Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football

Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football carried the name of famous quarterback Joe Montana and was part of Sega's own effort to offer players American football earlier, before the genre on consoles came to be dominated by EA Sports with its Madden series. The game offered the basic game modes of American football, including a choice of offensive and defensive formations, control of individual players during play, and the option to play a whole game against the computer or a second player on the same screen.

The biggest technical peculiarity was the so-called Sports Talk - synthesized voice commentary that ran during the game itself and announced passes, interceptions, or touchdowns practically in real time, which was a noticeable surprise for players at the time. On a cartridge console in 1991 this was a remarkable audio feat that gave the game the atmosphere of an actual television broadcast and set it apart from silent competitors without any voice accompaniment during play. The controls were simpler compared to later, more sophisticated football games, with an emphasis on quick decisions at the line of scrimmage and a basic choice of offensive and defensive formations.

In the early nineties, Joe Montana II helped establish American football as a popular genre on the Mega Drive and competed directly with the first Madden NFL installments for the attention of players who were only just getting used to sports games on home consoles. The series continued in later years under various names before it was ultimately pushed from the top of the genre by the growing strength of the EA Sports brand and its deeper approach to simulation. Today the game feels rather archaic and dense compared to later simulations, yet it has its firm place in history as one of the first attempts at voice commentary directly during play on a home console, which was later adopted by other sports series across genres and console generations.

Why play it: Although it feels archaic and dense today, Joe Montana II is a historically interesting title thanks to being one of the first attempts at voice commentary directly during play on a home console.