NFL Pro League Football

NFL Pro League Football
1989 version cover
DeveloperMicro Sports
PublishersMicro Sports, Interplay Entertainment, IBM
DesignerDavid Holt
PlatformsDOS, Macintosh
Release1989–1995
GenreSports
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

NFL Pro League Football is a sports video game developed and first published in 1989 by American studio Micro Sports for DOS and Macintosh.

Gameplay

NFL Pro League Football is an American football game that has a statistical model that enables the player to replay entire NFL regular seasons.[1]

Development and release

NFL Pro League Football was developed by David Holt and his company Micro Sports Inc. As a lifelong lover of sports, Holt played football in high school and college and claimed to have once tried out for the Dallas Cowboys and been offered a coaching job for the Chicago Bears.[2] His career in the game industry began with the Macintosh games Mac Pro Football and MSFL Pro League Football, which served as coaching simulations based on sports analytics.[3][4][5][6] This focus was carried over into NFL Pro League Football. Holt found that making a sports game statistically realistic is the most difficult aspect its design. "If the numbers don’t match up, then the game play, even though it could be fun, loses that sense of realism," he stated. "If the numbers don’t match up, it’s not real to me. It’s only real if the game plays realistically, and if the play calling is realistic and the numbers match up to the players being simulated."[2]

Micro Sports self-published the game first in 1989 and had updated editions released the next several years. Newer versions were offered at a lower price for customers that already owned a copy.[7][8] The 1991 and 1992 editions, published by Interplay Entertainment, boasted improved graphics, reworked interfaces, and new features such as modem connectivity for multiplayer and the ability to download weekly NFL stats from the USA Today Sports Center.[9][10][11][12][13][14] Micro Sports also sold additional content for the game in the form of stat disks containing teams from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.[15] The final release in 1995 by IBM came on CD-ROM and included every NFL season from 1960 to 1995 covering nearly 1,000 teams and stats for around 40,000 individual players.[16] Micro Sports merged with MicroLeague Multimedia in 1996.[17][18] Holt later co-founded the website SportSims which used the NFL Pro League Football model for online simulation leagues and began operations in October 2006.[19][20]

Reception

Win Rogers reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "It will keep flawless records for a fantasy league. Those who live and die by statistics in a football simulation could not ask for more."[8]

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Micro Sports either needs to stay simple or partner up with someone who has more graphic experience."[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Next Generation staff (November 1995). "Finals". Next Generation. No. 11. Imagine Media. pp. 179, 181. ISSN 1078-9693.
  2. ^ a b Hardin, John Wesley (February 1995). "For the Love of Sports: An Interview With David Holt, President of MicroSports". Electronic Games. Vol. 3, no. 5. Decker Publications. pp. 60, 62. ISSN 0730-6687.
  3. ^ Conover, Harry (March 1987). "Punt, Pass, and Click". MacUser. Vol. 3, no. 3. Ziff Davis. pp. 114–8. ISSN 0884-0997.
  4. ^ MacUser staff (January 1988). "MSFL Pro League Football". MacUser. Vol. 4, no. 1. Ziff Davis. p. 53. ISSN 0884-0997.
  5. ^ Hornfischer, James D. (January 1989). "Play Action Option: Two Football Simulations For Serious Fans". Computer Gaming World. No. 55. Golden Empire Publications, Inc. p. 53. ISSN 0744-6667.
  6. ^ Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (October 1990). "The Electronic Footballography". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. No. 21. Larry Flynt Publications. p. 156. ISSN 1059-2938.
  7. ^ "NFL Pro League Football". Game Players. Vol. 5, no. 6. GP Publications. November 1992. ISSN 1087-2779.
  8. ^ a b Rogers, Win (January 1992). "Football for the Pros: Micro Sports' NFL Pro League Football". Computer Gaming World. No. 55. Golden Empire Publications, Inc. pp. 82, 84. ISSN 0744-6667.
  9. ^ Katz, Arnie (January 1994). "The Computer Super Bowl 1994: Which Simulations will make All-Pro?". Electronic Games. Vol. 2, no. 4. Decker Publications. p. 47. ISSN 0730-6687.
  10. ^ Lawrence, Richard (January 1992). "NFL Pro League Football: Heads Up". Computer Games Strategy Plus. No. 14. Strategy Plus Inc. pp. 54–5. ISSN 0955-4424.
  11. ^ McCullough, Joseph (June 1992). "The Sports Locker". Computer Games Strategy Plus. No. 19. Strategy Plus Inc. p. 68. ISSN 0955-4424.
  12. ^ Randall, Neil (January 1992). "Reviews: NFL Pro League Football". Game Players PC Entertainment. Vol. 5, no. 1. Signal Research. p. 66. ISSN 1059-2180.
  13. ^ Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (December 1991). "VG&CE's 1991 Pigskin Preview: Pro and College Football Kick Off a New Year". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. No. 35. Larry Flynt Publications. p. 114. ISSN 1059-2938.
  14. ^ Worley, Joyce (January 1992). "News Bits: Interplay Gets Sports Affiliate". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. No. 36. Larry Flynt Publications. pp. 24, 26. ISSN 1059-2938.
  15. ^ Nihei, Wes (December 1991). "The Game Preserve: NFL Pro Football". PC Games. No. 14. IDG Communications. pp. 14, 16.
  16. ^ a b McCauley, Dennis (January 1996). "Review: Makin' The Big Leagues". Computer Gaming World. No. 138. Ziff Davis. pp. 280–2. ISSN 0744-6667.
  17. ^ CGSP staff (January 1997). "The News". Computer Games Strategy Plus. No. 74. Strategy Plus Inc. p. 22. ISSN 0955-4424.
  18. ^ GSN staff (1997). "Pro League Baseball '97". GameFan Sports Network. No. 1. Metropolis Publications. p. 29. ISSN 1092-7212.
  19. ^ "About Us". SportsSims. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  20. ^ Brickey, Homer (January 31, 2007). "Defiance Web entrepreneur offering rosters of decades of football greats". The Toledo Blade. Archived from the original on February 24, 2026. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  21. ^ PC Gamer staff (October 1995). "Review: NFL Pro League Football". PC Gamer. Vol. 2, no. 10. Future US. ISSN 1080-4471.
  22. ^ McCarthy, Patrick (May 1994). "Review: NFL Pro League Football". PC Zone. No. 14. Future plc. p. 64–6. ISSN 0967-8220.
  23. ^ Miller, Andrew (November 1995). "NFL Pro League Football, All-American College Football". PC Entertainment. Vol. 2, no. 11. IDG Communications. p. 132. ISSN 1074-1356.
  24. ^ MacUser staff (December 1990). "MiniFinders: NFL Pro League Football". MacUser. Vol. 6, no. 12. Ziff Davis. p. 4. ISSN 0884-0997.
  25. ^ "NFL Pro League Football". PC Joker. Joker-Verlag. April 1994. p. 74.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.