Madden was released for the first time to PC in 1988, during Jackson's first season in the NFL. But due issues with licensing and Madden nfl 22 coins a hip injury in his 1990 NFL season, which forced him to take an premature retirement from football, Jackson never appeared in Madden in the course of his career. It wasn't until 2014 that Jackson played his Madden debut with the special edition member 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 in the very first game following Madden NFL 15 and Jackson will also have the privilege of being a Madden cover player. Nearly 35 years after his NFL career started back in 1987 Jackson appears on a unique digital cover of Madden NFL 22. Starting on Friday, Madden NFL players will be in a position to play alongside him virtually. EA Sports also teamed up with Nike to revive the famous sportswear brand's Bo Knows ad campaign by adding a digitally rendered model of his iconic shoe which is which is the Nike Air Bo Turf to the gaming.
Jackson was the 7th running back named a Madden cover athlete. He is followed by Eddie George (Madden 2001), Marshall Faulk (Madden 2003), Shaun Alexander (Madden 2007), Peyton Hillis (Madden 12), Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders (both Madden 25).
In the days before the cover reveal, the Undefeated's Aaron Dodson caught up with Jackson to discuss his Tecmo Bowl days, how Bo Knows came to life and his Madden return and much more.
Edited for clarity and clarity.
What does it mean to you to finally be a cover athlete for the game 35 years after the start of your career?
This has been in preparation in the background for several years. The time was the right one for my brand. In collaboration with the Madden team to work things out dot all the i's, dot all the t'swhen we had that done, everything else was just going along with it. I realized that, somewhere in my past I had done something right so that I could be thought of as one of the most famous athletes of more than 30-years ago. Madden believes in me to do things like this.
Your video game legacy dates to 1989, when you were the buy mut coins madden 22 mainstay of Tecmo Bowl. What was it like seeing yourself in the past?