It's one of the most fun football games I've ever played. Really.
Tecmo Bowl is pretty much as bare bones as it gets. There are a little over a dozen teams - at least they have the Colts - you pick a team and play. Like I said in my review of the NES game Ice Hockey, simplicity is a good, or even great thing. You just pick a team and play. I still can't tell the difference between them besides uniform color and sometimes available plays, but that doesn't really matter all that much.
I was getting on about how bare bones Tecmo Bowl is. Football-wise, it is. They left out many things like injuries you might expect to see in a football game, but I can't list them all... however many there are.
if you want me to describe how the game works, go watch a game of American football and come back, I'll wait here for you. Back? OK? good. Controller-wise, the NES's four-buttoned controler never actually seems like a drawback. Heck, you only need two of those buttons anyway, and the game handles pretty nicely.
Each team has only four plays, two running and two passing. More often then not I'm performing a running play; interceptions are easy to make (especially for the COMs), and there's only one receiver, so you always have to make sure the dude is open. Also, sometimes you can gain almost half the field's worth in distance in one play, or even during the kickoff; if you can weave through the chaos that is football and dodge everyone, you'll just keep on running, and maybe even outrun the other guys, all the way to a touchdown. Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often, and even when it does, someone is bound to catch up with the guy with the ball.
Graphically, the game is pretty much up to par with current... er, past NES standards. I mean, it's got some of the best graphics on the NES. The sound and BGM is good and well put together also.
So, overall, it's a fun game, and the two player mode is just as good. Go Colts! :D