All Five American Football Games On Switch (Yes, You Read That Right)
It’s Thanksgiving in the US as we publish this article, and here in NL Towers we had a bright idea – “let’s do a best NFL-style list for Switch, like the proper football / soccer one we did in the Summer!”
Oh how we patted ourselves on the back, knowing that Thanksgiving for many is eat-lots-of-food-and-watch-NFL day. Even as a Brit your humble scribe is (foolishly) a Chicago Bears fan, and will be watching the traditional first game of the day in a battle of the ages against the Detroit Lions. [Erm, have you seen their records? – Ed.]
We diligently looked at the Switch eShop and the internet to figure out which exciting games to include and settled on… all of them. To say it’s slim pickings is an understatement. Indeed, these are all the American Football games we could find.
And we had to cheat to include five. Well, at least Retro Bowl is also coming soon.
So, yeah, enjoy.
Publisher: Digital Dreams / Developer: Digital Dreams
We didn’t exactly shower this in praise in our review, but the developers did promise many moons ago to add missing content in a free update. Some do enjoy this game too, a spiritual successor to a cult classic on SEGA Mega Drive; it plays like ‘real’ football to an extent, though of course the concept means there are all sorts of extravagant and violent shenanigans taking place as well.
Publisher: HAMSTER
SNK produced a broad range of sports games for the Neo Geo, so naturally this is the American Football entry in the series. It has chunky sprites familiar to fans of the company’s output, with some neat touches like over-the-top player celebration animations and a fancy spiralling ball when it’s up in the air. As expected, of course, the Arcade Archives version on Switch has a lot of little goodies and options thanks to HAMSTER’s work.
Publisher: Run Games / Developer: Run Games
This is only available on the North American eShop (we can’t find it on the UK store, in any case), with this being a premium iteration after a previous mobile release. It draws some inspiration from Tecmo Bowl but naturally offers more modern visuals, a faster pace and additional depth in terms of play selections. It also throws in some fighting for comedic effect, while a season mode has some RPG-lite twists. All told it’s a game that seems to best suit modest expectations, short bursts and relaxed fun.
Publisher: HAMSTER
This is a game that has a place in many hearts, in particular the original NES release that provided (at the time) dizzying depth considering the technology. It’s rather cool, then, that we can experience the more technically impressive version that was found in many arcades in the late ’80s. It’s surprising just how different it looks to the iconic 8-bit version, so if you’re curious about what Tecmo could achieve without battling hardware limitations this eShop version is worth a look.
Publisher: Tecmo / Developer: Tecmo
Ok, we told you we had to cheat to get five games, that’s how limited the range of American Football games is on Switch. This is the rather different but fondly remembered NES version of the game. It’s not on the eShop, but it is in the NES app for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. If that doesn’t make NSO worth signing up to, then we don’t know what to say…
And that’s it, time for the victory formation. Not exactly a feast, is it? We did our best but the Switch isn’t blessed with many American Football games. In any case, let us know your favourites — and any we’ve somehow missed! — down in the comments.
Honestly, we’d love to bulk this out a bit — please tell us we’ve missed some!