Talking Tecmo Bowl with one of the country’s best players (Podcast)

 
Do you believe that you’re one of the best to ever pick up a Nintendo controller and play Tecmo Super Bowl? The good news is that there’s a tournament to prove that. 

The bad news is that if you’re not already registered in the 256-player field and headed to Madison, Wis., you’re going to have to wait for another opportunity.  The 12th edition of “Tecmo Madison,” the classic video game’s de facto national championship is being held Saturday at the city’s Badger Bowl bowling alley.

To mark the occasion, the Grandstanding podcast welcomed Matt Knobbe for a chat about all things related to becoming an 8-bit legend. Knobbe runs the online community tecmobowl.org and runs an entertaining Twitter account at @tecmogodfather. He’s been a fan of Tecmo for decades and, as a computer programmer, figured out how to edit the game’s code. Each year, he and a team release an updated version of the game with that year’s rosters and players. 

As for your chances of besting Knobbe and any of his friends at Tecmo Madison?

“Basically if we’ve never heard of you, you’re probably not winning,” Knobbe said.