''Mutant League Football'' is a video game that was originally released in 1993 for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

. The game was designed using the '' Madden '93'' engine, and features a different take on

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, where the games resemble a war as much as a sporting competition. A year later, the same team applied similar concepts to the sport of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

to create ''

Mutant League Hockey ''Mutant League Hockey'' is an ice hockey game that was released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis. It is a spin-off of ''Mutant League Football'' and has several of the same team names. Gameplay Unlike ''Mutant League Football'' which featured fiv ...

''. An animated TV series based around the games, '' Mutant League'', aired from July 1994 to February 1996, while a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

, ''

Mutant Football League ''Mutant Football League'' is an American football video game. It is a spiritual successor to Electronic Arts' ''Mutant League Football''. The game was released on Microsoft Windows on October 31, 2017, released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on J ...

'' was released many years later in 2017.

Gameplay

The game deviates from usual football simulations in several ways. Most notably it takes place in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

world where

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

has caused the human race to mutate and the dead to rise from the grave. The game instruction manual states that the exact causes of the upheaval have been lost or corrupted, due to (among many things) the chaos of an

alien invasion The alien invasion or space invasion is a common feature in science fiction stories and film, in which extraterrestrial lifeforms invade the Earth either to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it under an intense state, harvest people ...

, spin control, a sloppy filing system set up by a temp, and what appears to be

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting (cooking), basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs (food), ribs and chicken as food, chicken. I ...

Landmines A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

fire pit A fire pit or a fire hole can vary from a pit dug in the ground to an elaborate gas burning structure of stone, brick, and metal. The defining feature of fire pits is that they are designed to contain fire and prevent it from spreading. Some rece ...

s, and other hazards (such as areas being open to empty space) litter the field, which can be made of rock, ice, or even

toxic waste Toxic waste is any unwanted material in all forms that can cause harm (e.g. by being inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin). Mostly generated by industry, consumer products like televisions, computers, and phones contain toxic chemi ...

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

, and players can lose health or die during the run of play (upon which they will

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

). Teams have special ''Nasty Audibles'', which are dirty (not to mention excessively violent) tricks such as exploding balls,

invisibility Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

electric shocks Electrical injury is a physiological reaction caused by electric current passing through the body. The injury depends on the density of the current, tissue resistance and duration of contact. Very small currents may be imperceptible or produce a ...

jet packs Jet Packs is a sci-fi themed aerial carousel attraction in Tomorrowland in Shanghai Disneyland, and opened along with the rest of the park on June 16, 2016. Ride experience Similar to other aerial carousels, such as the Astro Orbiter The ...

, or jumping the other quarterback with intent to kill, that lead to big gains and/or horrific casualties. Killing enough players causes an opposing team to forfeit. Each team can "

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...

ref" twice per game (once in each half), after which, the bought referee will call phony penalties (e.g. 5-yard penalty for crying) on the opposing team. This will last for a few plays, but the other team usually tries to kill him (one of the Nasty Audibles that can actually be played at any time) immediately after the first dirty call. A slain Ref is then replaced by an even tougher one, who will promptly call another 5-yard penalty on the murdering team for Ref Bashing. Note that accidental referee deaths, such as being caught in the middle of a

pileup A multiple vehicle collision (colloquially known as a pile-up, multi-car collision, multi-vehicle collision, or simply a multi) is a road traffic collision involving many vehicles. Generally occurring on high-capacity and high-speed routes such ...

, or nudged into a mine, are not penalized. Other penalties include offsides (encroachment also counts as this penalty), illegal kick, delay of game, QB bashing, and pass interference. All of these penalties are 5-yard penalties except pass interference, which is an automatic first down. Gameplay can take place in the form of a pickup game or full-season mode. Winning the championship game in season mode results in the losing team exploding spontaneously, and the winning team's

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

perishing by induction into the "Hole of Flame", the induction ceremony of which entitles the game referees to snatch the MVP and stuff him into a firepit.

Teams

Teams are composed of

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s, and

superhumans The term superhuman refers to humans or human-like beings with enhanced qualities and abilities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. Th ...

. Seven players are on the field for each team, instead of the usual eleven. Many of the teams are based on real life teams, with names like the Deathskin Razors and the Midway Monsters. Players also have humorous names, like Bones Jackson (

Bo Jackson Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...

), K.T. Slayer (

Lawrence Taylor Lawrence Julius Taylor (born February 4, 1959), nicknamed "L.T.", is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as an outside linebacker for the New York Giants ( 1981–1993) in the National Football League (NF ...

), Joe Magician (

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", ...

) and Scary Ice (

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. Known primarily as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, winning three championshi ...

). However, despite all the death and destruction, the competition aspect is still high, and requires much strategy, especially compared to games like ''

NFL Blitz ''NFL Blitz'' is a series of American football themed video games originally released by Midway featuring National Football League (NFL) teams. It began as a 1997 arcade game ''NFL Blitz'' that was ported to home consoles and spawned a series of ...

''. Maniac Conference: * Darkstar Dragons * Killer Konvicts * Misfit Demons * Psycho Slashers * Screaming Evils * Slaycity Slayers * Terminator Trollz * Turbo Techies Toxic Conference: * Deathskin Razors * Icebay Bashers * Midway Monsters * Rad Rockers * Road Warriors * Sixty Whiners * Vile Vulgars * War Slammers All-Star Teams: * Toxic All-Pros (made up of the best players from the Toxic Conference) * Maniac All-Stars (made up of the best players from the Maniac Conference) * Galaxy Aces (made up of the best players of the entire league)

Legacy

This game was followed by a spinoff titled ''

''. A basketball game, ''Mutant League Basketball'', was in development, but it was never released. These games were also used as the basis for an animated series called '' Mutant League'', which aired from 1994 to 1996. Another spin-off, ''Mutant Speed Demons'', was planned but never released but a non-working prototype was found in 2009. The game inspired a one-off series in the British children's comic ''

Sonic the Comic ''Sonic the Comic'' was a British children's comic published by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002. It was the UK's Sega comic, featuring stories about its mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters, as well as comic strips based ...

''. The story, entitled "Bring Me the Head of Coach Brikka," ran for 6 episodes in 1994. Electronic Arts included the game in the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

(PSP) compilation ''

EA Replay ''EA Replay'' is a retro-themed compilation for the PlayStation Portable comprising a number of classic games.EA Confir ...

''. It was released in the United States on November 14, 2006. The PSP allowed a higher resolution for the game than seen on the Genesis, therefore bringing greater graphics to the game when played on a television screen via the new PSP Slim & Lite's output capabilities. In the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

version of the video game ''

Madden NFL 09 ''Madden NFL 09'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. The game was released for the Ninten ...

'', there is an achievement worth 50

gamerscore The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An ...

titled "Midway Monster". The achievement is unlocked by creating a player named "Bones Jackson" and placing him on the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. A spiritual successor called ''

'' has been developed by Digital Dreams Entertainment for the PC, Xbox One, PS4, and mobile platforms. This has been headed up by Michael Mendheim, the original creator and lead designer of the Mutant League series.

Reception

References

External links