NFL Gameday 2001

Back before EA secured exclusive rights to the NFL, competing games were a dime a dozen. Everything from Jimmy Johnson's Football to Joe Montana had a football game. Some were better than others of course. There are die-hard NFL Quarterback Club fans, or NFL2K fans (of which I am as well), but the original Playstation and then Playstation 2 had a great series that was more arcade than sim but was fun nonetheless. 989 Sports did a great job of capturing NFL games with flair and playability. My first non-Madden football game that wasn't pure simulation was NFL Gameday on my Playstation. (After playing many stat-based games and the obligatory "Touchdown Football" on the Atari 800xl.) I was hooked on the game and became a fan ever since. It's a shame the license killed this franchise off. Because everything that made the PS1 version of this game great is in the PS2 version. Graphically superior (of course) but also fun to just pick up and play. And the best part of this series was no "Madden Curse" for the player on the cover. :)