Konami's Failed NFL Game

[@mikeRedMDK2032]

Presentation was gold in that era of sports titles. Immersive intros, music, little details.

[@derrickwright5728]

I miss ESPN license SPORTS GAMES….

[@brianbadonde9251]

Back before everything was skipped 😂

[@NelsonMandela1million]

People making the games actually cared.

[@knuxklez27]

on god

[@paxhumana2015]

@@derrickwright5728 , I miss the classic ESPN and NFL.

[@ST0NE_206]

I would rather play this than any the past 10 Maddens

[@SOFTDRINKTV]

I'd rather play with my pet rock

[@MrCooleBeansCards]

I’d rather eat my GameCube then play the last 10 Maddens

[@Brazil144hopeful]

Right to be honest it doesn't look that bad from a game play point of view

[@mikeRedMDK2032]

This or literally any title around that time or a smidge later. Fever, blitz, street, the good stuff

[@lldjslim]

Nah, this game sucked back then, and it still sucks today

[@joshuastar77]

For a game in 2001, this game looks fantastic. The Graphics has aged really well.

[@nyckingballa3]

respect king. i think they're watering down what they're capable of 20 years later.

[@lysergicpillamyd483]

​@@nyckingballa3 It's called copy and paste. The problem is the developers are required to make a new game every year. They have no time for research and development.

[@BrettJ2010]

I don't think those are console graphics, probably emulation

[@kylexile87]

I like how they had Mark Brunell throwing right handed 😂

[@tj2nasty4ya83]

I just made that no comment like hold up am I trippn lol

[@imSethy]

Man seeing Brady is simply wild. Can’t believe he’s finally called it a career

[@sageinfinitenj2791]

I really appreciate these retrospectives of lesser known sports games

[@dropkickninja5379]

Same here. Must be a New Jersey thing lol.

[@jduke93]

Man banger after banger. Thank you SDTV

[@PeteSkerritt]

When you posted on Twitter that this was coming, I got very excited. I actually *reviewed* this back in the day and was blown away by the presentation. That aspect still largely holds up more than 2 decades later, despite Visual Concepts outclassing it not long after. Berman and Jackson are authentic on commentary, even if the script is a bit thin… and those stat overlay and the score bug are so spot on for ESPN of the time period. Konami did a great job in presentation with other ESPN-licensed titles, too… notably ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 and (surprisingly) ESPN X-Games Skateboarding.

[@rickdavis32]

The movement was really fluent and fast paced,the madden at the time was horrible slow paced.

[@jeremyboyd8659]

Had this game as a kid and would spend hours rotating it in between NFL GameDay, NFL 2K2, Quarterback Club and Madden 2002...The fun part about having multiple football titles at that time was where one game lacked, the others may have prevailed

[@Broly555_TV]

Exactly! And that's why I'm excited about all the different indie football games that exist. Each one does something that makes it unique, and if you don't like one, there is a bunch of other ones to try out that probably fit your needs better.

[@LARamsHouse21]

I had this game on my PS2. Very underrated. The presentation was ahead of its time. It wasn't a great game but it had a lot going for it. I actually bought this over Madden because of the ESPN presentation.

[@TRJ2241987]

It's interesting how 'American' this game seems.....every Konami NBA game I've ever played always feels sooo 'Japanese', they usually even have a GAME OVER screen when the game ends

[@youdontknow7190]

This channel not having more subscribers is a fucking crime.

[@SOFTDRINKTV]

Appreciate the kind words! It means a lot

[@dkwoods3d]

If we're taking about Konami sports games, we gotta talk about the "NBA In The Zone" series. Really underrated series.

[@Bullwine]

3:39 starting here I'm noticing that the Packers roster from that era is instead on the Lions. On a separate note, worth noting that Konami didn't just venture into the NFL and NBA with the ESPN license like you mentioned. They went into winter sports, track and field, golf, NHL and even having a game exclusive to MLS, the only games where you could play as MLS teams separate from EA's FIFA games, and unlike MLS in the FIFA games, Konami had all the MLS stadiums at the time. Looking back at it just shows how different the league was back then.

[@SOFTDRINKTV]

Those rosters were jumbled because it was from a fantasy draft tournament

[@Bullwine]

@@SOFTDRINKTV That makes more sense! Saw Favre, Longwell, and Tyrone Williams in Lions uniforms and I'm like "Wait a second..."

[@jeffbelval2075]

I forgot this game even existed until now. I miss the early 2000s with all the sports gaming options

[@2kTeacher]

We all do my guy

[@nlee4566]

Exactly ! Every system had 4 or 5 sports titles for each sport from different companies too.

[@skandalmkdaniel3029]

Yes, the 2000s were the golden era of football games. Madden, NFL 2k, NFL Gameday, NFL Blitz and Blitz pro, NFL Fever, QB Club, and the College counterparts to these, except no Microsoft college one to match fever, and no match for QB club. Wow, to think back to these times. Now????? Just stripped down modern madden games. 😂

[@ZFKATNBADGER40]

Love all these reviews as of late. 👌

[@fatherlesss]

Konami made an nfl game, who would’ve thought

[@KeanBurke]

An NBA game as well.

[@justsomeguywithkaminasshad7145]

Konami had a whole line of sports games back in the PS1 and PS2 eras. They had football, basketball, baseball, hockey... even made a couple of skateboard and snowboard games based on the X-Games.

[@xilften1]

The intro alone gets me hype. Sad that the current gen games don't even come close

[@dpk72]

Yay! You finally featured my all time favorite classic game! Thank you for giving this a feature video and its due! I actually had to argue with the guy in EB Games that I wanted this and not Nfl2k2 when I bought my Ps2!

[@xxRockstarSlayer]

this game don’t look too bad, it was made in 2001 lol

[@zekerodriguez13]

With Super Mario Bros that came out recently and you being a GameCube fan, I think retrospectives on the Mario sports games would be awesome.

[@bytheriverinpeace2301]

Just goes to show the level of competition if a game from 21 years ago with better presentation and gameplay than modern Madden games does horribly with sales and critics. Let's just put it like this, if Madden came out with what they do today in 2002, Madden would've been where Konami's franchise is.

[@nickoldschoolrules52]

There was so much choice back in the day with reputable companies competing with each other. Even if there were clear standouts at least the alternatives were playable and gave you a different flavour for if you wanted a change.

[@Broly555_TV]

This is exactly how I feel about all the football games in the indie scene that we have today.

[@AguilaDeOnix85]

I mean, Konami made some pretty decent sports games every so often. NBA in the zone, winning 11. But it was always an uphill battle with football back then.

[@chrissimao14]

Winning 11 was 🔥

[@arancione8336]

Konami’s International Superstar Soccer was better than EA’s FIFA offerings back in the N64 era, from what I remember.

[@H0LLOW_PRIV]

I've been waiting for a video on the Konami ESPN saga of games! Such an underrated game imo!

[@GridironMasters98]

The best of these early Konami sports games was ESPN NBA 2Night 2002. I did a review kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipi2np2ohbt1n5Y

[@kenstermcnine071]

damn i honestly had no idea konami made an NFL game that's very interesting honestly, great video softdrink keep it up!

[@DannyDorito504]

Love these videos! Your analysis is so on point

[@Royal10123]

Next gen brought us good graphics and disappointment.

[@relaxsleepdreamrepeat_]

In the 80s Konami ruled the world

[@mikeRedMDK2032]

They could do no wrong then

[@skolinpurpleandgold3784]

This wasn't as bad game as people made it out to be. NFL 2k5 and NFL blitz make me happy today.

[@novmbrone]

20 years later and it still sucks just as bad as it did at release. lol.

[@JoeyBeeSays]

I sank all my childhood into this. Glad to see some attention brought to it

[@TicoisTocory]

This game was a hidden gem! Keep the videos coming Softdrink.

[@FidoArtz]

this wasn't the only American football game konami made in the 2000s, they also made Disney Sports Football (or Disney Sports: American Football as its called in japan to avoid confusion with the soccer football title)on GBA and game cube in 2002 as part of their short-lived Disney Sports series that lasted til 2003, the gameplay is arcadey as expected as your playing with teams made up of Disney characters. and this was made before nintendo advancing the Mario sports games during the mid-2000s with well known titles like super mario baseball or mario strikers. one could also imagine, would Konami try their hands at a american football video game again and have it be successful as PES. one could wonder.

[@KamikazeXero]

I was actually going to mention the Konami sports games when you did a video on the lesser known NBA games developed by Sony. The NFL QB Club series dating back to the 16-bit era would be a good retrospective as well (but those later games are awful!)

[@waltsoph3]

Wow I didn't even know about this game. Its quite a surprise to see Konami take a chance at a NFL Football. ( I know they did Double Dribble and Blades of Steel back in the NES era. ) Still for 2001 the graphics look incredible for its time. 😲 If its cheap I may try to pick this up sometime just to hear some classic Chris Berman lines. 😃 Thanks for making this video SOFTDRINKTV.

[@bungieman2810]

I actually really enjoy the gameplay in this title. Yes there are a few weird moments like players getting caught on each other, but it's snappy and fun. I'd much rather have my sports games be fun instead of realistic. Good review, man!

[@MrEOM41]

I’ve never heard of this one… this is a gem 💎

[@MilquetoastQT]

Brunell is left-handed lol

[@flutebasket4294]

I actually miss the days of 700 competing sports games

[@MikeSparksMusic]

0:56 NFL 2K3 used ESPN but I guess not “fully” since Suzy Kolber and Chris Berman weren’t in the game yet and had the fictitious Michelle Wes(t)fall and Clark Dishman in their places respectively. NFL PrimeTime 2002 was definitely a stepping stone for the excellent ESPN presentation style in 2K3-2K5 despite PrimeTime’s clunky gameplay.

[@dcscott0602]

I remember playing this game for hours on end every weekend. So much nostalgia with this video.

[@ICU-th7qj]

That theme song brings back memories. Coming home from school and watching primetime Monday afternoons

[@abramflores8121]

Hell yeah I love these football 🏈 videos game reviews been subscribed for a good min never a bad video 👍

[@willbongz1065]

5:05 that catch 😂

[@bjnt922]

Konami also made a soccer game that focused exclusively on MLS that year called ESPN MLS Extratime 2002.

[@maczay7856]

You on a roll bro keep ‘em coming don’t stop. Let’s hit blitz 04’ the nba ballers series nba jam 04’ etc you know what you got here 🔥🔥🔥

[@LB14745]

Konami finally made it with NBA Starting Five 2005, one of the best NBA games ever released. Sadly it was only released in Japan. Such an underrated game!

[@GridironMasters98]

The best of these early Konami sports games was ESPN NBA 2Night 2002. 2Night became starting five. I did a review kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipi2np2ohbt1n5Y

[@TC-ex5fr]

I'm honestly surprised that ESPN itself was never able to claim the right to be able to make an NFL video game

[@aaronequinoa77]

What a PS5 can't handle Refs. Hmmm maybe they should delete entire pay to play modes and add back realistic stuff like refs coin tosses and a legitimate franchise mode with a higher quality realistic superstar mode and not the same recycled garbage story about a long shot character you loose interest in and hate your life for playing any amount of that mode

[@Revy_1995]

im earlier than a referee calling roughing the passer for Tom Brady

[@ZACLAND21]

I never played this game but I definitely played their NBA 2Night games (NBA 2Night 2002 to be precise) I hope you can make a video one day about that game

[@samusaran11]

Sad that this game in some aspects is more ahead of the time than Madden 23..

[@rockbottom8046]

lol I remember this game. I was going to buy it at gamestop and even the employee was like dont do it. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@malikblount2251]

Real football days

[@GeddensGC]

Dope video, I totally forgot about this game.

[@rngfootball759]

I seen that game years ago going through the gamestop pre-owned aisle. Are you planning to do a rise and fall of PES soccer? Used to be decent soccer/association football game.

[@dominicamato9899]

NFL 2K five was actually a good game

[@elimbymonte]

beginning had me feeling like i was watch an OG nfl game on espn....👀

[@jmarcguy]

I miss going to the video store (😳) and seeing a variety of sports games. So many options. Geez Tom Brady was in this game!

[@USR__]

I remember The first time I played this... My Homies mom copped him this instead of Madden but we were blown away!

[@gmbieber6551]

The game messed up Mark Brunell on the Jags, he should be left handed.

[@noteimporta2880]

Sean Taylor was a fumble machine :D i had alot of glory with him and the first person football was awesome and i loved it... still we don't have another first person football game

[@pierresoorden5975]

you don't care

[@Brazil144hopeful]

Hey have you did a review on NFL quarter back club 2002 yet? It was pretty good

[@HeavyWeightHank]

Graphics back then looked incredible for this game

[@ZRGaming93]

What is the name of the instrumental that plays at like 5:45 in the background of the video?

[@natehuntington1175]

When I was 14 I asked my mom for ESPN NFL football 2k4, bless her heart she got this on accident lol...I am a jags fan and instantly noticed that they didn't have right or left handedness. Mark brunell was left handed and he threw right on the game lol

[@thegamingchef3304]

Man I dont remember this game, and I have always been into football and football games. But back then you had Madden, NFL 2K, GameDay, NFL Fever etc etc. Oddly during the PS1 and N64 era we really didn't play Maddens, I don't even remember playing Madden at all during that era...I remember playing Quarterback club.

[@ValSempai]

Konami was probably sick to their stomachs watching Sega stroll along and basically just scoop up the game they made, tweak it, and make people fall in love with it xD

[@crazyk729]

i am again asking what is the music @8:22 mark thank you,, awesome vid

[@DGKJhayTV]

2K football was kind of my start to football games outside of N64. The old football games has so many play options

[@ChrisSterner]

The face he called it has a retro ESPN vibe makes me feel old

[@joshmccartney3083]

Small details made such a huge difference cheerleaders refs throwing flags miss that stuff

[@GamingCubeYT]

ESPN presentation was first used in 2K football with NFL 2K3

[@takecareofyrshoes]

back when the nfl used fullbacks. 😬

[@vincejupiter4749]

Yo! Big supporter of your channel and content! We got similar game taste lol a dope video would be NFL Xtreme and NFL Xtreme 2. First football game I had on ps1 😂

[@50shadesofbeige88]

That theme song still slaps.

[@roguexxx90]

I see the work SoftDrink keep it up!

[@stevengrvp]

I miss these games

[@Rockhead84]

I don't remember this game but it looks really crisp, like a PC game. Thanks for reviewing this!

[@WakethBaketh]

In all honesty…if Konami were to make a game today, it would blow any attempt from EA or 2K, out of the water. Their soccer and baseball games are top notch. They pay attention to all of the small details of the sport when it comes to gameplay, and their graphics have never been an issue. This is coming from someone who is begging for another 2K football game. I still play All Pro Football 2K8….

[@cjcalmus3305]

Very true

[@HayBaiLs420]

Watching Wiggy catch a TD from Brady and then doing a backflip was 🤣

[@Phateagle262]

I owned this for a little while. Gameplay didn't measure up IMO, but there were some good ideas. I recall late in games, you'd get a prompt asking if you wanted to either run the clock down if you were ahead or if you were behind, whether to call timeout or let the clock run.

[@TheRealDill93]

Crazy how much better the graphics were than the ps2 maddens

[@404EyedAce]

I have this this game along with others like NFL Gameday, NFL Xtreme, and NCAA Gamebreaker. Still have safely in storage. I even have the first NFL Primetime back on Sega. Miss these games.

[@s.m.withtheak3024]

Had this when it came out and actually picked it back up again a few months ago...decent game except the passing sucks..menus can be bit of a pain also

[@fortynights1513]

Music at 1:56?

[@dr.loomis4221]

You should cover ESPN National Hockey Night on PS2

[@Based_Proletariat]

@SoftDrinkTV Did you every play the NFL QUARTERBACK CLUB games on N64?

[@SOFTDRINKTV]

I have played them, I will eventually do a video on the series!

[@Based_Proletariat]

@@SOFTDRINKTV Cool, I played em' back in the day, they were kinda Mid. imo

[@AlBeQuirky]

NFL Quarterback Club '99 is one of my favorite football games. Played that so much on the N64. Then 2000 released...played that...and was extremely disappointed. Not sure what Acclaim was doing there. And Acclaim, yet another competitor in 2001 to Konami. So many developers then😢

[@mathew3267]

You've got to Konami some credit during this era. They were trying to compete in a lot of different genres with high quality titles.

[@Fender178]

I knew of Tecmo creating NFL games on the NES but never knew that Konami created any NFL games. I heard of NFL GameDay but never played it. So this is the younger brother of ESPN NFL 2K4 and 2K5.

[@steelkeez7700]

Wow, can I still play the game on a game system today?

[@adama5790]

What songs do you use for your background music? specifically 4:47-6:00.

[@pierresoorden5975]

I wish he would say

[@demev7488]

I had this on PC. Even when that was my "Peak" Madden PC world for me, I enjoyed the presentation enough to like the game. But yea the gameplay wasn't as good as Madden back then.

[@Boogey216]

Ah the good ole days when we had options 😩

[@BlueBlur24]

As you said during your video on Sony's NBA series, if a previous company did not do an attempt at innovation, we would not see the perfection of that innovation by another company. If Konami did not use the ESPN presentation for this game, SEGA would not have used the ESPN license either to perfect it and the NFL 2K series would not have stood out as much.

[@nolalife18]

Mark Brunell was throwing absolute dots with his right hand

[@nosajnumber1]

lol im glad im not the only one who saw that lol

[@mikeRedMDK2032]

Yeah. Pretty interesting for a southpaw lol

[@moistquasar3572]

are you going to do a review on the new PGA Tour game (or maybe a rise and fall video on the series)?

[@whataboutrob442]

The wrap up tackle looks nice

[@anthonymaestas4777]

No wonder this game failed, it has Mark Brunell throwing right handed 😂