This is Why the Internet Wins

by Slate Quicksilver

Did you know that the Super Bowl was on Sunday? If you are like the 105 million households that watched the game (in the US alone), you probably knew that. If you live in an underground bunker in Albania in an attempt to survive the potential alien invasion, you at least knew it was soon and you probably were taking the Colts minus 5 and a half.

It was a mostly uninspiring game, but we can all agree that the biggest play was Tracy Porter's pick 6. In what might be the coolest thing we've seen in a while, Operation Sports, re-created that play in the most legitimate and amazing football simulator in the history of the universe: Tecmo Super Bowl. Here is the play.

They have everything right (it was a slightly modified game to get the names right), with the Reggie Wayne pulling up short and Tracy Porter jumping the route. Coupling it with the audio of Jim Nantz just makes it even better. The post-play celebration is just icing on top of the cake.

Those who grew up playing the Tecmo series know how devoted to awesomeness they were. Tecmo Super Bowl (for NES) was made in 1990, yet had the abilities of each player... even the defenders. Lawrence Taylor was a destroyer of worlds on defense while Bo Jackson ruled the universe on offense. As a child, I played endless hours of this game. I once played a seaons with control of 4 teams: The Dolphins with Dan Marino's inflated abilities, the Giants with LT's pure destruction of everything, the Lions (not a typo) with Barry Sanders amazingness and the Seahawks just for the challenge. That game special and I've played on a ROM a few times, but playing on an old NES console is where its at, with the controller creaking as your push down too hard on the directional pad as Chris Warren (RB Seahawks) trying hopelessly to avoid a coked-out Bill Romanowski on the 49ers.