The good ol days...

[KingV2k3]

We've had a bunch of variations on this thread over the years here and I never get tired of them...



It's hard for younger guys to relate to a time when football gaming was simply inventing something based on trading cards (or those little plastic helmets you bought from gumball machines), dice and a vivid imagination...

I vaguely recall a game called "Pro Draft" that was centered somewhat on building a team (as a GM) using football cards, but it paled in comparison to the early days of "text based" games like 3M (and others) made...

Then, In the early 70's a friend from school's older brother turned us on to Strat O Matic, and that was pretty mind blowing compared to the competition...

I drifted away from sports gaming (and sports in general) until a friend's son sold me his PS2 and I bought my first console title: Madden 2002...

Long story short:

My curiosity has become a full time hobby...not unlike I imagine golf or photography or whatever is to others...

I'm STILL more amazed by what these titles do right than lack and still get a lot of enjoyment from them...

I (half jokingly) kid that "if they had these games when I was young, I'd still be living in my Mom's basement"...

Back then we had to round up kids and actually PLAY football...



Heck, not that long ago, the idea of the Internet itself, was pretty abstract to me...let alone the fact that we can share stories like these with like minds from a cross section of generations, scattered around the globe...

Written on a laptop, via broadband, while watching a Hi Def flatscreen broadcast of MNF...

Ker-azy times, indeed...

[raneman85]

We would save up and buy the extra players and bases for the Electric Football. We would spend hours painting the jerseys and pants and placing the numbers. There were little tricks to adjust the bases to get the guys to turn a certain way. There were certain house rules you learned to adjust to: draw plays, passing. We've certainly come a long way.

I still have the old games including Pro Draft. Strategy Football and Strat-O-Matic were other good games.

[BFL3RD]

The Best football game for it's time was coleco vision football you that game was great the controller was big as hell but they had a great product. I also miss the ambulance in madden running over the hurt player classic.....

[LaW97]

I have an uncle that is a child of the 70's and he told me he could care less what Madden does wrong because he spent his childhood wit handhelds and console titles that looked nothing like actual football. So to have what we have today is mindblowing.
He told me about old console games from the late 70's and early 80's that were football titles but lacked lineman. I couldnt bare that. Lol. No lineman!!! WTF

Or games that were jus dots or alien looking sprites that you couldnt tell what was what. Honestly, we got it good now.


Kinda reminds me of how kids who are on the net now are practically born into hardcore porn when back in the day a Macy's catalogue was as racy as it got for a boy's imagination.

[wallofhate]

I think the last thing you wamna be is Michael j. Fox lol j/k

[roadman]

Eh, every time I bring up the nostalgia days, people come in and say, technology man.

It is what it is.

However, those days were just plain fun vs the aggravation that permeates currently.

Electric Football, and during that time, I had Photo-Electric football with a light bulb shining brightly underneath, Talking Football and the feeble attempts of console football.

Those games go back to a simpler way of enjoying football games.

[bh446066]

Quote: Originally Posted by Armor & Sword

In 1979 my Dad bought me a Super Bowl Electric Football game with the Rams and Steelers. I thought I was in heaven. We played that game every Sunday together for years. This is why I greatly appreciate my video sports game affection and feel there has never been a better time for sports gaming than right now. Madden has blown me away this year. When you come from these kinds of roots you tend to appreciate how far we have come. Kids today have no clue how to use their imagination...they think this is how it always had been. LMAO. I drank water from a garden hose (I am still here, healthy as a horse), and played ball outside till dusk every day. Man how times have changed.

Man, it's like you're speaking for me. Perfectly stated.

I still get all "teary-eyed" thinking about how my jaw dropped to the floor when I booted up Madden 2002 on my brand new PS2. I couldn't believe my eyes. This...after not playing video game football since my Sega Genesis in college. It's offensive and obscene how many hours I logged on Madden 2002/2003...I literally broke my PS2 and had to get a new one. I'm in the same "honeymoon" period now with my PS3 with NCAA 11 and now Madden 12.

[Bohunk]

The madden I played in the late 80's on the computer is still one of the best madden experiences of my life. We had a 16 team league, drafted our players (like fantasy football today), typed them into the computer and then spent hours and hours making up new plays for both offense and defense. Every Saturday we would go to the campus computer center and play our week out, scouting other teams and making up new plays for the upcoming games.

Wish we could go back to making up plays that way again.