John Madden Football

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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
Sega Mega Drive
US 		$49.9549.95[3][4] 700001
Sega Mega Drive
EU 		E036SMXI
Sega Mega Drive
BR

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; that game received a sequel of its own after this one, in 1991 (John Madden Football II)

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.

History

Development

Having seen success and rapid growth in supporting the home computer market, Electronic Arts chose in 1989 to make the move into video games, and more specifically, the Sega Mega Drive. However EA were not keen on paying royalties to Sega (roughly $8-$10 USD per cartridge), and so invested time and money in reverse engineering the console in an attempt to circumvent these policies.

However, unlike Nintendo's efforts with the NES, bypassing the security system of a Mega Drive required the use of the word "SEGA", the thinking being that unauthorised use of this trademark would give grounds for Sega to sue companies which attempted to reverse engineer its console (something that was famously challenged when Accolade attempted a similar feat). To avoid this, EA made a proposal 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.

While EA released several computer-to-Mega Drive conversions during 1990, this new John Madden Football was seen as its first major contribution to the video game market. However, Sega were also keen to exploit the 1990 holiday season (and newly acquired license with NFL quarterback Joe Montana) with an American football game, using Activision's Hard Yardage as a base. The project however was struggling and was set to miss its deadline, so Sega approached EA to sell John Madden Football as Joe Montana Football.

EA refused, but gave Sega a watered down engine for Joe Montana Football (which still proved successful).

Legacy

John Madden Football was an enormous success for EA, and 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.

Magazine articles

Main article: John Madden Football/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in GamePro (US) #18: "January 1991" (199x-xx-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 №41, p67[7]
97 №4, p31[8]
95 №110, p70-72[9]
95 №2, p66-68[10]
92 №18, p58-60[11]
86 №1, p32/33[12]
87 №12, p108[13]
75 №5, p92
95 №3, p16-19[14]
93 №17, p74[15]
96 №1, p78[16]
91 №5, p32/33[17]
81 №1/91, p174[18]
94 №4, p70/71[19]
92 №14, p34/35[20]
100 №23, p53
90 №3, p67[21]
84 №18, p66
83 №10, p36-38[5]
95 №16, p90/91
Sega Mega Drive
 91
Based on
20 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[22]
ACE (UK)
90
[7]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
97
[8]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)
97
[23]
Console XS (UK) PAL
84
[24]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
95
[25]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
90
[2]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
92
[26]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
88
[11]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
86
[12]
Joystick (FR)
87
[13]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
75
[27]
Mega Play (US) NTSC-U
90
[28]
MegaTech (UK)
96
[16]
Mean Machines (UK)
95
[14]
Mean Machines (UK)
93
[15]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
94
[29]
Player One (FR)
91
[17]
Power Play (DE)
81
[30]
Raze (UK) PAL
94
[19]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
92
[20]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
100
[31]
Sega Pro (UK)
90
[21]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
84
[32]
Supergame (BR)
83
[33]
Tilt (FR)
75
[34]
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U
70
[35]
Zero (UK) PAL
95
[36]
Sega Mega Drive
 88
Based on
28 reviews

John Madden Football

Mega Drive, US
JohnMaddenFootball MD US Box Back.jpgJohnMaddenFootball MD US Box Spine.jpgJohnMaddenFootball MD US Box.jpgJohnMaddenFootball MD US Box Spine2.jpg
Cover
JohnMaddenFootball MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, EU
JohnMaddenFootball MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
JohnMaddenFootball MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, BR
JohnMaddenFootball MD BR Box.jpg
Cover
JohnMaddenFootball MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
✔
CRC32 90fb8818
MD5 6c2b1deff4ad246d5ac0962591e1f974
SHA-1 10682f1763711b281542fcd5e192e1633809dc75
512kB 1990-07 Cartridge (US/EU)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:ACE UK 40.pdf, page 165
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:EGM US 017.pdf, page 21 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:EGM US 017.pdf_p21" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ File:GamePro US 018.pdf, page 62
  4. ↑ File:CGW US 089.pdf, page 83
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 File:Supergame BR 10.pdf, page 36
  6. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "October 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 78
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 File:ACE UK 41.pdf, page 67 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ACE UK 41.pdf_p67" defined multiple times with different content
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:CGtC UK 04.pdf, page 31 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CGtC UK 04.pdf_p31" defined multiple times with different content
  9. ↑ File:CVG UK 110.pdf, page 70
  10. ↑ File:CVG IT 02.pdf, page 66
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 File:GamePro US 018.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:GamePro US 018.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 File:HobbyConsolas ES 001.pdf, page 32 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:HobbyConsolas ES 001.pdf_p32" defined multiple times with different content
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 File:Joystick FR 012.pdf, page 108 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joystick FR 012.pdf_p108" defined multiple times with different content
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 File:MeanMachines UK 03.pdf, page 16 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachines UK 03.pdf_p16" defined multiple times with different content
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 File:MeanMachines UK 17.pdf, page 74 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachines UK 17.pdf_p74" defined multiple times with different content
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 78 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf_p78" defined multiple times with different content
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 File:PlayerOne FR 005.pdf, page 32 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:PlayerOne FR 005.pdf_p32" defined multiple times with different content
  18. ↑ File:PowerPlay DE 034.pdf, page 174
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 File:Raze UK 04.pdf, page 70 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Raze UK 04.pdf_p70" defined multiple times with different content
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 File:SegaPower UK 14.pdf, page 34 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPower UK 14.pdf_p34" defined multiple times with different content
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 File:SegaPro UK 03.pdf, page 67 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 03.pdf_p67" defined multiple times with different content
  22. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 120
  23. ↑ The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 47
  24. ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 131
  25. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-15), page 66
  26. ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 62
  27. ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 92
  28. ↑ Mega Play, "March/April 1991" (US; 1991-04-xx), page 45
  29. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 139
  30. ↑ Power Play, "1/91" (DE; 1990-12-14), page 174
  31. ↑ Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 53
  32. ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 66
  33. ↑ Supergame, "Maio 1992" (BR; 1992-05-xx), page 37
  34. ↑ Tilt, "Février 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 76
  35. ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "January 1991" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 36
  36. ↑ Zero, "February 1991" (UK; 1991-0x-xx), page 90



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)
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