On Romhack Thursdays, we bring you interesting finds from the world of game modifications.
There’s a whole community out there that exists to update old console sports games with current rosters and stats. This isn’t the first time we’ve linked to one of these hacks, but it’s been a while, so why not? This one’s a recently-released hack updating NES Tecmo Super Bowl for the 2024 NFL season.
The site sblueman.com is the canonical host of many of these hacks, going back to 2017. There’s also hacks that simulate NCAA seasons, for those who prefer a more collegiate experience. The hacks can also be gotten from tecmobowl.org. You can also find there TSBTool, a rom editor that’s used to construct the hacks. More information on that process is at sblueman.com’s site at this page.
These fan-made edits don’t just change the numbers and names, but modify and attempt to improve the gameplay in many ways. Knowing that not everyone might agree with all of their choices, there’s four versions of the hack: a “base” version with the updated rosters and the most agreed-on changes, a “vanilla” version with more changes and is intended for casual players, a “hardtype” hack that increases the difficulty, and an slightly changed edition of hardtype where, during road games, the player actually plays as Player 2, against a Player 1 computer opponent. This is done to put them on the right side of the field, but as a side effect you have to play on the second controller (virtual or otherwise).
The Tecmo Bowl games are revered among retro game fans for their exciting action and design, but due to EA’s stranglehold on official licenses for most of the big league sports, official rereleases and remakes from Koei Tecmo are unlikely any time soon. These fan-made editions are twice-damned: by Tecmo’s ancient copyright, and EA’s slightly younger licensing deal. It’s money left on the table, and if you need any proof of capitalism’s manifest faults, there you go. Instead, according to tecmobowl.org, Tecmo had plans once to make a Pokemon Go clone called Tecmo Bo Go. That effort seems to have almost entirely vanished, except for that post and a couple of others, so it seems to have spun down the great internet commode.
