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Released in North America in December 1990 by Nintendo, and developed
by Technōs Japan, Nintendo World Cup brings arcade soccer
action to the Nintendo Entertainment System
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Soccer was the first sport I could play as a little kid (the only other
option was baseball, which I was terrible at until junior high). Apropos, I grew
up loving the World Cup. As I grew older, though, I abandoned soccer for
football and basketball, as my junior high and high school had no soccer team. I
still watched the World Cup all through the 90s, 00s, and even 2010s, but for
some reason, I haven't watched a single game since then, including during the
World Cup going on right now. However, I do know that everyone currently hates
Argentina, and they just happen to be the most difficult boss in the game I just
played through, 1990's
Nintendo World Cup for the NES. There have been
hundreds of soccer games released since this one, but does
Nintendo World Cup make the kick? That sentence deserves a red card.
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Licensed exclusively to Nintendo! ...until the eventual PC and Sega
Genesis versions
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Well, first of all,
Nintendo World Cup is a soccer game on the
NES, so anyone with nostalgia for NES visuals will be happy seeing the game
translated in NES Graphics. Technōs Japan also developed the famed
River City Ransom for the console, and
Nintendo World Cup brings
that big-headed, cartoonish style to its players, a style which is strangely
visually pleasing. The game is bright and colorful, runs smoothly, and each
team is designed to look vastly different, befitting the nations they're
representing. The player animations are charming, unique, and fun,
particularly during the game's violent tackles and wild and wacky superkicks.
Nintendo World Cup looks great.
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Only a total jerk could hate these tackle animations!
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Likewise,
Nintendo World Cup's sound is NES fantastic. The tunes
are catchy, and amp up in intensity as the player reaches tougher matches. The
title music is particularly great. The sound effects are also spot on. There's
not much to say here, other than the audio for this game is great.
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Italy...always Italy
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Fun graphics and sound don't go far in an NES game if the gameplay
doesn't follow suit. Thankfully,
Nintendo World Cup is an incredibly
fun game. Like any great NES game, World Cup immediately boots up, and then
the player is given the choice of a 1 or 2 player tournament, or a 1,2, or
even 3 or 4 player versus mode with the right hookup. The bread and butter
here is the tournament mode. First, the player picks their country out of 13
options. Personally, I've always picked Italy, and I picked them again for
this playthrough, even though I've heard they somehow didn't even make the
World Cup this year. How does that happen? Anyway, with that, the opponent is
revealed, always Cameroon at first, unless, for some reason, the player
decided to use Cameroon (I guess if they're from or just inexplicably a fan of
Cameroon).
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I've tweaked these dagos around so much, just to discover I like
them this default way best. And hey, if I had to hear my old man
affectionately call my Sicilian mother "dago" all the time growing
up, I feel like I get a "dago" pass.
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From that point, it's time to assign personnel, or leave players at
their default positions. Each player on each team has certain strengths that
are only revealed upon playing matches with them. I've found with Italy to
just keep things as is. There are eight total players from which the player
assigns six to positions--one goalkeeper, two defensemen, two forwards, and
the centerfielder, which will be the player's character. After this, it's time
to pick team strategy options--will the team's CPU-controlled players dribble
the ball or pass it when they get it (I pick "dribble")? Will the goalkeeper
stay in the goal or come out and be more active in the game, sometimes leaving
the net open (I pick "stay")? Should the CPU players shoot often when they get
the ball, a little, or not at all (I pick "often")? Should the CPU players try
to tackle the opponent players who have the ball or mark them (I pick "mark,"
and more on that later)? I feel like these questions marks totally ruined
these parentheticals. Merda.
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Though I did it dozens of times as a child, I can't remember what
kicking the ball at the beginning of a game is called, after all the
actual (i.e. American) football I've played and watched since, so
I'll just say, let's kick this thing off
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Then the game begins. Obviously, with only six players per team, and a
proportionally smaller field than in the real World Cup, the style here is
arcade, though games can move at a surprisingly realistic, albeit much faster
pace than reality, with strategy eventually becoming very important.
Considering Technōs developed
River City Ransom and the Double Dragon
series, the soccer here is quite violent. Aggressive tackling is frequent and
encouraged and there are absolutely no fouls called, no matter what happens.
Also, offsides, the stupidest rule in all of soccer, has been removed.
Actually, outside of "out of bounds," there are no rules here. You can't beat
up the goalie, but that's simply because the goalies are too strong to be
tackled, and will simply crush you if you get too close. The player only gets
to control the centerfielder (you can't switch who you control as you can in
other games), though you can roam anywhere around the field you want. However,
the player can make the CPU's pass the ball by pressing pass when the CPU has
it, and can also command the CPU defenders to slide tackle the opponent when
they have the ball. The goalie is entirely CPU-controlled.
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Discussion on Argentina is coming in a moment, but just look at
these purple-haired freaks! Get em, sunglasses! Tackle him and shame
his entire family!
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Early in the game, the player can just overwhelm the opponent. The
simple controls, which are A to pass or shoulder tackle, B to shoot or slide
tackle, and the D-pad for movement, are east to master, as is early gameplay.
Just keep tacking, take angled shots at the goal, and when the goalie dives to
knock the ball away, slam that pigskin, er... futbol, into the net on the
rebound. Early opponents basically never super shot, another arcade element
nicely implemented into the game. Certain super shots are performed when the
player presses AB as the ball is in the air above them, when they are standing
still and have the ball, or by pressing B after a certain number of steps are
taken (the latter of which is a different step count for each team, or when it
comes to the U.S.A., each player). When done correctly, a super shot is
unblockable, and when it comes to the steps super shot, unique to each team
(or with the USA, player). Players are limited to five super shots per half,
and timing is key. I was way better at them when I was younger (particularly
when using Japan before I settled upon eternally using Italy), though I can
still pull them off in a pinch.
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I super shotted West Germany so hard, they don't even exist
anymore
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Considering how easy it is to roll through the game's early opponents,
some players may be wondering when
Nintendo World Cup will get
"Nintendo Hard." Don't worry, it gets there...boy does it get there. Teams
will eventually start to get faster, more aggressive, and take more and more
super shots. This all culminates in the game's toughest match, the semi-final
against Argentina. Yes, the greatest villains of 2026 soccer are the greatest
villains of 1990's
Nintendo World Cup. The game's final boss is West
Germany, a tough tackling, good passing team, and while they are no slouch,
they don't a candle to Argentina, the Mike Tyson of
Nintendo World Cup.
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Just seeing this screen is putting me in a fighting mood...also,
each country gets a cool intro screen, as well as a unique halftime
screen
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Argentina destroyed my precious Italia the first few times went
head to head. A loss in
Nintendo World Cup results in a game over, but
thankfully, there is a password given between each match, so the player can go
right back for a rematch after a game over. I had to experiment with different
strategies, play-styles, and lineups before I was finally able to take down
the wily Argentines. Argentina's players move at lightning speed, much faster
than your team's players. They also tackle your players any time they are
remotely in their vicinity (I should mention, if a player is tackled a certain
amount of times in a half, they are down for the rest of that half). Worst of
all, every time Argentina gets the ball within eyesight of your net, they
perform a super shot that almost always results in a goal. I finally found
that the strategy I mentioned earlier in this review is the best way to take
them down. Telling the CPU to "dribble" gives the player more control over
when they pass. Obviously, I tell the goalie to stay in the goal. I tell the
CPU's to "shoot often" because this opens up more opportunity for goals, or
for me to score on the rebound. Most importantly, I tell the CPU's to "mark
the opponent" on defense, giving me total control over when they tackle--turns
out the human player is likely much better at timing tackles than the CPU is.
With these settings, after a highly defensive battle, I felt a great sense of
accomplishment in taking the dastardly Argentina down in a tense match, then
one-shotting West Germany to win the World Cup for Italy.
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For some reason, I love taking an actual picture of my CRT when I
accomplish something on NES
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Italy are the champions!!!
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There are no credits, just The End!
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The game's versus mode is also a good time, and adds the option to
choose field type, which effects gameplay, i.e. ice causing players to slide
everywhere. This adds an even higher level of strategization. Along with
Nintendo World Cup's numerous pros, the game does feature a few cons.
For instance, when a player is knocked out for the half for either team, that
team CPUs will still try to pass to that player as if they are there. Of
course, this does call for a different strategy, depending on which team and
the player who's been knocked out, so it can be argued this is actually a pro
that diversifies gameplay. Also, if someone is only looking for realistic
soccer, or I guess in that case...ugh..."football," they'll have to look
elsewhere. However...
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| Hey, it's basically Ice Hockey, with no sticks or pucks, and a ball! |
For me, this is yet another sports feather in the NES' cap, just
like
Ice Hockey, which I
reviewed last year. It's not only incredibly
fun, but challenging in its later matches, meaning it's fun to come back to as well.
The multiplayer mode is also evergreen.
Nintendo World Cup is a great
game. Argentina sucks.
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