International Superstar Soccer
- This article is about the series as a whole. For the first entry on the series, see International Superstar Soccer (video game).
International Superstar Soccer is the name of a series of football (soccer) video games developed by Japanese company Konami, mostly by their Osaka branch, KCEO. It should not be confused with KCET's Pro Evolution Soccer series (also known as Winning Eleven), which was originally developed for the PlayStation. Titles in the ISS series have appeared on Super Nintendo, Mega Drive, Nintendo 64 and Playstation formats. The series is known as Jikkyō World Soccer in Japan.
Series
The series had its origins with the NES platform, late in 1991 with Konami Hyper Soccer, Konami's first football game on consoles. Although technically not a game in the series, the success of the game was enough for Konami start developing Jikkyō World Soccer: Perfect Eleven for the Japanese Super NES, released as International Superstar Soccer for the rest of the world, both in 1994. An improved version, Jikkyō World Soccer 2: Fighting Eleven (worldwide, International Superstar Soccer Deluxe) was released one year later, and saw a Mega Drive / Genesis version in 1996. These 16-bit titles, in many terms, were one step ahead from other contemporary football games, including FIFA International Soccer:
- Instead of tiny, super deformed players on pitch, player sprites had an adult look to them;
- The players looked all alike, only changing hair and skin color from team to team. ISS players had distinctive looks, corresponding to real-life players of the time (like the Swedish forward Magnus, an obvious reference to Martin Dahlin, or the Argentine duo Fuerte and Capitale, reproducing Claudio Caniggia and Gabriel Batistuta);
- This was the first football game to ever show back numbers on the jersey for each player (though the keeper's jersey always showed a number 1, independent of his assigned number);
- The adult look given to players made their animation quite real, instead of the rather cartoonish way shown before (like the players jumping in slow-motion in FIFA IS), thus turning playability more fluid;
- The game was the first to feature play-by-play commentary (more frequent in the Japanese versions); previously, the announcer's voice could only be heard shouting "goal", and it was not present in every game.
Yet in 1996, the first KCET title, Winning Eleven was developed for the PlayStation (Goal Storm internationally) and Jikkyō J-League: Perfect Striker made its debut on the Nintendo 64 (re-used worldwide in 1997 as International Superstar Soccer 64 with international teams instead of J-League).
In 1997 and 1998 there were several titles released, including the second and third versions of Winning Eleven (which included a fully-licensed release for the 1998 World Cup), but the first major in Europe since ISS Deluxe was International Superstar Soccer 98 for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the best titles for the console, and one of the highest selling third party titles.
By the turn of the century, KCET's Winning Eleven titles were improving considerably over KCEO's titles, and in 2000 ISS Pro Evolution was released worldwide. The last title for the Nintendo 64 was International Superstar Soccer 2000, based on Jikkyō J-League: Perfect Striker 2, and when ISS Pro Evolution 2 was released in 2001 and followed by the first Pro Evolution Soccer, there wasn't much room for the Jikkyou World Soccer/International Superstar Soccer series, although three ISS titles were released, the last (ISS 3, in 2003) for the first time was released for personal computers. There were also three Game Boy Advance versions, one of them based on ISS Deluxe.
Releases
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo 64
- Jikkyō J.League: Perfect Striker
(実況Jリーグ。 パーフェクトストライカー) - International Superstar Soccer 64
Released in the USA on August 8, 1997[1]
Released in Japan as (実況ワールドサッカー3)
Jikkyo World Soccer 3 in Japan on September 18, 1997.[2] - International Superstar Soccer '98
(実況ワールドサッカー。 ワールドカップフランス'98)
Jikkyo World Soccer: World Cup France '98. The Japanese version was licensed by FIFA. Not to be confused with FIFA '98: Road To World Cup or World Cup 98 (both by EA Sports). - International Superstar Soccer 2000[3]
(実況Jリーグ1999。 パーフェクトストライカー2)
Jikkyō J-League 1999: Perfect Striker 2 in Japan.
Unlicensed versions
Some unlicensed hacks of International Superstar Soccer were made available in South America, especially in Brazil. All versions have poor quality portuñol, Portuguese or Spanish translations, and bonus teams unlocked.
ISS Pro
The first two ISS Pro games for Playstation were produced by KCET for the European market.
ISS Pro (also known as Goal Storm 97) was followed by ISS Pro 98. The latter features former England player Paul Ince and the Italian Fabrizio Ravanelli on its UK PAL cover, although it lacked a FIFPro license.
Konami Hyper Soccer
| Konami Hyper Soccer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Platform(s) | NES |
| Release | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Sport |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Konami Hyper Soccer for the Nintendo Entertainment System was Konami's first soccer game on a Nintendo console, and the game that sewed the seed for the International Superstar Soccer and Winning Eleven series. It was part of Konami's Hyper Sports series which included Hyper Olympic (Track & Field outside of Japan), and its sequel, Hyper Sports. The game was only released in Japan and Europe.
As the NES's controller has only 2 buttons, the gameplay is understandably simple, on the ball, one button for pass and lob and one for slide tackle and one for headers whilst off the ball. The game allows two players, either against each other or both against the computer in either a single match or a tournament. There are 24 playable international teams, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Argentina, France, Spain, England, Brazil, Poland, Uruguay, Hungary, USSR, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Cameroon, Ireland, Japan, Korea, USA, Mexico, Australia, Scotland, Colombia and Yugoslavia. Before the game, the player can choose the formation of their team as well as number of overall attributes, including offense and defense, as well as luck. Unlike other similar games at the time, Hyper Soccer featured more advanced moves such as bicycle kicks, flying headers and volleys. The game features a scrolling view of the pitch and 2-Dimensional sprites for the players, one of two background midi tracks can be chosen to play during the match. Unusual for a sports game, there is no on screen display of the game's score or the time remaining.
See also
References
- ^ http://ign64.ign.com/articles/061/061122p1.html%7C IGN news on ISS64
- ^ http://homepage2.nifty.com/gamedatabase/software/DB_NTC3_N641996-1997.html%7C List of Japanese games and release dates, same date given on Japanese Wikipedia.(Japanese)
- ^ http://ign64.ign.com/articles/067/067403p1.html%7C IGN News on USA version of Perfect Striker 2 coming to USA