Super Soccer - Super Nintendo - SNES

Super Soccer for Super Nintendo

Super Soccer for Super Nintendo SNES lets you play football from a strikingly low viewpoint behind the goal. The pitch rotates with the action and stretches towards the horizon, so an attack can come straight towards you. You choose a national team and try to win through passing, shooting and tackling. A short pass to an unmarked teammate works differently from a powerful ball towards goal. The timing of a header or overhead kick can also decide an attack.

You can play a single match or defeat the other fifteen national teams in the tournament. Formations change how your players are distributed across the pitch. Players have different attributes, and some can bend the ball more strongly than others. When shooting, directional inputs influence the ball's path. You can let the goalkeeper react automatically or move and jump yourself. Penalties provide a separate way to practise shots and saves.

Super Soccer supports a maximum of two simultaneous players using two standard controllers, without a Multitap. In a single match you can face each other or join forces against the computer. You can also play through the tournament with two players on the same team. A code made of directional arrows lets you resume a tournament. Write that sequence down when you want to stop; the original cartridge does not save your progress automatically.

Region and language

Our Super Nintendo 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 Super Soccer for Super Nintendo, 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 Super Soccer

Human Entertainment released the game in Japan in December 1991 as Super Formation Soccer. Nintendo published the Western edition in 1992 under the name Super Soccer. It is therefore among the Super Nintendo's early football games. The Japanese title emphasises the team's formation, while the Western name was shortened. Under both names the game revolves around national teams and a pitch shown in perspective from the goal end.

That viewpoint gives the game a different character from football with a side-scrolling camera. Attacks move clearly towards or away from you, and the pitch rotates when the situation changes. Human combined this presentation with direct controls, allowing you to select a pass recipient and add bend to a shot. The option to control the goalkeeper yourself also makes defending the goal a skill in its own right, alongside intercepting passes.

The original release divides matches between Exhibition and Tournament, with penalties alongside them. For longer tournaments Human chose a code of directional symbols rather than a traditional password made of letters and numbers. Multiplayer was not limited to a head-to-head match: two people can control the same national team. This combination of cooperation, a distinctive camera angle and short menus sets Super Soccer apart from the more elaborate football games that appeared on the same console later.

Similar games for Super Nintendo

Like Super Soccer, International Superstar Soccer lets you lead a national team through matches and tournaments. Its camera looks from the touchline and its players have more detailed animation, while scenarios and training add extra objectives. Super Soccer keeps its main selection smaller and instead offers cooperation with two people on one team. The first ISS limits playing together to two opponents in a single match, rather than that shared tournament route.

International Superstar Soccer Deluxe shares the choice between individual matches and longer football competitions, but develops the presentation, team selection and tactics further. It shows the pitch from the side and offers more multiplayer possibilities with additional hardware. Super Soccer sticks to two ordinary controllers and a compact selection of national teams. Its rotating view behind the goal also calls for a different judgement of distance when planning a cross or shot.

FIFA International Soccer also stages full matches with national teams, where you look for teammates and create room to shoot. FIFA's diagonal camera keeps the pitch's length at an angle. Super Soccer looks much more directly along the length of the pitch and lets it rotate. You therefore judge a pass differently, although in both games attacking revolves around timing, positioning and avoiding an interception.

Sensible Soccer combines short passing and rapid changes of direction with very small footballers and an overhead view. As in Super Soccer, a quick combination can open up the defence. However, the higher camera lets you see players further up the pitch sooner. With its low perspective, Super Soccer emphasises movement into the distance and aiming a shot that travels towards a goal on the horizon.

NBA Jam shares the immediate sporting contest and the chance to build moves with a teammate. It plays basketball with small teams, high jumps and dunks that greatly exaggerate reality. Super Soccer uses eleven footballers per side, formations and a large pitch where an attack can take longer. In both games a well-timed pass helps, but in Super Soccer you must cover much more space and work through more lines of players.