Great Football on the Sega Master System is one of those old-school sports games that somehow nails the chaos of actual football despite the chunky pixels. You’ve got these little blocky players scrambling around, and at first, it feels like they’re moving through mud—until you figure out the timing. Then suddenly, you’re pulling off these ridiculous long passes that somehow connect, or breaking ankles with a last-second juke.

The controls are dead simple—just a couple of buttons—but there’s a weird depth to it. Like, if you hold the pass button too long, your receiver overshoots the ball, and you’re left watching it roll pathetically out of bounds. Learned that the hard way. And the goalkeepers? Either unbeatable walls or complete liabilities, no in-between.

It’s not flashy, but there’s something satisfying about how raw it feels. You’ll either love it for that or bounce off hard. Either way, it’s a solid time capsule of early sports gaming.