Best Non-NFL Football Video Games

Highlights

• Video game companies have created American football games that are not connected to the NFL, offering alternatives to the popular Madden series.
• Games like Cyberball 2072 and Mutant Football League feature unique gameplay elements and wacky antics, providing a fun and different football experience.
• Some games, like Joe Montana Football 2 and NCAA Football 14, introduced innovative features like full play-by-play commentary and robust college football gameplay that made them stand out in the genre.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States, with the NFL representing the most popular American football league. Video game companies, recognizing the popularity of sports, have created numerous sports video games, especially ones representing American football. But, in video games, the NFL isn’t the only game in town.

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Since the beginning, companies have made exciting American football video games with no connection to the NFL. Some are basic games without a licensing deal with the NFL, while others incorporate some wild and crazy antics to make the games even more fun to play.

1 Cyberball 2072

Required Adjustments In Player Strategy

The arcade sequel to the popular Cyberball 2022, Cyberball 2072 improved on everything it could from the first installment. Atari Games imagined what football would be nearly 100 years into the future. The game replaces down and distance with exploding balls and robots on the field.

As the robots in the game got tired, they would catch fire when hit. This forced the player to adjust strategy later in the game. Thus, it was one of the more advanced football games that required strategy in the 1980s.

2 Tecmo Bowl

Simple Gameplay Was Fun & Easy To Learn

Tecmo Bowl is considered by many to be the godfather of American football video games. While it didn’t feature any NFL teams, the NFL Players Association reached a licensing agreement that allowed a mix of players from the 1987 and 1988 NFL seasons.

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The game featured 12 teams with nine players on each side of the ball. Each team got four plays per side. Due to the simplicity of the playbook, the game was considered fairly easy for kids and adults to pick up and play.

Violent, Mutant Alternative To Madden

The original Mutant League Football game was a cult classic in the arcades in the early 90s due to their wacky, destructive antics on the gridiron. The game was so fondly remembered that a Kickstarter campaign brought the popular title back to consoles twenty years after its heyday in the form of Mutant Football League.

The game once again parodied NFL teams with over-the-top mutants making up the teams. It also featured the deepest dynasty mode ever seen in an arcade football game.

Prior to this game, American football video games had exciting gameplay modes, but none of them featured full play-by-play commentary. That changed with this game for the Sega Genesis, once again featuring Joe Montana, who was viewed as the “Greatest Quarterback of All Time” when the game was released.

This game featured a horizontal camera instead of the vertical camera that was common at the time. It also allowed players to zoom the camera to make the gameplay experience appear closer.

While Madden may be the cream of the crop for NFL video games, Bill Walsh College Football felt like a college football version of Madden in 1993. It’s famous for being the first college football video game. While Bill Walsh is best known as an NFL Head Coach, he was a college coach at the time this game was released.

It was the first college football video game to feature a season mode. Plus, the postseason format was flexible, with players able to choose between a 16-team playoff or a bowl system.

This is the last college football game developed by Visual Concepts, and it was far more well-regarded than most of the EA Sports college football games. The game features one of the deepest gameplay modes for 2002 among any American football game.

NCAA College Football 2K3 featured bullet and lob passes for the first time in a college football game. It was also one of the first true sim football games that required players to read the field in order to find success.

Featured A Plethora Of Gameplay Improvements

The NFL pulled its license from the 2K series of games before this one was released, so the creators decided to make the game generic while featuring some of the best former football players. The game featured Hall of Fame players like John Elway to Barry Sanders and featured improvements in quarterback motion in the pocket and screen pass development.

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While this game may have lost the NFL license, it still worked in new gameplay elements that are still used by other American football video games to this day. The game still thrives thanks to the Simulation Football League.

College football is one of the most popular sports in the United States and has led to some of the most popular video games. However, lawsuits over NCAA restrictions and licensing agreements led to the series being canceled following the 2014 edition. This EA Sports game featured top-level recruiting and battles to score a big player away from one’s conference rival.

With the name, image, and licensing deal being worked out, NCAA football games are set to make a return. But, for fans of an era before the NIL agreement, this was the final game, and it found a way to go out on top.

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