Another reason is that owners don't want their ego bruised. The teams in the Newbie were teams that rarely made the playoff in the past 20 or so years and if they did usually never win a game in the postseason. Black n Blue were playoff semi-regulars that sometimes would win a game, but never really made the SB or a Conference Championship. Almost every team would almost demand that they be put in the Powerhouse League, which was reserved for teams that over the past two-ish decades had made playoffs consistently and consistently won in the playoffs.
The Madden 12 version is similar except at the end of the 3 previous leagues, you face 3 different custom teams instead of all star or hall of fame teams. The Kickers, The Monsters, and The Manipulators. Each has their own set of powers like the teams in the supreme league. They all also share the same stadium.
I just remembered I made a video with the "ghetto phone footage" about fantasy challenge like a year ago. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gXn6Foev8vg.htmlsi=omNBvt_ZRkNTIzUS
To be more specific about the extra three teams' powers, for those curious: The Kickers have an insanely strong kicker (as in, full-length-of-the-field strong, meaning every drive is guaranteed to get 3 points unless you force a turnover), run a bunch of fake field goals regardless of down or distance, and get "Roughing the Kicker" penalties if you hit stick them; the Monsters can "intimidate" you into not seeing your receiver icons (à la CFB25's Stadium Pulse at its most intense); and the Manipulators will force you to pick specific plays, randomly make you audible against your will, and occasionally prevent your QB from throwing the ball at anyone besides the receiver they've double-covered.
For me, Sega Genesis Madden's were my nostaligia. These games(ps2 era), are the best made football games to date. That is both a compliment to the developers then, but a statement how far gaming developing has fallen.
Glad someone finally covered this. I also had to learn to use qb spy's and run the clock down against the dummies. Ironically I had a hail Mary last second bomb from favre to driver against the tridents to win
Something fun is that on the full team draft mode, you draft every position, but you don't draft a full 53 man roster, so you'll have holes and the game will compensate in... interesting ways. My Jumbo package TE3 was my kicker Adam Vinatieri. I had him catch like 4 TDs.
I remember in these games each league had a weird team that you faced for the championship that cheated. The Newbie League you played had a team called the Kickers. Every single person on the team had the position of a placekicker. Which means if you hit stick or slam them, it's an immediate 15-yard penalty, automatic 1st down due to roughing the kicker. The Black n Blue you played the Monsters who were genetic freaks that couldn't be blocked. The shenanigans started early. Powerhouse was the Manipulators, iirc, that would change the play after you've selected it and you either had to audible or run the play, they changed it too.
Maaan this brings back memories. One of my favorite things to do with these teams after unlocking them was watch CPU vs. CPU matches between them. Dummies vs. Tridents was a blast. Deceivers vs. Glaciers was a riot. Good times.
Thanks for sharing this, I never knew about it. The creativity they used to have omg!! Makes me even more mad at Madden now lol. The Glaciers are straight out of Mortal Kombat or Eyeshield 21 😂
Madden 08 was literally my favorite Madden. me and my younger brother wouldn’t even play full games, we would just play the practice modes over and over again.
That was my favorite mode to play in. I had played the 09 version which had similar teams but also had a team with all kickers. And they would never punt, but kick these 90+ field goals every time.
THe dummies showed up in the PC version as well didn't they in some capacity, just the idea of sentient training dummies is nightmare fuel, the idea of a team of defenders going invisible is hilarious when it's someone else struggling
I had the PC version, and they were just straight up unlocked in the game since this game mode wasn't in that version. I always thought the Dummies were the strongest since all the other teams' powers didn't work properly, though to be honest, I don't think I ever used the Tridents once.
This is how you know this game was good. I can’t tell you how many hours I put into this game as a kid and NEVER knew this game mode was even a thing. I know the dummies from the practice mini games but I have never seen this game mode at all
This is yet another reason why the older madden games were better on the ps2, legendary teams, HOF players, more create a team options, the madden card cheats, franchise mode was way better to.
Me and my cousin beat the whole entire skill drills level thing Dey had. Skill drills was one of my favorite modes I just want to go back to my childhood again lol dats when madden was realistic and fire
I remember playing this mode, so I went back to see how far I ever got in it…. Beat the dummies 3-0 on rookie and that’s it 😂 If CFB25 wasn’t out rn I’d be grinding this
I was gonna look for an excuse to talk about the ultimate team challenges from a year or two ago that had you playing against Santa Clause and his elves when watching this lol
@@osurocks24 it wasn't as well fleshed out as these teams were (it was a 99 everything Santa and a bunch of super short punny teammates in Zero Chill uniforms) but it was still fun/funny Also that year they did a Thanksgiving set of missions that was themed as "the kids playing against their parents" as your team was turned into a bunch of like 5 foot nothing twigs against 7 foot tall beefcakes which was also pretty funny
Beating this mode is really tough basically you really gotta get your american football knowledge and senses going in order to beat these ficitonal teams also check out the madden 09 version which adds the monsters, manipulators and kickers. Also madden 2000 to madden 2004 had their own fantasy teams too
I didn’t forget this mode I loved it. Going against the dummy’s & Tridents was fun lol a team full of fucking Tongans & Samoans hell naw lol. Madden 08 was forever goated. First play me & my brother in law I hit sticked him on kick off and the game froze lol
