Publisher Top Hat Studios has today announced that it will be throwing Legend Bowl — the retro-inspired American football title — onto the Switch later this summer.
There are a couple of different modes available in this one, headlined by Franchise Mode, which will see you taking on the role of a coach and building a team to compete for the championship. Aside from the gameplay on the field, this mode has a lot of options for behind-the-scenes too including managing your stadium's facilities, player contracts, off-season activities and more.
There is also the Exhibition Mode for a more standard drop-in play for up to four players.
All of this is achieved through some classic pixel art visuals where everything can be customised to your taste. You can design and tweak your players and coaches to match the exact image in your head — be that an NFL-accurate lineup, or a collection of wacky hairstyles and neon gloves — and see how these play out in the arcade-style matches.
For a list of the game's features and a look at some screenshots, check out the following details from the publishers.
Features at a glance
- FRANCHISE MODE
- 32 TEAMS
- FULL SEASONS AND OFF-SEASON
- UNIQUE PLAYERS
- SIM PHYSICS
- REALISTIC WEATHER
- TEAM MANAGEMENT
- UNIFORM EDITOR
- NEWS WIRE RETIREMENTS AND FREE AGENCY
- FULL CUSTOMIZATION
- SUPER VIBRANT PIXEL ART
- STADIUM BUILDER
- TOURNAMENTS
- REACTIVE CROWDS
- SMOOTH RESPONSIVE GAMEPLAY
- EVERY PLAY AND STRAT IN THE PLAYBOOK
- DEPTH CHARTS
- MAKE YOUR COACH
- KICKS FUMBLES AND INTERCEPTIONS LIKE THE REAL GAME
- MULTIPLAYER FOR YOU AND 3 FRIENDS
- A PORT THAT DROVE THE TEAM CRAZY
If this looks similar to last year's Retro Bowl, that's because it is. Looks like the arcade spin on American football is here to stay, folks.
There isn't an exact date for when Legend Bowl will be kicking off for Switch just yet outside of "Summer 2023", but we imagine that we will hear more news over the coming months.
What do you make of this one so far? Pass your thoughts in the comments below.
Comments 20
Looks fun. Will keep my eye on.
Kind of reminds me of NFL Blitz.
Last years Retro bowl was one of my favorite sports game of the last decade. Tecmo Bowl holds a special place in my heart and that game was a perfect ode to it (with the exception of no playing defense, which drove me nuts). May have to give this one a try to though I am not of fond of the games its based off of.
@Zeropulse I'm right there with you, I need to be able to control offense and defense. I think that's why I passed on Retro Bowl.
I second this looks a bit like blitz but pixel of course. I’ll likely pick this up. I wish it had online.
@Zeropulse Tecmo Super Bowl is sooooo good. Bo Jackson = broken. "QB Eagles" = Broken. Joe Montana & Jerry Rice = Super Broken. The thing is, counter to most games, it's these broken players that are so endearing and memorable. You can randomly meet someone who played Tecmo back in the day and it's these kind of players that evoke immediate shared experiences. As a sports game, you can easily "get around" these ultra-legends by avoiding the teams they play for..
Looks like the 16 bit Madden games. Spam that spin button, spin to win!
I want more American Football video games to increase the emphasis on the arcade style of play. Less team management, and more non-stop over-the-top action, like NFL Blitz.
Football Hero Turbo comes close and is pretty good, but I want more. I want to play American Football games, not team management sims.
Looks like sensi meets retrobowl. I’m in
@CharlieGirl 100%! I think the mutant league is this way but they have stats and season stuff too. My suggestion for any devs out there is to have an “auto fill” for stat options. So those of us who love to play but don’t know anything about the sport can still get into it.
Been wondering if this was coming or not. Sweet!
Not sure how I feel about this. Huge Retro Bowl fan and it’s painfully obvious…. But….. more football?…. Just don’t want to see any asset rips a la Monster Harvest to Stardew Valley.
@AG_Awesome Been really enjoying Axis Football 2023. Bit more on the side of stats and coaching/team building but it’s also a pickup and play if you don’t want that. Love MFL too.
Meanwhile, despite other football games emerging, EA still tries to gaslight us into thinking the Switch can’t handle Madden.
@CharlieGirl Thirded. My favorite feature about the early sports games was that they allowed player creation so you could make a ridiculously stacked team. The most fun I had with a Madden game was making a bloated team and naming them after jazz musicians, then wrecking house on everyone. Make it fun, not General Manager stressful.
Features: "A PORT THAT DROVE THE TEAM CRAZY"
Wonder which console that was. I do wonder, indeed...
Reminds me of Ten Yard Fight, which I played in the arcade as a kid growing up in NZ - loved it, even though I had no idea about American football (nor what a ‘yard’ was)
Oh this looks good, I'm a sucker for a good football game. Keeping an eye on this one.
This looks really good. No NFL teams but I'm more used to the behind the line view than side view. I stopped playing Madden 20 years ago so these simpler style football games may fill that need.
been playing this one on Steam for awhile, great addition to the switch library. fun gameplay, mechanics work well. Plays nothing like Retro Bowl (outside of being gridiron football). Lots of depth to the gameplay/controls and in the franchise mode for those that like that kind of thing. Heavily recommended for anyone that enjoys gridiron football games
I may have to keep my eye on this. Looks like a super fun kickback game. I miss that old school arcade style sports games.
There was a time in our household arcade style sports games dominated. Especially during the N64 era. At any given time we would be all over NFL Blitz/Blitz 2000, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, and most especially NBA Hangtime. So unfortunate pretty much that genre nowadays is nonexistent in mainstream because those games were very popular at the time.
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