"Captain Tsubasa is my role model! Heh, heh."

Which isn't a bad thing to be, since he isn't a "bad" example, and he's an excellent soccer player.

Graphics: 9.5 Spectacular
Tecmo uses what made their Ninja Gaiden so popular: "cinema" style graphics. The graphics are displayed in large, detailed, excellent, well-animated sprites. The only gripe here is that some players look too similar to each other; just palette swaps. Other than that, the graphics are excellent.

Music/Sound: 9 Great
You'll notice that the sound effects are straight from Tecmo Super Bowl, such as when the ball hits the goalpost. There are dozens of songs in the game, all of them are catchy.

Controls: 8 Very Good
They're pretty easy to get used to; the only extra detail you need to know is that you press B when dribbling the ball to bring up the menu (or just let an opposing player get close enough to you).

Difficulty: Very, very hard
Naturally, the first two matches in the game are fairly easy. But after that, the difficulty level will pick up dramatically. It's a good thing the story isn't affected when you lose (you just repeat the previous or current match); unless you cheat, it's pretty much impossible to beat the game without losing. Luckily, after repeating those matches, you'll have gained some levels for your players, which should help balance out the difficulty level out a bit. This can be a little taxing for some players, but if you can bear it (which is easy to handle), you'll love this game.

Gameplay: 9.75 Spectacular
Very original! You probably thought soccer could never be made into an RPG, but it happened. This game is advanced and way ahead of its time. You've got lots of commands, the gameplay is realistic (except for some of the super shots), and it's just excellently fun. And the game is fairly lengthy, so you'll be thoroughly entertained. Now, if only there was a two player mode...

Story: 8 Very Good
Captain Tsubasa started out as an anime/manga series about soccer. This game starts out after he guides Japan to victory in the World Cup, and he is now playing in a Rio Cup in Brazil.

Overall: 9 Great
A killer game with a killer challenge! If you can get a hold of it, by all means: DO IT!

Pluses:
+Great graphics and sound
+It's Captain Tsubasa
+Excellent, original gameplay
+It's just plain cool

Minuses:
-Might be frustrating for some players
-No two player mode

Buy? Rent? Throw Away? Or what...
Get it by any means neccessary...except for stealing it or by spending excessively large amounts of money on it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/06, Updated 07/13/06