John Madden Football (1988)
Sports games had been a part of the home gaming world since Pong. And high-profile celebrity endorsements had been part of the package since at least “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” in 1987. But the Madden series added an element of the role-playing game (RPG) to the sports titles. You didn’t just control the action on the field during a football game, you controlled the management of that team. Additionally, you weren’t just controlling a series of pixels that looked like football players, you were controlling pixels that looked like and played like actual real-world players. You weren’t just playing football, you were coaching your favorite team. Sports games would never be the same.
