To all my fellow New England Patriots fans, sadly I’m not here to report that future hall of famers quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick are reuniting to get the dynasty back on track. Those days are long gone, and we’ll see what Drake Maye and company bring to the gridiron. However, if you own an iPhone or iPad, I can report that a glorious-looking retro NFL game is headed to Apple Arcade, and it’s giving me some serious Techmo Bowl vibes.
Techmo Bowl stands as one of the greatest sports titles of all time, and I won’t even entertain a debate on this—like the sky being blue and the Sun being hot, it’s simply indisputable. To be clear, the new NFL Retro Bowl ’25 that Apple hopes will help Apple Arcade hit more pay dirt is not the same game. However, it is officially licensed by both the National Football League (NFL) and National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), so you can expect to see actual players represented by pixelated sprites.
“The upcoming release of NFL Retro Bowl ’25 allows NFL fans to create their own dynasty by choosing their favorite official NFL teams and players to take all the way to the house as they manage their rosters and game strategies with a fun and simple roster management system. With authentic rosters and NFL players stylized in the game’s glorious retro style, all NFL players in-game feature unique, fully realized retro art, tuned attributes, career stats, and realistic contracts,” Apple explains.
Color me intrigued. I ditched my Apple Arcade subscription a long time ago simply because I wasn’t using it enough, but to quote Michael Corleone in Godfather 3, “Just when I thought It was out, they pull me back in.”
The upcoming game is actually a remake of Retro Bowl+ by developer New Star R&D. Or to put it in the developer’s words, a “relaunch.” That could mean that the only real changes are updated rosters and official NFL branding, though I suspect there will be more to it than that. To what extent, though, will have to wait until September 5 when NFL Retro Bowl ’25 releases. Even if it’s just updated rosters, though, it should prove popular.