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As the head of the development team that made both Montana and the original Genesis version of John Madden Football, Knox was at the center of the internal controversy regarding both games, and he had some great information to share regarding how each was made. There’s even some previously unknown backstory to how the original Genesis Madden came about. It’s a must-read for any football fan, and you can get it all in our full interview.
When you think video game football, the first name to come to mind is Madden, and while it’s definitely the biggest name, its domination wasn’t always so clean cut. Almost a half a year before the console debut of EA’s never-ending franchise, another football series was born – by the hands of the same creators! Joe Montana Football was Sega’s first foray into the big leagues of digital football, and it almost died on the drawing board. In fact, there were at one time as many as three different teams working on it at one time, and it was Trip Hawkins’ company that finally saved the day.
Many people believe that DC Comics jumped the shark with the Death of Superman storyline. We all know that flagship comic book characters never stay dead (Jean Grey and Captain America, anyone?), but the completely silly way in which the writers handled Supes’ “death” and return was enough to make issue #75 of Superman end up less valuable than a square of used Cottonelle. The Sunsoft Genesis game was almost as bad, and it had few redeeming qualities as a beat-’em-up. Hey, at least it wasn’t as bad as Marvel’s Spider-Man clone saga…
Sega seemed to have no worries keeping track of the continuity of the Wonder Boy series. As told in our complete retrospective, the games hop around from the original series to the Monster World line without much regard for keeping things clear. The first game to use the “monster” tag was a platformer that bore little resemblance to the action/RPG titles that would follow. Originally released in arcades, Monster Lair (bearing the title Wonder Boy III) came to the Genesis in a fashion that left much to be desired. As ports go – especially Westone ports – this one was especially disappointing.
Ever have buyer’s remorse? Everyone has at one time or another found themselves in a similar situation, when it became painfully obvious that a bad choice had been made. In the worst scenarios, this kind of problem can snowball into something much bigger, leaving lasting repercussions that take years to heal. We’ve a sad tale about the subject in the latest installment of Stories from the Book of Genesis.
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