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"One of the mediocre football games."

Joe Montana Football was made by Sega in 1991. Joe Montana Football is not licensed by the NFL. There are 28 teams and they are named by city or state (New York, Tampa Bay, etc) but they are not the correct color. For example if you picked Los Angeles the color wouldn’t be gray (the Los Angeles Raiders color). No matter what team you pick player 1’s uniform color would be red and no matter what computer opponent you pick the computers (or player 2’s) uniform color would be blue. You are also always in the same stadium. The game takes place from a sideways view just like the Tecmo Bowl series. Every game you play will always be 5 minutes a quarter long. Joe Montana Football has 17 offence plays (12 passing and 5 running plays) and 6 defense plays.

Graphics 7/10

The graphics are pretty good but its not top notch. When you score a touchdown it shows you dancing with very good graphics. The football is also as big as the players so that’s a downer. The players look great though so that’s good.

Music 6/10

There is only music during the main menu, team selection menu and when you score a touchdown but its very annoying. The music isn’t very good and it sounds like Atari music. Too bad it doesn’t sound like Tecmo Bowl music. Tecmo Bowl’s music was awesome no matter what system it was on.

Sound 5/10

The sound is another downer just like the music. The sounds of passing the ball and the catching of a passed ball sounds horrible. When you tackle the person with the ball you hear a very annoying sound.

Control 9/10

The control is pretty good for a football game. During the game on offence for a pass play the Direction-Pad is move, 1 is hike and pass the ball and 2 is pick your receiver. For a run play Direction-Pad is move and 1 is hike the ball. When you are running 1 and 2 don’t do anything. On defense Direction-Pad is move and 1 is hike the ball. I do not know why but weather you are on defense or offence you hike the ball not your opponent (unless you are playing with another person). When you are running on defense 1 and 2 don’t do anything. Start is pause the game. Overall pretty good controls.

Challenge 8/10

The challenge is pretty good. There are 3 types of skill levels. Beginner (Easy), Normal (Medium) and Professional (Hard). Beginner is ridiculously easy and Normal is just about right. Professional is very hard and it will take you a while to beat the opponent on that skill level.

Replay Value 2/10

The replay value is very bad. When you first play Joe Montana Football it’s very fun. But after you played it for about 5 times already it gets very boring.

Goods
-Control is really good
-Challenge is great

Bads
-Graphics, Music, and Sound aren’t very good
-Replay Value is very bad
-Not officially licensed by the NFL
-You hike the ball on defense! What was Sega thinking when they did that?

Buy, Rent or Don’t Bother?

Joe Montana Football is a mediocre football game and isn’t top notch. If you only have a Game Gear or you’re a die-hard football fan looking for a portable football game then get it. Its only about $3.99 at most places. But if you aren’t a big fan of football or don’t really need a portable football game then don’t even bother.

Overall 6/10

Joe Montana Football isn’t the best portable football around but its great to just add to your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/02, Updated 03/26/02