Retro Bowl College, The Game That Helped Me Understand Football

Even more than watching the NFL

(Retro Bowl College, Game Opening, Photo taken by the Author)

Hello, my peeps, and may the algorithm bring this piece to you.

Today, we’re digging into my first sports and gaming post, and I’m so excited.

Retro Bowl College is an 8-bit American Football Sports game released in January 2020 on iOS and Android, then Nintendo Switch on February 10th, 2022.

As usual, we’ll be digging into Gameplay, Visuals, and Sound Design, so without further ado, let’s get into this.

(Career Customization, Photo taken by the Author)

Gameplay

Regarding controller options, you can play via touch screen or with a controller.

We play as and customize a Head Coach/General Manager, primarily controlling the offensive side of the ball.

We can pick defensive players in our drafts and free agency, but we can not control them.

Plays made by your defense or the other team will be shown by notes telling you key plays.

As general managers, we trade or cut players, sign free agents, maintain morale, talk to the press, deal with dilemmas, and discipline the team.

Our goal for the game is simple: we are trying to win enough games to make it to the championship.

While controlling the offense, we’re shown plays you can choose from, or you can throw the ball where you select, denoted by a dotted line and yellow marker on the spot where the ball will land, or you can hand the ball to your running back.

While you can’t run yourself or control receivers after the catch, you can control where your quarterback will throw, the running back, field goals, and punts.

The game can get sweaty, especially on harder difficulties.

The only knocks I can give are that we can’t control individual players, especially when trying to catch passes or make a tackle after an interception, and that we can’t watch plays progress even when we’re not controlling the players. Still, these gripes are minor and don’t detract from the overall experience.

(First In Season Game, Hawaii (My team) vs Wyoming, Photo taken by the Author)

Visuals & Sound Design

This game is beautiful, and I never thought I’d say that about a football game.

The colors are vibrant, and the pixelated graphics still allow players and the ball to be made out easily.

Small details like the colors of fans in the stadium will change based on the teams playing, and uniforms for teams will be different based on whether the game is away or not, add to the atmosphere.

The game’s theme music excited me to play, and I felt nostalgic, just like its art style.

Finally, The sound design throughout the game is excellent; you hear boos or cheers from the crowd when you do well or mess up, listen to grunts from players as they make contact, and the smack of the ball.

(First Head Coach Decision, Interview after first loss, Photo taken by the Author)

Conclusion

This game is super fun and an excellent access point for people who like sports and want to venture into video games but are confused by more complex games like Madden.

Also, the game is simple enough to help you learn what plays are, how they work, and just a glimpse of what else goes into running a franchise.

While the game won’t hold your hand and explain exactly what a play is or what have you, observation is your greatest teacher.

Finally, I believe the limited controls align with this principle so that it won’t overwhelm new players; you have to learn to master the controls you have.

I hope this post inspires you to play.

Thank you so much for the read, and as always, I’ll catch you guys in the next one :).