10-Yard Fight

Developer: Irem
Publisher: Nintendo & Taito
Year: 1983

10-Yard Fight has the distinction of being first in alphabetical order among the NES games I own. Though I recall hearing people talk about this game, I never played it until today and nothing about it suggests it's going to be any good -- it's from really early in the NES's run, it's got that crappy official NES box, and it's a football game developed in Japan, where apparently there are only 9 guys on a team.

10-Yard Fight is terrible. On offense, there are no plays and it's impossible not to pick up 4 yards on a run. On D, you get to choose from one of two defensive players, both of whom move like Johnny Johnson, and none of the computer players know about tackling. There's no such thing as a kick return. And graphically, we're talking a minor improvement over atari 2600. Overall, It's hard to believe that this is the same hardware that supported Tecmo Superbowl.

I'm not sure what sort of a choice this was as far as giving Laura a good first impression of our project. On the one hand, it's terrible, and a terrible reflection on the NES and its capabilities. On the other hand, she beat me 28 - 0. I kept trying to complete a long pass, which turned out to be impossible. I guess in Japan, when they throw a football to a guy 20 yards away, they make sure to do it with no arc so the defensive lineman can just reach out and grab it. In the US, of course, this method is no longer used, since it is retarded -- almost as retarded as continuing to throw long passes in 10-yard fight after the first 4 picks.

Rating: 2/10. more a statement about how much the japanese hate football than a real game.
Advice: Holding 'down' while you snap the ball results in a kick. Useful knowledge.
Best Moment: When you win, it says funny things in japanese english.