Collection essentials #124: Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl (Genesis)

I have a thing for goofy non-traditional sports games, and this one fits the bill. It was one of the lesser-known such arcade titles made by legendary developer Midway, originally released as an arcade game called Pigskin 621 A.D. in which a bunch of vikings play a simplified version of American football with no huddles. The only stoppage of play is scoring a touchdown, so that means no penalties, so that means you can beat the snot out of the other team. There’s no positions and anyone can throw a forward pass. There are hazards on the field to dodge. It’s not all random chaos, as you can issue commands to your team that will affect how the computer-controlled players behave. 

The odd thing about this game, as you can see from the title, is the endorsement of real-life then-head coach of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Jerry Glanville. Sega liked to get these kinds of endorsements from real athletes or coaches, and that makes all the sense in the world for games that depict real leagues and teams, but it feels really odd here because this is a silly, cartoony parody of real football with no actual players or teams at all!

I don’t have too much else to say about this game, it’s fairly straightforward, and it’s just some good chaotic fun. I had fun playing a good Footbrawl game once with Peter Skerritt, and we had a super high-scoring content. Good times.