Original Release: EA, 1993, Genesis
Other Releases: Sega CD (1993), SNES (1994)
The first console college football game with licenses for (some) schools and a simulation of the season structure, running on EA’s solid Madden engine.
Bill Walsh College Football (Genesis, EA, 1993)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Bill Walsh College Football is basically Madden ’94 repackaged, with 24 of the “best” college teams of the time (according to some random dood at EA Sports) and 24 all-time greats from the mid-70s to the mid-90s (also according to some random dood at EA Sports.)
The game has the same strengths and weaknesses as the early Madden games, and of course Madden ’94 in particular since that’s the engine they basically just re-sprited to create this. The weaknesses are that a good o-line and running back can run almost unstoppably up and down the field regardless of your defense, passing is flaky with “windows” that show too little of the field, and you can get away with very blatant pass interference and encroachment. In ’94 the movement and running in the Madden series was also kinda slow and sluggish.
There are also no seasons, but you can set up bowls – also, exhibition games or an NFL-style playoff series. There are no player names, just numbers … I dunno enough about college football to know if they line up with reality at all.
The pros of the game are the depth of play-calling, fairly solid gameplay and control, and being the most “realistic” console simulation of the sport at the time, though the lattermost is a relative merit that doesn’t mean much now in terms of having fun with it.
This was the first substantial console college football game to my knowledge but I can see where you might feel a little ripped off if you bought a Madden game and then this, since you’d have paid twice for essentially the same game with different colors and team names.
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