For people of a certain age, the words “Tecmo Super Bowl” elicit feelings that have gone unmatched by 35 years of subsequent sports video games.
It was the first video game to be licensed by both the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association. That meant it was the first video game to ever let gamers use real NFL teams and players. We cannot understate the importance of this development.
The immense popularity of the Tecmo Super Bowl led to the creation of tournaments that continue to this day. For over three decades, the game modification community has provided yearly roster updates. Critics and gamers have often recognized it as one of the greatest sports games and one of the most influential video games ever made.
And now it’s back. Sort of.
According to Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan, in a new interview with The Athletic, Tecmo Super Bowl-themed insert cards will be included in the upcoming 2025 Topps Chrome Football set.
Which players will Topps include in the ‘Tecmo Super Bowl’ set?
The Tecmo Super Bowl insert cards will feature 30 players using the design of the iconic touchdown celebration screen from the game. Among those players will be John Elway, Joe Montana, Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels, Jaxson Dart, Saquon Barkley, and Cam Ward.
One card will appear in approximately every 12 hobby boxes, according to The Athletic. Topps will offer both white-ink autographed or non-autographed versions.
Of course, one of those potential Tecmo Super Bowl cards will feature the unstoppable Bo Jackson. As Tech Times wrote in 2015, “The Raiders’ only running plays in the game belonged to Marcus Allen and Jackson, and let’s just say Bo knows how to score … every single time he touched the ball.”
“The video brings back memories of kids using this play almost as a way to cheat back in the day when I was growing up,” the article’s author Mark Lelinwalla wrote. “There would be nothing that would make you toss your controller across the room in frustration more than watching Bo dance all over the gridiron against you. On the flip side, though, boy, was it fun to run Jackson rampant all over the competition, knowing damn well that they couldn’t do anything to stop it.”