Football (video game)
Football (released as NFL Football) is a
multiplayer sports video game produced byMattel and
released for its Intellivision video game system in 1979. The players each control a football team competing in a standard
four-quarter game. Like Mattel's other sports video games, NFL Football did not use any official National
Football Leagueteam names or player names, even though Mattel
obtained a license from the NFL and used the league's logo in its box art.
Gameplay
He player controls a five-man football team, actively controlling one team member at a time, with the computer controlling the rest. As in traditional American football, the player's team must score more points than the opponent's team within the time limit of the game. The game consists of four quarters, each a simulated 15 minutes in length, and takes place on a horizontally-scrolling 100-yard simulated football field
Player 1 always starts the game on offense and
receives the opening kick-off from Player 2; at the start of the second half,
Player 2 will receive the kick-off from Player 1.NFL Football is played in the same basic manner as
a regulation game of football, with the offense being given four downs to advance
e the ball a minimum of ten yards before losing possession of the football to
the opposing team. At the start of each down, the players use their
controller's keypad to input a formation and a play for that down; descriptions
and diagrams of the plays were printed in the game's instruction manual and not
visible on-screen. When both players have entered their formations, play
resumes.
The player on offense generally controls the
team's quarterback unless
the ball is handed off to a running back or
passed to an eligible receiver. In the former case, control
immediately switches to the running back. In the latter case, control switches
to the intended receiver, who must maneuver to catch the ball before it goes
out of bounds or is intercepted by the defense. On defense, the player controls
the "captain," roughly
in the position of a safety.
All defensive team members are capable of tackling the ball carrier, but only
the player-controlled team member may attempt to intercept a pass.
Games whose scores are tied at the end of the
fourth quarter of play end as ties, with no overtime period.
Variations from standard football
NFL Football made numerous concessions to how a standard game of football
is played. Unlike modern football video games, which use statistics to
determine a team's relative strengths and weaknesses, the two teams in the game
are of equal strength, with the only significant variable being the player's
own abilities. There is also no play clock governing the pace of the game;
players may take all the time needed to select plays, although in situations
where the game clock would be running (such as after a completed play that did
not result in a first down), the game clock will continue to
run until another game action stops it. Each player does have three time-outs
per half, but time-outs will last until the player who called the time-out
completes play selection. Players, in the truest sense, are not able to audible, although they
may call a time-out at the line of scrimmage and make a change if the ball has not
been snapped.
Touchdowns are worth seven points, with the extra point considered automatic, and no option to
attempt a two-point conversion;
at the time the game was released, the lack of a two-point conversion was not
considered a concession, as the NFL didn't incorporate the rule until 1994.
Field goals are possible, but with no goal posts at the end zones, the kicked
ball must simply cross the back of the end zone in order to be considered good. Safeties are possible and are handled in the
same manner as regulation football, with the defensive team receiving two
points and possession of the ball, although in lieu of a kick-off, the team
scoring the safety takes possession on its own 20-yard line.
Ports
NFL Football was sold by Sears for the
"Super Video Arcade," its private-label version of the Intellivision
console, without the NFL name or logo. "M-Network," Mattel's
third-party brand, released a port of NFL
Football
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