John Madden Football

From Sega Retro

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JohnMaddenFootball title.png

John Madden Football
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer:
Genre: Sports

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code

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John Madden Football, known as John Madden American Football in Europe, is an American football game developed by Park Place Productions and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second in the long line of Madden titles, which have been released annually since the creation of this game. The previous game, also called John Madden Football was released in 1988 and is largely unrelated to this one, aside from the similar themes.

John Madden Football for the Mega Drive can be seen as "Madden '91", being followed by John Madden Football '92, '93, '94 and so on. Every game has been named after John Madden, American football player, coach and commentator.

Electronic Arts reverse engineered the Sega Mega Drive in the hopes of selling the game in North America without having to pay royalties ($8-$10 USD per cartridge) to Sega. A proposal was then made to Sega that the fee be reduced to $2, with the overall fee not exceeding $2 million USD. Sega agreed due to fears EA would sell the information to other companies, and the process would reportedly save EA $35 million in the next three years.

John Madden Football was an enormous success for EA. Sega originally approached the company to sell it as Joe Montana Football, as their game was due to miss the 1990 Christmas shopping season, but were refused, instead being given a watered down engine for that game (which still proved successful). The first John Madden Football game is seen as an industry game changer - one of the first steps to take back market share from Nintendo in North America.

Elsewhere in the world, John Madden Football and its sequels have been less successful as the sport does not tend to resonate outside of the US, however EA has applied the annual release system to other sports titles, namely NHL, FIFA, PGA Tour Golf and NBA Live.

Physical Scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 №41
95 №110
87 №12, p108
96 №1
94 №4, p70/71
100 №23, p53
90 №3, p67
Sega Mega Drive
 93
Based on
7 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[1]
ACE (UK)
90
[2]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
97
[3]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)
97
[4]
Console XS (UK) PAL
84
[5]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
95
[6]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
90
[7]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
92
[8]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
88
[9]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
86
[10]
Joystick (FR)
87
[11]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
75
[12]
Mega Play (US) NTSC-U
90
[13]
MegaTech (UK)
96
[14]
Mean Machines (UK)
95
[15]
Mean Machines (UK)
93
[16]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
94
[17]
Player One (FR)
91
[18]
Power Play (DE)
81
[19]
Raze (UK) PAL
94
[20]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
92
[21]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
100
[22]
Sega Pro (UK)
90
[23]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
84
[24]
Supergame (BR)
83
[25]
Tilt (FR)
75
[26]
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U
70
[27]
Zero (UK) PAL
95
[28]
Sega Mega Drive
 88
Based on
28 reviews

John Madden Football

Mega Drive, US
JohnMaddenFootball MD US Box.jpg
Cover
JohnMaddenFootball MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, EU
JohnMaddenFootball MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, BR
JohnMaddenFootball MD BR Box.jpg
Cover



Electronic Arts sports games for Sega systems
American Football
John Madden Football (1990) | John Madden Football '92 (1991) | John Madden Football '93 (1992) | John Madden Football: Championship Edition (1992) | Mutant League Football (1993) | Madden NFL '94 (1993) | Bill Walsh College Football (1993) | Bill Walsh College Football '95 (1994) | Madden NFL '95 (1994) | Madden NFL 96 (1995) | College Football USA 96 (1995) | Madden NFL 97 (Mega Drive) (1996) | Madden NFL 97 (Saturn) (1996) | College Football USA 97 (1996) | Madden NFL 98 (Mega Drive) (1997) | Madden NFL 98 (Saturn) (1997)
Baseball
Tony La Russa Baseball (1993) | MLBPA Baseball (1994) | La Russa Baseball 95 (1994) | Triple Play 96 (1995) | Triple Play: Gold Edition (1996)
Basketball
Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (1990) | Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA Playoffs (1991) | Jordan vs Bird (1992) | Team USA Basketball (1992) | Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs (1993) | NBA Showdown '94 (1994) | NBA Live 95 (1994) | NBA Live 96 (1995) | Coach K College Basketball (1995) | NBA Live 97 (Mega Drive) (1996) | NBA Live 97 (Saturn) (1996) | NBA Live 98 (Mega Drive) (1997) | NBA Live 98 (Saturn) (1997)
Golf
Zany Golf (1990) | PGA Tour Golf (1990) | PGA Tour Golf II (1992) | PGA Tour Golf III (1994) | PGA European Tour (1994) | PGA Tour Golf II (1995) | PGA Tour 96 (1995) | PGA Tour 97 (1996)
Ice Hockey
NHL Hockey (Mega Drive) (1991) | NHLPA Hockey '93 (1992) | NHL Hockey '94 (1993) | Elitserien 95 (1994) | Mutant League Hockey (1994) | NHL 95 (1994) | NHLPA Hockey (1994) | Elitserien 96 (1995) | NHL 96 (1995) | NHL Hockey (Game Gear) (1995) | NHL 97 (Mega Drive) (1996) | NHL 97 (Saturn) (1996) | NHL 98 (Mega Drive) (1997) | NHL 98 (Saturn) (1997)
Racing
Mario Andretti Racing (1994) | Andretti Racing (1996) | NASCAR 98 (1997)
Rugby
Rugby World Cup 1995 (1994) | Australian Rugby League (1995)
Soccer
FIFA International Soccer (8-bit) (1993) | FIFA International Soccer: Championship Edition (1994) | FIFA Soccer 95 (1994) | FIFA Soccer 96 (Mega Drive) (32X | Saturn | Game Gear) (1995) | FIFA Soccer 97 (Gold Edition) (1996) | FIFA Road to World Cup 98 (Mega Drive) (1997) | FIFA Road to World Cup 98 (Saturn) (1997)
Misc.
EA Sports Double Header (1992) | IMG International Tour Tennis (1994) | Toughman Contest (1994)
  1. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 120
  2. ↑ ACE, "February 1991" (UK; 1991-01-08), page 67
  3. ↑ Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume IV" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 31
  4. ↑ The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 47
  5. ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 131
  6. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-15), page 66
  7. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "December 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 21
  8. ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 62
  9. ↑ GamePro, "January 1991" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 60
  10. ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Octubre 1991" (ES; 1991-xx-xx), page 32
  11. ↑ Joystick, "Janvier 1991" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 108
  12. ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 92
  13. ↑ Mega Play, "March/April 1991" (US; 1991-04-xx), page 45
  14. ↑ MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 78
  15. ↑ Mean Machines, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 16
  16. ↑ Mean Machines, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-27), page 74
  17. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 139
  18. ↑ Player One, "Janvier 1991" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 32
  19. ↑ Power Play, "1/91" (DE; 1990-12-14), page 174
  20. ↑ Raze, "February 1991" (UK; 1990-12-20), page 70
  21. ↑ Sega Power, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-06), page 34
  22. ↑ Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 53
  23. ↑ Sega Pro, "Christmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-12), page 67
  24. ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 66
  25. ↑ Supergame, "Maio 1992" (BR; 1992-05-xx), page 37
  26. ↑ Tilt, "Février 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 76
  27. ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "January 1991" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 36
  28. ↑ Zero, "February 1991" (UK; 1991-0x-xx), page 90
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