Bill Walsh College Football '95 Is 30 Years Old

My bones are turning to dust as I write that Bill Walsh College Football ’95 is 30 years old. Still, my memories are strong and the past cannot be denied: this game ruled.

When we think back to retro games from the Genesis/SNES era, it’s easy to get caught up in memories and think nothing but rosy thoughts about games that really do not hold up anymore, but Bill Walsh College Football ’95 is not one of those. The original Bill Walsh College Football gets the most press because of the more well known box art and the fact that it was the first college football game produced by EA, but this sequel (and the other sequels that don’t have Walsh’s name attached to it) all hold up better.

(Speaking of the original Bill Walsh College Football, it’s technically its 30-year anniversary as well since that version did not hit the SNES until 1994, but that version also sucked compared to the Genesis version — even though it did have a season mode.)

Walsh ’95 had actual team licensing for 36 teams, which was a first for the series. On top of that, it had windowless passing for the first time in any of EA’s football games, which was a huge milestone and sort of the birthplace of EA’s college game being the experimental stage for a lot of ideas that would then make it into Madden throughout its history.

On top of that, season mode was now in the Sega Genesis version, and they even had seasonal stats that were tracked (that was a big deal at the time!), a lot more plays, energy levels for players, and even a choice between playoffs or bowl games at the end of the season.

A lot of what would come after in College Football USA ’96 and ’97 were just refinements that started here in this game. The licensing would get more and more impressive as eventually the series would get 100+ teams into the game and actual licensing for bowl games and top-25 rankings, but the core of what made the game great was already in place by then.

So as we look ahead to EA Sports College Football 2025, let’s not forget “college football” was in the name at the start of this whole journey as well.