History

History of Soccer Gaming Part II >
Pele's Soccer (also released as Soccer and Championship Soccer)
Released: 1981Developer: AtariConsole: Atari 2600During the early 1980's, Atari 2600 ruled the gaming market and naturally Pele's Soccer got a lot of exposure. Although primitive, the game became one of the first massively popular titles dedicated to the world's most popular sport. As you can see from the screenshot, it is difficult to tell which rectangle represents the Brazilian legend Pele (we assume he's the top red blob scoring in the blue goal). Today, it is easy to rag on the game's graphics, yet we must remain objective in our retrospection. At the time, Pele's soccer was regarded as a fun title offering good multi and single player action (enemy AI was superb for 1981). If you don't believe that people took this game seriously check out this excerpt from its manual: Okay, soccer fans, the ATARI CHAMPIONSHIP SOCCER™ Team challenges you to a game. The ATARI computer team is waiting impatiently inside your Game Program cartridge for you to select one of the single player games. They want to show you their stuff. Here's a brief rundown on each player, just so you'll know who you're up against. "CRASH" MORGAN the galloping goalie, is the fastest man on the team. "CRASH" got his nickname because he is forever slamming into the goal posts chasing after the ball. Fortunately, the goal posts are never damaged, but sometimes you can score a goal on him before his ears stop ringing. NICK DANGER, the frantic forward, is mean and nasty and just loves to blast the ball into your goal shouting, "eat leather, chump." Don't let his bad manners bother you, it's just his way of rattling the opposition. "LUMPY" DURAN, the left back, is without a doubt the clumsiest player in the world of soccer. Penalized twice for stepping on the ball instead of kicking it, he was finally thrown out of one game for toe-kicking the referee! ALEXIE PUTSNOWSKI (Putsy), the right back. What can we say about Putsy? A real ladies man, a great soccer player, a sore loser. Even though "The Puts" has kicked and gouged his way to soccer stardom, for three years in a row he has been voted the "least likely" player.
Soccer
Released: March/1987Developer: NintendoConsole: NESSoccer isn't really a groundbreaking game, but it became quite common during the NES era of the late 80s. As the Nintendo overtook the video gaming market, this oldie spread with the console like a stubborn weed. The game lets you play 6 on 6 matches against the computer or a friend. The AI and the ball physics are quite primitive. Regardless whether you're passing, dribbling or shooting, the ball goes in straight paths. If we were to replace the game's sprites, it could easily turn into hockey or basketball. Overall, it followed the standard for early NES sports titles like 30 Yard Fight, Baseball, Volleyball and Tennis. These were "first generation" NES games which competed against contemporary arcade releases. Soccer followed along this trend failing to innovate or introduce elements from the real game. In its lack of originality, this title shows us how little have games advanced since Pele's Soccer of 1981. The only consolation are the dancing cheerleaders at half time.