Title: World League Soccer (NA)/Pro Soccer (JP)
Release Date: September 20th, 1991
Developer: C-Lab
Publisher: Imagineer (JP)/Mindscape (NA)
Wow, another sports game huh? Well it's not all bad news I suppose. This is actually one that I remember quite fondly as a child. My brother, sister were both very into soccer (and myself to a lesser extent), so my mother, naturally, thought a video game showcasing our favorite sport would be a natural choice. I remember, one Easter, my Mom bought a massive basket for all three of us and loaded them with SNES games. Now my family had just gone through a costly house fire and had moved into a small townhouse, and my Mom couldn't afford all the games that she had bought at the time. As well, since this was back in the time where video game reviews were relatively scarce outside of magazines, she wanted to make sure that each child picked a game they would actually want. My mom allowed each child to pick one of the games that she had bought, and then she would return the rest. I chose Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, my brother chose Earth Defense Force, and my sister choice World League Soccer. For a sports game, which is a genre I never really cared for, I actually really enjoyed this one. Hopefully, this will be one of those situations where the game actually matches the strength of my nostalgia. We shall see.
Background
Around the time when this game was made, the sport was not quite how we see it today. There were only 24 countries competing at soccer in the FIFA league in the late 80s and early 90s, and the countries participating were mainly located in Europe and the Americas. Only one country from Asia, Japan, and one country from Africa, Cameroon, was included in the league at the time.
The developer is C-Lab. They were one of those C-list developers who seem to have mainly developed games for Japan only or console/mobiles ports of arcade games. They were prolific enough up through the days of the Sega Saturn and the Playstation, but seemed to have disappeared after that.
Gameplay
For a soccer game for the SNES, the game plays really well. It is fast and frenetic, and I feel the game accomplishes this exciting feel for it by maintaining a fun but manageable speed of play. The game plays from a top-down perspective and the camera follows the soccer ball, with the player controlling whichever team member is closest to the ball. In person, I find that unless the players are incredibly skilled, soccer can be a boring sport to watch due to the slow speed of play, here though, keeping the action on the ball keeps that pace moving at a good clip.
The AI is annoyingly aggressive, but they foul so much that it is unintentionally funny. I played a quick single match against the Russian team, and they had three red cards throughout the whole match. Pretty silly.
One of the most fun meta-game things is to just go and be an aggressive dickhead throughout the game. You switch control on characters on the fly as they come onto the screen, so as the opponent runs forward you can just have an endless stream of characters fly onto the screen to slide kick the opponents. My brother and I used to see how far we could make it down the field through this onslaught. It is pretty fun!
Music
The music is really fun. It gets a bit repetitive but it fits the feel of the game. Here is a sample of some of the tracks...
Final Verdict
The control is a bit wonky, but it doesn't detract enough from the gameplay that it becomes a bear. Granted, I am playing from a purely "fun" perspective and not trying to beat the game. I find this game kind of janky in a charming fashion. Yes you will try to kick the ball at the goal and it will fly anywhere but towards the net; yes you will pass to the opposing team more than you will another teammate, but I think it adds to the game's charm.
Your sense of what is going on on the rest of the field is rather abysmal. Yes you have the tiny map in the corner, but it is like looking at the Wii U split-screen during an action game: the game is so fast-paced that you don't have the ability to actually pay much attention to the map to see where your team mates are, leading to no real "strategy" for this game. Much of it is just blind luck.
Overall, think my nostalgia goggles might be a little thick, but I love this game. Most people, though, will probably find it frustrating. Oh well. Worth the couple of bucks you can get it for in my opinion.
The developer is C-Lab. They were one of those C-list developers who seem to have mainly developed games for Japan only or console/mobiles ports of arcade games. They were prolific enough up through the days of the Sega Saturn and the Playstation, but seemed to have disappeared after that.
Gameplay
For a soccer game for the SNES, the game plays really well. It is fast and frenetic, and I feel the game accomplishes this exciting feel for it by maintaining a fun but manageable speed of play. The game plays from a top-down perspective and the camera follows the soccer ball, with the player controlling whichever team member is closest to the ball. In person, I find that unless the players are incredibly skilled, soccer can be a boring sport to watch due to the slow speed of play, here though, keeping the action on the ball keeps that pace moving at a good clip.
The AI is annoyingly aggressive, but they foul so much that it is unintentionally funny. I played a quick single match against the Russian team, and they had three red cards throughout the whole match. Pretty silly.
One of the most fun meta-game things is to just go and be an aggressive dickhead throughout the game. You switch control on characters on the fly as they come onto the screen, so as the opponent runs forward you can just have an endless stream of characters fly onto the screen to slide kick the opponents. My brother and I used to see how far we could make it down the field through this onslaught. It is pretty fun!
Music
The music is really fun. It gets a bit repetitive but it fits the feel of the game. Here is a sample of some of the tracks...
Final Verdict
The control is a bit wonky, but it doesn't detract enough from the gameplay that it becomes a bear. Granted, I am playing from a purely "fun" perspective and not trying to beat the game. I find this game kind of janky in a charming fashion. Yes you will try to kick the ball at the goal and it will fly anywhere but towards the net; yes you will pass to the opposing team more than you will another teammate, but I think it adds to the game's charm.
Your sense of what is going on on the rest of the field is rather abysmal. Yes you have the tiny map in the corner, but it is like looking at the Wii U split-screen during an action game: the game is so fast-paced that you don't have the ability to actually pay much attention to the map to see where your team mates are, leading to no real "strategy" for this game. Much of it is just blind luck.
Overall, think my nostalgia goggles might be a little thick, but I love this game. Most people, though, will probably find it frustrating. Oh well. Worth the couple of bucks you can get it for in my opinion.
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