Overview
Pigskin 621 A.D., also known as Pigskin, is a comedic medieval-fantasy belt-scrolling football game developed and released by Bally/Midway for arcades in 1990.
A spin-off of the 1989 basketball game Arch Rivals, Pigskin 621 A.D. brings a comedic and brutal take on the sport of American Football (known as "Pigskin") with a medieval setting and significant rule differences (with violent combat, no fouls, and elements of rugby).
Players directly control the captain of their 6-man team of warriors (Thor Akenbäk for the left blue team, Atilla DeSoil for the right red team), and can influence their team using their four buttons: one for passing, two for punching, and one for changing the team's strategy and formation. Teams earn points by either carrying the pigskin to the opposing endzone or maintaining possession of the pigskin, and teams who are behind in points gain certain advantages (such as having a soldier stab players of the opposing team or replacing a team member with an aggressive troll). The game has two modes, with the "Pro Pigskin" mode making the AI members more aggressive.
The game later received a home conversion for the Sega Genesis in 1992, ported by Developer Resources and released by RazorSoft exclusively in North America as Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl. As common with football games at the time, this version was endorsed by a professional football coach (with this one being Jerry Glanville, who at the time was coaching the Atlanta Falcons).
Unlike Arch Rivals, this game was never included in any home compilation of Midway arcade games.
Critical Reception
When the Genesis version was released Electronic Gaming Monthly issued the following scores, 5,7,6,4 adding, "...this is one fun game! Even though the football is violent, this game is a killer. Forget about the rules as there aren't any! Get a friend for a two player brawl and play the game like it has never been played before".
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