John Madden Football '93 - Reception

Reception

John Madden Football '93 sold over one million copies, making it a commercial success. It has been cited as the highest-selling game developed by Looking Glass Studios, and Neurath later called it "one of the most successful games I've ever worked on". Paul Mellerick of Mega commented that "the only noticeable difference between and its two predecessors is the animation". He wrote that the new animation "makes the game incredibly good to look at" and that new motions like stumbling increase the game's difficulty. Although he believed that the "two-player mode is just as exciting as ever", he was disappointed that the game lacked a full-season mode, which he called "unforgivable" in light of this feature's appearance in Sega's NFL Sports Talk Football '93. He concluded that John Madden Football '93 was "the best game the Mega Drive has to offer", but he wrote, "If you own John Madden Football '92, or even the original John Madden American Football for that matter, then you should ignore this game completely".

A writer for GamePro noted that John Madden Football '93 was "at first glance" largely identical to its predecessor; but he believed that, "once you get down to serious business, you'll notice a wealth of All-Star enhancements". He wrote that the "game play is now faster and smoother", and that "the graphics are sharper, more detailed, and even better animated". He believed that "Electronic Arts has made the best even better", and he concluded, "John Madden Football '93 is even more fun to play than Madden '92". The staff of Mean Machines Sega called the game "hopelessly redundant" and "very, very disappoint", and they believed that the John Madden Football series was "on its last legs". They considered the game to be a small "step backwards" from its predecessors, largely due to framerate problems. They concluded that it was "not a bad game at all", but they suggested that readers buy "the slightly better John Madden Football '92 if after the definitive American Football game".

Reviewing the SNES version of John Madden Football '93, a GamePro writer believed that it was "a major improvement" over the previous SNES John Madden Football title. He wrote that the game's visuals were the biggest improvement, particularly due to the "slow and chunky" graphics of the earlier release. He enjoyed its sound effects, but noted that it lacked the voice clips present in the Genesis release. He concluded that the series was now roughly even across the two consoles, and he wrote that the game was "a strong candidate for SNES Sports Cart of the Year". A writer for Nintendo Power wrote, "Madden '93 is easy to play and has the feel of the real game". He believed that the most noticeable additions were the new teams and "new play options", although he found it "awkward" to select plays. He finished, "Really the only thing missing is an option to play an entire season". Carl Rowley of N-Force called the visuals "sharper than ever" and believed that the character sprites were "small but well defined". He found that the game played "brilliantly", and he praised the game's instant replay feature as "superb" and "amazing". He wrote that his "only niggle is the lack of sampled speech", which he considered to be "a bit of a let down". Finishing his review, Rowley wrote that the game was the "best American football game available".