John Madden, RIP

[Tulpa | 3,538]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32953839/nfl-hall-fame-coach-broadcasting-icon-john-madden-dies-85

Dead at 85.

[RH | 4,990]

Completely different field but so has Harry Reid.

[Estil | 1,265]

Oh yeah that Tinactin and Ace Hardware guy!

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Estil

[JamesRobot | 5,842]

Dang I was just wondering if he was still kickin.  RIP.

[RH | 4,990]

There's also a documentary on one of the streaming platforms that just dropped a day or so a go. I'm not a sports fan but Madden is such an icon, I considered watching it. I probably will now.

[Brickman | 4,042]

RIP. One of the best commentators around. I learnt NFL from how he commentated and he always seemed so down to earth.

[jonebone | 1,307]

RIP, that Christmas special that just aired will be immortalized forever.  First Madden game I got into as a kid was Madden NFL 94 on Genesis and that set me down the path of collecting lots of cool Madden stuff over the years.

[fox | 1,684]

Rip let us celebrate with the music of his people

[a3quit4s | 4,128]

I can even imagine how much time I have invested in Madden games. Not even that, the man is a legend in the game of football as well. 
 

RIP

[Murray | 2,450]

Best in the series?

[tbone3969 | 308]

My favorite is the one with Ray Lewis on the cover... 2005 I think.

Edited December 29, 2021 by tbone3969

[Aguy | 774]

Madden 93 on Genesis was one of the first games I got for the system and is still my favorite, second would be 2006 for gba.

[MegaMan52 | 2,463]

R.I.P.

I think I'll load up Madden NFL 08 for GameCube, which I believe is the second to last game in the series to have John Madden's commentary.

Also, it's been a few years since I last watched Little Giants. I'm gonna watch it again soon.

[Estil | 1,265]

45 minutes ago, MegaMan52 said:

R.I.P.

I think I'll load up Madden NFL 08 for GameCube, which I believe is the second to last game in the series to have John Madden's commentary.

Also, it's been a few years since I last watched Little Giants. I'm gonna watch it again soon.

I think that's the last ever GameCube game.

[Pendragonx | 117]

teh lurv sent me this
 

also - RIP ... no more tinactin commercials I guess

Edited December 30, 2021 by Pendragonx

[Aguy | 774]

I guess we can finally say...

BOOM, he's on his back.

[Estil | 1,265]

1 hour ago, Aguy said:

I guess we can finally say...

BOOM, he's on his back.

BOOM!  Tough actin' Tinactin!

[Daniel_Doyce | 477]

MadTV did some great Madden parody commercials with Frank Caliendo and Bobby Lee. A couple are on YT, including the buttered popcorn one.

[JamesRobot | 5,842]

Memba the 6 legged turkeys every Thanksgiving?  I miss those every year. 

[The Count | 536]

I have a lot of memories of him from his commentary on Fox with Pat Summerall, his bus, the terducken, commercials, and him coaching the Raiders over the Vikes in Super Bowl XI. 85 is a good run for a man such as him, he'll be missed. 

ETA: Madden '95 for SNES is my favorite of the series.

Edited December 30, 2021 by The Count

[Estil | 1,265]

7 hours ago, The Count said:

I have a lot of memories of him from his commentary on Fox with Pat Summerall, his bus, the terducken, commercials, and him coaching the Raiders over the Vikes in Super Bowl XI. 85 is a good run for a man such as him, he'll be missed. 

ETA: Madden '95 for SNES is my favorite of the series.

What is that, a Street Fighter move?  

[GPX | 1,374]

I don’t think I’ve ever played a Madden game as I’m not normally into sports games. However, I’m quite sure over the years of collecting, I’ve touched hundreds of Madden games from various console platforms. I would dare say as a retro collector, Mario and Madden are 2 of the most iconic gaming names ever.

*somewhere right now, someone has received a bundled lot of Genesis games, and upon opening up the package, “Doh! Not another Madden game!”*

RIP. 

[Tenjikuronin | 1,764]

[Estil | 1,265]

For those of you who play Madden regularly...and I've always been curious about this...how do you know which plays/formations to call and when?  Seems like you practically have to be a coach to make any real sense of it  

And is there any place that tells specifically how yearly sports games like Madden changed from year to year?  Like, how do you know which game/year for each system is the best?

And lastly, do the trophies you get from last year's version carry over into the next year...or do you have to start over with each new year?

[Tulpa | 3,538]

7 hours ago, Estil said:

For those of you who play Madden regularly...and I've always been curious about this...how do you know which plays/formations to call and when?  Seems like you practically have to be a coach to make any real sense of it  

 

You don't have to be a real coach, but a basic understanding of football plays helps. On offense, you have four plays (downs) to go ten or more yards. On defense, you have four downs to stop that (well, three, because on fourth down it's generally punted or a field goal attempt unless it's like a yard to go or the last few seconds.)

First, you look at your team's player attributes. Let's say you have Madden 96, and you pick the mid-90s Detroit Lions. You have Barry Sanders, a HOF running back whose computer stats are buffed up the ying-yang, a Pro Bowl receiver in Herman Moore, and an okay QB in Scott Mitchell (well, okay for the game.)

So most of your plays are going to be running plays, with a few passes. If you look closer at Sanders, he's not a slow power running back, who plows through linemen, he's fast and elusive, so the game has him boosted on speed.  So you want to pick running plays that get him into the open where he can run, maybe outside running plays. But if you only play that, the AI on the computer will try to contain him with run-stopping defenses. So you mix it up with passing plays, to Moore or one of the other receivers. Use playfakes to pretend you're going with Sanders, but oops, it's actually a pass play and you caught the defense sleeping. You can also call audibles when you see the defense has committed to stopping a certain play. Like if they line up for a pass-stopping nickel when you've chosen a pass play, call the audible and change it to a run and watch them scramble to compensate.

If you're playing San Francisco, you have Jerry Rice and mobile QB Steve Young. So short passes to gain yards with a few runs on short yardage to get the first down. Maybe lots of passes to running backs instead of handoffs. War of attrition.

You play the games enough you get a general feel on what plays to run.

Defense, you look at who you're playing and what they're doing. Tough running back team and it's 3rd and 3? Better go with a formation that loads linemen and linebackers at the line. 3rd and 15 and time's winding down? Better go nickel defense to stop the pass you know is coming.

The more recent Maddens do have more plays and features and stronger AIs, so maybe start with one of the earlier ones to try it out.

7 hours ago, Estil said:

And is there any place that tells specifically how yearly sports games like Madden changed from year to year?  Like, how do you know which game/year for each system is the best?

Not that I know of, though some people have their opinions on which is best. The Madden games (and really, any long running sports game like FIFA) are unique in that they have to release a game every year to compensate for the changing rosters. So the improvements are very gradual. It's actually a decent example of how a video game can evolve over decades, as opposed to one or two games from a franchise per console that show big bumps in gameplay.

Again, I'd recommend trying one of the earlier, simpler ones, like Madden 93 or something, and then move up from there.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Tulpa