It's exactly the same game. I remember it. I played hundreds of hours of the genesis version which is very similar. It's got a bit tighter defense and overall less extremes than the NES version. It's one of the reasons why the NES version is considered superior by me: true superstars in the game. This game has pretty modest ratings everywhere. There's very few monster standouts like TSB on the NES.
Anyway, it's still got great gameplay and will be a treat to play online against others. It'll be *slightly* less extreme than the NES version in terms of big plays and wacky outcomes. They still exist, no doubt, but in smaller quantities.
Other quick questions: NG dive = in or out?
Do we have time to edit our playbook during an online match? If not, does anyone know how to edit playbooks and save them?
EDIT: Have you tried the menu option in game to edit the playbook? There's an option to do it in single player.