Who do you have this Sunday? Do you even care? Maybe not – this is Eurogamer after all, and one could not be blamed for not taking an interest in an American sport right now. But there’s nevertheless definitely more fandom for hand-egg in Europe than ever before – and so here I am, thinking about Superbowl Sunday because even here, in Britain, it’s all over the telly and the like.
Yes, today is the Superbowl, or ‘the big game’ as brands call it when they want to do tie-ins without paying or infringing on a weirdly grimy corporate trademark. For me, as a Brit who sort of accidentally tripped into being ‘into’ this particular sport 15-some years ago, this weekend means staying up until something like four in the morning, praying for a game good enough to justify the late night, junk food, booze, and a very bleary-eyed Monday.
I mercifully don’t have a dog in the fight for this specific game, given my Rams valiantly fell at the final hurdle – I just hope the Patriots/Seahawks showdown isn’t a blow-out. But that also leaves my mind free to wander and think about the sport as it takes over just about everything in the states and certainly my weekend here. And if I’m thinking about American Football and video games, I’m only thinking about one thing: Blitz.
NFL Blitz is, without a doubt, one of if not the greatest sports game ever made. That team at Midway is what in sporting terms we’d call a ‘dynasty’, in fact – because the only thing that can stand up to Blitz is NBA Jam – which was made by pretty much the same creative group.
The thing that makes Blitz stand-out special is its attitude towards American Football. It’s the idea that it’s a representation of the sport that is in the spirit of its traditions and laws, even while absolutely being about a million miles removed from the letter of the law.
Or to put it another way, it’s like how you have a lot of racing games out there, but OutRun is a driving game, and that’s different. IYKYK.
Essentially, Blitz understands that it is a videogame – and so the rules of the game are tweaked or even tossed out entirely to give you something that represents the only most exciting plays of any given NFL season – over and over again, designed to sap quarters from your pocket. In arcades, landromats, bowling alleys and bars it did just that – but that beautiful arcade stickiness remained just as potent in home ports for consoles like the Dreamcast and N64.
It’s a thrillingly addictive, wildly competitive, simply wonderful game. At the risk of sounding like an old man, it’s the sort of sports game they just generally don’t make any more; joyous in its silliness, steadfast in its refusal to waste even a second of a player’s time.
This has also made a Blitz revival difficult. Some would tell you that the braying masses out there really want simulation titles like EA’s Madden, and that’s why those get made. True enough. A great deal of the barrier is the league itself, however.
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What is acceptable within the sport proper has shifted massively. There’s a meme about how if you watch the highlight reel that used to open NFL games broadcast on CBS in the late seventies, every play highlighted would be a foul today. Some of them would even result in player suspensions! The league has tightened up the rules and rightly made the game a lot safer for those who put their bodies on the line every week – as it should. But rocked by scandals over harrowing injuries, concussions, and terrible repercussions into retirement, the NFL really doesn’t want to talk about or acknowledge the old ways.
That extends to video games, even when the players are digital avatars with over-the-top superhero-like builds who spontaneously burst into flames when they’re on a hot streak. The in-your-face hits and tackles of Blitz, designed to be eye-poppingly ‘big’ on screen, are no longer acceptable. They look too much like the sort of banned moves that, in real life, might leave someone paralyzed. Blitz never cared; it’s a video game. But after a deluge of proof that the sport left many players with irreversibly-changed lives, the NFL of 2026 cares.
When the classic Blitz games were reissued in a home arcade cabinet, the skittish NFL made the new publisher strip out certain content, marking an otherwise pretty serviceable re-release of the original as inferior unless you hack it (I have one of these in my house, and reader, I hacked it). When EA attempted a Blitz reboot as a downloadable it had no teeth at all, and also just wasn’t very good. The modern NFL, terrified of reputational damage, would never allow any modern release to be exactly as the originals were. That’s something we have to accept.
So the late hits might not actually be possible in a modern licensed game. But, honestly, I think Blitz is about a lot more than that. It’s totally possible to make a game that is a little more respectful about the bodies of the digital representations of the NFL’s athletes while maintaining a snappy, arcade-like feel in-game.
The feeling this style of game design evokes is, for my money, truly unbeatable. There’s an immediacy to the action, a breadth to the wild swings in momentum matches take, and just an overall vibe that is impeccable arcade perfection that’s effortlessly compelling. It is totally possible that a game could get out of the humdrum of simulation, plus ultimate team and all that nonsense – and deliver something magical.
So, today, that’s my Superbowl Sunday prayer. That and every year until we get a true successor. We’ve had a few near-misses of a sort, including the excellent 2D pixel-based titles Retro Bowl and Legend Bowl – but those are closer to the NES era titles like the soon-to-be a movie Tecmo Bowl than Blitz. But y’know… there now at least appears to be a path to a Blitz descendant.
Back in 2020, it was announced that 2K Sports had reached a licensing agreement with the NFL to make their own American Football game. 2K used to make a Madden rival, but backed out in the early 2000s. But now, after decades, there should eventually be another big-name rival to Madden. 2K’s deal secured them the teams, the stadiums, uniforms, players – everything needed to be authentic.
But here’s the exciting rub: the 2020 deal stipulated that 2K’s game has to be “non-simulation”, per the terms of the deal – because EA’s Madden series retains the exclusive rights to make simulation football titles. What’s the most successful non-sim American Football game? Blitz, of course. Even with the excessive violence stripped out, it remains the template to follow. Approaching six years on from that announcement, I wait with bated breath – is it even still in production? And if it is, can 2K finally give us what I’ve been craving since 2001? I want that almost as much as I want my team to make the Superbowl next year. Almost.
