With the World Cup in full swing, we figured it would be a good time for another soccer focused video game list. But instead of focusing on the best soccer games, or the worst glitches in Fifa (see our last soccer list), we thought it would be fun to focus in on a few lesser known soccer titles that you might not have known even existed.
There is quite a lot to look at with some of these games being super unique and go beyond your typical soccer outing. We suppose it makes sense since they’ve been making soccer video games since video games existed! So, without further ado, let’s take a look at five soccer (or futbol if you’re from most of the world) games that you might never know got released over the years.
- . Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island
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David Beckham is a legend all over the world for all sorts of reasons. Most know him from his time on the pitch with England and Manchester United, while others know him from his time playing in America in Major League Soccer, and others because of his marriage to Posh Spice. Whatever the case may be Beckham’s popularity got him a few video games over the years, but Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island seems to mostly fly under the radar.
Released only in Europe in 2002 for the GBA, this soccer story doesn’t take place on the pitch and instead takes the form of a 2D side-scrolling action game. You play as Beckham and it’s your job to defeat the evil Mister Woe by using your soccer skills in order to restore peace to Soccer Island. While this might sound weird (it totally is weird) the game actually reviewed well and people loved the solid platforming and fun action.
- . France 98 World Cup Virtual Footix
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Coming around the time the Tamagotchi craze was sweeping the world, France 98 World Cup Virtual Footix is a custom Tamagotchi-like handheld game released by Sega to coincide with the World Cup in 1998. These life sims were all super basic and Virtual Footix is no different, the only big change being that you must raise your Footix (the rooster mascot from the 98 World Cup) and when he becomes an adult you will send him off to the World Cup in order to compete in the games.
Not a lot to say about this one but switching up the traditional Tamagotchi gameplay loop with a soccer theme is pretty neat. It also makes for a pretty cool collectors item if you are a World Cup fan. I’m more a Digimon man myself, but I wouldn’t mind clipping this thing to my bag and raise a little rooster Messi while waiting for the bus.
- . Urban Freestyle Soccer
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There was a brief period of time in the 2000s when every sports title had to become a little bit more edgy; who remembers EA’s BIG sports line? Studios thought players needed something a with a little less rules, with lots of pumping trance music, way more street style, and lots of courts, fields, and arenas that you’d need a tetanus shoot after you got done playing at. Urban Freestyle Soccer tries to do all of those things but ends up doing none of them very well.
That’s not to say that you can’t find a bit of fun with Urban Freestyle Soccer, only that you can find more fun with other footy games. What you do get is a more arcade-like experience that’s very simple to play and injects a bit of action with copious amounts of fouling, even being able to use objects to knock some heads about. Reviewers at the time mostly panned the title as a poor mix of soccer and street culture. That said, the game has a lot of fans that loved the simple gameplay as an alternative to FIFA and other traditional soccer games.
- . Pure Football
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By the time of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 FIFA had a near stranglehold on the soccer market. But there were still a number of small attempts by other publishers to try and get in on that sweet, sweet, soccer money. Pure Football was one such attempt and Ubisoft had hopes it would take a small slice of that FIFA pie. Considering most of you have never heard of this title it’s safe to assume it probably didn’t fare all that well.
Pure Football smartly takes the arcade route, but it’s that arcade style that ultimately holds it back in the end. People have, and still do, want a good FIFA soccer simulation alternative and Pure Football just wasn’t it. Button inputs often lag making strategic play nearly impossible and losing the ball far too easy. There are also lots of bars and meters all over the screen making for a confusing experience. Ubisoft might have had something here as a series, but after poor sales they stopped trying to compete with FIFA and focused on making more cut-and-paste Assassin’s Creed games instead.
- . Hotball
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The Amiga was huge overseas but it didn’t much mainstream traction in the United States outside of audio and video work. Still, the console did have games and a number of really fantastic titles. Hotball is not one of those fantastic titles but it is good for a laugh because of how badly it plays. In Hotball you play a Soccer game, but it’s no ordinary Soccer game. Instead of a full team each side gets only a single player and a goalie. You’d think this might make for some fast-paced action, but the reality is anything but. It’s a slow game where attacks are mostly down the middle of the screen.
Movement is slow and clunky and even turning your player around feels like he’s stuck in molasses. Most of the game simply devolves into each player falling down over and over again in an attempt to gain control of the ball. I’ve seen matches where both players constantly fall down over and over again from one end of the pitch to the other. It blows our minds just how bad Hotball is, but at least it’s worth a few laughs with some friends.
- . Academy of Champions: Soccer
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If you thought Pure Football was Ubisoft’s only attempt to break into the soccer market in the same generation you would be wrong. Pure Football was their second attempt, their first being Academy of Champions: Soccer on the Wii. The Wii was an interesting experiment that only Nintendo truly ever mastered in terms of game development. Ubisoft tried to break in a few new IPs on the Wii with this game being both a Wii exclusive and a way to dip their ties into the soccer space before working on Pure Football, a game made by the very same team.
The game takes a very cartoon-like world of magic and adds some soccer into the mix. The games main story takes place at Brightfield Academy, a magical soccer academy featuring Pelé and Mia Hamm. You pick your team from the students and compete in the academy league. You can upgrade your team along the way by recruiting new players and training your team with via minigames. It’s a surprisingly fun experience held back by its lack on online multiplayer. Hard to dislike a Harry Potter soccer game that lets you recruit Rayman and Ezio onto your team.
- . World PK Soccer V2
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Probably the most unique title on this list and quite possibly the most dangerous, World PK Soccer V2 is an arcade only soccer sim that looked to replicate the penalty kick shootout that soccer has become famous for. The machine is unique in that it takes a lot of inspiration from the boxing machines that are in most every large bar. But instead of punching a bag you must kick a ball. The machine then measures the force of your strike and, combined with the stats of the team you selected, takes a shot on goal.
It was a far more complicated setup than those punching machines that simply show you a number, as World PK Soccer V2 features a large screen with tons of animations, types of kicks, and other measurements that required the player to use bit of skill. It even features a league mode giving the game a story and increasing difficulty. This is one arcade machine that you’re likely to never see in the wild, but if you so make sure to give it a go!
- . Football Superstars
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Soccer games are very popular. MMO’s are very popular. What if we took those two things and made them kiss? Well, Monumental Games thought that would be a great idea with the release of Football Superstars. In the game you live your life as a soccer star and work to raise your levels by drinking at the bar and doing very basic quests around a very limited town. You build your characters and when you are ready you can jump into a match with other players in order to work your way up the ranks. When you jump into a match you’ll still only control your own characters with every other player is another person someplace int he world outside of goalie NPCs.
This makes for a crazy experience as everyone is is usually running around with their heads cut off trying to bend it like Beckham, but it does mean an experienced team will dominate anyone they played. It’s a fun system that worked well when players worked together. Players actually praised the gameplay at the time but hated the MMO aspect off the pitch. Microtransactions killed leveling, the world felt empty, and the fact that to gain fame and raise your stats you had to drink yourself stupid meant this was a fun Soccer title held back by its MMO shackles.
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