Nintendo World Cup - Overview

Overview

At its core, the game follows the rules of soccer, but with noticeable differences. Each team has only six players (a goalkeeper, two defenders, a midfielder and two forwards). You control only one of them, but you can give commands (Pass/Shoot) to the others. Offsides are non-existent and fouls are not punished. Players can be knocked out by repeatedly sliding, tackling or shooting them, afterwards they will stay down for the rest of the half. Players can also use up to five "super shots" per half; these powerful, odd-looking shots are used whenever a player does a bicycle kick or a diving header, or when he shoots after walking a certain number of steps. The "super shots" differ from player to player. The playing fields also differ in respect to material, e.g. ice, which heavily impacts movement of both, players and the ball.

There are two game modes:

• Tournament mode, in which one or two players take control of one of the 13 available teams, in order to defeat their CPU-controlled opponents.
• VS Match mode, which enables players to confront each other on sand, ice or dirt playing fields. Up to four players can compete using the NES Four Score or the NES Satellite. For the Game Boy a link cable or Four Player Adapter would be used.

Graphically, the game looks similar to others in the Kunio-kun series, particularly River City Ransom, with its short-legged, big-headed characters with varied faces; in fact, some sprites, such as Kunio and the other members of the Japanese team, were reused from River City Ransom.