This product is in good condition. At NexWave Games, good means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
FIFA 99 for Nintendo 64
FIFA 99 for Nintendo 64 is a football game in which you directly control clubs and national teams. You combine short passes with runs, look for an unmarked attacker and choose between a cross and a shot. The analogue stick moves your player, while separate buttons handle passing, shooting and sprinting. Feints, through balls and bringing the goalkeeper out are also part of your toolkit. Breaking down a defence therefore takes more than sending the ball straight forward.
Alongside a single match, you can play a season or create your own cup and league competitions. The European Dream League brings strong clubs together outside their usual domestic league. You adjust your line-up and tactics and can move players between clubs. The teams and player data belong to the original release period; this is not a version with current squads. On the training ground you can practise individual actions before starting a longer tournament.
One to four players can play at the same time on the same television, each using their own Nintendo 64 controller. A separately available Controller Pak is required to save competition progress and settings. You save after a match and load the series again later. The different camera angles help you judge the distance to a teammate and the space behind the defence. Quick decisions on the ball thus alternate with preparation between matches.
Region and language
Our Nintendo 64 games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With FIFA 99 for Nintendo 64, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of FIFA 99
FIFA 99 grew out of Electronic Arts' annual football series under the EA Sports label. It appeared in the late 1990s, after FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 and the separate World Cup 98. Whereas those World Cup releases revolved around international football, this instalment gave clubs and their competitions a prominent place again. The original packaging lists twelve national leagues and more than 250 clubs. The title refers to a football season, not a current database that is still being updated.
EA Canada developed the foundation, while Software Creations handled the Nintendo 64 version. Programmer David Broadhurst describes how the team continued after World Cup 98 using the same process: changes to the PC code arrived regularly and had to be integrated into the N64 version. He began the project but left before it was finished. That background explains the shared football foundation without automatically giving the cartridge every presentation feature found on the other platforms.
The custom cup and league setup gave players room to invent a favourite club tournament. At the same time, direct actions on the pitch remained important: controlling the ball, tackling and sending the goalkeeper out. FIFA 99 thus linked recognisable official names to a match you control yourself. On Nintendo 64, playing together on one television was part of that combination. This release represents that original approach, without online seasons or later concepts from modern FIFA and EA Sports FC games.
Similar games for Nintendo 64
World Cup 98 also uses passing, shooting and tactical commands during play. It organises those actions around the World Cup in France, with national teams and a tournament running from the group stage to the final. FIFA 99 puts more emphasis on clubs, domestic leagues and custom tournaments. Here you can therefore also choose a longer club season, whereas World Cup 98 develops one specific international event.
International Superstar Soccer 64 also asks you to recognise passing lanes and release an attacker at the right moment. Konami builds its offering around national teams, an International Cup and the long World League. FIFA 99 adds a very different club context with official leagues and transfers between clubs. Both let you adjust a formation, but their sequences of matches give those decisions a different background.
Like FIFA 99, International Superstar Soccer 98 combines directly controlled football with adjustable formations and local matches. Konami's World League has 48 teams and 94 fixtures; there are also scenarios with predetermined match situations. FIFA 99 focuses its longer campaigns on club leagues and custom cups. The choice therefore partly comes down to established club names versus the international series and separate challenges of ISS 98.
Mario Tennis also shows how positioning prepares an attack. You draw an opponent to one side and then hit into the open space. That happens with one tennis player or a doubles partner rather than a whole football team. FIFA 99 instead asks you to switch between players during a continuous attack and watch passing options. Mario Tennis places the decisive timing in each individual stroke across the net.
Mario Golf shares the judgement of distance and direction involved in preparing a shot on goal in FIFA 99. There, however, you calmly choose a club, target and power before striking the ball. Opponents cannot interrupt that shot with a tackle. In FIFA 99, space constantly changes as players move. The golf round therefore allows time for calculation, while football puts that same judgement under immediate pressure.
