Sure it doesn't have all the real teams and tactics, but it's still great...
You don't have a season mode, you just have the classic 1-on-1 exhibition mode, which is fun to play against a friend, but playing against the AI is laughably easy.
You don't have all of the original teams or any of the actual players, but who needs them? This game manages to be great without them. You have all of the standard plays, including passing, running, kciking, and punting. The selection screen makes calling plays a buttery-smooth experience as you only have to use 1 directional button and either A or B to select a play. When you do select a play, carrying it out is also very easy. Passing is a breeze and running requires little effort. This does manage to be a minor problem because the game is far too easy. You can do the old zig-zag trick and fool the AI into going the wrong direction and you can even score over 100 points per game because of it.
You have the option to not play any of the players, instead you can either have the AI play against itself, or you can be the coasch, whcih means that you don't control the players, but you call all of the plays. This is a great way to play if you're sick and tired of scoring every play and actually want a challenge.
Overall, this is the first kick at the can for Tecmo involving football games and its fun and enjoyable to play, especially against another person. If you're sick of all the Madden games, go try this one out and see how great NFL games were back on the NES.