10-Yard Fight

10-Yard Fight is a 1983 American football arcade game, developed by Irem and published by Nintendo (NES) and Irem (Arcade).

The player does not select plays for either offense or defense. On offense, simply receive the ball upon the snap and either attempt to run with the quarterback, toss the ball to one of two running backs, or throw the ball to the one long distance receiver. On defense, the player chooses one of two players to control, and the computer manipulates the others. The ball can also be punted or a field goal can be attempted.

10-Yard Fight allowed players to begin the game at one of five levels of difficulty; from easiest to most difficult: high school, college, professional, playoffs and Super Bowl. If the player won an "accelerated real time" 30-minute game at an easier level, the player advanced to the next level of difficulty.

The game has a top-down perspective and is vertical scrolling. Its primitive graphics and watered-down nature made it both addictively easy and frustratingly simplistic.

Ports
A port of 10-Yard Fight for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1985.

Differences between arcade and console versions
While graphically similar, there were some fundamental differences between the NES and arcade versions of the game. The arcade version only sought to simulate the offense, with the team attempting to score a touchdown, which would ultimately lead the player to the next level. This was necessary to create a more immediate and less complex game, as American Football in itself was not well-suited as an arcade game due to its rule complexity and strategic elements. The NES version, free of these constraints, was developed into a full-featured simulation which allowed full defense and attack strategies. By modern standards, however, the game is still very simplistic.

