Your first football game (or earliest memories)

Flipper the Priest said:
Awesome thread. Right up my alley!

Can't remember which game I first put my hands on, but the one I first played with any regularity (and it may well have been the very first) was Nintendo World Cup on boy Game Boy and NES.

I was obsessed. I used to draw the players all the time too, or draw real life players in the style.

Might use this theme to get a convo going on socials @FC Bayern!
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Go for it, big yin 😉 Always love seeing your socials stuff

I'm sure I've a dodgy picture of George O'Boyle in a weird St Johnstone kit, one giant leg and one normal one (I was about 7). Not even a fan of the Saints, so no idea why I drew him of all players 🤣
 
FC Bayern said:
Go for it, big yin 😉 Always love seeing your socials stuff

I'm sure I've a dodgy picture of George O'Boyle in a weird St Johnstone kit, one giant leg and one normal one (I was about 7). Not even a fan of the Saints, so no idea why I drew him of all players 🤣
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Cheers!

Of all the players too. Top role model... 👃 ❄️
 
First memory is playing 'Super League' on the ZX spectrum and not really having a clue what i was doing... but i must have been 6 years old so fair enough. after that my dad got the game 'Professional Footballer' which was very different, it was basically a career mode where your player would have in match prompts to choose what they wanted to do, ie. shoot top corner? lay it off etc and each had a % chance of being pulled off. This was much preferable for me as it was much easier to play on that spectrum keyboard (we didn't have a joystick).

My dad was a bit of a games wheeler dealer and there were always games coming in and out the house, i distinctly remember playing Kick off and Match Day but i must have played half dozen of other games that i don't recall the name of.

That definitely changed when we got the mega drive and i was a bit older, I absolutely loved World Cup Italia 90, Dino Dini Soccer and Sensible Soccer but god i must have made sure we had every single football game on that console. Pele! was a big one for me as was the original FIFA International Soccer which just seemed like such a massive step up at the time. On the management sided I also played a lot of Premier Manager 97 before finally getting a playstation.

I won't list out any more games as i'll be here all day, but what I will say is that I only first came across ISS when i went to my cousins house around 1997/8 and I had brought F1 (the original playstation game) for him and he let me borrow a football game i had never heard of called International Superstar Soccer Pro... not sure if you guys have heard of it either but i ended up playing every single version of that game going forwards
 
PES3. A friend of my parents' lent me a FIFA2004 box, but the disc inside it was actually PES3. At that time, I didn't even follow football, so I didn't know how lucky I had been. I went on playing it for many years
 
My first football experience was on NES, as I had it when I was on kinder garden, with games like Tecmo World Cup and such though wasn't something special that made me feel about it. The only one from NES that stayed with me back then in my memory as a kid (even if it counts as a cinematic version of football) is Captain Tsubasa, especially the Volume 2 Super Striker with all those special moves, music and that ambience that was exactly like in the cartoons. Loved that one...



From then onwards my games were straight on PC, my first technical football 3D game was Striker '96 for MS-DOS on my first Pentium. I was blown away back then seeing a 3D game rendered so nice on a CRT with those pixelated graphics and presentation. Was my first contact with football via keyboard and mouse.



Then, my first serious relationship with football gaming started with FIFA RTWC '98 when my parents purchased me my first Pentium II 233 MMX. Was the first football game that expanded so much the initial lineup of teams and clubs, playing and trying to qualify with Maldive Islands or whichever national team in the world through the world cup, plus playing with clubs in domestic leagues. The edit mode was so extensive. Later of course I enjoyed a lot and invested even more of my time on FIFA 99 and FIFA 2000 that I also have fond memories. The 3DFX graphics was a thing, and those looked and played spectacular back then.



I still play a bit of those titles from time to time via DosBox Staging and PCem. Such great memories regarding football and gaming with family and friends...
 
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tutu7 said:
PES3. A friend of my parents' lent me a FIFA2004 box, but the disc inside it was actually PES3. At that time, I didn't even follow football, so I didn't know how lucky I had been. I went on playing it for many years
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PES3 was my first PES game (if you don't include ISS Pro Evo on PS1). I was mostly a Fifa player up until then, and that game changed my view
 
I have a few I remember
Match day 2 speccy 48
Microprose soccer C64
Emlyn Hughes C64
Kick off C64
International superstar soccer (amiga I think)
Kick off 2 and all the add ons amiga
Iss n64
Iss ps one
All the winning elevens ps2
 
hitmanuk said:
I have a few I remember
Match day 2 speccy 48
Microprose soccer C64
Emlyn Hughes C64
Kick off C64
International superstar soccer (amiga I think)
Kick off 2 and all the add ons amiga
Iss n64
Iss ps one
All the winning elevens ps2
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Everyone seems to have been into video games long before me 🤣 I might have to try some of these older games on emulators someday, if I can figure them out
 
etb10dmk said:
My first football experience was on NES, as I had it when I was on kinder garden, with games like Tecmo World Cup and such though wasn't something special that made me feel about it. The only one from NES that stayed with me back then in my memory as a kid (even if it counts as a cinematic version of football) is Captain Tsubasa, especially the Volume 2 Super Striker with all those special moves, music and that ambience that was exactly like in the cartoons. Loved that one...



From then onwards my games were straight on PC, my first technical football 3D game was Striker '96 for MS-DOS on my first Pentium. I was blown away back then seeing a 3D game rendered so nice on a CRT with those pixelated graphics and presentation. Was my first contact with football via keyboard and mouse.



Then, my first serious relationship with football gaming started with FIFA RTWC '98 when my parents purchased me my first Pentium II 233 MMX. Was the first football game that expanded so much the initial lineup of teams and clubs, playing and trying to qualify with Maldive Islands or whichever national team in the world through the world cup, plus playing with clubs in domestic leagues. The edit mode was so extensive. Later of course I enjoyed a lot and invested even more of my time on FIFA 99 and FIFA 2000 that I also have fond memories. The 3DFX graphics was a thing, and those looked and played spectacular back then.



I still play a bit of those titles from time to time via DosBox Staging and PCem. Such great memories regarding football and gaming with family and friends...
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Man I used to play Captain Tsubasa too, although on Snes! Was such a lovely blend of RPG and football, especially for who grown up with the anime.

By the way, I think you solved my long time mistery! I'm pretty sure the game I was playing at my cousins home that I couldn't name was the same Striker 96 you knew as well😍!
 
FIFA RTWC 1998 was my first ever football game that my dad brought with his PC along with some other games. While the gameplay doesn't really hold up much and there were already other better games at that time which I later found out, this game still holds a special place and I still play it from time to time just for the heck of it.

Being that said, it was fun to press E and brutalize opponent players and get a red card. It was also fun to tackle goal keeper and get a red card. So yeah, in a way, FIFA 98 is still more fun than current FC games just because you can actually fool around and have more fun. Andy Gray and John Motson are also my favourite commentators [the others being Clive Tyldesley later on].

And finally, the game menu presentations were at peak in the late 90s-early 2000s in my opinion. It was flashy asf.
 
Madmac79 said:
Man I used to play Captain Tsubasa too, although on Snes! Was such a lovely blend of RPG and football, especially for who grown up with the anime.

By the way, I think you solved my long time mistery! I'm pretty sure the game I was playing at my cousins home that I couldn't name was the same Striker 96 you knew as well😍!
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During my childhood didn't had a SNES to experience there Captain Tsubasa, so my transition was directly from NES to PC, being a huge step actually. Now I can experience them on Steam Deck via the EmuDeck emulator and are still very good (way better than the NES versions) but nostalgia took me to that memory. In the end this was the NES version of Tsubasa that I remember, not the one from my previous post (don't know why were two different versions with the same name).



Striker '96 was an unique game that most of kids experienced it on early childhood along EURO '96 if you remember that was in some way similar. Wasn't that polished or advanced comparing to other games, but was memorable enough just for the fact alone that used pixelated sprites on a 3D environment...
 
Sami 1999 said:
FIFA RTWC 1998 was my first ever football game that my dad brought with his PC along with some other games. While the gameplay doesn't really hold up much and there were already other better games at that time which I later found out, this game still holds a special place and I still play it from time to time just for the heck of it.

Being that said, it was fun to press E and brutalize opponent players and get a red card. It was also fun to tackle goal keeper and get a red card. So yeah, in a way, FIFA 98 is still more fun than current FC games just because you can actually fool around and have more fun. Andy Gray and John Motson are also my favourite commentators [the others being Clive Tyldesley later on].

And finally, the game menu presentations were at peak in the late 90s-early 2000s in my opinion. It was flashy asf.
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Not to mention that great intro being so epic with all those photorealistic players juggling on screen then blending directly into gameplay was just spectacular. Also, before starting the match were those awesome stadium intros and then players walking on the field and preparing for the match with those advanced animations, or at the end of the match seeing how the team celebrates or being desolated. Then, the referees with that huge personality going towards you talking, then walking away, then going again straight to you point the hand at you as a warning. FIFA RTWC '98 was so advanced for its 97-98 period...
 
etb10dmk said:
My first football experience was on NES, as I had it when I was on kinder garden, with games like Tecmo World Cup and such though wasn't something special that made me feel about it. The only one from NES that stayed with me back then in my memory as a kid (even if it counts as a cinematic version of football) is Captain Tsubasa, especially the Volume 2 Super Striker with all those special moves, music and that ambience that was exactly like in the cartoons. Loved that one...

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@etb10dmk @Madmac79

How to forget this game!! I remember my friend used to have a Spanish hacked translation of Captain Tsubasa, and it had all the animations!
Kojiroh was called "Steve Hyuga" :TU:
Tsubasa was called "Oliver Atom" :LOL:
I distinctly remember Hyuga's Tiger shot!! Also called N-T Tigre in South America!! 🐯
Hours upon hours of fun :)



Awesome soundtrack too!!
:BSCARF:
 
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I'm the third of three kids in my family, and my older brother being 10 years older than me, he was a teenager when i first started understanding things (a.k.a. gaining conscience of things). He had this PS2 (which is still here at home!) in which he used to play many games, and the first soccer one i've seen him play was FIFA 09 when i was three. Sadly i don't remember playing that game because i was just too young lol. As for the first game i've really played, that would be PES 2012, when i was 5. We didn't have a mc at the time (i got it for children's day 2014), so i just played tournaments and quick games. Since then i am proud to say that i have played every PES and FIFA in existence (either via PC/emulators and PS4 for the newer games)!
 
I am hesitating between FIFA 97 or 98, I don't remember exactly, in PSX. However, the ones I enjoyed the most were PES 3 and FIFA 2004 in PS2, in fact PES 3 was the reason I switched to the PES series. I liked the previous ISS/PES games, but this was key.

Nice thread. ;)
 
First football game that fiddled around with, Nintendo Soccer on the Famicom (famiclones were very common in Greece in the 90s).

First game I actually played extensively, ISS Pro 98. Me and my father had grand battles in this game.

After that I think I have tried almost every footie possible, old or new, but never went away from ps1 and ps2 PES. Still there.

A game I enjoyed a lot in this early period were JL-WE2000 - full in Japanese, I don't know how or why we got this but I had mapped every setting possible with ISS Pro Evo, and had a notebook with japanese drawings and translations :LOL:.

Outside of ISS/WE, This is Football 2 on the PS1 was played a lot because it had the school teams, as well as FIFA 2000/2001 with the Greek league, these games were never deemed "serious" from me, but gameplay and the db errors aside I enjoyed them for what they were.
 
First memory of a football game i played was like International Superstar Soccer 64 i was probably 4yo, i still remember the sound of the cleats when the players runs.

Then the very first one i really played a bit longer was ISS Pro Evolution, i had so many hours in the editing to change the name of the players.

And the first one i owned was FIFA 2000, i was amazed about the amount of teams and players even do the gameplay compare to ISS Pro Evolution was less fun.
 
Great thread! I only just noticed it as it was highlighted on the HomePage.

Loving there is a bit of MicroProse Soccer chat in here 😀. I just happened to receive a nice boxed copy of it in the post today. I posted to my alt Instagram account;




This wouldn’t quite be my first Footy game but it would be something from this era. I’m thinking perhaps the Cartridge International Soccer might be my first. Certainly one that I can remember anyway.

I’m going to make the effort in setting up my C64 to play MicroProse later 😀. I hope it still works.

FYI - the music in my IG post is from Emlyn Hughes International Soccer. Absolute banger!
 
AniGoal10 said:
First memory of a football game i played was like International Superstar Soccer 64 i was probably 4yo, i still remember the sound of the cleats when the players runs.

Then the very first one i really played a bit longer was ISS Pro Evolution, i had so many hours in the editing to change the name of the players.

And the first one i owned was FIFA 2000, i was amazed about the amount of teams and players even do the gameplay compare to ISS Pro Evolution was less fun.
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Yeah my 1st experience/knowledge of any PES game was ISS Pro Evolution Soccer's existence on PS1. As I previously ignored the silly Ravanelli and Ince ISS cover in Woolworths, just cos it wasn't FIFA with all the official names etc. How silly young me was.

I read an article in a REAL gaming magazine that I used to buy as a teen. They described ISS Pro Evolution Soccer with such love and the details they gave sounded truly incredible, freedom and gameplay that sounded out of this world, and far more advanced than FIFA (until EA literally binned everything and blatantly copied everything about PES, the control system, gameplay mechanics and made billions doing so, what a lovely fairytale story). Anyway, the ISS Pro Evolution review was so impressive and glowing that I immediately trusted every word and immediately went to Woolworths to grab me a copy. Real shops and real magazines, oh what a time to be alive!

I believe my very 1st game was the original FIFA on Sega Megadrive, although it could have been Italia 90 on the same console.
 
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Pagi84 said:
Yeah my 1st experience/knowledge of any PES game was ISS Pro Evolution 2's existence on PS1. As I previously ignored the silly Ravanelli and Ince ISS cover in Woolworths, as you know it wasn't FIFA with all the official names etc. How silly young me was.

I read an article in a REAL gaming magazine that I used to buy as a teen. They described ISS Pro Evolution with such love and the details they gave sounded truly incredible, freedom and gameplay that sounded out of this world and far more advanced than FIFA (until EA literally binned everything and blatantly copied everything about PES, the control system, gameplay mechanics and made billions doing so, what a lovely fairytale story). Anyway, the ISS Pro Evolution 2 review was so impressive and glowing that I immediately trusted every word and immediately went to Woolworths to grab me a copy. Real shops and real magazines, oh what a time to be alive!

I believe my very 1st game was the original FIFA on Sega Mega Drive, although it could have been Italia 90 on the same console.
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Woolworths for the win! 😀
 
Chris Davies said:
Sensible Soccer on my trusty Amiga 600 is the first that I remember, when it was released in 1994.

There was a demo disk that had a "special edition" on - featuring Norwich vs Man United (the team that Jon Hare of Sensible Software supported, vs everyone's favourite/despised team), but also, Apples vs Oranges (based on the old English phrase "like comparing apples and oranges", because the developers were silly sausages).

I absolutely loved it, and when playing with friends it was even better - so I had to buy it (and each special edition that followed, e.g. "European Championships Edition", which included updates to the real rules, such as the Backpass Rule).

unsensible_soccer_01.png


unsensible_soccer_042.png


I loved the gameplay, and loved playing tournaments with friends, but when Sensible World of Soccer launched with a "Manager Mode" (and even player ratings / special attributes that made a real difference), I was absolutely hooked. It took over my life.

I played other games around the time - my friends had PCs and games like Actual Soccer, which was magical graphics-wise. But even 3D graphics couldn't tear me away from SWOS*.

...until my brother-in-law got a PlayStation and invited me over to play ISS Pro Evolution. At that point, my life changed forever.

ISS_Pro_Evolution_2__PS1_PSX_2001.png


PES became a religious experience - a much more "serious" game, slower, more grounded, and every input you made translating absolutely perfectly to what happened on-screen.

(Including what would happen if you tried to make an audacious pass with a donkey of a defender.)

It upset me that there were no lower leagues, no Tranmere Rovers - the database was a fraction of the size of SWOS - but there was no going back after ISS Pro Evo.

(He also had FIFA 98: Road to World Cup, and it just cemented my opinion that FIFA - which I'd tried on a friend's Mega Drive years before - was a "silly" attempt at a football game, but lovely to look at.)

After that, my family bought a PC and I bought FIFA 99, purely because of a rumour at school that if you had a 3DFX Voodoo card, you could play snowy matches. It turned out to be a lie.

(The PC was deemed a better purchase than a PS1 due to having homework applications and more power anyway - so I made the most of it.)
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OMG, I 've had a few bad addictions in my life, but nothing compared to that brief amount of time where I literally played CM00/01 and 01/02 and did NOTHING AT ALL else for months at a time. No work, no studying, barely any breaks except a few minutes to grab food or go toilet. I don't regret it. It was so fun and rewarding and engrossing, I lost myself in the world.
 
Pagi84 said:
OMG, I 've had a few bad addictions in my life, but nothing compared to that brief amount of time where I literally played CM00/01 and 01/02 and did NOTHING AT ALL else for months at a time. No work, no studying, barely any breaks except a few minutes to grab food or go toilet. I don't regret it. It was so fun and rewarding and engrossing, I lost myself in the world.
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I remember when we had that particular discussion years ago:

Pagi84

Post in thread '⚽ Championship Manager - Adventurers from a classic saga ⚽'

I remember my first time playing CM, pretty sure it was CM3. I was literally astonished at the level of detail and control you could have. I remember seeing that you could be any team, play any team and buy any player from all over the world and I knew I was in Heaven.

I liked playing CM so much I once bought a big ass extremely heavy PC monitor like 5-6 miles from my house and then put the monitor in a shopping trolley I found outside and pushed it all the way home. My family were on holiday so I was alone.

I also was addicted to CM00/01 so much that I literally ignored EVERYONE AND...
  • Like

CM was so epic starting playing from CM3. Even though it wasn't my first or the second football game, definitely was the franchise that helped me learn a lot about in depth football. I was so invested and addicted to it reading prompts and news, thinking as a kid that I'm in a real football world. Such great moments!!! :RSCARF:
 
etb10dmk said:
I remember when we had that particular discussion years ago:

Pagi84

Post in thread '⚽ Championship Manager - Adventurers from a classic saga ⚽'

I remember my first time playing CM, pretty sure it was CM3. I was literally astonished at the level of detail and control you could have. I remember seeing that you could be any team, play any team and buy any player from all over the world and I knew I was in Heaven.

I liked playing CM so much I once bought a big ass extremely heavy PC monitor like 5-6 miles from my house and then put the monitor in a shopping trolley I found outside and pushed it all the way home. My family were on holiday so I was alone.

I also was addicted to CM00/01 so much that I literally ignored EVERYONE AND...
  • Like

CM was so epic starting playing from CM3. Even though it wasn't my first or the second football game, definitely was the franchise that helped me learn a lot about in depth football. I was so invested and addicted to it reading prompts and news, thinking as a kid that I'm in a real football world. Such great moments!!! :RSCARF:
Click to expand...
CM didn't just teach me football, most the geography I know now is all thanks to CM. I know loads of capital cities, which languages are spoken where etc.
 
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