NFL Quarterback Club 98

NFL Quarterback Club '98 is a football video game, released in 1997. It was developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment under their Acclaim Sports banner for the Nintendo 64. It was the first football game announced for the Nintendo 64. The game established an advantage over its competitors by being the first Nintendo 64 game with high resolution graphics and holding exclusive NFL licensing for the console. Despite this, reviews were mixed as the game drew criticism for its lengthy floating of the ball during passes and issues with the A. I.

There are two kinds of Simulation modes, Custom and Historic. Custom Simulation mode allows one to create one's own scenario, including both teams' scores, who possesses the ball, how much time is left, and where the team with possession of the ball is on the field. Historic Simulation mode contains fifty different scenarios, based on games that happened in history, and a certain task is to be accomplished, often to "change history" and win with the team that lost the game, but sometimes to replicate a team's victory. Another feature found in the game allows one to create a player. The game allows one to enter information such as the player's position, name, jersey number, height, weight, dominant hand, skin color, and age. After filling out this information, the user is taken may customize the player's stats, such as accuracy and range (for kickers and quarterbacks), catching abilities, agility, speed, and strength (all for numerous players). After a player is created, he is put into Free Agency, where he must be signed by a team. Players can also create a team, using color schemes of the 30 NFL teams found in the game. Teams' playbooks, stadiums, and initials (shown next to a team's score during gameplay) can be edited, and a team may contain up to 55 players. Players can be put onto any of the 30 teams already in the game, as well as Free Agents (including created players), and can be substituted into any position. In addition to the 30 pro teams in the game, there were also four hidden teams, accessed by entering a cheat code. Two teams, AFC and NFC, are the Pro Bowl teams from 1997. The other two teams are based on Iguana Entertainment and Acclaim, the developer and publisher of the game respectively, and feature then employees as members of the team. Iguana Entertainment and Acclaim's teams are the two best teams statistically in the game. There is a season mode where players can select a team and play through their 1997 schedule. There is also a playoff mode where a player can select a team and try to guide them through the playoffs. Quarterback Club '98 also features a Quarterback Profile feature. This feature contains 30 quarterbacks, one from each team, and their college and pro football achievements in encyclopedic format. The game's commentary was done by Marv Albert.

The game was in development for more than 13 months. Acclaim brought the NFL Quarterback series into the 64 bit age using technology they had been working on for several years for Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. With this, they were able to keep the game running at 30fps in high resolution (640 x 480), something that had not yet been done in the U. S. They obtained the full NFL license, including all the teams, stadiums and rosters. Their competitor for the N64 that year, Electronic Arts' Madden Football 64 was not able to get the NFL license in time for the game's release as Acclaim had acquired all the licenses for that year, but the game did feature real player names as it did get a license from the league's players' association that year. As a result, NFL Quarterback Club 98 is the only football video game for the Nintendo 64 to be fully licensed by the NFL in 1997. Adrian Murrell served as the actor for the game's motion capture. A number of the plays in the team playbooks were designed by Brett Favre. PC and PlayStation versions were also planned but never released. One month before the game's release, its play by play commentator Marv Albert pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sexual assault and battery. Though a morals clause in Albert's multigame contract with Acclaim allowed Acclaim to dissolve the relationship if Albert were ever convicted of a crime, Acclaim opted to ship the game with Albert's commentary intact. An Acclaim representative explained that the game had already gone into production by the start of Albert's trial and was in the final stage of manufacturing when he entered his guilty plea, and said if the game were successful enough to merit a second manufacturing run, the company would re evaluate its position on the inclusion of Albert's commentary.

NFL Quarterback Club '98 received mixed reviews. Critics esteemed it for being the first Nintendo 64 game with high resolution graphics,efn|

The game was nominated for the "Best Nintendo 64 Game" award at the CNET Gamecenter Awards for 1997, which went to Diddy Kong Racing. During the inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated NFL Quarterback Club '98 for "Console Sports Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering", which went to International Superstar Soccer 64 and GoldenEye 007, respectively.

Despite the mixed reviews, NFL Quarterback Club 98 beat competitor Madden Football 64 in sales; according to figures compiled through November 1997 from The NPD Group, NFL Quarterback Club 98 came in second for video game sales while Madden Football 64 came in ninth.