NFL Blitz arcade games will relaunch as Arcade1Up cabinet exclusive
NFL Blitz returns in three-quarters scale. [credit: Arcade1Up ]
The good news is that NFL Blitz's golden era of arcade games is coming back. The bad news is how limited this collection of beloved games will be.
Games from the earliest Blitz era, which ended with NFL Blitz 2000: Gold Edition, will soon be available to buy and play in your home once more-for the steep price of $599.99 as part of a three-game collection on an Arcade1Up three-fourths scale arcade cabinet. The collection, dubbed NFL Blitz Legends, is available for preorder (Arcade1Up, Best Buy) as of Monday, August 15, and is scheduled to ship to customers in October.
Less boom, still some shaka-lakaSadly, these games have been edited in the years since their late-'90s heyday, and the changes may well be dealbreakers for those who grew up loving the original series' over-the-top, WWE-like mayhem in arcades and early 3D consoles like the N64 and Dreamcast. Arcade1Up has confirmed that this NFL game will no longer feature "a specific set of tackles," with roughly 15 percent of football player collisions edited out. Additionally, all after-the-whistle hits have been disabled. Smaller apparent changes thus far include new textures drawn on the field and sidelines to insert Arcade1Up's logo into the action.