Original Release: New Star Games, 2019, Web browser
Other Releases: Android/iOS (2020), Switch (2022)
This indie sorta-Tecmo-Bowl doesn’t actually preserve much of the gameplay, but has some of the look and a lot more management elements
Retro Bowl (Web browser, New Star, 2019)
Where to Buy: Freemium – Play online at Poki
Review by: C. M0use
Retro Bowl presents itself like it wants to be the successor to the Tecmo Bowl franchise, or at minimum it’s targeting that specific niche market (which still faithfully plays the game with ROM hacks in 2023 and likely will for decades to come). But it messes with the formula, I don’t know if it’s because they couldn’t figure out how to replicate the gameplay on mobile devices or they just wanted to make their own mark, and what comes out the other end just feels like a discount brand cereal version of the original. Tocmo Stellar Flakes, if you will.
The aesthetics are a mix of the NES-era Tecmo Bowl games with that sort of vaguely “retro” Apple IIgs fat pixel look that indie games like to do. The gameplay is similarly diluted with other influences, namely “touch controls” and a heavier emphasis on management.
You only actually control the team on offense; defense is not only automatic, but in single-player mode it’s skipped over entirely and you just get a text box telling you if the opponent scored or not. In what I can only guess was a decision to focus on mobile platforms, the core gameplay of Tecmo Bowl is dumped entirely. When you pass, you don’t really have direct control over the QB, just where he puts the ball (via a parabola). When you run, the player automatically chugs forward and you can only nudge them north or south. Tussling with tacklers is entirely eliminated, generally when you’re touched you go down.
The little parabola passing system is interesting at first look. Though it excises one of the core gameplay elements (cycling through receivers with one thumb while steering the QB out of danger with the other), it potentially adds an interesting new twist by letting you be more precise about where you put the ball and not rely entirely on QB/WR stats to dictate the outcome of a close or contested throw. In practice, though, it sucks. To be fair, I only tried the web browser version with a mouse, maybe the touch screen or Switch version works better. But with the mouse it’s straight unresponsive trash. Clicking to snap the ball takes two or three tries before it randomly goes off, and you’re supposed to hold the button until you get your passing line in place but the QB always seems to prematurely chuck it after just a second or so while you still have the button pressed.
It’s hard to say if that’s poor coding or an intentional “feature” based on player stats, because Tocmo Flakes also has the maddening conceit of forcing you initially to play the final games of a season with a random shiddy team and a shiddy QB as a sort of “tutorial mode.” You’re initially asked to create a coach and pick your favorite team, or you can let it randomly throw you on Arizona or the Raiders or something with a 4-11 record. The gimmick is, your performance in the final games is supposed to dictate coaching offers from other teams, allowing you to (hopefully) leapfrog to someone better.
This design decision crops up in sports games from time to time and I never understand it. The early Gran Turismo games are one big comparable example that comes directly to mind, where they force you to initially pass “licensing” tests to unlock all the fun stuff that put you in some incredibly shiddy car and ask you to do irritating precision manuevers in it. Why funnel the player directly into the worst aspect of your gameplay as part of their initial experience? And in terms of football, this is a highly tribal sport, people want to play as THEIR team in a non-gimped state, not be thrown onto the Kukamonga Cracka Killas and hope that the RNG then eventually lets them jump to where they actually want to be.
Anyway, if you’re thinking you’ll circumvent the game’s passing deficiencies by finding its version of Bo Jackson or Christian Okoye … nope, that won’t help much. Running isn’t much better due to the lack of direct control, and again with the web browser version I find there’s a serious case of Delayed Reaction Syndrome on the button presses (W and S this time). I’d imagine this could be even worse in the mobile versions since you have to swipe instead of pressing a button.
The janky gameplay would be enough to sink the game, but it also provides an object lesson in how much Tecmo Super Bowl’s presentation and panache contributed to the fun. Maybe it won’t matter to total newcomers who only know Madden, but if you’re in this game’s target demo wheelhouse you’ll really notice the loss of pumpin’ tunes and cinematics.
On the positive side, the detailed management of the team and franchise in between games is handled well without ever becoming overcomplicated or annoying. You directly manage just a handful of star players at key positions rather than trying to micromanage the entire roster, via a simple and well-thought-out interface. Player attitudes will shift based on circumstances, and “toxic” talent may need to be shipped out to keep morale from going in the toilet. You also earn coins along the way that purchase various upgrades.
I wish the new between-game management and season/career options could be grafted into classic Tecmo Super Bowl somehow. Funneling it all through jank gameplay just ruins the whole experience. I understand that if you want to make money off of a simple indie game like this these days, mobile is where it’s at and you have to make concessions to casuals wanting to play with crappy touch control, you can’t just cater to Serious Goomers who will plug in a quality gamepad. I don’t see why Tecmo Super Bowl’s style couldn’t have been copied with the same sort of “virtual gamepad” on-screen that so many other retro ports use, however; granted those things aren’t fantastic, but are better than what we ended up getting here and it opens up the option to use one of those phone grip gamepad peripherals or even plug a console controller in via USB. And then you’ve got native controller support on the Switch and the ability for people to at least use the keyboard in the web browser version.
I do give the game credit for the “upsell” being about as non-obnoxious as it gets … you get the full game for free, and can optionally pay just $1 for the premium version that lets you customize player and team names and colors. I just can’t get past the gameplay, though, and with the Tecmo Super Bowl modding community still going strong I don’t see any reason to.
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