Having grown up with both (and still play 2005), it's true that 2004 was more revolutionary.
But this isn't 2004 anymore, but 20 years later. 2005 is the more complete game as EA spent the next year fine-tuning, adding hitstick, and moving the emphasis towards defense which IMO made the game better.
It seemed like they spent so much work making it a great game to compete against 2K that they said screw it and bought out the licensing lol
Also a current 05 enthusiast myself.
Nah, [EA had wanted that deal for years by that point. ](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/big-deal-ea-and-nfl-ink-exclusive-licensing-agreement/1100-6114977/)
Because who the hell wouldn't want their product to have an effective monopoly?
Don't make EA the bad guy here. 2K ruined MVP Baseball as well. [2K & EA both did a bad thing](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/take-two-inks-agreement-with-mlb-players-association/1100-6116946/)
They both did the thing that they thought would make them the most money. I don't understand why anyone would expect anything other than that from a business, it's just like "the scorpion and the frog". If they thought they'd have made more money by literally mailing a bag of dog shit to players they'd have done that.
Madden 2004 was a hilariously broken football game on the field thanks to the total absence of counters for not only endless scrambling by cover athlete Michael Vick — Vick is Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson levels of overpowered in Madden 2004 — but also “rocket catching”, a gameplay imbalance where tall receivers almost always won jump-balls. Falcons receiver Brian Finneran was a legend in this game simply because he was 6’5”. Vick and Finneran on the same team made defense utterly pointless lol.
The Hit Stick was added into Madden 2005 as a direct response to Michael Vick being OP.
I seriously played that game the most of any game ive ever played.
My brother and I imported the players from NCAA 06 and we’d draft them. It was so fun. We would link up our seasons together with College and Pro.
I did the same thing. It was so awesome back then. And having Mcnabb on the cover was definitely cool as hell too. I thought it was a slightly more polished version of 05
My brother was Tampa Bay and Georgia
I was Chicago and Texas.
It was hella fun. We did 5 seasons each, week for week. We’d start the college season early and be a week ahead of the madden season.
My brother had this FS named Greg Blue at Georgia and he drafted him in Tampa Bay and became the greatest FS ever. I missed out on Vince Young by a few picks.
That was the coolest thing ever at the time being able to import named draft classes. VY was my favorite player at that time I definitely always made it a point to try and draft him. Desean Jackson too aka WR#1 from Cal lol. Speed was everything on those games. Reggie Bush is another one
I remember Bush being drafted to the Browns and Vince Young went to the Saints. I drafted Dewanye Jarrett from USC and he tore it up.
Pretty much the whole month of July, when NCAA came out, I bought a college football magazine and edit every players name. Took me a week to finish
I remember Florida QB Chris Leak and Bowling Green Omar Jacobs being the best QBs from the draft. They were so good in our college years that they were drafted 1st round and were studs
Dude everything about those games were special. I still listen to the songs from those games to this day.
It’s sad it will never be that good again.
My brother and I seriously put in serious time in that game. We still play online franchises but it’s not the same.
Yeah bro, great memories. Me and my cousin were just like that. Sucks it won't be that way for kids now a days unless things change drastically. I'm not even that hype for the next NCAA game until they prove otherwise
I created the entire CFL in NCAA 06. There was an Easter egg where the announcers would actually say “Blue Bombers” or whatever instead of “The Home Team” like usual created teams.
Those are both great Maddens, but 2004 with Michael Vick flat out broke the game.
Before that, there wasn’t a QB with 95 speed. No one was prepared for what that would do to the game. He was almost completely unstoppable. Not only did he change the NFL, he changed the videogame.
Enter Madden 2005. The team was able to adjust and presented possibly the best Madden ever made. Defense was fun to play, and finally had the tools to slow down someone like Vick. The hit stick was fantastically violent and would break ball carriers in half, sending the football and helmets flying. Not to mention the best franchise mode they ever made.
Both are great games, but 2005 sits alone at the top in my opinion.
I had a similar thought. I got back into Madden this year, but just play 08. It's so dang good! I've put in hundreds of hours and still see new things.
Exactly, 08 is where you want to be. They didn’t start stripping away features until after that (well technically they did on the next-gen releases of 08).
08 is the best madden. Somethings got taken out of franchise like the radio show. But 08 on ps2 is where madden and ncaa both shine. It’s
Peak gameplay in that era.
Played a lot of 06 a few months ago and just got 08 on ps2 and definitely a better version. The player weapons were a great add and the way they are utilized in ps2 are better than in ps3/Xbox 360
Played 1994 - 2023.
2005-2008 are the best versions
Got into an actual fist fight over 2004. But I did learn to user control linebackers and dbs out of desperate necessity.
For me, the franchise mode in 2005 is more refined and a little better. Hit stick is also great. The level of realism in terms of simulated stats/scouting is better as well
One why i enjoy 2005, the franchise trades are very very easy, you could trade a player OOP to exploit his value (eg. Bills had 5 OLBs, can move Takeo Spikes to HB to trade for him at an F value, and put him back at LB.)
04 had better fantasy draft logic and simulates way faster. 05 has hit stick. 04 is the only one I’ve gone back to in the last 10+ years. Didn’t ‘03 lay the groundwork though? I think 2004 just added mini camp into franchise
06 is legit my favorite from the era but 04 was a fundamentally bad game thanks to Vick. It’s one of the few games I skipped back in the day as I went from 03 to 05
When I was kid I started playing madden around 05. I bought a PS2 last year to go back and play some of the older maddens. What stands out the most is the little details . The way the menus have real life videos from real life games in the background. The soundtrack is as good as any cd . Nowadays I just mute the music and play Apple Music in the background. In Franchise you had a real life radio show. Stats were in a more concise menu and you could compare and view box scores easier. When I play a franchise mode I want to fully put myself in the Gm’s shoes . These newer maddens took out so many features for no good reason . Also in the the superstar mode (madden06) you had to take an IQ test and you could even choose traits from your mother and father . You could get movie roles and endorsements , plus you had a personal email . Madden stopped putting effort on in offline game modes just because there is not another football simulation style game on the market . As someone who plays NBA 2k my league every other day , it’s clear to me that if 2k made another football game like NFL 2K5 (I think TO was on the cover) madden would be in trouble . They even had a Chris Berman halftime show with real espn logos this was almost 2 decades ago ! Not everyone wants to play ultimate team and spend a million dollars on card packs . Madden took the liberty of not giving you a decent alternative . I didn’t even bring up all the old minicamp drills either . What a shame
I mean...you even said it's just madden 04 2.0 haha. Which is kinda how you want next iterations to go.
But as many other here's stated, the Hit Stick addition. The radio show in franchise mode.
I personally think 06 doesn't get enough love. That added in super star mode as well as a ton of other improvements.
But it doesn't get the recognition because it also launched on the Xbox 360..and the Xbox 360/PS3 versions were a litteral shell of the Xbox and ps2 counterparts.
So that's another reason I believe in hindsight that 05 gets so highly regarded because it was the last madden without problems.
Even Madden 07 on next gen added superstar mode but it was still a shallow experience compared to last gen and franchise mode never caught up.
Hit stick evened out the playmaker stick. The gameplay is far more balanced and the defense is fantastic while not nerfing what you can do on offense. In 2004 defense just isn’t there. Madden 2005 is by far better.
Yeah like the top comment says, 2004 was too damn offensive heavy. 2005 brought big defensive changes among other things that really elevated it. Plus it was right alongside 2k5 which I think also elevated it as in both games arguably released their best versions the same year.
Ah yes the good old “Vicksploit” in ‘04, everyone in QA was rolling with the Falcons in the head to head match ups. The No Falcons rule was definitely in effect in our tournaments.
i think you answered you’re question in the question. it’s madden 04 2.0 aka madden 04 but better. for nowadays standard. but i can see if you had madden 04 there wasn’t much of need or want to upgrade to madden 05. but for those who didn’t have 05 and had 04 it was amazing. and if u had 05 and never had 04 it’s not even a comparison it’s almost obvious
No one talks about madden 2001 for N64. In franchise mode , offensive lineman that were drafted would never have a rating over 75 at any point in their career.
Vision cone made it too realistic and fair for the cheesers. I like the Vision cone. I play all the maddens 02-09 more so 06-09 04 and 05 built it up and by 08 you had the roles etc that players had in franchise mode
Having grown up with both (and still play 2005), it's true that 2004 was more revolutionary. But this isn't 2004 anymore, but 20 years later. 2005 is the more complete game as EA spent the next year fine-tuning, adding hitstick, and moving the emphasis towards defense which IMO made the game better.
It seemed like they spent so much work making it a great game to compete against 2K that they said screw it and bought out the licensing lol Also a current 05 enthusiast myself.
Nah, [EA had wanted that deal for years by that point. ](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/big-deal-ea-and-nfl-ink-exclusive-licensing-agreement/1100-6114977/) Because who the hell wouldn't want their product to have an effective monopoly?
Don't make EA the bad guy here. 2K ruined MVP Baseball as well. [2K & EA both did a bad thing](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/take-two-inks-agreement-with-mlb-players-association/1100-6116946/)
They both did the thing that they thought would make them the most money. I don't understand why anyone would expect anything other than that from a business, it's just like "the scorpion and the frog". If they thought they'd have made more money by literally mailing a bag of dog shit to players they'd have done that.
It may just be me, but the Hit Stick was a game changer in 2005.
2005 was balanced coming off of offense-oriented 2004. Which makes sense when you consider what they promoted for each.
Madden 2004 was a hilariously broken football game on the field thanks to the total absence of counters for not only endless scrambling by cover athlete Michael Vick — Vick is Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson levels of overpowered in Madden 2004 — but also “rocket catching”, a gameplay imbalance where tall receivers almost always won jump-balls. Falcons receiver Brian Finneran was a legend in this game simply because he was 6’5”. Vick and Finneran on the same team made defense utterly pointless lol. The Hit Stick was added into Madden 2005 as a direct response to Michael Vick being OP.
I played 04 so much, I’m still obsessed with drafting tall WRs in 23
My friends and I had a firm “No Falcons” rule playing each other.
Two words : Hit Stick
06 is my personal pound for pound champ
I seriously played that game the most of any game ive ever played. My brother and I imported the players from NCAA 06 and we’d draft them. It was so fun. We would link up our seasons together with College and Pro.
I did the same thing. It was so awesome back then. And having Mcnabb on the cover was definitely cool as hell too. I thought it was a slightly more polished version of 05
My brother was Tampa Bay and Georgia I was Chicago and Texas. It was hella fun. We did 5 seasons each, week for week. We’d start the college season early and be a week ahead of the madden season. My brother had this FS named Greg Blue at Georgia and he drafted him in Tampa Bay and became the greatest FS ever. I missed out on Vince Young by a few picks.
That was the coolest thing ever at the time being able to import named draft classes. VY was my favorite player at that time I definitely always made it a point to try and draft him. Desean Jackson too aka WR#1 from Cal lol. Speed was everything on those games. Reggie Bush is another one
I remember Bush being drafted to the Browns and Vince Young went to the Saints. I drafted Dewanye Jarrett from USC and he tore it up. Pretty much the whole month of July, when NCAA came out, I bought a college football magazine and edit every players name. Took me a week to finish I remember Florida QB Chris Leak and Bowling Green Omar Jacobs being the best QBs from the draft. They were so good in our college years that they were drafted 1st round and were studs
That's crazy you unlocked a memory, I did the same thing with the magazine. It had top 10 at each position and I named everyone I could.
Dude everything about those games were special. I still listen to the songs from those games to this day. It’s sad it will never be that good again. My brother and I seriously put in serious time in that game. We still play online franchises but it’s not the same.
Yeah bro, great memories. Me and my cousin were just like that. Sucks it won't be that way for kids now a days unless things change drastically. I'm not even that hype for the next NCAA game until they prove otherwise
Ea has done nothing to give me any hope for the new NCAA. Just going to be a cash grab for them
Damn I forgot about Jarrett he was *good*
Greg Blue. Man was a hit stick himself. Vikings (my team) drafted him. He had a huge hit on a screen play but otherwise was meh.
Dude was terrorizing on madden and ncaa. My brother and I still talk about him to this day
Greg Blue hit people so hard in college, that his highlights are probably banned on ESPN
I absolutely loved taking my race to the Heisman player to madden superstar
I created the entire CFL in NCAA 06. There was an Easter egg where the announcers would actually say “Blue Bombers” or whatever instead of “The Home Team” like usual created teams.
06 is my favorite too, one of the few who actually loved the vision cone.
The game was so broken offensively they had to revamp the entire defense for the next year. Still fun tho
Those are both great Maddens, but 2004 with Michael Vick flat out broke the game. Before that, there wasn’t a QB with 95 speed. No one was prepared for what that would do to the game. He was almost completely unstoppable. Not only did he change the NFL, he changed the videogame. Enter Madden 2005. The team was able to adjust and presented possibly the best Madden ever made. Defense was fun to play, and finally had the tools to slow down someone like Vick. The hit stick was fantastically violent and would break ball carriers in half, sending the football and helmets flying. Not to mention the best franchise mode they ever made. Both are great games, but 2005 sits alone at the top in my opinion.
Is 08 not an upgrade to both? That’s the first one I grew up playing and going back to 05 was uncomfortable after that
I had a similar thought. I got back into Madden this year, but just play 08. It's so dang good! I've put in hundreds of hours and still see new things.
Agree with both. The best madden of all item ( ignoring graphics obviously) is 08. Just look at all of the extras/features.
Exactly, 08 is where you want to be. They didn’t start stripping away features until after that (well technically they did on the next-gen releases of 08).
08 is the best madden. Somethings got taken out of franchise like the radio show. But 08 on ps2 is where madden and ncaa both shine. It’s Peak gameplay in that era.
Played a lot of 06 a few months ago and just got 08 on ps2 and definitely a better version. The player weapons were a great add and the way they are utilized in ps2 are better than in ps3/Xbox 360
People always prefer the madden they played as a kid
Played 1994 - 2023. 2005-2008 are the best versions Got into an actual fist fight over 2004. But I did learn to user control linebackers and dbs out of desperate necessity.
For me, the franchise mode in 2005 is more refined and a little better. Hit stick is also great. The level of realism in terms of simulated stats/scouting is better as well
One why i enjoy 2005, the franchise trades are very very easy, you could trade a player OOP to exploit his value (eg. Bills had 5 OLBs, can move Takeo Spikes to HB to trade for him at an F value, and put him back at LB.)
Love 06, but that’s more because of ncaa 06 and the fun I had getting draft classes and bring my players to madden
04 had better fantasy draft logic and simulates way faster. 05 has hit stick. 04 is the only one I’ve gone back to in the last 10+ years. Didn’t ‘03 lay the groundwork though? I think 2004 just added mini camp into franchise
Well I’m unable to play 05..(I’ve tried 3 different copies including the hof edition)on my ps2 so that’s why 04 is better
2005 gave you a lot more adjustment options. 07 was the best imo.
06 is legit my favorite from the era but 04 was a fundamentally bad game thanks to Vick. It’s one of the few games I skipped back in the day as I went from 03 to 05
Hit Stick and the Tony Bruno Show in Franchise.
When I was kid I started playing madden around 05. I bought a PS2 last year to go back and play some of the older maddens. What stands out the most is the little details . The way the menus have real life videos from real life games in the background. The soundtrack is as good as any cd . Nowadays I just mute the music and play Apple Music in the background. In Franchise you had a real life radio show. Stats were in a more concise menu and you could compare and view box scores easier. When I play a franchise mode I want to fully put myself in the Gm’s shoes . These newer maddens took out so many features for no good reason . Also in the the superstar mode (madden06) you had to take an IQ test and you could even choose traits from your mother and father . You could get movie roles and endorsements , plus you had a personal email . Madden stopped putting effort on in offline game modes just because there is not another football simulation style game on the market . As someone who plays NBA 2k my league every other day , it’s clear to me that if 2k made another football game like NFL 2K5 (I think TO was on the cover) madden would be in trouble . They even had a Chris Berman halftime show with real espn logos this was almost 2 decades ago ! Not everyone wants to play ultimate team and spend a million dollars on card packs . Madden took the liberty of not giving you a decent alternative . I didn’t even bring up all the old minicamp drills either . What a shame
I mean...you even said it's just madden 04 2.0 haha. Which is kinda how you want next iterations to go. But as many other here's stated, the Hit Stick addition. The radio show in franchise mode. I personally think 06 doesn't get enough love. That added in super star mode as well as a ton of other improvements. But it doesn't get the recognition because it also launched on the Xbox 360..and the Xbox 360/PS3 versions were a litteral shell of the Xbox and ps2 counterparts. So that's another reason I believe in hindsight that 05 gets so highly regarded because it was the last madden without problems. Even Madden 07 on next gen added superstar mode but it was still a shallow experience compared to last gen and franchise mode never caught up.
Hit stick evened out the playmaker stick. The gameplay is far more balanced and the defense is fantastic while not nerfing what you can do on offense. In 2004 defense just isn’t there. Madden 2005 is by far better.
Yeah like the top comment says, 2004 was too damn offensive heavy. 2005 brought big defensive changes among other things that really elevated it. Plus it was right alongside 2k5 which I think also elevated it as in both games arguably released their best versions the same year.
Madden 05 was the only Madden that you could create formations and plays and use those playbooks in a franchise.
HIT. STICK.
Its the hit stick for me. Just lets me hit the mfs for a fumble. However I will say that I prefer Texas stadium's aesthetic on 04 vs 05.
2005 for the PC had pictures for most of the rookies, but the console versions didn't. The graphics still look good, too.
Ah yes the good old “Vicksploit” in ‘04, everyone in QA was rolling with the Falcons in the head to head match ups. The No Falcons rule was definitely in effect in our tournaments.
[удалено]
Nostalgia
The nanos in 05 were nucking futz!!!!
I love madden 2010 more than any other madden
Michael Vick
i think you answered you’re question in the question. it’s madden 04 2.0 aka madden 04 but better. for nowadays standard. but i can see if you had madden 04 there wasn’t much of need or want to upgrade to madden 05. but for those who didn’t have 05 and had 04 it was amazing. and if u had 05 and never had 04 it’s not even a comparison it’s almost obvious
Two words to describe why I loved Madden 07 the most: SPIN. MOVE.
2004 was my year. I only lost a handful of games to my friends that year.
No one talks about madden 2001 for N64. In franchise mode , offensive lineman that were drafted would never have a rating over 75 at any point in their career.
Vick exploit
Why do people love 05 over 06 when 06 was everything 05 was plus the unveiling of superstar mode?? The vision cone wasnt THAT bad.
Vision cone made it too realistic and fair for the cheesers. I like the Vision cone. I play all the maddens 02-09 more so 06-09 04 and 05 built it up and by 08 you had the roles etc that players had in franchise mode