I.E. Up, Down, Left) every time you got one right you got a harder one to do next with an additional movement to remember, the more you remember, the more you points you get. There was also how many times you can get to the endzone by getting pass 1, 2, and 3 defensive players to determine your scrambling rating, and how many times you can catch a pass by fending off against 1, 2, or 3 defensive players to determine your catching rating too. There were lots of other events too. The game kept track of your best scores in Create-a-Player Mode in the Madden Records section. Also you can practice any of these events anytime you want by just accessing the Front Office menu. Game play was the same in Madden '96 with Windowless passing, injuries on the field, and all the hidden, classic teams. New features in Madden '97 was a Salary Cap on trades(you could bypass the salary cap too with by pressing a certain button combination on the trade violation screen), Updated player rosters and logos, the addition of the Baltimore Ravens team, and new player animations. There were only few modes of gameplay in Madden '97: Exhibition, Playoffs, and Season Mode. You can save your progress through season and playoffs modes as well. The game was loaded with stats from lots of categories for your viewing pleasure. There were a couple of bonuses the SNES version of Madden '97 had that the Geneseis didn't like a hangtime meter on punts, Opening comments from Madden and Summerall, The EA Sports Ticker where you can check up on other scores during season and playoffs mode, a useless option where you can see the last play of the game to see if a team can pull off a last minute victory, and one of my favorites, the End Game now screen where when you choose this option the team with most points at this time wins the game, so if you're in the Super Bowl and you made the first TD in the first quarter of the game you can choose end game now and you would win the game and get the Super Bowl Win Screen.

Replay Value: 7: Up to 5 players can play the game with a multi player adaptor so you can duke it out with your friends. All the little extras the SNES version had in Madden '97 the Genesis version didn't had made things a little more fun too, especially the End Game Now option. The game saves your progress through season and playoffs mode and keeps track of all your trades, high scores, and created players as well.

Overall: 7: This is you basic yearly Madden fest on the Super Nintendo with the handful of new features, but still a pretty fun game to play. So if you don't have Madden '96 get Madden '97 and if you have Madden '98 forget about reading this review at all because Madden '98 is just like Madden '97 except with an option to play 10 Super Bowls, you only need to get this if you're one of those people too lazy to go out and buy a PSX, N64, or Dreamcast and if you don't already have Madden '96 or Madden '98 for the SNES, and that is about only 1 of every 1,500 gamers.