The Pro Bowl Challenge

Haven't you always wanted to have that matchup, you versus a friend, when you could be the same team...just to prove, once and for all, who really is the better Tecmo player. Well, you could always use the APESOT code, but then everyone is super fast, and the game doesn't really play the way Tecmo was intended to. Well, you can't do it. But by altering the Pro Bowl teams you can have a matchup of ALMOST identical teams, the differences between the two being of no real significance.

AFC
NFC
QB  Steve Beuerlein (RAI)
    Gary Kubiak (DEN)
RB  James Brooks (CIN)
    Blair Thomas (JETS)
    Chris Warren (SEA)
    Stanford Jennings (CIN)
WR  Haywood Jeffires (HOU)
    Stephone Paige (KC)
    Mark Jackson (DEN)
    Irving Fryar (NE)
TE  Ozzie Newsome (CLE)
    Paul Green (DEN)
C   Paul Fairchild (NE)
G   Gregg Rakoczy (CLE)
    Randy Dixon (IND)
T   Will Woolford (BUF)
    Jeff Criswell (JETS)

K   Pete Stoyanovich (MIA)
P   Brian Hansen (NE)

DL  Doug Smith (HOU)
    Ron Stallworth (JETS)
    Lee Williams (SD)
LB  Kevin Walker (CIN)
    Ed Reynolds (NE)
    Chris Singleton (NE)
    Terry Wooden (SEA)
CB  Raymond Clayborne (CLE)
    Tim McKyer (MIA)
S   Brian Washington (NYJ)
    Jarvis Williams (MIA)
 QB  Stan Humphries (WAS)
    Anthony Dilweg (GB)
RB  Emmitt Smith (DAL)
    Harry Sydney (SF)
    Robert Drummond (PHI)
    John Harvey (TB)
WR  Gary Clark (WAS)
    Sterling Sharpe (GB)
    Robert Clark (DET)
    Hassan Jones (MIN)
TE  Ed West (GB)
    Damone Johnson (RAMS)
C   Mark Stepnoski (DAL)
G   Ron Hallstrom (GB)
    Todd Kalis (MIN)
T   Tim Irwin (MIN)
    Ron Heller (PHI)

K   Steve Christie (TB)
P   Maury Buford (CHI)

DL  Darryl Grant (WAS)
    Erik Howard (NYG)
    Freddie Joe Nunn (PHX)
LB  Mike Wilcher (RAMS)
    Darrion Conner (ATL)
    Eric Hill (PHX)
    Fred Strickland (RAMS)
CB  Mark Lee (GB)
    Don Griffen(SF)
S   Mark Murphy (GB)
    William White (DET)

There are only three dissimilarities in the teams above. The first is that Maury Buford has slightly less Avoid Punt Block than Brian Hansen. Of course, punts cannot be blocked in this version of Tecmo (go ahead and try, you either get tackled or get the punt away, there is no blocking), so this difference is essentially non-existent in gameplay. The other two differences kind of balance each other out. Tim McKyer and Don Griffen have identical stats, except McKyer has 44 Hitting Power, while Griffen has only 38. Brian Washington is identical to Mark Murphy, except he has 38 hitting power and Murphy has 44. Thus, they essentially cancel each other out - sure one could argue that the hitting power is better served in the safety position, but over the course of a game, the difference is really negligible.

Anyway, as far as I could tell, this is as close as you can get. If you find any better plan, please let me know, especially if I overlook a pairing. For the most even results, plug the players into the positions defensively in the order listed for both teams. To add more of a managerial aspect, you can allow players to use only the given players, but switch around where on defense they play to best defend their opponents offensive style.

I'm sure you can tell the QB's and LB's suck, but the DB's, WR's and RB's aren't half bad. It makes for some pretty interesting gameplay, I must say.