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The merry band of modders keeping the beloved NES classic Tecmo Super Bowl alive and relevant after 23 years have released their latest edition, letting you play the upcoming NFL season with fully accurate rosters and all 32 teams in their proper division, just in time for the real thing kicking off tomorrow.
The biggest additions this year? Several teams now employ a 4-3 defense. When Tecmo Super Bowl was originally released in 1991, everyone ran a 3-4 (three linemen, four linebackers). This change means one of the starting defensive linemen now shows up as a linebacker on the rosters.
Quarters now have an adjustable length, the playbook may be edited in the middle of a game, and changes have been made to both passing control and accuracy, as well as defender "quickness" to make those attributes make more sense. The new Pro Bowl format, which does away with the two conferences playing each other in favor of two teams with rosters drafted from all available all-stars, also is reflected in the game.
Rosters are current as of Sept. 2.
Tecmo Super Bowl was one of the first sports video games to be licensed by both a professional league and its players union, forming the modern expectation that every current team and every current player is reflected in the latest video game. A team of seven worked on the modification. The ROM is available for download here. An emulator is needed, but it also is playable online for Windows PCs. Instructions are at the link below.
