Tecmo Bowl team previews

[TecmoBowlTerror]

Been throwing these newspapers together in 8 bit graphic fashion for the original Tecmo Bowl, which is loosely based off the 1987-1988 seasons...hence forth he August 1988 date.
It's basically a season pre-view set prior to the 88 season.

Each paper is a quick team summary outlining strengths and weaknesses, along with some player personnel movement, and even a little coaches commentary.







Some of the commentary is very "Tecmo-based". I seem to recall Ron Erhardt as a pretty decent OC in New York, but their playbook blows in Tecmo, so he gets the blame in the paper.

I tried to capture some of the situations which either were, or were about to encompass the teams during that time. Such as foreshadow Marty Shottenheimer leaving Cleveland, and Bill Walsh retiring at the end of that 1988 season. The sale of the Cowboys, and firing of Tom Landry is foreshadowed as well. Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan left the Broncos to take the Raiders HC job heading into 1988.

Jim McMahon's oft injured situation was an easy choice to address. Seems he missed about 40% of the games during his Bears career. Jack Trudeau of the Colts has the weakest arm in the game, so that was created into a injury concern for the team...so that's a good example of a Tecmo-based story. Timmy Smith's quick assent, then quick disappearing act gives him the moniker "Timmy who?".

Free agency was in it's infancy after the 1987 season. Wilber Marshall's movement from Chicago to Washington is addressed in both papers, and was a really big deal in the NFL at that time.

[FrankSerpico]

Nice, only thing is my Bills didn't make it in until Tecmo Super Bowl

[TecmoBowlTerror]

Edited original post. These are the same images as above.

[TecmoBowlTerror]

Nice, only thing is my Bills didn't make it in until Tecmo Super Bowl

They weren't even the "Bickering Bills" in August of 1988! It was fun to watch them grow into a power over the next couple years though.

Tecmo was based off the mid-80's era and what was considered the most successful franchises at that time.
I think people just assumed that the 12 they selected were the playoff teams in like 1986 or 1987...but those 12 teams were never all in the playoffs together during the same year.

Houston was really becoming a power in the AFC by the time the game was released in Feb of 1989, but hadn't probably established themselves to be good for long enough to merit getting in. Which sucks, as Moon and his bevy of receivers would have made for a fun team to play with. I really think Dickerson going to the Colts helped them get in. They were pretty mediocre during that era.
Dallas was fading fast leading up to Tecmo's release, but they had enough history on their side to obviously be included.

[kainemaxwell]

Awesome job. Tecmo Super Bowl is my go-to football game.

[FrankSerpico]

Yeah, there was really no reason for the Colts to be in there other than the hype around Dickerson. They were the punching bag of the AFC East from the late '80s up until they had that near-miraculous playoff run with Harbaugh at QB in '95.