From Mattel to Madden

SI Staff | Aug 10, 2010

From Mattel to Madden

Mattel Football

Running on a 9-volt transistor battery, this pocket handheld unit proved popular beyond Mattel's initial expectations, selling 500,000 units in its first year.

Football for the Atari 2600

With just four men on each team -- three linemen and a quarterback -- Atari's first football effort didn't exactly smack of realism. Teams could score touchdowns and safeties but not field goals.

Football for the TI-99 Home Computer

While users couldn't actually control the players, this Texas Instruments title was a very detailed football simulation for its time.

NFL Football for Intellivision

Novel features for this title included an actual scrolling field, cheering fans and the largest playbook in a football game to date.

Coleco Total Control 4

A step up from the previous year's Coleco Head to Head Football, Total Control 4 was a cartridge-based sports gaming system which came bundled with the football cartridge (above, the orange section).

RealSports Football for the Atari 2600

A considerable improvement from Atari's debut football effort, teams controlled a quarterback, flanker and three linemen on offense -- or two defensive linemen, two cornerbacks and a linebacker on defense.

10-Yard Fight

This arcade port was one of the first and best-known football titles for the wildly popular NES console.

NFL Football

This unheralded NES game, developed by Atlus and published by LJN, was actually the first to acquire an official NFL license.

John Madden Football for Commodore 64/128

The first installment of the franchise which would forever change sports gaming.

Tecmo Bowl

Tecmo Bowl -- and it's equally beloved sequel Tecmo Super Bowl (1990) -- boasted an NFLPA license, enabling users to take control of stars like Randall Cunningham, Walter Payton and Christian Okoye.

Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football for Genesis

This Sega Genesis title was the first game to use digitized speech and continuous play-by-play commentary.

Madden NFL '94

The first Madden game with an NFLPA license generated a huge boost in popularity for the up-and-coming franchise.

NFL GameDay

As the flagship football title of the groundbreaking Sony PlayStation console, GameDay took advantage of the eight-button controller to give the user unprecedented control for a football game.

NFL Blitz

Taking cues from its NBA Jam series, Midway debuted NFL Blitz in 1997 -- a playground-style game where teams needed 30 yards for a first down and excessive violence was encouraged.

Madden NFL 2005

The first Madden game with online capabilities opened the home console to the world.

Madden NFL 2009

The 20th Anniversary edition of the venerable football franchise has been billed as the first video game that adapts to you.