Pigskin 621 A.D. was an arcade football game released by Bally/Midway in 1990. It was much different than modern day football games, both visually and gameplay-wise. Pigskin was more like medieval rugby. Players had to fight their way to the end zone and holding on to the ball was never easy. The game was considered a success and in 1992 landed on the SEGA Genesis as Jerry Glanville’s Pigskin Footbrawl.
Pigskin was a football game, but at its core it was a brawler. Players could control one of their five-man squad at a time. They could run, punch and pass to get the rock to the end zone (or force a fumble). Players could also pickup (concealed) weapons, which could be used to kill opponents when fights for the ball broke out. UI arrows indicated the player’s position on the field at all times. The controls were simple and easy to use. But holding onto the ball was not. There was always someone in close proximity trying to beat the living snot out of you. For such a simple game, it was chaotic. Pigskin was like backyard football with no rules, and it was so much fun.
The gameplay of Pigskin would not have worked without the level design. Traps and obstacles riddled the playing fields. Dodging water, bushes and trap doors was just as difficult as avoiding beat downs from opposing players. If you ran into an obstacle you would immediately cough the ball up. These hazards in the levels worked well with the side-scrolling camera. Avoiding them added a nice layer of challenge while running. Short runs of open spaces and being able to traverse up/down the width of the screen made the obstacles never feel cheap. The level design of Pigskin had the perfect mix of paths and peril. It wasn’t complicated, but it worked really well (on both sides of the ball).
One of the most memorable things about Pigskin was the way the game looked. Vikings and knights running amok on a makeshift football field littered with booby traps. Stones, logs and trap doors everywhere. Skulls, bones and blood splatter added a level of permanence to the environments. The game had an interesting feel while somehow staying period correct. If football existed in 691 A.D., you can imagine it would look something like this. No bright lights or billboards. Just sticks and stones. The graphics were crisp and the characters stood out in the levels. Anything that mattered for the gameplay seemed to ‘pop’ off the screen. The visual composition was clean and worked on every level.
Pigskin was a football game like no other. The gameplay, graphics and level design came together to deliver a pure arcade sports brawler experience. The game captured the essence of playing backyard football in your neighborhood as a kid (minus the Vikings, killing and weapons of course). Pigskin kept things simple and it never took itself too seriously. It was just an outlandish, over-the-top good time that people could connect with. We may never see another game like it. And that is a real shame.
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