NFL Blitz is Great on the N64

NFL Blitz was originally released as an arcade game in 1997. About a year later, the game was ported to the N64 and the PS1. It also saw releases on other platforms.

Many of these ports were made by Midway. Their relationship with Acclaim had ended at this point, so their in-house team was handling their console ports. This was probably a better approach than relying on another company. It also resulted in some higher-quality games.

Unlike other football games, the NFL Blitz takes an over-the-top approach to things. The rules have been altered significantly, which makes for a great change of pace. I really like this approach as it feels like a middle ground between Mutant League Football and Tecmo Bowl.

Games like this are awesome! While I do enjoy the simulation games that take the sports seriously, the arcade sports games are a ton of fun. These games are still made today, which makes me smile whenever I see them.

TLDR: Great graphics, gameplay, and controls. I don’t have anything bad to say about this game.

Narrative

NFL Blitz doesn’t have a story. Like many of the other arcade games from Midway, there isn’t a reason for what is going on. It isn’t a big deal in this case. Sports games don’t necessarily need to have one. With an arcade sports game, there is an opportunity to add one, but it isn’t needed.

Gameplay

The gameplay in NFL Blitz is very good! Midway made significant changes to the rules for this game, and they work wonderfully. The controls are solid, the gameplay is fun, and I really enjoy the over-the-top style of play.

Because this is an arcade game with cartoonish violence, there are no real penalties. So, you have late hits and more comedic tackles. Quarters are also shorter, you have double passes, and there are only seven players on a side.

The game wants you to pass, which is surprisingly easy to do in this game. You need to gain 30 yards for a first down instead of the usual 10. This really encourages the player to pass, but you can run if you want to. The defense also moves a bit faster than the offense, which isn’t all that unusual for an arcade game like this.

Every NFL team from the mid 1990s is available. Some of the players on each roster are also on the field. Because this is 7-on7, you don’t see everyone.

Everything in this game is easy to do. I like how they changed the controls to fit the N64 controller. While I don’t like some of it, I do enjoy what is here. At no point did I struggle to understand how to play the game.

Overall, the gameplay is wonderful! This is a fast paced game that would be more fun with another player, but I had fun with the single player mode. A part of me wishes I was playing one of the Mutant Football League games, but that is me looking back with a modern lens.

Visuals

This is a nice looking N64 game. There is a degree of blockiness that appears in every 3D game from the mid 1990s, but that is part of the charm of a game like this. The character models look surprisingly good, and the animations are great. If there is one thing I can fault the game for, it has to be the lackluster playfield.

This is still an early N64 game, but a very good looking one. With only 14 character models on the field, they look pretty good. They are well detailed, even if they have a more cartoonish appearance. I love how everyone looks jacked!

The animations are much better than some of the other football games I’ve played on the N64. I only have the NFL Quarterback Club games to compare to it at this point, and NFL Blitz looks better. It is also fun to see the over-the-top tackles.

The field is a little boring. There isn’t much they could do with it, but it doesn’t look as good as some of the other football games from this time. I would say that it is serviceable.

Overall, NFL Blitz looks very good for a game released in 1998. It looks like an arcade game that was ported to the N64, and it looks better than other games on the system. Normally, these games look muddy, but that isn’t the case here.

Reviews at the Time

Reviews for this game were overwhelmingly positive. On the N64, the scores were between an 8 and a 9/10. I didn’t come across a negative review for NFL Blitz from the time it was released. I looked at four reviews for this.

EGM had four people review the game. Those scores were three 9s and a 9.5/10. They all enjoyed the game, and one of the reviewers said the “N64 Blitz plays and sounds just like its coin-op cousin.”

Game Informer had three people review NFL Blitz. Those scores were 8.75, 9, and 9.25/10. They called it the “one and only choice” for two player mode and praised the other features in the game.

In a short review, GameSpot gave the game a 9.1/10. They called this “the best football game ever made.” Then went on to say, “unless you’re one of those freaks that requires hyperrealism.” I kind of miss reviews like this, especially when the reviewer means what they say.

IGN gave the game a 9.1/10. The reviewer said that they were “pleasantly surprised” with this port of NFL Blitz. They didn’t like the rubber band AI, which is a staple of the Midway sports games.

When a game is universally praised or hated, these sections are easier to write. I didn’t see anything that was seriously flawed in the games, and there wasn’t a review that totally lost the plot. There wasn’t even a contrarian review where the reviewer hated it for no reason or didn’t understand what they were getting into.  

9/10. There is very little that I don’t like about this game. NBA Blitz has great graphics, the controls are solid, and it is a fun game to play. Like other arcade sports games, I wish there was more here. I wish there was a story, franchise, or career mode in these games.

Pros

• Great Graphics
• Fun Gameplay
• Good Controls
• Easy to learn

Cons

• Nothing of Note

Conclusion

NFL Blitz is a great arcade sports game. This is a genre of sports games that I wish were more popular than it is. These games are fast, easy to learn, and can be a ton of fun. They’re a great change of pace from the more involved simulations, like Madden.

I couldn’t help but compare this game to the ultra-violent Mutant Football League games. Both are very enjoyable because they don’t take the game all that seriously. While they don’t have all the features, they make up for it by having solid gameplay. NFL Blitz is still fun today.

Midway hit it out of the park with this. It is just as good as their NBA games. I’m looking forward to seeing what their NHL games are like. In the 2000s, Midway started to run into financial problems. Much like other studios, their assets would be sold off. That is a story for another time, though.

This was my first time playing this game. I remember seeing it back in the day, but never gave it a shot. At the time, I was more into RPGs, so I wasn’t too interested in sports games. Going back to play this game was a lot of fun.  

If you like this post, check out some of my other posts about Midway games. Such as Ready 2 Rumble Boxing or NBA ShowTime.