Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is a football video game released for the Nintendo DS in November 2007. It is an update of Tecmo Bowl and its sequels.

Gameplay
The gameplay is almost identical to that of its predecessors. It is a 2D sidescrolling football game with a top-down view. Plays are selected from a playbook prior to being played out. Only the offensive playbook is visible. The playbook, which provides the primary plays, can be altered. A menu is provided with choices such as special teams plays and timeouts.

Various features that were absent from the original games are also nonexistent in this game. Penalties are impossible. Fair catches do not exist. There is no way to "take the knee" to run out the clock or spike the ball to stop the clock. Touchbacks are possible, however, much like Tecmo Super Bowl.

Visuals
The visuals are almost identical to its predecessors. The game is 16-bit with all the graphics of the previous games. The endzones are blank, somewhat reflecting the original TECMO endzones. The graphics indicating touchdowns, field goals, close plays, and sacks are provided along with the referee graphics for field goals and the first down check.

Similar to the previous games, a halftime performance is provided for each game.

Other Features
Much like its predecessors, the clock is defaultly set to 5:00 for season games. Much like Tecmo Super Bowl, however, exhibition and Pro Bowl games can have the clock set for up to 15:00. Much to the tradition of the series, the clock is accelerated.

New to the series is customizable teams. These fictional teams, which replace the actual teams, can have their locations, names, and abbreviations changed. Divisions cannot be altered, however. Strangely, the New York Giants were replaced with a team from Los Angeles. The players themselves are also fictional.

Also new is online play via WiFi.

The audio, while having the same quotes throughout the game, has been updated.