It’s time once again for the annual Action-Squad Tecmo Super Bowl prediction! As always, I use the teams from NES’s Tecmo Super Bowl to simulate the teams playing in this year’s Super Bowl. It is even more appropriate this year, since the New England Patriots feature Tecmo LB Junior Seau on their roster, and the New York Giants feature Tecmo P Jeff Feagles on theirs. 18 years later and there’s TWO Tecmo players in the Super Bowl, unbelievable!!!

Read below to learn who will win this Sunday’s game!!! (It’s much more fun than this simulation)

COIN FLIP – Giants captain Phil Simms and Patriots captain Mosi Tatupu (whose son now plays in the NFL) come out for the coin flip – Giants win and choose to receive.

1st QUARTER – Thinks get off to a shaky start when Giants kick returner David Meggett fumbles the kick-off! Fortunately, Giants lineman William Roberts falls on the ball. Meggett runs the first play for 3 yards, but on second down Patriots LB Richard Harvey sacks Simms. On the very next play, Meggett fumbles again with the Patriots recovering on the Giants 7 yard line!

The Patriots hand the ball off to RB John Stephens for a small gain, but on second down, Steve “worst computer player in the history of sport video games” Grogan throws an INT in the endzone – Giants ball!!!

The Giants, starting out on their own 20 yard line, show extreme faith in David Meggett as he runs for two first downs and hauls in a 30 yard strike from Simms. Meggett caps off the drive with a 15 yard TD run, and with Matt Bahr adding the XP, Giants lead 7-0.

2nd QUARTER – The Patriots start in their own territory but the Giants defense smells blood as they stop Stephens for a loss and LB Gary Reasons sacks Grogan. Punter Brian “mmm-bop” Hansen sends a deep kick behind the Giants’ 10 yard line. David Meggett, who under a strange Tecmo stipulation is required to play every position at least once in the game, fumbles for a THIRD TIME on the punt return, with the Patriots LB Richard Harvey recovering and scoring a touchdown!!! Russian kicker Jason Staurovsky adds the XP and the score is tied up, 7-7.

Meggett doesn’t fumble the kick return, and the Giants gulp major yardage on Phil Simms’ 50 yard bomb to Stephen Baker, “the touchdown maker”. Giants RB Ottis “OJ – but not that OJ” Anderson gets his first touch of the game and promptly runs 15 yards for the touchdown. Giants 14, Patriots 7.

The end of the second quarter becomes quite chaotic. On the Patriots’ first play, Steve Grogan throws his second pick of the game, this time to Safety Greg Jackson. But, with the Giants now on offense, Simms returns the favor by throwing an INT to Patriot CB Maurice “Space Cowboy” Hurst. Of course, not to be outdone, Grogan throws his THIRD INT of the half, right back to Greg Jackson. Jackson fumbles on the return, but the Giants recover and that basically ends the first half.

HALFTIME – Every Tecmo halftime ends with one of the following three images: Cowboy cheerleader, Woman in jog-bra, or gymnast-in-the-air-showing-panty. Which one was it? Guess! The answer is at the bottom. (this halftime show, though, featured all three ladies!)

3rd QUARTER – The Patriots start off deep in their own territory because kick returner Sammy “my profile picture looks like a leukemia patient” Martin literally can only walk the ball out of the end zone (no touchbacks in Tecmo!) to the 7 yard line. No fear, though, because Grogan finally connects with a receiver not in a Giants uniform. He finds Irving Fryar for an 80 yard streak down the sideline, who is finally tackled around the Giants’ 10 yard line. The Patriot coach wisely keeps the ball out of Grogan’s hands and stuffs RB John Stephens up the guts of the vaunted Giant defense a couple of times and finally get the touchdown. Score knotted up now 14-14.

The Giants return the kickoff to their own 40 yard line, and on third down, OJ Anderson runs for 50 yards to the Patriot 10. On the very next play Stephen Baker catches a touchdown pass to give the Giants the lead, 21-14.

4th QUARTER – The Patriots grind out the clock to close the third quarter and start the fourth by continuously handing the ball off to John Stephens, who runs for four first downs. Deep in Giant territory, Grogan sees a wide open wide receiver, “You can’t teach” Hart Lee Dykes in the end zone, but LB Gary Reasons makes a spectacular leap for Grogan’s FOURTH INT!!! This proves to be the back breaker.

David Meggett runs for 35 yards and the giants end up on the Patriot 40 yard line. Stuck on fourth down, Kicker Matt Bahr proves the Tecmo theory that anyone can kick a field goal when the ball is in opposition territory, connecting on what conservatively must have been at least a 55-yarder. Giants 24, Patriots 14.

The Patriots are running out of time and sacks by DE Leonard Marshall and LB Pepper Johnson don’t help their cause. Stuck in their own territory, facing 4th and 16, the coach doesn’t dare trust Steve Grogan to deliver the goods. Instead, they hand the ball off to Stephens who gets stopped behind the line of scrimmage – turnover on downs.

To add insult to injury, the Giants run off a couple of plays and win the poor sportsmanship award by running one last play with one second left, instead of letting the clock run down. Ottis Anderson scampers in for his second TD, and the final score ends up Giants 31, Patriots 14.

FINAL STATS

NE 14 rushes, 72 yards, 80 yards passing, 5 1st downs
NY 22 rushes, 177 yards, 132 yards passing, 10 first dowsn

John Stephens – 12 carries for 52 yards rushing
David Meggett – 14 carries for 104 yards rushing

Steve Grogan – 16% completion, 80 yards, 3INTS (the Jackson fumble negates #4)
Phil Simms – 40% completion, 132 yards, 2TDs, 1 INT

Irving Fryar – 1 catch, 80 yards (only completed pass by NE)
Stephen Baker – 2 catches, 79 yards, 1 TD

**SUPER BOWL MVP**

The “reason” the Giants won was LB Gary Reasons, his sack and drive-killing INT sealed the game for the G-Men.

There you have it…the Giants, according to Tecmo, will win the Super Bowl this year!!! Tecmo has a 1-1 record since starting this tradition, so right now we have a 50% chance of being right!

Tecmo halftime girl: woman-in-jog-bra