Exclusive: Legendary game creator Michael Mendheim on why bringing his mutants to sports games is all about the fun

Last month, we brought you news that Mutant Football League 2 finally had a launch date. You can catch up on that right here (opens in a new tab). Now The Escapist speaks to Michael Mendheim, the creative genius behind a huge raft of classic Genesis / Mega Drive games and the driving force behind Mutant Football League, the spiritual successor to the likes of classic arcade games like NFL Blitz.

Launching a sequel to a much-loved game is never going to be easy – in truth, you probably wouldn’t want it to be easy, but for Michael Mendheim and his tiny seven-person team and Digital Dream Entertainment, the road to Mutant Football League 2 has been nothing short of brutal. Their core developers are based in Ukraine, and when Russia invaded, everything changed overnight.

“Game development is already unpredictable,” Mendheim explains. “Now imagine trying to make an American football game while bombs are falling, the power keeps going out, and some of your team are getting conscripted into the army. It was chaos.”

They managed to get some of the team out; one member was already on vacation in Spain when the invasion started, another managed to make it to Sweden, and their art director was flown to the U.S., but several stayed behind in Ukraine. Somehow, against all odds, they kept coding.

“It’s a real testament to them,” Mendheim says. “The fact that they were able to stay focused and deliver this game is incredible. We’re still polishing and fixing things right now, but I think what we’ve created is something really special.”

Quite possibly all the more special for what the team has been through.

Part of that polish comes from Mutant Football League’s unique approach to development. The team leans heavily on Steam Early Access, not as a marketing tool, but as a genuine collaboration with players.

“By the time we launch, the game is sharper, tighter, and better balanced because our hardcore fans have been tearing it apart for months,” he says. “They tell us what they love, what they hate, and we listen. We can’t do everything, but they shape the game alongside us.”

That kind of relationship with players has always been key for Mendheim. The original Mutant League Football launched in 1993 on the Sega Genesis, and for years, fans never stopped asking for its return. By 2013, the pressure was impossible to ignore, and Mendheim decided to bring the series back, though by his own admission, his first attempt was a disaster.

“Our first Kickstarter was a complete faceplant,” he admits. “We aimed too small, making a mobile version that just didn’t capture the spirit of the original. Fans were furious. People were saying I was scamming them.”

The Magnificent Seven

Instead of giving up, he reached out to the angriest critics. For six months, he listened to what they wanted and reimagined the project from scratch. “Out of those conversations came a plan to do it right,” he says. “Seven guys, building for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC. It was crazy, but we pulled it off.”

The reboot was a hit. Critics liked it, fans loved it, and it earned a high rating on Steam. With the sequel, Mendheim and his team wanted to go even further.

The most obvious upgrade is visual: “We gave the entire game a full graphical overhaul,” he says proudly. But there are gameplay changes, too. Characters now have unique looks — from Mohawks and Afros to scars and mutations, making each player feel distinct. Most importantly, fans can finally create their own Mutant Football League team, a feature that had been requested since day one.

The “mutant” part of the franchise is what makes it so special. At its core, the game plays like a chaotic, violent version of NFL Blitz, but the over-the-top death mechanics add a whole new layer of strategy.

“American football is already complex,” Mendheim explains. “But in our game, your star players can be killed mid-match. If you lose your quarterback or your best receiver, your whole team gets weaker. So now you’re not just planning plays, you’re protecting your guys while trying to take out theirs. It’s unpredictable, it’s hilarious, and every match feels unique.”

That unpredictability carries over to the audience. The game’s community is a mix of retro fans who played the original back in the ’90s, sports gamers looking for something different, and even people who don’t like sports games at all but just want to cause maximum carnage.

“Some players don’t care about the score,” Mendheim laughs. “They just want to kill your team and force a forfeit. For them, that’s the win condition.”

He’s on fire

Humor has always been central to the series, thanks in no small part to Tim Kitzrow, the legendary voice of NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, and the original MFL.

“Tim is part of our brand,” Mendheim says. “He brings this insane energy. When we record, he’ll go completely off-script — like Robin Williams in a recording booth. Our audio director just shakes his head and says, ‘Why do we even bother writing scripts?’ That chaos is where the magic happens.”

“For us, it’s all about the community. We fund our own games, so we don’t have investors telling us what to make. That means we can be politically incorrect, offensive, silly, whatever we think will make the game fun.”

Michael Mendheim

Despite the wild premise, Mendheim takes game design seriously. He’s seen the industry change dramatically since the Genesis days — budgets ballooning to hundreds of millions, teams swelling to thousands of people — but he believes smaller studios still have an edge.

“Big games can be amazing, but they’re also marketing-driven,” he says. “For us, it’s all about the community. We fund our own games, so we don’t have investors telling us what to make. That means we can be politically incorrect, offensive, silly, whatever we think will make the game fun.”

The road to Mutant Football League 2 has been rocky, even without a war to contend with. But for Mendheim, the goal has always been simple: deliver a game that makes people laugh, cheer, and maybe yell at the screen a little.

“Our mission hasn’t changed since 1993,” he says. “The game has to be fun. That’s it. No feature creep, no overcomplication – just pure, chaotic fun.”

And with a team that’s fought through bombs, blackouts, and bad luck to get here, that victory is already worth celebrating.

For Mendheim, creativity is the great equalizer. “Madden might have a $300 million budget,” he says, “but creativity doesn’t cost a thing. On that playing field, we can fight toe-to-toe.”

Mutant Football League 2 is available now on Steam Early Access (opens in a new tab) and will launch fully on 10th December this year.