Madden was first released in the form of a PC in 1988 during Jackson's sophomore season in the NFL. However, due licensing issues as well as a hip injury that Madden nfl 22 coins occurred during his 1990 NFL season, which forced his early retirement from football, Jackson did not appear in Madden during his playing years. It wasn't until 2014 when Jackson first made his Madden debut with the special edition gamer in"the Ultimate Team game mode.
It was on the news this week that EA Sports announced that not only will Jackson return to the sport for the first time following Madden NFL 15 however, Jackson will also be given the privilege of being an official Madden cover athlete. About 35 years after his NFL career started with the 1987 season, Jackson is set to grace the cover featuring a digital version of Madden NFL 22. From Friday, players will once again be able to play with him on the internet. EA Sports also teamed up with Nike to re-create the company's iconic Bo Knows ad campaign by using a digitally rendered image of his most coveted shoe known as the Nike Air Bo Turf to the gaming.
Jackson will be the seven running backs to have been designated as a Madden cover athlete. He follows Eddie George (Madden 2001), Marshall Faulk (Madden 2003), Shaun Alexander (Madden 2007), Peyton Hillis (Madden 12), Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders (both Madden 25).
Prior to the unveiling of the cover, the Undefeated's Aaron Dodson caught up with Jackson to talk about his Tecmo Bowl days, how Bo Knows came to life and his Madden return and more.
Edited for the clarity of it and its length.
What does it mean for you to be an athlete who covers the sport, 35 years after the start of your career?
This was in the planning intermittently for several years. The time was the right one for my brand. In collaboration with the Madden people to smooth things out, make sure that all the dots are crossed, connect all the dots -after we had it completed, the rest was just going for it. I realized that somewhere in my past I'd done something right to ensure that I am recognized as one of the legendary sportsmen from more than 30-years ago. Madden believes in me to do things like this.
Your game's legacy on video dates to 1989, in which you became the face at Tecmo Bowl. How was it to experience yourself on the screen back then?
I can still picture myself I can still see myself Tecmo Bowl. I still have this video game. I still have the device in which to run it. But it's in a storage box somewhere in storage. It's iconic. It makes me feel happy knowing that I have grown-ups aged 40 and older saying"Hey, my friend and I were involved in the most intense fight of our lives because we all wanted to be in Tecmo Bowl when we were young. Therefore, our parents took the game and my dad locked it in his tools cabinet. We weren't able to play with it for a while because the battle was so fierce. I hear this a lot. When I go to sporting memorabilia events, individuals come up to the video game. They'll say, "I've own the machine that I play it on. My kids play it. My grandkids are fans ... in fact, everyone still debates about who's going to take on the role of Bo Jackson.' Tecmo Bowl ... that was quite buy Mut 22 coins a bit of technology in the past. You look at it now and it's like, 'Wow, that's an antique.'