Joe Montana's NFL Football

Not to be confused with Joe Montana Football for the Sega Mega Drive.

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Joe Montana's NFL Football
System(s): Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Malibu Interactive
Licensor: NFL Properties, Team NFL
Genre: Sports (American football)
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1993-10 $59.9959.99 T-4201 BR 199x 063190

Joe Montana's NFL Football is an American football game for the Sega Mega-CD. It was only released in North America, although a January 1994, later March 1994 release for Europe appears to have been planned at one stage.

The game was reportedly recalled after its initial release due to numerous bugs.

Gameplay

Team selection

The game is the only Mega-CD entry in a series of NFL football games produced by Sega and endorsed by San Francisco 49ers star quarterback Joe Montana. It can be played by one or two players. It includes all 28 NFL teams from the time as well as 10 historic teams, but it does not identify players by name. Teams are rated on their strength for each position. The game has an isometric field perspective and uses the console's sprite scaling capabilities to simulate a 3D presentation. Joe Montana appears in full-motion video excerpts to give advice.

There are two modes: Exhibition, a single game against any two teams (which can be the same team), and Season, a full season of games that culminates in the Super Bowl (with progress saved to the console's internal memory).

Before a game, players can toggle the play-by-play commentary, set the difficulty level for computer-controlled teams (Rookie, Normal, or Pro), change the length of the game (20, 40, or 60 minutes, which correspond to 5-, 10-, or 15-minute quarters respectively), and change the number of players (one or two).

	Kick-Off
	At the start of the game, it is randomly determined which team kicks and which team receives. A kick-off also occurs before every new set of downs and after a touchdown to earn an extra point. The kicking team can choose between three different kick plays: outside left, normal, and outside right. The receiving team can choose between three different return plays: return left, return wedge, and return right. The kicking team can call an audible before the kick with , then change the play with , , or . The player can then starting running toward the ball by pressing . A ball sweeps a meter in the upper left of the screen, which determines the power of the kick, and the player can press again to kick the ball. Failing to press a second time before the ball finishes sweeping the meter results in a short kick that is easily intercepted. After the kick, the view pivots to show the receiving team from the perspective of their end zone.
	Playbook
	On every down, each team chooses a play from the playbook. The home team's plays are shown on the bottom of the screen, while the away team's plays as shown on the top of the screen. For defense, the yellow lines are coverage routes and the red lines indicate players who will blitz. For offense, the white lines are passing routes, the red lines are running routes, and the yellow lines are blocking routes. Players can scroll through the various plays with and or and and select a play from left to right with , , or . Players can raise a menu from the playbook screen with  START , which has options for calling a timeout with (each team can call up to three timeouts per half) or watch an instant replay of the last play with . The offensive team additionally has an option to run the play from the Shotgun Formation with , which starts the quarterback further back from the line.
	Defense
	Before the snap, the active player (which is indicated by a circle around him) can be cycled through using , , . The player can call an audible by pressing after the players are in formation and then using , , or to pick a play from the last play select screen. After the snap, the D-Pad moves the active player. The active player can be changed to the one who is closest to the ball by pressing . The player can dive or tackle with . Running into the opposing player with the ball also tackles him.
	Offense
	Before the snap, the primary receiver (which is indicated by a circle around him) can be changed by pressing . The player can call an audible by pressing after the players are in formation and then using , , or to pick a play from the last play select screen. The center hikes the ball to the quarterback with . Then the quarterback is moved with the D-Pad. The quarterback can change the receivers with and pass the ball with . Or he can dive with . When the ball is caught, the player changes to control the ball carrier. If the ball is not caught, the pass is incomplete and the team gains no yards. The D-Pad moves the player with possession of the ball (which is indicated by a circle around him). The active player can spin with to try to avoid a tackle or dive to the ground with to gain extra yards.
	Ask Joe
	Players can call a timeout at any time (up to three times per half) by pressing  START , then . During a timeout, players have the option to "Ask Joe" by pressing again, which plays a video from Joe Montana offering advice.

Teams

Conference	Division	Team	Players
American	West	Denver Broncos
		Kansas City Chiefs
		Los Angeles Raiders
		San Diego Chargers
		Seattle Seahawks
	Central	Cincinnati Bengals
		Cleveland Browns
		Houston Oilers
		Pittsburgh Steelers
	East	Buffalo Bills
		Indianapolis Colts
		Miami Dolphins
		New England Patriots
		New York Jets
National	West	Atlanta Falcons
		Los Angeles Rams
		New Orleans Saints
		San Francisco 49ers
	Central	Chicago Bears
		Detroit Lions
		Green Bay Packers
		Minnesota Vikings
		Tampa Bay Buccaneers
	East	Dallas Cowboys
		New York Giants
		Philadelphia Eagles
		Phoenix Cardinals
		Washington Redskins

Historical

The game includes 10 historical teams, which are only available after winning the Super Bowl.

• '67 Packers
• '68 Jets
• '72 Dolphins
• '76 Raiders
• '77 Cowboys
• '78 Steelers
• '84 49ers
• '85 Bears
• '86 Giants
• '91 Redskins

Production credits

• Producer: Bert Schroeder, James Maxwell
• Designer: James Maxwell
• Game Programmer: Joey Headen
• Shell Programmers: Rob Neve, Mike Livesay
• Video Programmer: Mike Livesay
• Sound Programmer: Eric Hammond
• Additional Programming: Andrew Green, John O'Brien
• Player Animation: Mike Hume
• Graphic Design: Stephen Thompson
• Additional Artist: Brian Ranson
• Music Composed & Produced by: Spencer Nilsen, Brian Coburn
• Lead Tester: Smūv
• Game Testers: Keith Higashihara, Harry Chavez, Chris Cutliff, Glen Cureton, Mike Palser and the rest of the homies...
• Marketing: Doug Rebert, Kelly Ryan
• Manual: Mike Yoffie

Special thanks to BLUESKY Software, John O'Brien and the legendary Joe Montana.

Source:

US manual

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Magazine articles

Main article: Joe Montana's NFL Football/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Edge (UK) 50 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 45 Hyper (AU) 85 Mega (UK) NTSC-U 82 Mega Action (UK) NTSC-U 86 Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-U 74 Player One (FR) 92 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 80 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 77 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 83 Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-U 76 Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL 65 Todo Sega (ES) 79 Video Games (DE) NTSC-U 36

	72
Based on 14 reviews

Joe Montana's NFL Football

Mega-CD, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Mega-CD, US (console pack-in)
Disc

Mega-CD, BR
Cover
Manual

Technical information

Main article: Joe Montana's NFL Football/Technical information.

References

American Football games published by Sega
Joe Montana Football (Mega Drive) (Master System/Game Gear) (DOS) (1990) | Joe Montana II Sports Talk Football (1991) | NFL Sports Talk Football '93 Starring Joe Montana (1992) | Joe Montana's NFL Football (1993) | NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana (1993) | NFL '95 (1994) | Prime Time NFL Football Starring Deion Sanders (1995) | NFL '97 (1996) | NFL 98 (1997)
Joe Montana NFL Football (IBM PC) (unreleased) | NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana (Game Gear) (unreleased)
College Football
College Football's National Championship (1994) | College Football's National Championship II (1995) | NCAA College Football 2K2 (2001) | NCAA College Football 2K3 (2002)
NFL 2K Series
NFL 2K (1999) | NFL 2K1 (2000) | NFL 2K2 (2001) | NFL 2K3 (2002) | ESPN NFL Football (2003) | ESPN NFL 2K5 (2004)