Tecmo Bowl remains one of the few sports games I have ever enjoyed. HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT
The music and sound effects were good for NES standards, but what everybody really cared about was the gameplay. You could choose from all the professional teams available in 1990, with the strengths of each team reflecting reality. So the Bengals had almost no hope of beating the Raiders. I was a 49ers fan, and luckily Montana and Rice made it possible to dominate. The Bears were also tough. Anyway, the passing teams (49ers, Dolphins) had almost all passing plays and the running teams (Raiders, Cowboys) had all rushing plays. Each team had 4 plays for offense and 4 for defense. A very simple game, but so fun. Properly choosing your defensive play would determine whether the next play was a blow-out or not.
After every touchdown, the ball carrier would get a little cut-scene before the extra point. No 2-point conversion; I said simple, right? After the extra point, the scoring team kicks off, trying to optimize the power meter to just keep the ball out of the opposite endzone. The computer AI has strong swarming tendencies, so running the ball back for a large gain was very difficult. A touchback was almost a blessing to the receiving team. On offense, you control the ball carrier by default. As QB, you can select receivers who will become the ball carriers. On defense, you can take control of any player at any time. Very similar to Blitz. I personally think the blocking is better in Tecmo Bowl, because as soon as an opposing drone approaches one of your defenders, a collision ensues that ties them up, thereby allowing safe passage to carry the ball (offense) or smash (defense).
Overall, Tecmo Bowl is one of the granddaddies of console football games and should be respected. Take some time to play it if you can find it.