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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.
The Mission for PlayStation 1
The Mission for PlayStation 1 turns famous footballers into the protagonists of an action adventure. The Geo Merlin ball has been stolen by ninjas and a group of top players must recover it. You choose two footballers from names such as Edgar Davids, Thierry Henry and Luís Figo. Led by Louis van Gaal, the team infiltrates a guarded building. The ball becomes your main means of defeating opponents and progressing. Ordinary matches and a league are not the core of this game.
You pass the ball between your two characters, shoot at guards and use high shots to hit certain switches. Each chosen pair has attributes and special shooting techniques to consider. A training section lets you practice the basics against cardboard targets. Corridors, lasers and other traps then call for timing and cooperation. Sometimes you must first disable a security system before the next passage opens. The twenty levels build on the same assignment: take the ball and escape from headquarters.
You can play alone or cooperate locally with two players. For this you use two ordinary PlayStation controllers; no Multitap is needed. The directional buttons handle movement and the action buttons control passing, shooting and jumping. When playing alone, you switch between the two footballers. A password appears after groups of four levels, allowing you to continue at a later section another time. Write down the code before stopping. The game thus combines football actions with making your way through an action course.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
The Mission for PlayStation 1 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of The Mission
The Mission grew out of the Nike advert of the same name shown around the 2000 European Championship. It featured international footballers being deployed like a commando unit to retrieve a ball from a guarded building. The film treated their technical skills as tools for a secret operation. It already offered an idea that worked beyond an ordinary football pitch: passing, shooting and moving together could also solve obstacles. The game took precisely that starting point to PlayStation.
Microïds released the adaptation in late 2000; EMG is named as its creator in records of the original edition. The packaging explicitly presented the game as the official version of the television advert. The famous players and Louis van Gaal provided a recognizable link to the film, while the game expanded the short mission into a much longer journey. A choice of nine footballers allowed different pairs, with individual attributes and special shots instead of full club squads.
The release came at a time when PlayStation already had a large selection of football simulations. The Mission took a different direction by putting the sporting moves into combat and simple environmental puzzles. The training room and cooperation between two characters were intended to support that translation to a controller. Its password system divided progress into larger sections. In football game history it is therefore chiefly an example of an advertising campaign becoming a standalone action adventure, using the athletes' image as its starting point.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
FIFA 2000 for PlayStation 1 likewise uses recognizable footballers and lets you pass and shoot, but places those actions in ordinary matches. You choose complete teams, try to defeat an opponent and can play a season. The Mission uses just a selected pair to get past ninjas and security systems. The similarity therefore lies in ball control and teamwork; the goal shifts from a result on the pitch to completing an action course inside a building.
ISS Pro Evolution 2, like The Mission, asks for well-timed passes and cooperation between different characters. There it is about creating space on a football pitch, building an attack and finishing with a goal. The Master League also lets you develop a team over a longer period. The Mission instead makes a pass an opening for an attack on a ninja or a switch. The pair remains part of one escape assignment, not a sporting competition.
Fighting Force shares the opportunity to move through hostile areas together with a second player. You choose from four fighters and use fists, kicks and objects from the surroundings. The Mission replaces many of those direct blows with football techniques and keeps a pair together around the same ball. Both require attention to opponents approaching from different sides. The main difference lies in passing and recovering the ball as a constant link between your attacks.
Loaded, like The Mission, lets you move through guarded areas and defeat enemies along the way. It shows the action from above and uses firearms, ammunition and a distinctly violent cartoon style. The Mission uses three-dimensional footballers, shots with a ball and security puzzles that interrupt your route. Both allow cooperation with a second player. Loaded focuses more strongly on clearing groups of opponents; The Mission also asks you to keep the pair and the ball together.
Wild 9 turns a special tool into both a weapon and a way to solve obstacles. Wex uses the electric Rig to grab enemies, move them and use them against traps. The Mission gives the ball a similar dual role in fighting and activating switches. However, Wild 9 mainly plays as a side-scrolling platform adventure with jumps and one central hero. The Mission builds its actions around two footballers, their passes and a shared route through a building.
