Tips

Instruction Books Tips

How To Win

PASS - Complete your pass and go for the touchdown!

Don't throw a pass when the receiver is covered by a defending player. The ball will be intercepted. Look for the open receiver and throw the pass. Go for the touchdown!

INTERCEPTION - Control the player with the control cross and if you stay with your opponent like a good defender, you'll have a chance for an interception!

After you read the tips here, check out the tecmobowl-vs-rbi.com strategy page for some more pointers.

Tip A#1: What Do You Do? You Call Run.

Basically on defense you want to call run. A lot. Like 75% of the time. Not just any run mind you, Strong Side Run . This is the run that goes towards your human controlled defender, which is usually your most talented guy. For example say you are Washington, since Dexter Manley is their best player and you are going to want to be him most of the time you want to pick the run that goes towards him, this is usually Run 1 for most teams. By calling strong side run you now have accomplished 3 awesome things:

1. The other team's best running play is useless.

2. The other team's other running play can only gain minimal yardage (1 yard against an awesome defender, but usually 2-3.)

3. Since every time the offense picks run it goes nowhere they will be going to a ton of pass. This is good for 2 reasons:

1. Bad stuff can happen for the offense when they have to throw it. The QB could get sacked by a defender with a bad case of diveitis, or even worse the QB could throw to a covered man for the huge INT, or even the ultra rare incomplete or out of bounds pass could occur causing damage to the nearest wall. Unlike run where nothing can go wrong, wrong stuff can happen to the offense when they are going to pass.

2. You can now mix in some clutch pass calls on defense. With the offense thinking "ok I have to pass since run is going nowhere" you are free to mix in a solid amount of driving-killing pass calls.

Another good tip to keep in mind when you are mixing in those pass calls, is that you seriously want to consider being a defender on the opposite side of the screen then that of the normal guy you be. What this will do is stop the other team's strong side run from going for more then like 3-4 yards if they do call it. Use this sparingly though as the offense might catch on and go to weak-side run quite a bit, which will result in big gains if you are caught doing this.

Tip #2: Why Call Run?

A recent trend in Tecmo is the run not doing as much damage as it should be, leading to a lot of pass getting called on defense, since Why Call Run when it is not chewing you up like it normally should do? This plan is basically the exact opposite of tip A#1 but it can be effective against some teams or with the right defense. A perfect example is Washington and Minnesota. That's right the teams with useless wide receiver reverse. With these teams you can call pass EVERYTIME and not worry about getting chewed up by the run. This makes Minnesota and Washington the 2 worst offenses in the game.

San Fran is probably the best example of a Why Call Run team, let the computer control Lott as you be the center Micheal Carter (who is damn good, just in terrible position) or one of the defensive ends and watch Ronnie Lott go to work. He will out run his blocker and go wrap up the running back in record time, sometimes even resorting to diving to get it done. Insane stuff.

Why Call Run does a couple of really good things for a defense: It essentially kills both passing plays and then leaves you with a decision of whether to be a top or bottom half defender. If you guess right and the run goes away from your guy the odds are you'll be unblocked and ready to wrap up the ball carrier for a minimal gain. This is all good stuff, but if you guess wrong on what guy to be you are looking at a 1st down for the offense, and look out if it's a good back like Walker or Dickerson, they might be going to the house.

Tip #3: Get Your Basic Skills In Season Mode

Before venturing into 2-player Tecmo you really want to get some experience vs. the computer under your belt. Playing a few seasons will give you the smarts and skills to win some games in 2-player mode, such as;

1. Get Good at Kicking. Real good. The last thing you want is to be in the situation where you need a maximum power field goal attempt and you can't do it. Being good at kicking will only help you, it will give you better field position on both kick-offs and punts, and give you confidence to try those much needed long FGs. You really can't afford to choke on these types of things in 2-player mode, it will cost you many a game.

2. Get Comfortable Quarterbacking. Get experience at checking very quickly what wide receivers are open and covered right after you snap the ball. This is the first thing you want to look for. Get used to cycling through the receivers, going and shaking off your man on HB Dump and Shotgun plays, getting quick reads on what the defense has called, and all the rest. You really need to be able to stay cool in the pocket and know what is happening when in 2-player games.

3. Learn to Juke the Computer. Your standard up-down-up-down pattern does it, but get VERY used to doing it and being able to time when to make your move as the CPU dives. Being able to avoid computer tacklers in a 2-player game is a must, as you need this skill to get good kick returns, and big gains on running plays. You want to make the human defender have to be the one to tackle you on every play.

Playing a few season with different teams is a very good idea, and it highly recommended. It will give you an idea as to what players are the superstars, what offensive plays can hurt and help you the most, and give you some ok competition near the end of the season when the CPU dials up the speed for their team.

The Endzone Over-Throw

This picture is a pretty common situation in Tecmo Bowl, it's the offense inside the 10-yard line and they are looking for a TD, but since the person playing defense knows that if they pick run then a touchdown is a very hard thing to get you get plenty of passes happening near the goal-line. Here we have Denver's powerful Pass 1 (which is commonly referred to as Pass 2 since most with this play, or a variation of it, have it as their Pass 2). Now if the quarterback is pretty good and the human player is very decisive then they can get the TD by forcing a pass in there in the first 2 seconds of the play, but since the offenses goal should always be take your damn points nobody wants to roll the dice too much (unless Dan Marino is QBing). So once the play has fully developed (when the WRs are stationary) is when it becomes decision making time. If your John Elway on this play and the defense is as shown (played shamefully by the CPU) then you want to throw it to the man circled in green, get that? Green. Why do this when every guy is open? Because if a wide receiver is at the back of the endzone (as both red circled WRs are) there is a pretty solid chance of an over-throw and a incomplete pass. You don't want that. If for some reason you don't want to go to green, I'd recommended you throw to the bottom red circled guy, the odds of an over-throw to this man is much less then that of the top man, or at least I think so.

Ok, So What Do I Do On Defense?

Ok, the same situation only you're on defense. Here's what you do, take some notes: first call strong side run. This will prevent anyone from running for a touchdown from more then 3 yards out (if the offense is about 3 yards away from a major, or even a key first down you want to think about a weak-side run call) Everyone have that noted? Ok. So once you have strong side run picked you want to quickly recognize which pass has been called and go cover the WR(s) that aren't in the back of the endzone. Since if you try to cover everyone the play is easy for everyone not named Jack Trudeau. Notice the yellow X in the picture? That is about where you want to be in this situation. Being here prevents a pass to the green WR who would have the guaranteed TD, and it will have you close enough to the bottom red WR to make the QB scared of throwing it. This leaves Elway with the only option of going to that top red WR. It's a crapshoot if the pass will be completed or not, probably about 65% incomplete (Note: This will drop a hell of a lot if the play takes extra long to happen, or at least I think so. Once the WR has been standing there for like 3-4 seconds it seems the QB has a much, much, better chance to complete this pass.)

A Quick Lesson in Stopping the Run

Ok. Say you are on defense here and you decide to be Doleman (the guy with the 2 over his head), which by the way is a good choice. Powerful RE position. The black line indicates where Payton (Chicago's RB) will run when Chicago has chosen Run 1. The Chicago tackle (the guy right behind the blue X) will step forward and grab your man, blocking him. Payton will be free and clear to run by you for a nice gain (usually 10-12 yards) THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERY TIME YOU DON'T CALL RUN.

1. This is the offense's Strong-Side run, because it goes towards the human controlled defender.

Now notice the brownish arrow coming from Payton? This is his path on Run 2. The pink line coming down from Doleman indicates what he can do when the offense calls run 2. He can run down unobstructed and grab Payton for about a gain of 2-3 yards. This is the weak-side run the offense will usually only go to in short yardage situations. The lesson you want to take from this is for the love of god call Run 1. I repeat Run 1. By calling Run 1 you have now stopped both Run 1 and Run 2 from doing damage to you. Now once the opponent figures out you are calling a lot of Run 1 and is hurting you with the pass, start mixing the play calling up. In general the better the team's RB the more run you want to call.

Pass 2, dreaded Pass 2.

Aw, pass 2. There is no stopping Pass 2. The blue circle is the short man who should get most of the passes for an easy 7-8 yard gain. The red arrow is the top WR, but he is usually covered, and is just off the screen pretty shallow. The yellow arrow is the bottom man, he is deep. Basically too deep for anyone not named LT to cover and still have good short protection. The standard plan is watch for the human defender to pop in the screen and throw it deep, otherwise dump it off to the blue circle for easy gains. Hard to screw things up.

On Defense what you want to do is cover the deep man and just take your lumps on the short dump offs. But on several occasions a game it is a good idea to cheat in and cut the damage done on the run after the catch on this play. You can also manage to pick this play off if your defender is quick enough and the receiver is close enough to the edge of the screen. Just remember to run back to the deep man if your defender pops into the screen, since the other player is likely going to notice this and go deep.

Field Goal Blocking

Field goal blocking is a controversial subject in Tecmo Bowl. Depending on what rules you play under it can change the entire strategy of the game and swing the balance of power of the teams extremely. So it's definitely for the best to come to an agreement on what your league rules are when it comes to field goal and extra point blocking.

Our league uses a you can only be the BOLB (the 7 spot, in the picture below) to try to block any kicks. With these rules only New York's Taylor and Indy's Bickett really effect field goal strategy. The Americans use those same rules when it comes to field goal attempts, but allows anything goes on extra point attempts. Other rules could be no blocking attempts at all, or anything goes at anytime.

We only allow the player in the red box to attempt to block FGs and PATs.

A few field goal basics before we get into things:

1) All extra points CAN be made, even against Lawrence Taylor.

2) The snapper does not block anyone.

3) No blocker is assigned to the 7 spot guy.

4) The 2 back guys (8 and 9 in the below picture) can't reach the holder in time, not even Ronnie Lott.

5) DO NOT DIVE at the holder. Run into him.

All teams line-up their defense on kick blocking attempts as follows:

Note: Only Chicago, Dallas, and Washington play the 4-3 defense.

This is the field goal blocking diagram. All the players are labeled 1 through 9. This should help clear up a lot of the confusion about who to be on blocking attempts. Once you know what guy you want to be (the charts below break it down for you) you'll want to perfect the optimal field goal blocking route.

Using the 7 man: If you use the 7 you'll want to follow the route shown in the picture (the brown line). Run straight ahead until you reach the point where you can cut at 45 degrees and run into the holder. This is the fastest route to the holder.

It took us hundreds and hundreds of games to figure this out and switch to this style. We used to do the angling or lining up of the holder at the start of the play, and then run straight into the holder. (Much like the blue arrow only from the 7 spot.) This is slower. The players in Tecmo run faster at an angle then they do straight ahead, and since it takes some time to reach top speed you want to be doing your angled running when you've reached top speed, as opposed to wasting the angled running while you have to accelerate to your max speed from your initial speed. It all sounds very complicated but just follow the path shown on the picture if you use the 7 spot guy.

Using the 1-6 man: Guys 1 through 6 all have blockers directly in front of them, who will grab your player and prevent you from blocking the kick. To get around them you'll need to make a cut at the start of the play to get around your blocker and then run for the holder. This is the blue route from the 3 guy shown on the picture.

This basic strategy works for all the other players as well. However if the player you're using to attempt to block the kick is too slow (or the blocker is too fast) you will be grabbed and prevented from blocking the kick, so make sure you pick the right guy, make a good cut at the snap and get around your blocker.

Here are the field goal blocking charts to help you select your best field goal blocking bet. Distance indicates approximately where the player can block kicks from (this is the line of scrimmage, so for example LT is listed as 10+, this means he can block all field goals attempted from further then the 10 yard line as the line of scrimmage.) Position indicates the players' position on the line. Note: The distance for most players isn't listed, research needs to be done before listing the blocking distance for players.

First is the list of the 7 spot guys:

This is the listing for the fastest blocker on each team and where you can find them on the line: