''Joe Montana Football'' is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
, and published by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
for the
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
. Although the game does feature
Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...
(as the title respectively says) as a playable character, since Sega did not obtain licenses from either the
NFL or the
National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), teams are named generically after US cities, meaning Joe Montana is the only real player in the game. It was the first game in what would become Sega's ''NFL Football'' video game series.
Gameplay
Similar to other football games of the time, the gameplay follows a slightly simplified version of standard American Football rules. Players have the option to play as different teams, as well as select number of players. Players also have the option to turn penalties on or off. Players may also play a normal game, a mode with a two-minute drill, and the Sega Bowl mode.
Though ''Joe Montana Football'' and ''
John Madden Football
''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...
'' were made by the same company, ''Madden'' had realistic plays and a full roster of 28 teams, while ''Montana'' was a more arcade-style game with only 16 teams and a simplified, passing-intensive offense.
Development
Following the launch of the Genesis in the United States, Sega of America president and CEO Michael Katz planned to create a library of instantly-recognizable titles for the console by contracting with celebrities and athletes to produce games using their names and likenesses. As part of this, Sega signed a five-year contract with
Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...
, despite concerns among the Japanese executives that the game would not earn enough to cover this cost.
Sega had previously developed two American football games for the
Master System console, ''Great Football'' in 1987
and ''American Pro Football'' (''Walter Payton Football'') in 1989, the latter very well-received by critics at the time. ''Joe Montana Football'' was originally intended to be an update of ''Great Football''.
Since Sega of America did not at the time have a large game production facility, they contracted with
Mediagenic
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
(Activision) to develop the game for November 1989. No one at Sega was aware of the turmoil inside Mediagenic at the time; despite five months of reports that development was proceeding on schedule, Katz discovered in September or October that the game was hardly begun. To have a football game for Christmas release, Sega would have to find an already-completed game that could be converted.
Sega approached
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
, developer of the ''
Madden NFL
''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...
'' series, and president Trip Hawkins, for help, suggesting that he cancel the upcoming Genesis version of Madden in order to work on the game. Hawkins agreed to help Sega but refused to cancel his company's game instead working on both projects. He intentionally made ''Montana'' a worse game than ''Madden'', starting with the basic code for the former he removed the 3D field as well as cut down the number of plays from 113 to 100. According to Michael Knox a programmer on the game, most of the deliberate downgrading occurred after the company had already completed the game. ''Joe Montana Football'' missed the Christmas deadline and was released in January 1991, shortly after the Genesis version of ''
John Madden Football
''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...
''.
Reception
Although not as successful as the ''Madden'' series, ''Joe Montana Football'' and the sequels helped establish the Genesis' reputation as the top platform for sports simulations and proved to Sega Enterprises that sports games could be worthwhile investments.
Website
Den of Geek
''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gan ...
would credit both series for helping Sega gain an edge over Nintendo writing " High school and college jocks who would normally be more likely to taunt someone who identified as a video game nerd suddenly found themselves playing for bragging rights on all-night sessions of Madden."
Legacy
''Joe Montana Football'' was followed by four sequels, all developed by
BlueSky Software
BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Interac ...
instead of
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
: ''Joe Montana Football II: Sports Talk Football'', ''
NFL Sports Talk Football '93
''NFL Sports Talk Football '93'' is an American football video game featuring Joe Montana, released in 1992. It is the third in the series, and the first to be licensed by the National Football League.
Overview
* Being officially licensed by bot ...
'', ''
NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana
''NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana'', released as simply ''NFL Football '94'' in Japan, is a 1993 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game. It features realistic running commentary while the player engages in exhibition, regular season, or playoff actio ...
'', and ''
NFL '95
''NFL '95'' is the sixth video game in the ''Joe Montana Football''/''NFL'' series. It is the last Sega football game to feature Joe Montana. Its sequel, '' Prime Time NFL Football'', featured Deion Sanders.
Summary
This video game is similar ...
''. After the contract with Joe Montana ended in 1995, development on the sixth game in Sega's NFL series moved to
Farsight Technologies
FarSight Studios (formerly Farsight Technologies) is an American video game developer established in 1988 by Jay Obernolte. They are an official licensed developer for all current home and handheld consoles including the Sony PlayStation 4, Play ...
and the franchise was rebranded as ''
Prime Time NFL Starring Deion Sanders
''Prime Time Football '96'' is a video game developed by Sega Sports and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. A Sega Saturn version was also planned but cancelled.
Gameplay
''Prime Time Football '96'' is a sequel to '' NFL '95'' starring De ...
''. In 2015, Damon Grow, CEO of Superstar Games, tweeted snippets of ''Joe Montana Football 16''. Joe Montana subsequently released a screenshot of the game. At E3, Damon Grow revealed the game as "Joe Montana Football", a mobile game coming to
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
, followed by
Android and PC.
References
{{Joe Montana Football series
1990 video games
DOS games
Electronic Arts games
Joe Montana video games
North America-exclusive video games
Master System games
Sega Genesis games
Sega video games
Video games scored by Russell Lieblich
Video games developed in the United States
Multiplayer and single-player video games