Bill Walsh College Football was released in June 1993 on 4th generation video game consoles, such as the Sega Genesis.
Bill Walsh College Football featured the top 24 college football teams from 1992 and 24 of the all-time greatest teams since 1978. While no actual players were named and no official team logos used, colleges were listed by city and players identified by number. Play modes include exhibition, playoffs, and all-time playoffs. Sixty-eight classic college plays were available, including the triple option, student body, and wishbone.
Other options and features include automatic or manual-pass catch mode, audibles, reverse angle replay, onside kicks, four weather conditions (fair, windy, rain, and snow), three different quarter lengths (5, 10, and 15 minutes), and a hurry-up offense.
The Bill Walsh endorsement was meant to parallel John Madden's endorsement of NFL Football; Walsh at the time was head coach of the Stanford Cardinal football team.
Bill Walsh College Football '95 was the second installment of the college football franchise and the first to have a year.
The game featured 36 Division I-A teams, a windowless passing mode, customizable seasons from one to sixteen weeks, and complete statistical tracking throughout the season. Players could choose either a playoff system or bowl games with fictional names: Maple Bowl, Palm Bowl, Pecan Bowl, and Redwood Bowl.
Bill Walsh College Football 95 also provided 36 new plays and formations including the Wishbone, Veer, Tee Offense, and 4-4 D.
The series was renamed College Football USA 96, and was the first version to feature all (108 at the time) Division l-A teams. It was also the first in the series to feature real bowl games (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, and Rose). Players could play an entire 11-game season (or shorter if desired) before advancing to one of the bowl games.
College Football USA 97 was the fourth installment of the series. While the game was published for the Genesis by EA Sports as usual, the Super NES version was instead published by THQ. The game featured University of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier on the cover.
NCAA Football 98 was released on July 31, 1997. The game featured University of Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel on the cover.
This was the first game in the series to feature a multi-season Dynasty Mode, allowing players to take control of a team for four seasons and recruit players to fill out roster vacancies at the completion of each season. Additionally, it was EA's first college football game to carry the name and logo of the NCAA. Its ability to use the NCAA's brands in the game were the result of a licensing deal intended primarily for EA's NCAA March Madness basketball games (first released in February 1998) and its incorporation of the Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
The game uses an enhanced version of the Madden NFL 97 engine. Play-by-play commentary was done by Chuck White and NCAA referee Bill McCall.
NCAA Football 99 was the sixth edition of the game. The game featured University of Michigan cornerback and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson on the cover. Its tagline read Desire+Pride=Victory!.
The game featured all 112 Division I-A teams at the time and also featured 3D, polygon-rendered players for the first time in the franchise's history. Additional features included the ability to create players, edit player names, sixty fight songs and crowd chants. Over eighty historical teams were added to the game, as well. The Heisman Memorial Trophy replaces the 'EA Sports MVP" trophy and other awards are given out. Recruiting is simple and done in a serpentine draft system. The Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl are now playable, and the other Bowls played have EA Sports as the sponsor. Created players from this game can be imported to the title Madden NFL 99. It featured no commentary by booth announcers; instead a PA announcer provides the commentary. Unlike the current games in this franchise, NCAA 99 featured an optional 16 team playoff at the end of the season in dynasty mode.
PC Gamer US nominated NCAA Football 99 as the best sports game of 1998, although it lost to NBA Live 99. They wrote that NCAA Football 99 "turned out to be the year's finest pigskin offering, despite a healthy challenge from EA Sports' own Madden NFL 99."
NCAA Football 2000, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Texas running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams on the cover.
The game included all 114 Division I-A schools and 26 from Division I-AA. It also featured new 3D polygon-rendered players, which are fully displayed in multiple camera angles during gameplay.
Other notable additions include coaching tips, 23 bowls (up from four), the ability to edit new plays, and the official Heisman Trophy award.
NCAA Football 2001, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Alabama running back Shaun Alexander on the cover.
This version included Create-a-player, Create-a-school, Custom League (up to eight teams, double round-robin, plus playoff), Custom Tournament (up to 16 teams, double elimination), as well as fully customizable Season/Dynasty schedules. This was also the final installment which offered a playoff at the end of the season in dynasty mode (24 teams).
NCAA Football 2002, released only for the PlayStation 2, featured Florida State quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke on the cover.
This was the first version released for PlayStation 2; it lacked features (such as Custom League, Custom Tournament, and Create-a-school) that were present in the previous PlayStation edition (2001).
The game featured a new Campus Cards rewards system, which allowed players to unlock special features in the game such as historical teams or special stadiums.
NCAA Football 2003, released for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington on the cover.
New features in this version included over 200 licensed fight songs, 3D cheerleaders and 144 different schools.
Dynasty mode was enhanced with the ability to redshirt a player and schedule non-conference games before each season. Trophies and awards, modeled after real-life college football awards, was another feature new to this version. Players could win trophies by playing games and could add them to a personal collection which is shown off in a trophy room. These awards include the Heisman, Coach of the Year and Bowl-specific trophies. The game featured 23 different rivalry trophies that were created to represent their real-life counterparts.
Create-A-School mode returned in this edition of the game after being absent from the previous year. The game also featured a customizable interface for the first time. A player could choose his or her favorite team and the game interface would be based around that team's fight song, mascot, logos and school colors.
NCAA Football 2005, the last game in the series to have the full year on the cover and released for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald on the cover.
This version introduced more fan interaction in the game. The home team's defense can incite the crowd to make noise, making it difficult for the offense to hear the quarterback's audibles. This feature, dubbed "home field advantage", allowed stadium influence and energy to swing a game's momentum if strong enough. The game ranked the "Top 25 Toughest Places to Play", which included famous stadiums such as Florida's "Swamp" and LSU's "Death Valley", where this feature would be felt more strongly.
The new "Match-Up Stick" feature allowed players to match up more experienced and skilled players on younger, less-talented ones to exploit matchup problems.
All Division I-A schools were included in the game along with more than 70 I-AA schools. Signature fan celebrations, such as the "Gator Chomp" and "Texas Hook 'Em Horns" were included.
NCAA Football 2006 has features that include the Dynasty mode, wherein the player act as a team's head coach, both on and off the field. Aside from weekly games, the player also controls recruiting freshman for the next year's season; new to the 2006 version is in-season recruiting.
Another new feature in the 2006 game is the Race for the Heisman mode, in which the player takes on the role of a single player attempting to win the Heisman Trophy. Race for the Heisman begins with the user selecting which position they want their character to be. The player then completes a workout for college scouts and you are offered scholarships to three different schools. The quality of football programs that offer scholarships depends on how well the player did in the workout. The player can either choose to accept one of the scholarships or walk on at any Division I school. After selecting what school to play for the player is automatically placed in the starting line up. Year after year the player's attributes increase depending on the previous seasons performance with the ultimate goal of winning the Heisman trophy.
Desmond Howard, a Heisman-winning player from the University of Michigan, is on the cover. This is a slight break in tradition as the NCAA Football series traditionally featured an NFL rookie on the cover of the game, with an action shot of him wearing his college jersey from the previous year. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
NCAA Football 07 was released on July 18, 2006, and was the series' first release on both the Xbox 360 and PSP. University of Southern California running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush is featured on the game's cover. FCS teams were not featured on next gen consoles, but were available still on previous gen consoles.
This version of the game utilized a feature called Turn the Tide, which consisted of a momentum meter on the score graphic at the top or bottom of the screen. A boost in momentum for a team would increase the performance of all players and boost their attributes by a varying amount.
This version also included spring drills, an update to the Race for the Heisman mode called Campus Legend (which plays more like NFL Superstar mode in Madden), ESPN integration, and a spring game in Dynasty and Campus Legend modes.
NCAA Football 08 was released on July 17, 2007. The cover athlete is Boise State University quarterback Jared Zabransky.
Some of the new features for this version include Leadership Control, which allows players who perform well to "lead by example" and control the action on the field and increase their sphere of influence by improving their players' personal ratings on each big play. The game also features a new and deeper recruiting system and an all-new Campus Legend mode. This was the first version of the game released on the PlayStation 3.
NCAA Football 11 was released on July 13, 2010. It was released on all next generation consoles, with the exception of the Wii. The cover athlete for all three versions is former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.
This was the last version of the game released for the PlayStation 2, and the only version released for iOS.
NCAA Football 12 was released on July 12, 2011 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The cover athlete was Mark Ingram Jr. of the University of Alabama.
NCAA Football 13 was released on July 10, 2012. The game's cover features Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III of Baylor, along with another Heisman winner (Barry Sanders from Oklahoma State), who was decided by fan voting. Sanders was picked over Marcus Allen, Doug Flutie, Desmond Howard, Charlie Ward, Andre Ware, Eddie George, and Herschel Walker during the voting process.
NCAA Football 14, the final installment in the series, was released on July 9, 2013. The game's cover features former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, who was decided by fan voting. Robinson was picked over Eddie Lacy, Kenjon Barner, Jarvis Jones, EJ Manuel, Ryan Swope, John Simon, and Tyler Eifert during the voting process.
Due to recent legal disputes between the association, Electronic Arts, college athletes, and others regarding the usage of college athletes' likenesses in video games (which is currently barred by the NCAA because of the concept of sport amateurism), they would not renew their licensing deal with EA. However, the expiration of the license only affects the use of the NCAA's trademarks in the games; teams and other events are licensed from schools individually or through organizations such as the Collegiate Licensing Company—who announced on the same day that they would extend its own licensing deal with EA through 2017. As such, EA ensured that with these existing deals in place, it would still be able to produce future versions of the franchise without the NCAA license (as it did prior to 1997); EA Sports' executive vice president Andrew Wilson announced that the next edition of the franchise was already in development, and would "[still] feature the college teams, leagues, and all the innovation fans expect from EA Sports."
However, after the SEC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 conferences announced that they would not license their trademarks to EA, the company announced on September 26, 2013 that it would not make a college football game for 2014.
As of 2018, the series has not returned, although Oregon and Texas licensed their team names for the story mode in Madden NFL 18. Despite this, NCAA Football 14, the last edition of the game, continues to be played by gamers, including actual college football players. Unofficial updates have been released to reflect current rosters.
Players' real names and specific likenesses are not used in the game. While the Madden NFL series does use real player names and likenesses, those players are compensated for the use of their image. Due to NCAA restrictions on the amateur status of athletes, names are not allowed. Additionally, current college players cannot be used as cover athletes. Instead, each cover features a player whose college eligibility ended the season before the game's release, wearing his former college uniform. The only two exceptions have been the Wii version of NCAA Football 09, which featured Sparty, the mascot of Michigan State University, on the cover, and NCAA Football 06 when Desmond Howard was featured on the cover striking the Heisman Trophy pose during his career at Michigan, despite not having played for Michigan for more than 15 years.
Although EA Sports does not claim that the players in the game represent real life players, the jersey number, position, height, weight, home state, and ethnicity are aligned with the real players. Fans of any particular team are sure to recognize their favorite players (for example, in NCAA Football 14, Florida State QB #5 would correspond to Jameis Winston). Actual usage of a player's real name would be in violation of the NCAA's policy regarding student athletes. Amateur "roster makers" will often manually associate player names and will upload a roster file to the built-in roster sharing system. As of NCAA Football 09, EA has put in the EA Locker feature which allows remote roster sharing online through either Xbox Live or PlayStation Network depending on the console. In certain game modes, real players are given fake names. For instance, in NCAA Football 14, Ohio State QB Braxton Miller is referred to as Matthew Carrington.
Prior to the release of NCAA Football 06, the only music featured in the game were fight songs of most FBS and FCS colleges featured in the game. These would play at random, however the user-selected "favorite team" would always have their fight song played first whenever the game was first started.
NCAA Football 06 was the first and only entry in the series to include licensed music to keep the series in uniform with other EA Sports releases of the time, such as Madden NFL and the NHL series.
NCAA Football 07 returned to the fight song only format.
NCAA Football 08 added a cinematic theme song to the main menu, with fight songs playing during Dynasty Mode.
NCAA Football 09 allows a new custom stadium sounds feature allowing users to edit what sounds are heard at specific stadiums during events within the game, such as a touchdown, field goal, or timeout. Fans of the teams can now create an authentic experience in each stadium by using copyrighted songs that EA is not allowed to put into the game.
NCAA Football 10 plays Tick Tick Boom by The Hives in the introduction only.
NCAA Football 11 uses the music that is used in ESPN College Football coverage.
^ a b Schrotenboer, Brent (July 19, 2013). "EA Sports re-ups on college football after NCAA snub". USA Today. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
^ a b Eder, Steve (September 26, 2013). "E.A. Sports Settles Lawsuit With College Athletes". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
^ "16-Bit's Last Stand". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 89. Ziff Davis. December 1996. p. 179.
^ a b c "NCAA Football 98: EA Is Betting that their All-New Collegiate Football Game Is a Gamebreaker". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 97. Ziff Davis. August 1997. p. 113.
^ a b "EA Sports Didn't Need the NCAA's Logo, and Maybe It Didn't Want It". Kotaku. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
^ Staff (March 1999). "The Fifth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US. 6 (3): 64, 67, 70–73, 76–78, 84, 86, 87.
^ Pereira, Chris (August 14, 2013). "EA's College Football Games Lose the SEC Branding". IGN. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
^ Wiedey, Bryan (July 10, 2018). "'NCAA Football': Why video game series hasn't returned five years after last release". Sporting News Media. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
^ Scarborough, Alex (July 12, 2018). "'A labor of love' keeps NCAA Football video game alive". ESPN. Retrieved July 17, 2018.