International Superstar Soccer 64

"The best soccer game of its time!"

I think that it is well known by now that EA Sports created a smash hit with their football sim "FIFA International Soccer" and has been milking the franchise ever since - with considerable success. But even back in the 16-Bit days, EA already had to face some serious competition in the field of soccer simulations, and the most popular and beloved by far turned out to be "International Superstar Soccer", together with its successor "International Superstar Soccer Deluxe". While it might have been missing an official FIFA license, the intricate gameplay as well as the excellent visuals made the games an instant classic among critics as well. And at the dawn of the N64 era, the soccer-game-war between EA and Konami continued, with "FIFA 64" and "International Superstar Soccer 64". And this time, Konami clearly outdid EA in every single aspect!

At heart, ISS64 is a fast arcade soccer game, with the emphasis lying on the fun aspect rather than on serious tactics and simulation aspects, even though you have of course several options for creating your team and determining its play-style as well as other tactical issues. However, on the soccer pitch, you won´t have to rely on well balanced defensive or offensive tactics. What really counts are your skills with the pad as well as your mastery of the game´s controls, and thankfully, they´re both complex enough in order to satisfy soccer experts and easy to learn and execute at the same time, making the game suitable for beginners and professionals alike - thanks to different match difficulties as well. In fact, the controls in ISS64 are near perfect for an arcade soccer game, with no delays in the game´s response to your commands. There are also quite a few modes you can choose from: an open match, an International Cup, the World League, P.K. Shoot-outs, a cool scenario mode as well as the usual training mode. Even though it´s good to see quite a few different game modes, the only flaw in ISS64 becomes apparent here: the lack of an official FIFa license. You can only choose from national teams, and you cannot participate at official FIFA or continental events like the World Cup or the African Cup of Nations - club teams are nowhere to be found. The same goes for the players themselves, having no real names, so those who would like to play as Zinedine Zidane, Gabriel Batistuta, Raúl, Davor Suker or other players of this era will be disappointed - even though most of the players at least resemble their real life counterparts, and you can always change the names of your players if you want to, even though the space for names is very limited. Despite that, ISS64 is perhaps the best playable soccer game you could possibly find, well balanced and fun to play.

For an early N64 title, the visuals are amazingly well done. The designs and character models of the players are very detailed and great to look at, and the animations of each and every player are simply superb, and no matter whether it´s a normal animation of a player running over the field or of him celebrating a goal he scored, they´re always fluid and smooth, astounding with small but great details like a player raising his fist during a victory pose or the warm-up stretches of your players on the bench. The attention to detail is also very well visible in the environments in this game - the stadiums, of course. There are quite a few you can choose from, and they all have their own individual architectural style and change depending on what continent you´re playing on, for example, and needless to say, they have been beautifully crafted by the developers at Konami...even the grass on the soccer pitch always feels individual in each stadium!

The soundtrack between during the menu-screens is nice, albeit not really outstanding, but what really counts is, of course, the audio in the stadium during a match, and once again, Konami did a great job here as well. First of all, the English commentator is pretty enthusiastic and fast-talking, adding a lot to the already high pace of the game instead of annoying gamers, and despite a rather limited vocabulary due the limitations of the N64 sound capabilities, he always manages to comment on each scene in the game properly, and you´ll especially learn to dig him whenever he´s enthusiastically screaming "Goooooooaaaaaal!" after you score one. Another positive aspect that deserves being mentioned are the really cool sounds of the crowds in the stadium cheering or booing, always fitting the current situation during the match and making you feel like you´re being in a real stadium.

"International Superstar Soccer 64" simply is a must buy for every single Nintendo 64 owner with a liking for soccer games. The game´s critical acclaim speaks for itself, and you just can´t find a better soccer experience on Nintendo´s 64-Bit console, with only FIFA ´98 and FIFA ´99 being able to come close to Konami´s brilliance and their own successor International Superstar Soccer ´98 almost reaching its predecessor´s high level as well. But to me, it´s still my no. 1 soccer game on the N64...perhaps even my all-time favorite together with FIFA 2002.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/08/06