The Shameful Sega Sports NFL 97 - Sega Saturn Review

[@brettrudy2245]

I absolutely loved NFL '97...for all the extra Saturn disc cases it provided me. I bought every copy I could find at $3.99, just for the replacement parts.

[@MaxAbramson3]

Good thinking!

[@ElComanche]

That a boy!

[@razcarsey6635]

That's hilarious. And ingenious! 🤣

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

I loved Joe Montana Football on Sega CD, unironically! I was very young....

[@treedeblue]

@@Blas4ublasphemy amazing soundtrack and effects!

[@supernoob17]

I feel like you could make a supercut of every time SLX has complained about or trashed on this game online and the video would be like 3 hours long. Love the dedication

[@SegaLordX]

This one was a sore spot for me. I can forgive a lot but Sega not taking care of its sports franchises was just unbelievably absurd.

[@gameshack1985]

@@SegaLordX The Saturn was, on the whole, not a great system for sports games!

[@CMCAdvanced]

A compilation of shit talking would be well received

[@SoulforSale]

​@@SegaLordXwhat is absurd is that the Sega Genesis got NFL 96 and NFL 98 but not NFL 97

[@fan0000]

​@@SegaLordXcouldn't agree with you more being a 90s kid this comment hits close to home my first time commenting on your videos but, I've been a subscriber for a while love the content SLX

[@AshleysBallistics]

We went from THIS to NFL 2K on Dreamcast in just 3 years... that's mind blowing... Tech has dramatically slowed 😟

[@bsaintnyc]

diminishing returns now all the work is being done on the software side , the hardware is god like now

[@LeadMe2TheBliss]

Oh man, those 2K sports games on the Dreamcast were incredible. Way ahead of their time!

[@matthewhainer189]

How much better can I get though? To go from photo realism to ...what exactly? The advances in game mechanics, graphics, and sound will only be incremental from here, because it is already so lifelike.

[@freebobafett]

The VMU made that game so good. Finally your opponent didn't have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing your play every down...

[@mxggo9046]

I think the next step and I know this may sound incredible but I think the next step should be holograms if in any way possible something like Star Trek the next generation. I say this because I feel virtual reality or a virtual reality helmet is limited doesn't get your full body moving necessarily

[@infinity2z3r07]

I was 12, a fan of the Steelers and Kordell Stewart. Can't even tell you how crushed I was by this pile of shit The next year I had a PSX and NFL Gameday 98 was a bonafide next gen football game in comparison.

[@BigSnipp]

I was a Browns fan. I hated to lose my team, but it's awesome they are not in this game.

[@roxynano]

@BigSnipp Oh, thank goodness! The factory of sadness has its limits! They have been spared!

[@BigSnipp]

@@roxynano Bro, you're 20 years late.

[@The-Khandor-of-Kalakuta]

​@@BigSnipp yeah, those were dark times, and we had to watch the ravens win a Superbowl

[@NexusFantismo]

​@@The-Khandor-of-Kalakuta dang and you've had to do that again during the Joe Flacco era too. Cleveland sports...truly a "factory of sadness".

[@roxynano]

I'm surprised you were able to make this video. Going through this again can't be fun so I salute you!

[@SegaLordX]

It was tough but I made it through 2 full games before I simulated a few.

[@mrlahey6176]

4 hour driver to NYC, listened to Sega Lord X the entire way. Your voice is seered into my brain!

[@khyrox1]

Nearly every kid I knew when I was in high school that had a Genesis had one mostly for the sports games. I'm not a huge sports gamer but when the Saturn came out and didn't seem to have sports as a strong pillar of focus (specifically football here in the US), that had me concerned. And when I saw Gameday for Playstation, I knew it was over. I love my Saturn but barely anyone I knew at the time was familiar with VF2, Sega Rally, etc. etc. It was almost always Madden and football in general that drove interest. It was really strange at the time to see Sega seemingly turn away from what made the Genesis so popular (at least where I lived.)

[@SegaLordX]

Was the same way with many of my Sega fans. It made switching to the Playstation super easy for them because the sports games were so much better.

[@Thor-Orion]

I’m not a sports game fan. My brother and I had a genesis growing up, largely for sonic and then he really liked the Desert Strike series and we both loved Streets of Rage and the MK games and the Shinobi series. We were also big into comic books so the XMen games, Punisher and then when we got Saturn Children of the Atom and Panzer Dragoon were two of the big reasons why. Vectorman 1&2 are still some of my favorite games to throw on and play for awhile.

[@NexusFantismo]

​@@Thor-Orion man Sega dropped the ball. All of those games you listed for the Genesis were awesome and none saw a sequel on the Saturn. No Vectorman , Desert Strike , Shinobi, Sonic, etc. That alone deserves a quick death for a console.

[@jaredwhite200]

It’s always a great day when Sega Lord X makes a video about a game from the great Sega Franchise it’s a shame that this game was not good

[@mxggo9046]

Or a game tech franchise

[@DSMTheEditor]

The weirdest thing is how Gametek was tapped for the job given most of their resume was game show shovelware

[@GameSack]

I like how it needs to say "Touchdown" twice in a row. First a normal-ish sounding guy. Then the very same word needs to be said again by a guy pinching his nose. Every single time. The Madden game is still pretty ugly because the yard lines flicker in and out as the screen moves. At least this one doesn't do that.

[@RyRyTheBassGuy]

Yeah, as ugly as the dotted lines are, its a lot better than the flickering lines.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

😅😅 -joe always notices these types of things and i love it.

[@f.k.b.16]

I thought the sounds for the most part sounded horrible.

[@manuginobilisbaldspot2]

It really felt like Sega pushed their core fan base away. People I knew who had the Genesis, played sports games. The sports games were always better than the ones on the SNES. And the complete lack of focus in the North American market was/is/will forever be maddening. They had time for 32X garbage but didn’t have any of the MANY core sports titles ready? NBA Action, World Series Baseball, etc were Sega Sports titles. Drove me straight to the PlayStation.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

Winter Heat was fun though...

[@maroon9273]

N64 beat the sega saturn in majority of sports games. That is how bad sega was during the sega cd, 32x and saturn eras.

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

Sega made it easy for the PlayStation with their bad marketing and well I’m impressive and unfinished dreck like this.

[@linkfuture4561]

@@Adamtendo_player_1 "299" - Steve Race, Sony of America, E3 1995

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

@@maroon9273 Blitz, Gretzky Hockey, Hangtime, 1080, Waverace, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Ready to Rumble and Excitebike 64 are hard to beat...

[@KeithRiley-gb2xl]

The 3D engine in the Sega Saturn console was an afterthought and boy does it show in many of it's games.

[@doctorhino8736]

As a Saturn owner I was just glad we had other options. NFL quarterback club for Saturn had a similar 2d/3d setup but it just played so much better. Of course you always had Madden 97 to beat the pants off both of them.

[@SegaLordX]

Yup. Madden saved the Saturn's NFL fans.

[@Thor-Orion]

@@SegaLordXhe’s right though, QB club was pretty solid too, Madden was better but QB club was definitely a lot better than NFL 97.

[@teddmatrix]

​@SegaLordX Very True and I agree.

[@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730]

"it was a season-ending injury" i'm dead 🤣

[@ReaperPC-live]

Missteps like this is how a lot of us Sega Genesis fans ended up moving to other platforms from the likes of Sony and Nintendo during that era when it was time to upgrade.

[@maroon9273]

And even stayed with the genesis during nfl 98 and other sports titles as well except baseball, soccer.

[@gameshack1985]

'and then screws his wife' - quality line! lol In all seriousness though, the Saturn got truly screwed for quality sports games in general. For us folk over here in PAL regions, not getting any International Superstar Soccer titles was a killer, especially as the Mega Drive got a version of ISS Deluxe in December of 1996!

[@Mpsieber]

Great video. I remember the same feeling about their NHL game.

[@elodvezer1790]

fantastiK! I am glad you restarted this channel 6yrs ago! 🎉👹❤️

[@Savitor]

I recall picking this up on close out at Toys 'R Us for .99 cents. I thought it wasn't that bad, for the price.

[@SegaLordX]

Imagine paying $50.

[@Savitor]

@SegaLordX 🤣Ouch

[@NEONTRASHPRODUCTIONS]

I’ve never been too keen on Sports games (Iiked ICE HOCKY on the NES, PAT RILEY’S BASKETBALL on the Genesis and KEN GRIFFEY JR. BASEBALL on the SNES) but this review right here is pure gold! LOL! I love your passion Sega Lord X. Keep them videos comin’ my man!

[@juanrios4030]

The….(LOADING) Buffalo Bills… versus The (LOADING) Forty-….(LOADING) niners….

[@davidbarnes4742]

That game looks hard af

[@RobertLewis85]

I loved sports games as a kid and Sega was the #1 place for it, by far.

[@retrospiel]

The mismanagement of the Saturn in the West under Kalinske is mindblowing.

[@MichaelGreen-dm2ov]

NFL 97 on the Saturn is considered a Crime Against Humanity.

[@ezehogan]

I loved my Genesis as a kid. Yet, when the 32 bit generation rolled around, the Saturn was never truly a consideration for me. Games like this are a prime reason why.

[@Shinobi6407]

I have been waiting for this video since you first mentioned it years ago. Instant like!

[@madspunky]

Thank you so much for being one of the few KZbinrs who will passionately tell how disappointing some games were.

[@j.goggels9115]

Sega Worldwide Soccer 97 was pretty good.

[@NexusFantismo]

I remeber , as a 11 year old at the time, playing NFL 97 and thinking "It could be worse" and my cousin brings his PS1 over and shows me NFL Gameday. Its almost like they were consoles from different generations.

[@RyRyTheBassGuy]

SEGA would've gotten murdered for it back in the day, but an enhanced Genesis port would've been a better idea than this turd.

[@maroon9273]

Even a pc port as well. I wish they release nfl 99 for the genesis and PC before the 2k series hit.

[@Bant_Panorama]

Damn SLX coming off the top rope in this one.

[@DarkZenith]

@Sega Lord X : have you considered doing premieres for these? I think it would be fun to watch on launch with others and chat

[@SegaLordX]

I have not. I'll look into it.

[@DarkZenith]

@@SegaLordX sweet! That is all we can ask!!!

[@CMCAdvanced]

​@@SegaLordXmoneyyyyyyyyy

[@MaxGiese-j5q]

Love this episode thank you. I was a die hard sports gamer on Genises but Sega lost me to PlayStation over sports offerings. Rebounded with Dreamcast!

[@maroon9273]

Sega did a better job with the dreamcast than the saturn. Especially sport games, 3D games, 1st and 2nd party game for a short period of time.

[@jrod75]

I bought this one new and was extremely disappointed in the poor quality of this game. I picked up Madden 97 and what a difference their game was. Was it a cost cutting measure to farm out an unproven developer to produce a marquee title with SEGA Sports slapped on it? You are correct that this game is the epitome of SEGA Saturn’s run. The more refined SEGA Sports games were developed in Japan such as worldwide soccer, baseball, golf, decathalete and winter heat, while the poor quality developed games like this, hockey and basketball was done by a no-name North American developers. They had an established game plan with the Genesis sports series and discarded it for whatever reason SOJ had with SOA. I’m not a big fan of Bernie Stollar running SEGA after this moment by killing off the Saturn a year before the Dreamcast. But, I commend his insight of focusing on SEGA Sports brand by acquiring Visual Concepts to handle the various 2K sports series. You need a high quality sports games to boost your sales for your console. The annual releases of the same sports series makes a ton of money if you are good with your presentation and content. To me, NFL 97 was an afterthought that was pawned off to the masses to sell with the SEGA Sports brand on it. If it was left as Jimmy Johnson Football, no one would have bought it.

[@rentoptional1524]

A play editor in 1996. Madden in 2024 still doesnt have it. Madden has it 20 years ago too and jist dropped it when they got the exclusive license.

[@VRHyoumaru]

Damn, when Sega Lord X gets vindictive.

[@EpicLebaneseNerd]

to be fair, as an 80s kid, i never seen or played an NFL or even a football game in my life. Mostly i think this game sold more in the USA unless some people outside the US loved the game. To be frank, games like NBA and FIFA sold a ton here and for me, seeing the jump from fifa 95 to fifa 97 was the most insane thing i ever witnessed...then came FIFA ROAD TO WORLD CUP 98 and that game blew everyone's mind .

[@t.m.g.jr.1387]

It looks like SegaLordX wanted some payback against the Bills after last week's loss.

[@SegaLordX]

49ers getting a fair few ass whoopings this season.

[@t.m.g.jr.1387]

@SegaLordX So has my Bengals. I feel your pain.

[@mxggo9046]

@11:29...My mind went straight to Nic Cage in Raising Arizona, "Keep your dang hands off my wife!"

[@DreamcastQ]

I remember being so very disappointed with this at the time!

[@chrisuncleahmad789]

Still better than Mike Ditka football, also on the SEGA Saturn

[@ofmannotmachine3012]

Mike Ditka football was a Genesis game not a Saturn game. Saturn got Madden 97, Madden 98, and NFL Quartback Club

[@megamanmarchek8293]

​@ofmannotmachine3012 Quarterback Attack with Mike Ditka was a Saturn game, and I would argue it is also better than this trash.

[@ofmannotmachine3012]

@@megamanmarchek8293 That's not a real football game though. That's just FMV trash.

[@megamanmarchek8293]

@ofmannotmachine3012 I actually think it's one of the best games Digital Lictures published. It's probably around a 6/10 for me.

[@ofmannotmachine3012]

@@megamanmarchek8293 As far as digital pictures games go it was one of their better ones I'll agree with ya there

[@ChaosAngelZero]

You can tell from the video's title alone that this is gonna be an unbiased review.

[@SegaLordX]

I went in as hopeful as a gamer can be. The truth was unavoidable.

[@nateword]

i remember how awesome the NFL game looked on the side of the Saturn box

[@JelaniWood]

169k subs, NICE. Time to lock those Sub numbers!

[@DarkZenith]

Posted 19seconds ago Sweet, wait, ooof... I watched a short first lol, thanks for another video SLX!

[@MaxAbramson3]

SLX's constant ragging on NHL 97 is always white hot entertainment! Needs a trilogy!

[@mjdf122]

Sega Lord X with NFL 97 that was the only Sega Saturn sports games I didn’t get I knew better back in the 1990s I’ve been blessed to see and have all from 1980-Now I have every console and tons of games what a life of gaming throughout the decades

[@MaxAbramson3]

Comment disappeared. SMS sports games were mixed to terrible.

[@opa-age]

Lack of good sports games and EA on Saturn sealed its fate.

[@khyrox1]

EA did release a number of games for Saturn! Sadly that effort didn't make much of a splash for the platform.

[@maroon9273]

Saturn lacked good games on ea sports and the never ported need for speed II.

[@Lando00100]

We had so many consoles come out in the 90s its crazy. Exclude things like the 3do and cdi. Between sega, atari, Sony and Nintendo some of the companies put out multiple consoles in that decade.

[@lazarushernandez5827]

I pretty much skipped the football games on the Saturn. I believe the only 32 bit Football game I picked up was NFL Quarterback Club on the 32X. Before that was Madden Football on the Genesis and after was NFL 2K on the Dreamcast and beyond.

[@ztv1990]

This actually turned into Jimmy Johnson’s VR Football 98 on Ps1 a year later

[@MaxAbramson3]

Sports games continued selling well on the Genesis to 1997 and even 98. The Genesis/MD/Nomad could've continued into the turn of the century as a budget console, then the leading portable for years after that. Abandoning the world's leading game console for a $400 albatross that had no games on launch and saw devs and players running for the ball. Sports, rpgs, and arcade ports could've kept the Genesis--and SEGA--alive. Typical 90s SEGA.

[@maroon9273]

The 32x and sega cd both killed off the game gear, nomad.

[@MaxAbramson3]

@maroon9273 the nomad could still play over a thousand genesis games. It just needed the marketing blitz that 32X got.

[@ventiankraus777]

I had about 4 games on my Genesis, so I pretty well relied on rentals. The four I had were Sonic 2, SSF2CE, Sub Terrania, and probably the one I played the most, NFL Football '94 w Joe Montana. I miss the days when The Raiders were relevant. 😞

[@ginesgarrido9219]

Cant wait for your Batman Returns MD video.

[@AskDrannik]

People pick on developers like Titus all the time, but GameTek is more worthy of scorn. Just briefly looking over a list of games they developed makes me wonder: did they make ANY decent games in their entire history? I'm also not surprised that they filed for bankruptcy barely a year after this brown pigskin-shaped turd was made.

[@retroworld8090]

The Saturn's inability to do transparent surfaces boggles the mind

[@CMCAdvanced]

It can do it, it was just a victim of diminishing returns. Too hard to do, too long to do right

[@maroon9273]

VDP-1 chip is to blame. Bottleneck graphics chip while the vdp2 is better.

[@andy5178]

It just needed to be done with VDP2, as if it were a layer. Unfortunately, games from minor developers and rushed work didn’t have time to deal appropriately with the dual graphics setup (when well programmed, the Saturn can offer even better performance than the PS1).

[@madson-web]

The worst offender is that this game is sprite based. Saturn should have done a lot better, Sega should have done a lot better

[@maroon9273]

Gaming development in the early stages of a home console is important.

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

I didn't own the Saturn at the time of this game's release still playing Genesis/SNES in 96 and by 97 I bought an N64 then sold that for the PS1 in early 1998. The first thing I did when I got my PS1 was rent a copy of Gameday 98 to which my brother and I had a total blast. Upon returning the game out of curiosity I passed through the Saturn section just to see what NFL games they had and the only game I saw was this one game NFL 97. I already knew the Saturn was in trouble by 1997 through reading game magazines but that moment after playing Gameday gave immediate clarity to the reality. Sega foolishly undermined and alienated their hardcore base of sports fans that they had built up through the lifespan of the Genesis and unfortunately would never fully recover even with the excellent NFL2K games that came out on Dreamcast by the turn of the millennium. It was a rough time to be a Sega fan during the late 90's here in the US.

[@Rain006]

I loved Prime Time football for the Genesis! You lose CHUMP!

[@pixelpoppyproductions]

A fun thing about doing homebrew on Saturn is learning how games for it actually work. The frame rate on this is not good at all, and not just subjectively - it should be a solid 30fps, if not 60. Most of the screen is drawn by VDP2, the sprites are tiny, and there are very few polygons on screen. They can’t even blame lack of tools because SGL had been around for at least a year before this came out. Maybe they didn’t have enough time to polish it since they started so far behind. The Baseball and Soccer games proved it could have been way better.

[@CMCAdvanced]

Someone should hack it and make it good

[@athos5359]

sega simple has shitty programmers and arcades first consoles second for sega.

[@maroon9273]

They never had a problem porting sport games on the genesis and dreamcast. The genesis was more limited in hardware capabilities compared to the saturn. Genesis and dreamcast had easier Sdk, tools, programming language and engines. Also, had better software preperation,stores and 1st, 2nd,3rd party support. Which the saturn dropped the ball due to its NA suppose launch. No early gaming development plan and preparation. Too many last minute gaming developments during the saturn lifespand.

[@athos5359]

@@maroon9273 sport games ported to dreamcast looked like ass pure bruteforcing the code and sega genensis had a old motorola chip so better documented and 3rd party support was not better on dreamcast EA not even supporting the console.

[@andrewgofficial]

I had NFL 98 for the Genesis and i actually liked it tbh 🤷‍♂️

[@joeriveracomedy]

Never thought I'd read Terry Kirby's name THIS century again. 49ers hit a slump after that last super bowl.

[@jokerhaha5123]

I got that game for Christmas back in 96. It was so hard being a 13 year old confused Saturn owner at the time. I didn’t understand why blockbuster had several rows of ps1 games and barely one of the Saturn games. Especially after owning a genesis and having a plethora of games. I never trusted sega again and skipped the Dreamcast for the ps2. Worst part about this game was that when you traded players, they just copied them to your team and they were still on their original team as well. Spin move was really OP. I played the hell out of it though. It still hurts me to this day that the Saturn didn’t do well

[@danielliveforenterta]

ooh boy this'll be a doozy. Got my snacks ready and waiting.

[@daniel_lucio]

Why subtitles are not available?

[@ggbetz]

I remember thinking of the sega console as "the Disney system" or "the sports system." Of those, I dont play sports games, but I've noticed they do best on the systems formed of black plastic. I didn't even know about sonic til the 2000s (I lived under a rock/video game embargo), haha.

[@cd5sircoupe]

Sega North America really mismanaged the Saturn in a number of different ways, but Sega Sports is probably one of their biggest blunders. Thankfully they realized that by the Dreamcast, but it was too little too late by that point. The Saturn definitely would have moved a substantial amount of units if they had a proper range of Sega Sports exclusives. Oh, this vid taught me that Joe Montana football is a good franchise; I picked one of them up for the Sega CD some years ago and I may have one on the Genesis too. I haven't played them though.

[@callmemarc]

I don't think I even knew this game existed at the time. I loved the Joe Montana games on the Genesis but I just had the first Madden that was on the Saturn.

[@Jellycakelap]

Love your series SLX - Doesn't the announcer's bland 'touchdown.' announcement sound like when Indiana Jones says 'Part time.' from Crystal Skull? XD

[@truthiscensored]

Joe Montana Football 93 and 94 series was my sh... I used to have like 25 sacks a game on defense, 300 yards rushing on offense and 600 yards passing and like score like 100-3, all in 5 minute quarters. That quick slant play was guaranteed TD

[@ewrooney]

I'm niner-lord X, thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next time. 🤭

[@bloodgoat]

the logo alone is a clear indication that something is amiss

[@Riz2336]

I never was into sports games so this didn't really have an effect on my opinion of the saturn at the time but I can see this looking really bad for the north american owners of the console

[@roberto1519]

I do understand the criticism from an American standpoint, as this sport is basically exclusive to the US and you love it. From a Brazilian standpoint, Sega Worldwide Soccer 97, 98 and the updated French World Cup release are excellent soccer games, developed internally by SEGA. Konami also refined their Winning Eleven Series and they went beyond with the PS1 receiving updates up to 2001 (in the West known as Goal Storm and later as Pro Evolution Soccer), while SWWS stalled with the last update for the World Cup on the Saturn and developed by an European company which, if I remember correctly, received two sequels on the Dreamcast (these are soulless soccer games in comparison to the Saturn ones). With all that, I probably mean that IF American Football was popular in Japan, as is Baseball, you'd get much better representations of the sport on the Saturn, developed internally by SEGA, many Western developers would need years to release anything close to SWWS pedigree on the Saturn, if soccer wasn't popular there.

[@ncjuppiter9595]

It is a sport that’s pretty much only popular in one country, but it’s a country that Sega couldn’t afford not to be competitive in.

[@roberto1519]

@@ncjuppiter9595 I agree, but at that time, it was mostly Japanese developers who delivered quality software, Western developers were mostly focused on simulation and FMV stuff, with few exceptions. Added that they wouldn't be able to learn the Saturn hardware on time, it was unlikely they'd be able to do it justice. Japanese loved soccer (at least at that time) and baseball, their offerings for these sports were much richer than what Western developers did.

[@blazingsoulhunter2862]

I could imagine people comparing this game to the newer Madden games. To this day, EA STILL milks the Madden games for all it’s worth.

[@f.k.b.16]

11:47 That is the best fake out pass ever seen in history of man!

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

Oh boy this one’s gonna be rough, I personally like this kind of reviews and this game is infamous in Sega Lord X legend in that it featured in “Games that 10 Sega should be ashamed of” video which is one of my favourite videos and in “Ugly Saturn games” which tells all one really needs to know about this games. “Sega didn’t just drop the ball here, they handed it straight to the competition and walked off the field” 🤣🤣🤣

[@Dorelaxen]

If GamePro crapped on it, you KNOW it was bad. They gave good reviews to the worst games ever.

[@Boogie_the_cat]

NO kidding. GamePro was the IGN of the 90's: if a game got less than "average" from GamePro, you knew it was a turd. Like for IGN, 65% for a game means it's complete trash (except when the reviewer has weird biases or bones to pick with the genre \ subject matter. GamePro probably loved Bubsy and James Pond 2 😂

[@Dorelaxen]

@@Boogie_the_cat GamePro ran an entire series of articles (and a comic strip) spanning nearly a year following the development of Bubsy. It actually made me buy the game, but honestly, I don't hate the first one. It's a passable platformer. Average. EGM was guilty of the bias thing, too, though. I distinctly remember Final Fantasy 2/4 getting average reviews from some of the reviewers simply because they were primarily sports gamers or didn't like RPGs. A game that has gone down as one of the finest on the SNES getting 6s and 7s from a couple of the reviewers.

[@philipcohen7192]

This was the first game I bought that I legit got nothing out of since I got bill lambeers combat basketball for Super Nintendo.

[@jasonz7788]

Cool thanks 👍

[@roberthunter7247]

Lmao Sega handed the ball to the competition & walked off the field. Nice! @8:41 I have no issue with the run animation. That is how a player is supposed to run in real life. drop the hips, lower the shoulders, & use the strong quads & ass muscle.

[@JohnSmith-fq7hj]

That Joe Montana football was one of my favorite games I played Madden from 93 on but liked that one much better probably up until 96-97

[@Boseman7]

To be fair though……this caused them to correct their error with Dreamcast and we got the best sports games EVER on that platform. NBA 2k, NFL 2k, NCAA 2k (football and basketball ), Virtua Tennis, and it caused great change

[@8bitorgy]

I once heard that the thing that killed the Dreamcast was the Saturn. Sooo many people were left with a bitter taste that they were never going to give sega another shot. I mean imagine busting $50 on this back in 1997....

[@KC-kp4vh]

1:40 June of ‘96 baby right here!!

[@hellomynameis98]

Well, at least it has an awesome menu. Take note Madden... Sometimes people just want to play a quick game and not fumble through slide after slide after slide to hopefully find an exhibition game selection. Keep it simple!

[@davidmiles8423]

Where was Sega's QC on this game?How could it pass?

[@MikeHart72]

I loved my Sega Genesis, it’s actually the last gaming console I owned. I think it was the Joe Montana football game where all I had to do was sweep right run every single play and I would go down the field and score every time. This game I didn’t like as much Quack shot was my favourite

[@streetmagik3105]

I truly know your pain. I purchased this at launch. I tried so hard to like it... nah. Ha ha. It's rough.

[@DarthSchum]

Reminds me of the feeling I had when I got FIFA for my PSP. Same level of disappointment.

[@Juan-wo4lj]

Stop stressing about how sega did everything wrong with the saturn. It hurts

[@SegaLordX]

It's part of the story. You can't cover just the good times.

[@manhalen7046]

The best NFL videogame that year was NFL Quarterback Club.

[@dimviesel]

This game was Clean back in the day! 🏈

[@taym510Oak]

Looks like a cross between Madden 96 and NFL game day 96

[@thomasomahony5973]

Its funny - I hate sports and even moreso sports games, but I’ll listen to SegaLord X narrate my own dental surgery and enjoy it just based on his enthusiasm and attention to detail.

[@Chris-hd4se]

Nearly 30 years later, and SLX is still bitter about this game :)

[@adultmoshifan87]

Looking back, I consider it DEVASTATING if a new console's offerings of one game genre or game series are inferior to what the previous system had to offer! Even with good games like Virtua Fighter and Daytona USA, I find it a letdown looking back if the game has less to offer than offerings on the previous system! I still look back on Virtua Fighter 1 and 2 fondly, but comparing the former to Super Street Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive, there isn't as much on offer content wise! I know Virtua Fighter was designed to be easier to pick up and play than Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and other fighting games, but the Saturn version just has the main game, a VS mode and that's your lot! Even the 32X version has a bit more to offer, what with its Tournament Mode and extra costumes for characters! Yes, I know VF1 came out for the Saturn in Japan before it came out for the 32X anywhere in the world, but again it's a case of Sega not reading the western market properly that generation! I agree with what you said in your "Let's Save The Saturn" video in that Virtua Fighter 2 Deluxe, a game with both VF1 and 2's content, would've been a better idea, at least outside Japan! As NFL 97 reminds us: newer console does NOT mean a better game! Would you rather play Pitfall 2 on the Atari 2600 or Super Pitfall on the NES? Would you rather play Blaster Master on the NES or Blaster Master 2 on the Mega Drive? Would you rather play the Master System version, or its SNES sibling, of James Pond 2? Would you rather play the Mega Drive version of Mortal Kombat 2, or its Saturn sibling? Would you rather play Lego Racers on the PSone or its inferior PS2 sequel? I can go on but I will say a few other things before I sign off: In making NFL games, I agree: Sega should've got to work on one for the Saturn early. If they did, it could not only have been good, but it could've been released before Madden NFL 97! The presence of GameDay 96 on the PSone definitely makes up for there being no 32 bit version of Madden NFL 96 (I know why)! One problem I've always had with the 32 bit console generation is there weren't many kids games for the Saturn, or even the PlayStation until nearer the end of the decade! When you consider I was 7 when the Saturn and PlayStation came out in the west, and turned 12 just before the end of the decade, I find it shocking how little there was in the way of games based on kids movies and shows on the Saturn and PSone compared to what the Mega Drive and SNES got! It wouldn't be until after A Bug's Life came out for the PlayStation that we would see more games for that console based on kids IPs, including Rugrats and Bugs Bunny! If I had a game company in the mid 90s, just to give you one example, I would've looked into getting the license for Budgie The Little Helicopter, a popular cartoon in the mid-90s (at one point, it got more viewership among children aged 4-9 than Power Rangers!), and got to work on a game based on it for the Mega Drive, SNES, Saturn, PlayStation and Windows 95! While I'd aim for the 16 bit versions to come out halfway through 1995, I'd aim for an October 95 release for the Saturn and PC versions, and a November 95 release for the PlayStation version, the Saturn version getting a 1 month advance on its PlayStation sibling improving the Sega console's chances of success among families with children under the age of 10!

[@JustinLeeper]

I wonder if the “masking/blending” element of CRT TVs would have helped those putrid graphics…

[@metronome8471]

I collect sports games for my consoles because they offer near unlimited replay value. Madden 98 is my Saturn america football game and is still fun.

[@AmericanGypsy206]

This is when Sega knew that they weren’t going to survive against the PlayStation and the N64 they were dead in the water when they released the Saturn 🪐