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A Quarter of a Century of Footy Games

Vindaloo

Vindaloo

A Bucket of Vindaloo
11 August 2003
Manchester
Was bored today and started thinking about all the footy games I played as a kid. Decided to make a list of them and post them on here to maybe see other peoples route through footy gaming history to ending up in this forum.

Some of the dates may be slightly wrong, but they should be mostly correct, there may be even games that I've forgotten about... aaahh those memories :)

1983 International Soccer (C64) http://homepages.tesco.net/~parsonsp/html/international_soccer.html
1985 Match Day (Spectrum) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_Day
1987 Match Day II (Spectrum) http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi?regexp=Match+Day+II
1987 Emlyn Hughes International Soccer (C64) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emlyn_Hughes_International_Soccer
1990 Football Champ (Arcade) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Champ
1992 Sensible Soccer (Amiga) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_soccer
1994 Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_soccer
1995 Fifa International Soccer (3D0) http://www.mobygames.com/game/3do/fifa-international-soccer
1996 UEFA Euro 96 England(Saturn) http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/saturn/home/935805.html
1996 Sega Worldwide Soccer '97 (Saturn) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Worldwide_Soccer_'97
1997 Sega Worldwide Soccer '98 (Saturn) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Worldwide_Soccer_'98
1998 Fifa 98: Road to World Cup / World Cup 98 (PC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_98
1999 Fifa 99 (PC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Series
2000 Fifa 2000 (PC)
2001 Fifa 2001 (PC)
2002 PES 2 (PS2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Evolution_Soccer
2003 PES 3 (PS2)
2004 PES 4 (PS2)
2005 PES 5 (PS2)
2006 PES 6 (PS2)
2007 Fifa 08 (360)
2008 Fifa 09 (360)
 
I am gonna have to wrack my brain before posting in here, though most of them ring a bell with me I ain't sure what I played and what I didnt.

I do remember a large portion of my teenage years being wasted on Sensi though, that game was genius
 
Missing Microprose Soccer, Kick Off I and II, Player Manager and Manchester United:Europe as well.

Good memories.
 
I played Kick Off a little but cant really remember the others. I've only listed my favourite game in each era as I only ever played one footy game at a time.
 
Manchester United was a great great game by the time being! And Player Manager was very addictive.

Add to that list my preferred Emilio Butragueño Futbol (which I modded in my Amstrad 128 to be Lineker Football), Virtua Striker (with incredible ball swerve) and Konami football! (which was actually 4 vs 4).

And then there were also Actual Soccer 1 & 2, that game of football with Gazza (can't remember the name) and the epic Italy 90 (that you could always score doing a certain diagonal shot from 30 yards).

But I'm sure there has been lots more I can't remember now.
 
Nice list.. this is mine:

1995 - FIFA international soccer (Game Boy)
1996 - Sensible soccer (Game Boy) - FIFA Soccer 96 (Game Boy)
1997 - FIFA 64 (Nintendo 64)
1998 - FIFA RTWC 98 (Nintendo 64) - ISS 64 (Nintendo 64)
1999 - FIFA 99 (PC) - Actua Soccer 2 (PC) - ISS 98 (Nintendo 64)
2000 - FIFA 99 (PC) - Actua Soccer 3 (PC) - ISS 98 (Nintendo 64)
2001 - FIFA 2001 (PC) - Virtua Striker 2 (Dreamcast)
2002 - FIFA 2002 (PC)
2003 - FIFA 2003 (PC) - PES 2 (PSOne) - Virtua Striker 2002 (Gamecube)
2004 - PES 3 (PC) - FIFA 2004 (PC) - PES 3 (PS2)
2005 - PES 4 (PC)
2006 - PES 5 (PC) - PES 5 (PS2)
2007 - PES 6 (PC) - FIFA 07 (PC) - PES 5 (PS2) - PES 6 (PS2)
2008 - PES 6 (PC) - PES 6 (PS2) - PES 2008 (PS2)
2009 - PES 6 (PC) - FIFA 09 (PC) - (PES 6 (PS2)

In bold the titles that I liked the most year by year.. In italic the titles that I didn't own and I played only at friends of mine..

drekkard said:
Virtua Striker (with incredible ball swerve) and Konami football! (which was actually 4 vs 4)
Click to expand...
Ah, good old arcades..
The whole Virtua Striker series got me hooked (apart from VS4 that I don't consider a VS game anymore), nice spot there.. I thought I was the one that really enjoyed it (and actually still plays VS2 with NullDC nowadays)..

But I remember two arcade games from Konami in the mid-late 90s.. One was "Soccer superstars" (the one with that weird wiew from behind the goal, anyone remembers it?) and the other I don't remember the title of (but I guess it was "Football something") that was pure class for the period..

Anyway, at the arcades, I usually went for these:
1996-97: Soccer Superstars - the other Konami title - Super Sidekicks 3
1998-as long as I go play bowling: any game of the Virtua Striker series from VS2:98 to VS2002
 
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My list:

1987 Match Day II (Amstrad)
1987 Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer (Amstrad)
1991 Manchester United In Europe (Amiga)
1992 Sensible Soccer (PC)
1994 FIFA International Soccer (PC)
1995 Sensible World Of Soccer (PC)
1996 FIFA 96 (PC)
1996 UEFA Euro 96 (PC)
1997 Actua Soccer 2 (PC)
1998 World Cup 98 (PC)
1999 FIFA 99 (PC)
1999 UEFA Champions League 98/99 (PC)
2000 FIFA 2000 (PC)
2001 ISS Pro Evolution 2 (Playstation)
2001 Pro Evolution Soccer (PS2)
2002 Pro Evolution Soccer 2 (PS2)
2003 Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (PS2)
2004 Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (Xbox)
2005 Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Xbox & PC)
2006 Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (PC)
2007 Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PC)
2008 FIFA 09 (360)

That's a fair few! I also played a bunch of Kick Off 2, Dino Dini's GOAL!, Striker, FIFA 95 etc at various friends' houses.

There's probably an equal list of management-only games too, such as Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager on the Amstrad, many versions of Championship Manager from 93/94 onwards...

My abiding memory of Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer is watching the lines of the loading screen being drawn as the game loaded slowly from the cassette tape :D. It was never worth the wait either! I spent many hours with Match Day II, however...

YouTube - Match Day II
 
I'd forgotten just how slow that game was! The poor amstrad is really struggling there, but I think it was probably just as slow on the spectrum...
 
Played and owned most of the ones on that list and many more besides. I was actually commenting to a pal the other day how far football games have come since my first which was a TV game of pong with a gap at each end of the screen and 6 squares moving randomly up and down in the middle of the screen to Fifa 09. Frightening really to think where we might be in another 30 years.

One title i haven't seen mentioned here was the first one i experienced a Be a Pro type game which was Libero Grande. I can actually remember doing a lap of honour round the couch at a mates house the first time we put together a flowing passing move to carve open the com:APPLAUD:
 
My First footy game was Fifa International Soocer on the PC then later on i got a 3DO and got Fifa

PES on the PS1 was the first Pro Evo i got and that got me hooked on all the PS2 ones (J-League an all) up until Fifa 07 on the 360
 
I actually loved Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer, you could play full 90 minute matches too!

Also, remember in European Club Soccer how you could score from a corner everytime? :BOP:
 
Just a question, why's this in the Fifa forum? Shouldn't it be under the "other games" forum?
 
I've been into footy games for years and years. My first was Fifa 2005 on PS2, which I loved to death. I played that game like it was my own brother. I think that game will always hold a special place in my heart.

Then came FIFA 2006 which was like 2005 but the rosters were updated and it had some new features.

Next I played FIFA 2007 which I loved so much, what a great game. Once I played it for 19 hours straight without a break.

Last year I played FIFA 2008 (on xbox360) which was ok but really slow and unresponsive.

Currently I play FIFA09 but I have to say compared to FIFA 2005 (the original and the best soccer game) it is quite a disappointment.
 
Lami said:
Just a question, why's this in the Fifa forum? Shouldn't it be under the "other games" forum?
Click to expand...

As I said above, "see other peoples route through footy gaming history to ending up in this forum."

I was interested in what people had played leading up to them playing Fifa 09, not "other games"
 
I can't believe that this topic shows how
unpopular ISS Deluxe (SNES) was in Europe.
In S. America and Japan, saying it was huge is not enough.
 
Played most on all these lists, but heres some more I enjoyed that I dont think anyone has mentioned.

ISS Deluxe (ok, Pipeno mentioned it above!) but was the best ISS game for me (of that generation). played it for hours and hours and hours...

Tecmo World Cup (Arcade) - The one with the roll ball and the pinched skin. When I built my arcade cabinet, I ensured I got the best roll ball so I could play this (and its Basketball cousin, Dunk Shot).

Paul Gascoinge Soccer/'Gazza' II (C64) - Urgh... this was so bad. Only showed a third of the pitch at one time - the ends were from behind the play and the middle third was side on - the screen flicked between the views as the ball passed each third. Was shocking and still get that sick feeling thinking about it now that I spent all my saved pocket money on it!
 
Here's a couple of early ones from me to add to the list:

Peter Shilton's "Handball Maradona!" - a game where you played as the goalie. I remember some of the moves the CPU did being pretty decent. One of the first games to have speech too if I recall correctly.

YouTube - Commodore 64 - Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona

{hmm...funny how I don't remember it looking so crap....}

Footballer of the year 2 - I always used to start as a player for Wrexham and then work my way to Liverpool.

I think we've had a similar discussion on this a few years back on here but it's always good to roll back the years.

There's another game I remember that looked a bit like Match Day 2 but it was a lot better graphically; it had music by Rob Hubbard that I vividly remember. Anyone any ideas what I'm talking about?!
 
nerf said:
My list:

1987 Match Day II (Amstrad)
1987 Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer (Amstrad)
1991 Manchester United In Europe (Amiga)
1992 Sensible Soccer (PC)
1994 FIFA International Soccer (PC)
1995 Sensible World Of Soccer (PC)
1996 FIFA 96 (PC)
1996 UEFA Euro 96 (PC)
1997 Actua Soccer 2 (PC)
1998 World Cup 98 (PC)
1999 FIFA 99 (PC)
1999 UEFA Champions League 98/99 (PC)
2000 FIFA 2000 (PC)
2001 ISS Pro Evolution 2 (Playstation)
2001 Pro Evolution Soccer (PS2)
2002 Pro Evolution Soccer 2 (PS2)
2003 Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (PS2)
2004 Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (Xbox)
2005 Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Xbox & PC)
2006 Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (PC)
2007 Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PC)
2008 FIFA 09 (360)

That's a fair few! I also played a bunch of Kick Off 2, Dino Dini's GOAL!, Striker, FIFA 95 etc at various friends' houses.

There's probably an equal list of management-only games too, such as Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager on the Amstrad, many versions of Championship Manager from 93/94 onwards...

My abiding memory of Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer is watching the lines of the loading screen being drawn as the game loaded slowly from the cassette tape :D. It was never worth the wait either! I spent many hours with Match Day II, however...

YouTube - Match Day II
Click to expand...

Wow, that was a real blast from the past! I can remember when that first came out, everyone was like 'wow!' Can you believe that now??? We don't know how good we have it now...
 
:D ah the memories. Remember at one point owning 11 football games for the ps1, or snes. Had loads although few were really good.
 
Nintendo World Cup NES
GOAL NES (Pure shite, had it for 2 days and took it back)
World Cup 90 MD
Super Kick Off MD
FIFA International Soccer MD
FIFA 95 MD
UEFA Euro 96 Saturn
Sega World Wide Soccer 97 Saturn
Sega World Wide Soccer 98 Saturn
World League Soccer Saturn
ISS PE PS
ISS PE2 PS
UEFA Stiker DC
SWWS Euro 2000 Edition DC
UEFA Dream Soccer DC
Virtua Striker ver2001 DC
ISS 2 GC
Virtua Striker 3 GC
Sega Soccer Slam GC
Mario Strikers GC
WE 6: FE GC
FIFA 2005 GBA
WE DS
FIFA 07 DS
PES PS2
PES 2 PS2
PES 3 PS2
WE 7:I PS2
WE 8 PS2
WE 9 PS2
WE 10 PS2
PES 6 PS2
FIFA 07 PS2
PES 5 PSP
PES 6 PSP
FIFA 07 PSP
PES 4 XB
FIFA 2005 XB
UEFA Champs League 2005 XB
PES 5 XB
FIFA 06 XB
FIFA 07 XB
PES 6 XB360
FIFA 06 RTFWC XB360
2006 FIFA World Cup XB360
FIFA 07 XB360
UEFA Champs League XB360
FIFA 08 XB360
FIFA 09 XB360
PES 2008 PS3
FIFA 09 PS3

I cant remember the years, so have tried to remember them all by format, I have bought and played all of those above titles, some for longer than others mind. If I remember anymore I'll add them.

Games which I really put alot of hours into or really enjoyed at the time of release in italics.
 
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Having played FIFA Int Soccer on the megadrive to death in two player mode with my brothers and mates - when the ball is loose in West Hams penalty area, I still occaisionally shout 'C,C,C' !
 
I know someone mentioned Microprose Soccer on the C64 but on the reverse of the cassette(!) there was a 6-a-side indoor version of the game. Used to play that for hours.

That was also the first football game that I remember that had slo-mo replays of each goal.
 
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