Nintendo World Cup (NES review)

Developer: Technōs Japan
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1990

Nintendo World Cup is a football / soccer game that was released in Japan as Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club: Soccer.

In Tournament mode 1-2 players have to defeat 12 national teams to win the World Cup. Vs. Match Mode consists of a single match and it's one of only 24 games to officially support the NES Four Score meaning that up to four players can compete at the same time. Before you start a match you decide your offensive / defensive strategy, whether the goalkeeper should join in to try and score, and how often your team-mates should shoot. You only control one player throughout the entire match; the rest are all CPU team-mates although you can tell them when to pass (A button) or when to shoot (B button). Trick shots are available five times each half; these travel at ridiculous speeds and nearly always result in a goal no matter where you are on the field! It's a good way to get some cheap goals if you're behind but it also makes matches too easy as you're guaranteed a head start. One thing I hated is that if you tackle an opponent enough he'll eventually be knocked unconscious until a goal is scored or you reach half-time; it's a bizarre gameplay idea and one that makes each match far easier than it needs to be as half the team lies motionless on the ground! Another annoyance is that you can't select a direction when you want to pass; instead the game automatically kicks the ball to the nearest player which becomes a problem when multiple team-mates are on screen. Each half lasts four minutes and the lack of challenge makes it seem like an eternity until a match is completed. The graphics are great as it uses the same art style as River City Ransom but the severe sprite flicker is unbearable at times.

Nintendo World Cup is a quirky take on the sport but it doesn't have much in the gameplay department to make you want to play through all 12 matches. You might have some fun with four players but in solo mode it's too easy to forget about skill and rely on trick shots to artificially inflate your score.

Random trivia: A port for the Game Boy was published in 1991 and re-released on the 3DS Virtual Console in 2012.

Tecmo Bowl (NES review)

Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo
Released: 1989

Tecmo Bowl is an American Football game that was first released in the Arcades in 1987.

There's 12 teams but they're only identifiable by their city; however, the game is licensed by the NFL Players Association so real life sportsmen appear. The action is definitely more of an arcade take on the sport rather than a simulation. Quarters only last 90 seconds, there's no touchbacks and big plays happen frequently. There's only four plays to choose from (the combination of runs and passes depends on your chosen team) but rather than feeling limiting it keeps the pace up and doesn't feel intimidating to those not familiar with American Football. After hiking the ball you can then press the A button to select your intended receiver and then throw to them with the B button. It works perfectly and it's fun zigzagging away from defenders who are hot on your tail! My only complaint is that there are no onside kicks so if you're behind late in the game you have to give the ball away. On Defense you can select any player before the snap which is great for learning the strengths and weaknesses of each position and where you can be most effective. In the secondary, blanket covering an opposing player will usually result in an interception but you can also dive for a tackle with the B button. You can't always see down the field as the action doesn't zoom out very far; this can result in you giving up touchdowns as you're having to guess where the Wide Receiver is. Other options include a brilliant two-player competitive match and a Coach mode where you select the plays for both teams and then let the CPU handle the action. The game also has some impressive speech samples and a cool halftime show.

Tecmo Bowl might be a simplistic take on the sport but it has some fantastic controls and entertaining gameplay that still feels solid today. It really shines in two-player mode and overall it's miles ahead of other American Football games of the time.

Random trivia: An NES sequel called Tecmo Super Bowl was released in 1991 and this time it had an NFL license as well as being backed by the NFLPA.

Goal! (NES review)

Developer: TOSE
Publisher: Jaleco
Released: 1988

Goal! is a soccer / football game published by Jaleco who are perhaps best known for their Bases Loaded series on the NES.

As you start the game the first thing you'll notice is the multitude of options available. The main mode on offer is World Cup which, as you would expect, features national teams. There's also Tournament mode (competition between local American teams), Shoot (a 2 vs 3 set-piece competition), and Vs. Mode (2 players). The nice touch about the latter is that 2 players can play against each other, or on the same team! The game adopts a strange overhead / isometric viewpoint and the camera is a little too zoomed in. This means that you can't really see where your team members are and most of the time you'll end up kicking the ball ahead and hoping for the best. Speaking of teammates, why do they never bother to tackle the opposing player? They much prefer to follow him around the pitch until he either scores or you manually take control and put in a sliding tackle. The game also refuses to let you pause the action unless someone is in possession of the ball which strikes me as a really odd decision. However, the main problem with Goal! is that it's simply way too slow. Even on an NTSC 60hz machine the action crawls along, so you can imagine the horror that I faced as a kid when playing this on a PAL 50hz NES! The game doesn't appear to be very well optimised either as moving your player diagonally causes the framerate to drop dramatically. On a positive note, Goal! has some great upbeat music and a well animated cut-scene during scoring celebrations. The cheerleaders during the half-time show look really strange though and as my wife pointed out: "They're not even in-sync!"

With a few tweaks this could have been a really good football game. As it stands though, it's just too slow and unpolished to be anything more than a short gaming distraction.

Random trivia: The Goal! franchise was seemingly successful for Jaleco and they eventually published a NES sequel in 1992. It was then followed up with a further two games on the Super Nintendo (SNES) called Super Goal! 1 & 2.