Random Game O' the Day: RealSports Football

[digitalpress]

Day 13.

OK sports fan! This is the first sports game generated by our mystical random game generator, and it picked the Atari XE (8-bit computer) version - I won'd hold you to that version, though if you've played it, let's hear about it. You may instead choose to discuss the Atari 2600 or 5200 version, also listed here.

So what are your thoughts on this? The RealSports series was Atari's counterstrike to truly damaging Mattel commercials showing superiority in the sports game department between Intellivision and 2600, and the series title "stuck" for several games and even several consoles. Have you played this one? If so, what are your thoughts? Write your mini-review here.

DP Guide sez:

RealSports Football (Atari 2600, by Atari) $2/R1
Designed by Rob Zdybel, Alan Murphy. Based on the "red/blue" demo by Tod Frye. A screen shot appears in the Sept/Oct issue of Vidiot magazine (page 33). Ed "Too Tall" Jones (then playing for the Dallas Cowboys) endorsed this product on television. Sports/Football. PERIODICALS: Received an honorable mention for "Best Sports Game of 1983" by Electronic Games Magazine. c1982 Atari. #CX2668.



RealSports Football (Atari 5200, by Atari) $3/R2
Designed by Jim Huether. Years later Huether designed the wonderful Sega Genesis game Joe Montana Sportstalk Football. One of the many games that is trak-ball compatible. Originally just called "Football", Atari changed the name to fit their RealSports line-up. Sports/Football. Includes overlay(s). EASTER EGGS: According to the programmer, in order to access the secret message, you had to be winning by over 100 points and then have the QB throw a backward pass. Others claim that you have to score 119 points or more without allowing the other team to score more than 3 during a practice game with regulation time. Also, you must score the last touchdown with no time left. Instead of "Game Over" you will get the message "DESIGNED BY THE WARLORD". Anyone want to try and let us know which it is? #CX5207.



RealSports Football (Atari XE, by Atari) $5/R2
a.k.a. Football
Atari renamed their football cartridge to fit in with their RealSports line-up. This title was converted from the Atari 5200 version. Sports/Football. #RX8029.

[GENESISNES]

bleargh. a pre playstation football game. I have this game. It is an okay football game for being made before PSX. The version i have is for the 2600. Actully, my dad has it burried away somewhere in his crawlspace with the other games. The last time i played it was prolly last year, and i ended up playing it for about 30 minutes. *checks*.....w00t!! first post!!

[IntvGene]

I never played this one much. The Intellivision one had superior sports stuff anyway. But, I'd like to give the 5200 one a try because Jim Huether did a great job with Joe Montana on the Genesis, and I'd like to see the similarities.

The Realsports series came out too late for me and the 2600, and didn't offer many great titles anyway. By that time, I thought there were better games on other systems, or at least lost interest in them.

[bargora]

Atari 2600 Realsports Fooball = Best. Football. Game. EVAR.

Shortly afterward, they got too complicated and just lost me. But I'm not a football fan, anyway.

[Alex Kidd]

I have this game, when I was younger (7-10) I'd play this, and was pretty good then I came back to it in recent yars and can't do shit with it... I just keep geting tackled repeatedly or they start running and I have no chance of catching up to the carrier.

But as said, I DID enjoy it when I was younger and even won a few a times and came close many, so ir can't be that bad!

Alex Kidd

[o2william]

I really don't care for football in real life or on game consoles. That said, I have enjoyed two football video games in my life (three if you count the Coleco Electronic Quarterback handheld), and RS Football on the 2600 is one of them (NES Play Action Football is the other). I'm with bargora on this... after about the NES era, football games became too complicated for me to enjoy.

Silly story: My parents gave away all my 2600 stuff after I got an NES in about 1987 or so, but oddly enough the RS Football cart was misplaced at the time and wasn't given away. Over the next few years, I'd routinely find it while looking in a drawer or something, realize I had no console to play it on, and put it away in another drawer until I came across it again sometime later. Each time I found it, it would bring up fond memories. This went on for years before I finally got a replacement 2600.

[Kid Ice]

I wasn't crazy about the RS games. I thought M Network's games were better.

the kid

[Daniel Thomas]

Everybody knows the place for sports games in the classic era was Intellivision. The Atari 2600 just sucked for sports games, and RealSports Football fits that bill exactly. It's just such a basic game; it looks better than the original Atari Football, but I like that older game. Who wouldn't like running a pack of sqaurish football players moving to the sound of white noise?

Seriously, never liked RealSports Football.