Joe Montana Football is an American football video game developed by Electronic Arts, and published by Sega for the Genesis in 1991. Although the game does feature Joe Montana (as the title respectively says) as a playable character, since Sega did not obtain licenses from either the NFL or the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), teams are named generically after US cities, meaning Joe Montana is the only real player in the game. It was the first game in what would become Sega's NFL Football video game series. Gameplay Similar to other football games of the time, the gameplay follows a slightly simplified version of standard American Football rules. Players have the option to play as different teams, as well as select number of players. Players also have the option to turn penalties on or off. Players may also play a normal game, a mode with a two-minute drill, and the Sega Bowl mode. Though Joe Montana Football and John Madden Football were made by the same company, Madden had realistic plays and a full roster of 28 teams, while Montana was a more arcade-style game with only 16 teams and a simplified, passing-intensive offense. Development Following the launch of the Genesis in the United States, Sega of America president and CEO Michael Katz planned to create a library of instantly-recognizable titles for the console by contracting with celebrities and athletes to produce games using their names and likenesses. As part of this, Sega signed a five-year contract with Joe Montana, despite concerns among the Japanese executives that the game would not earn enough to cover this cost. Sega had previously developed two American football games for the Master System console, Great Football in 1987 and American Pro Football (Walter Payton Football) in 1989, the latter very well-received by critics at the time. Joe Montana Football was originally intended to be an update of Great Football. Since Sega of America did not at the time have a large game production facility, they contracted with Mediagenic (Activision) to develop the game for November 1989. No one at Sega was aware of the turmoil inside Mediagenic at the time; despite five months of reports that development was proceeding on schedule, Katz discovered in September or October that the game was hardly begun. To have a football game for Christmas release, Sega would have to find an already-completed game that could be