Jolt Country

I am playing Tecmo Super Bowl or... well, I think it's the second Tecmo football game. I am playing it on the PSP, it looks flawless, etc.

How do I stop people on defense? I think I've made the CPU punt like once in three games. Unlike virtually all other football games I have a good Saints team ('91) that was #1 in points allowed, so in theory my defense isn't terrible.

I will say this -- throwing a long bomb to someone in that is really satisfying. The ball comes out a perfect little spiral, it has a wonderful arc... feels really solid. In Front Page Sports: Football 98 nobody ever gets open so you don't get that feeling much. Plus, because they do not artificially boost speed like in Tecmo the game would be out of hand if people were constantly wide open. So this is the best alternative. I don't think I ever played Super Tecmo Bowl when it was new. Bless the PSP!

you've checked gamefaqs?

go for it, boss.

After publishing this:

http://www.caltrops.com/article0016.php

I don't think it would be right.

I spent many an hour on the Super Tecmo gridiron and have the knowledge that you seek. Every team has one superstar defensive player, usually a linebacker or defensive end. Not as good as LT in the original Tecmo Bowl, whose Tecmo character played in a coke-enhanced frenzy, but just find the best one. Kick off deep to the other team and pin them inside the 20. Now, study the oponent's formations because there aren't many. You can usually guess when they are doing a pitchout and just run in and intercept it. Otherwise, switch to your super defensive player and just ball-hawk. Instead of tackling the ball carrier right away, use the (B?) key and wrestle with them. A quarter of the time you can get the ball to pop out and then run it in. The rest of the time your super player can bust his way into the backfield and sack the QB, sometimes for a safety or fumble in the end zone. Blitz your DB if you have to. The computer won't find that open receiver.

Pick a team with a great defensive players, like the Bills and Bruce Smith, or the Chiefs and that LB who died. And play against the Bengals. Remember, you don't need a great defensive team, just great defensive players to control.

On the rare occassion when your offense gets the ball, just call the deep pattern and run your QB back to his own 1 yard line, wait for the defense, then chuck the ball. It will travel 100 yards downfield and your receiver will catch it half the time.

Employing this strategy, I beat the computer (with regular-length quarters) 134-0. Or maybe it was 175-0, 175 seems to stick in my head but maybe that was Mark Price's scoring average during the season I played the Cavs in NBA Live 95. Anyway, you wouldn't think you'd have enough time to score that much, but that's what they told Wilt Chamberlin and he proved us all wrong. In more ways than one.

I like this guy because he is writing well, but I could never be another team when the Saints are there. That's like sleeping with someone else's wife.

... Or someone sleeping with yours. Shit, I don't know. It's just inappropriate.

When my brother, Fodge and I all did a same-team league in NFL2K3 we had to pick the Bengals because it was the only team none of us outright hated. The Bengals... the most neutral team of them all.

Pat Swilling seems to be the quickest defensive guy on the Saints, which makes sense since he was the Defensive Player of the Year in 1991. But if you do not control him yourself he is invisible. I was starting to recognize a few formations and have won 4 in a row. It looks like these Saints are headed for a playoff spot!