Remembering Madden 93 Championship Edition - thescoop's Blog

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Remembering Madden 93 Championship Edition

Posted on July 7, 2015 at 01:02 AM.

(5)

Years ago when EA Sports was still EASN, they released a "rental only" version of Madden 93. What made this game unique from the main yearly option was it featured only past Super Bowl champions and runners up. I remember renting it several times. It was a game I would have owned had it been available to purchase.

I can't remember if it featured every Championship team and every runner up. But they had a large number and the game was great fun with friends back in the day. We spent a lot of money renting this game.

The hook of the game was you could play a one of a kind tournament that allowed you to decide who the "one and true champion" was. It was fun, despite the fact no names were there. It was only numbers. And of course back in those days there was no likeness to speak about.

My nostalgia got to running wild the other day. I got to thinking, how wonderful it would be to get to play a version of this game, updated with all the champions up to today. Maybe we could add in a couple of the runner ups that were memorable or all the runners up if you want.

Wouldn't it be fun to live out a dream season with these teams in one big league? Now to imagine this we first have to get past any hate of Madden or anything else. You can dream that old 2K team is putting it out. The manufacturer is irrelevant to my dream.

You also have to move past the lawsuits and live in a world were getting every past player isn't problem Maybe it is something the NFL works out with them or their estate that the get X amount of royalties for their likeness to be used.

While it would never replace being able to simulate the actual NFL season to most, it could be a good change of pace. I don't believe we'd ever see it again. But if this was the approach 2K had taken with the legends they signed a few years ago they might have seen more success. Of course they still won't have been able to use their actual teams so it might have still been a hard sell. But if you go back to this original version, it didn't have the actual team names, just the city and team colors.

While don't believe we'd ever see a "champion edition" again, I know I would love it. I know we get a lot of legend teams on NBA 2K but the rosters are much smaller than an NBA team. Sure they could get away with a generic player in place of maybe a lineman here or there, but what happens if you can't get a Bart Starr or a Troy Aikman or since he has his own game again, Joe Montana? We accept generic 49ers quarterback #19 or whatever in place of Montana? Of course not.

But in a perfect world, and all the deals are worked out, would you play a champions edition? And again, I'm not pitching it as EA or anyone else putting it out. I am merely asking if we got a next gen Football game featuring all the Super Bowl champs and was licensed to have the players and teams, would you pick it up?

If you could match the 72 Dolphins against the 89 49ers or Vince Lombardi's Packers against Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys, wouldn't you want to take that game for spin? Heck you could even have Favre vs Rodgers in a battle of Packers Super Bowl champions to settle a quarterback grudge match.

This is a true pipe dream. But yes, I would play it. I enjoyed the Madden 93 Championship edition for what it was back in the day. But I would love to play out my own "Dream Seasons" if they could ever figure out a way to make it actually happen.

In close I'll just leave you with this YouTube clip of the old Rental only Madden 93 Championship Edition. This features a rematch of Super Bowl III.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7fG6q3-sTM

Comments

# 1 jkra0512 @ Jul 10

Never even knew this existed.... It would be a nice change of pace for sure, but I need names, man. Without them I just can't feel fully immersed

# 2 debella @ Jul 10

Wow this article really brought me back I actually have this game it was a great game especially for that time if you go on eBay you can actually buy it there are some people selling them. i used love playing the 85 Bears versus 86 giants it was a defensive battle

# 3 thescoop @ Jul 10

Thanks feedback. Jkra - I figured there would be several that had never heard of it. That's why I searched for pictures and the video. And I understand your need for actual names. I would be ok if they at least had an editor and allowed us to make corrections or changes as needed.

Debella, wow to having the game. I actually looked it up and found where I can order it. I might get a Retrocon and get this game. Looking it up brought back several memories.

# 4 Crazy Packers Fan @ Jul 10

I'd absolutely buy it, if it had names and faces of players. After all, lots of Maddens have had "all-time teams" which were nothing more than random faces and numbers with random ratings. But if I was playing with entire accurate rosters, that would be awesome.

# 5 thescoop @ Jul 10

Crazy, what it was customization was an option? And faces might harder for older teams. I'm just curious what folks think of that as an option as well. I do agree if they did it and could somehow pull it off where they had everything correct, it would be a no brainer purchase!