Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

[TheEndIsNear4All]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

To follow up, I'm in complete shock after diving into Madden 07 on the original XBox. I can't even believe it. This game is absolutely amazing. Even the gameplay is better. Very smooth, and user control is excellent. I'm completely stunned... The amount of content, modes and polish that was put into this is truly amazing. This is incredibly sad.

THIS is exactly why I just ordered a slim ps2 yesterday! Got that, a memory card, and Madden 07 for 90 well spent dollars lol. Would rather spend 30 extra dollars for something that I will truly enjoy playing, than buy madden 20 and be sick of it yet again after 2 to 3 weeks. Pretty insane that a game from 13 years and 2 consoles ago is STILL a better purchase.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Operation Sports mobile app

[leathrneck34]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

Just wanted to pop in to this resurrected thread and give my two cents. EA bashing here we go!

I don’t own a ps2 nor do I own any games prior to Madden 20 ( which I don’t pay for since I have Origin Premier for other games I enjoy... which are very few since they are all EA properties). But I have my memories of a once great franchise with deep franchise mode and near perfect gameplay.

My favorite Madden is 05 I just have very fond memories of that game and NCAA football 05

But I have to agree Madden 07 was the deepest and best iteration of Madden

But here’s the bashing

I fully believe MUT since it’s inception ruined Madden forever. Once the suits realized they could suck money from kids parents wallets without even trying to build a complete game that’s all they’ve done and care to do. It wouldn’t matter how talented the devs are they will always be handicapped by corporate greed until some entity with more power intervenes.

I recently stumbled upon an article written by a writer for the Chicago tribune and published online that see Madden for what it is now and put it out for the world to see. Kudos to him and I’m glad I came across it. The writer was Chris Jarrard I believe and it’s just a Madden review. But everything I read I agreed with. He knew what he was talking about.

Maybe one day they will resurrect Madden from the ashes. But that day may be just before the world explodes... but hey, here’s hoping for a few months of a great game before BOOM!!!

[chargerrich]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

Amen on MUT ruining Madden...

But back to the PS/2, I really enjoy M07 and M10 on the 6th gens. A lot of people complain about the sim stats after M05, primarily as it pertains to RB carries but after testing M06 through M11, I have found 10 to be the best but still requires some tweaks.

For any version there are some pretty easy fixes if you are an armchair GM and like to manage all 32 teams. You have to remember that the RB1/RB2 slider last worked in - I believe - Madden 05.

After 05 and never addressed - some drunk coder at Turbine borked the code so that it is ACTUALLY RB1/FB1. So what I do is swap in my RB2 in the FB slot and set that slider in the 50/60 range for all coaches. This coupled with playbook subs gives me very good results and the gameplay, CPU/CPU or user controlled and the myriad of franchise options makes the PS/2 the best version of the game... by far!

[Purk1981]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

Anyone else playing Madden 2003 on OG Xbox or PS2?

I remembered it being a decent year but also knew it was lacking features compared to say Madden 2005 or 2007 so I didn’t give it much time until recently. I really like the run animations and overall feel and presentation. Sim stats seem pretty decent. I’ve only increased CPU RB to get a higher yardage average. Otherwise not too bad.

My 360/PS3 favorites are Madden 12 & Madden 25.

[mWolfe]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

Anyone else playing Madden 2003 on OG Xbox or PS2?

I remembered it being a decent year but also knew it was lacking features compared to say Madden 2005 or 2007 so I didn’t give it much time until recently. I really like the run animations and overall feel and presentation. Sim stats seem pretty decent. I’ve only increased CPU RB to get a higher yardage average. Otherwise not too bad.

My 360/PS3 favorites are Madden 12 & Madden 25.

It was a good game, and had a great spread of ratings between players. I would make an updated Roster on it but the file save is different than that of 04 through 12.

[Purk1981]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

It was a good game, and had a great spread of ratings between players. I would make an updated Roster on it but the file save is different than that of 04 through 12.

That’s what I was thinking. Bummer. I’m still enjoying playing 2003 with the old rosters.

Thanks

[mpklub]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

This thread has been a great read for me. I haven't played Madden in years but have been getting an itch to start up a long term NCAA/Madden dynasty/franchise.

I have NCAA 07 on my PS2 and think I want to dive back into that and am planning to pick up Madden 07 to complement it after reading this thread.

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[Culture Rot]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

Start at Madden 2002, and play through them all.

[ESPOMAN]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

I like Madden 05 the best out of the 3. In 06 I am still not use to the vision cone but when I get use to it I can see it being really good. The superstar mode is cool.

[Earl1963]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

I’m playing madden 06 now and really enjoying it

[josefrees]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

I finally upgraded from PS2 to PC PS2 emulation and it has made franchise experimentation a lot easier with save states. 11/12 are pretty much same game just with roster changes. The thing I like about it is there a predictably easy way to progress players with icons and team leaders. Also has all the bells and whistles

The thing I like about older ones is progress was less tied to winning and you could turn bad players into really good ones

[turk]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

Anyone do current rosters for 05?

[thinwhiteduke]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

I understand that 05 has alot of franchise adds to it .

But I don't understand all the love. In 2004 the player models are better.
05 they started that fat robot look for all players.

Not as many arm and leg animations.

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

I understand that 05 has alot of franchise adds to it .

But I don't understand all the love. In 2004 the player models are better.
05 they started that fat robot look for all players.

Not as many arm and leg animations.

2004 was the last version I recall where the outcomes felt random.

I would play lousy teams, and they'd give me a game. Then I'd wipe the floor with elite teams that I thought would beat me easily.

... the gameplay options though. yikes. Just archaic.

And didn't 2004 have the Draft bug where tehy'd just draft 1 position? 3 QBs, or 4 WRs?

Player regression... BRUTAL. If you have a solid player that didn't start, his rating would go down 10-12 points in the offseason.

[RichieL1991]

Re: Looking to pick up Madden on the ps2: 04, 05, or 06?

It's great to have stumbled upon this thread which has been going since 2010.

I feel like it is pretty relevant still too since PS2 emulating is so easy these days. Combine that with the fact that by using emulator you can mod fairly easily with the madden 08 pc mods and it can add for brand new experience with the older titles on PS2.

Like for example, a few years ago I was playing Madden 05 on PS2 emulator, but I modded some stylistic features that added to the immersion. (You can do it on console too with FreeMcBoot but it takes a little longer).

Sure, in the game (Madden 2005) the Tampa Bucs have their old "creamsicle" throwback uniforms. But if you select them in-game it still keeps their default '05 TB logo, colors, endzone + midfield logo, newspaper photos, etc. BUT with the mods you can make it where it changes that stuff as if they completely re-branded back to their 80's style. In fact I did that for a ton of teams like bringing back the Oilers, and throwbacks for the Broncos, Seahawks, Niners, Falcons etc. etc. It was really fun and a new experience for such an old game. I used to do something similar before by using a franchise offseason team relocation logo glitch, but it was very time consuming and required the first 2 seasons to either be completely simmed, or you had to use teams with no logos on their helmets for the 2 seasons. Kinda annoying, but it was all that was available back in the day.

Eventually I discovered a small 1-person dev. indy game called Pro Strategy Football on PC, and was able to do everything like that I mentioned above I wanted, but now with any historical rosters, any era rules, any schedule, its pretty much full range football sandbox game.

Every once in a while I still get a Madden franchise-mode itch though.

It's because as great as Pro Strategy Football is, its not a game you 'play' in-game, but rather just coach. Furthermore, it has SNES style graphics and not the 3D models. Legend Bowl is another cool indy game, but most same things apply. And its why for a month or two I'll want to come back and play some classic Madden.

Ironically I actually am not even looking for the "best" Madden PS2 Franchise Mode game anymore these days. I say ironically because for a better part of a decade I had been. Additionally, I just had very lengthy discussions on youtube with Paul Gaither (you can see a lot of his comments here on OperationSports and this very thread in fact) about what is the best Madden Franchise Mode. He says Madden 25 (14) on 360/PS3 consoles. I kindly disagree with his reasonings for that.

For me though I am not entirely sure I can even pick what Madden has the best all-time franchise mode anymore. It's for the same reason that I'm not looking for the best Madden anymore either. There are just somethings I can't get over now. Like in any Madden 05-12 on PS2, the experience is usually over for me after 1 season and realizing that the CPU will just never be able to run the ball against me. Doesn't matter my defensive team overall, I will always have the #1 best rush stopping defense and there's no way to un-do the knowledge I know in those games. That's just 1 example.

Sure I could just simulate the games and I tried that in 04 and 05 for a bit, and they were fun, but when I came across Pro Strategy Football there's no going back to a pure Madden coaching sim for me.

[I will always say that Madden 2005 was the greatest Madden I ever played. As a Ravens fan from Baltimore it was neat to have a Raven on the cover of what is frequently considered at least one of the Top 3 greatest NFL franchise modes of all-time, if not games itself. That game released one week before my 13th birthday at the time, when I was going into 8th grade with literally no responsibility at all and had all the time in the world to just play Madden I was even able to get it for the midnight release with my best friend that year. It was a fantastic experience that entire year playing it. Online play was in its prime, headsets were cool, clans and chatrooms were a thing online, glitching was everywhere, but it was still a good time. I also had 2K5 on the o.g. Xbox too but still always preferred Madden 05. There always seemed to be more people online Madden than 2K5 but that's just my recollection. 2004 was so good for video games, later on GTA SA.]

Anyway, what I look for now in the older Madden games is to see which one gives the most archaic results, lmao. Whether it be in-game glitches, funny hits, crazy plays, or through sim results.

For example, I've had some funny things happen in Madden 2003 that I've never seen before, with largely unedited rosters that I have screenshots of:

- I had the Dolphins go 7-6-3 one season. (I never saw a team get 3 ties in a single season. The closest I remember is once in Madden '05 when the TB Bucs won their division 7-7-2.)
- I also had the Jags win the AFC South at 6-10 in a 3-team tie-breaker.
- Panthers won the NFC South 8-8 in a 4-team tie-breaker, all teams went 8-8. These 3 were all in the same season.
- I simmed and put Peyton Manning on the Broncos and he broke the record for TD passes by throwing 50 TDs. He had a 106.1 rating, 50tds 16ints, and 5,586 yards on my screenshot I saved.
- The Cardinals beat the Colts 69-8 in a random simmed game (granted this was a Peyton Manningless team, I dont know who the QB was).
- Bears and Packers AND Rams and Seahawks all went 14-2. So GB and SEA ended up being 14-2 record wildcard teams.
- I've seen some funny randomly generated rookie names in the drafts like Willie Nelson (MIA qb) and Ben Bender (CIN qb)

And this was all just in a few different simulations. I was testing out and seeing how the overall progression would work after a few seasons in Madden 2003 at the time, and recently stumbled back on these screenshots I had. One thing I always disliked about '07+ was how many 90+ overall players there would be after a few years, it wasn't as bad in 2003 surprisingly (probably because progression happened much less frequent though).

In other games I had some interesting things happen but not as much:
- Madden 05: KC beat PIT 73-7 in the AFC Championship game
- Madden 07: ARZ won the 6th wildcard spot by winning a 7-team breaker with the record 7-9
- Madden 02: KC won their division 7-9, then the next season they went 19-0 by beating the 8-8 Redskins who somehow made the Super Bowl; 4 out of 5 teams went 10-6 in the old NFC West, Panthers missed playoffs 10-6
- Madden 04: Jags went 15-1 and won the Super Bowl. Nothing too crazy, but it made me laugh when I checked to see who their coach was and it was Brett Favre lmao

I guess to sum this all up, the old Madden games can still be great. But to me at this point they are, after-all, just video games. So now I just look for the game that will give me the most laughs, stories, and screenshots to send to my friends and family for them to get a good chuckle too. Right now that is currently Madden 03 with 02 close behind, but the search continues....

I recently watched a clip on YT Madden 12 ps2 where the CPU challenged a caught TD pass for the 'Spot of the Ball' and it got overturned stating the ball didn't cross the plane. This was a ~20 yard pass caught in the middle of the endzone. It was overturned and the offense got the ball on the 1 yard line. Like what the actual hell Might have to do some experimenting in that game now. To be continued.