"Violent soccer? Cool!"

Nintendo World Cup Soccer is no ordinary soccer game. Shoulder tackles, flagrant trips, super bicycle kicks, and good old-fashioned soccer fun jell together to form an awesome game for the original Gameboy.

Gameplay - 9/10

The gameplay of NWCS is great for its time. The controls are spot on. What could be cooler than shoulder tackling your opponent while playing soccer? The easy-to-perform super kicks are also fun to do and watch. The one player game is basically a tournament between your team and the other teams. The CPU players take it easy on you at first, but later rounds of the tournament can get rather difficult. All the great teams are represented: there's Brazil, the USSR, Mexico, France, Germany, England, the USA, and several others. There's also a two player option and a versus game for two.

Story - 8/10

Story? Win the tournament, there's your story. Not much else to say about this category.

Graphics/Visual Effects - 9/10

If you've ever played River City Ransom for the NES, you'll recognize the character sprites for this game too. They are practically the same. For those who haven't played RCR, the characters have unique facial expressions and a cylindrical shaped bodies with two fists clenched at the torso. Honestly, these character sprites are some of my favorites from the NES and Gameboy. If you play this on GBC, the fields are nicely done. Whether its the grassy fields, the rocky fields, or the field of ice; they're all well done.

Audio - 10/10

I know, I don't believe it either. NWCS has some of the coolest, upbeat tunes I've ever heard on Gameboy, or NES, SNES, and N64 for that matter. They are definitely catchy and they put you in the mood for a soccer rumble!

Replay Value - 7/10

For this game, my motto is: If you beat it, why repeat it? There isn't much else to see once you've beaten it. I'd keep it around though for the two player aspect.

To Be or Not to Be?

If your a soccer fan, pick this one up. If your an RCR fan, pick this one up. It's definitely one of the better Gameboy sports games out there, even today.

Overall - 9/10

Once again, this is one of the best portable sports games out there. A Must Have for all soccer and River City Ransom fans.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/01, Updated 08/17/01