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World Cup 98 for Nintendo 64
World Cup 98 for Nintendo 64 brings the football World Cup in France to a three-dimensional pitch. You choose from the 32 qualified nations and eight additional national teams that did not make it through qualifying. You then guide your squad through the group stage and the decisive knockout matches. You can keep the original participants and groups or change the draw. The players and teams belong to that release period, not an updated depiction of today's international football.
On the pitch, you build attacks with short passes, through balls and crosses. For free kicks, you determine direction and spin, while timing a header requires an early response to a high ball. During the match, you can call up prepared formations and strategies. Tactical commands also include a forward run by a wing-back and an offside trap. You therefore influence not only the player on the ball but also the movements of the team around them.
Up to four players can take part locally at the same time, each with their own Nintendo 64 controller. You need a separate Controller Pak to save tournament progress and settings. Winning the World Cup unlocks World Cup Classics, featuring historical finals from 1930 through 1982. The challenge then shifts from your own tournament to replaying an earlier football moment. Regular matches remain available alongside them for a shorter play session.
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 World Cup 98 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 World Cup 98
Electronic Arts released World Cup 98 in 1998 under the EA Sports label. It was the separate official football game built around the tournament in France, alongside FIFA: Road to World Cup 98. That earlier title devoted much attention to the journey towards the World Cup; World Cup 98 focused on the finals themselves. The selection of participants and the presentation thus tied the football foundation to a clearly defined moment in sporting history.
Software Creations made the Nintendo 64 version, based on EA Canada's work. Programmer David Broadhurst led the adaptation. He describes how the PC version was still being developed while the team regularly had to merge new code with its own N64 work. Alongside converting game code, this required continual coordination. The original cartridge is therefore a specific console version, not simply the PC release with the same title on a different medium.
The historical finals formed a second layer of time within the game. Those earlier deciders for the world title only became available after you won the main tournament. At the same time, tactical commands offered ways to alter an attack while it was moving. An order to press forward or run down the touchline went beyond simply moving a player. World Cup 98 thus linked memories of great tournaments with direct control of the match taking place on your television at that moment.
Similar games for Nintendo 64
FIFA 99 shares many football actions with World Cup 98, including passes, shots and tactical commands. However, its content also gives a prominent role to club leagues and custom cups alongside national teams. World Cup 98 instead makes France 1998 its centrepiece and lets you unlock historical World Cup finals. Building a club season and working through an official international tournament thus give the same sport a different structure and reason to keep playing.
International Superstar Soccer 64 also lets you work towards a cup with national teams and change formations. Its International Cup and long World League are separate from the official presentation of France 1998. World Cup 98 instead follows a recognisable finals tournament with its participants and group stage. ISS 64 also gives you scenarios with a prescribed situation, whereas EA places historical finals behind tournament victory.
International Superstar Soccer 98 shares directly controlled international football and the ability to change tactics and line-ups. Its World League spreads 94 matches across 48 teams, making it a much longer campaign than a single World Cup finals tournament. World Cup 98 concentrates the tension in group matches followed by elimination. Part of the choice is therefore between an extended league and a shorter journey towards a world title.
Mario Tennis also makes timing and positioning the key to a successful attack. A lob or a spinning shot can unsettle an opponent, just as a placed pass in World Cup 98 can open space. Tennis, however, divides those decisions into individual strokes and points. In World Cup 98, the match continues and you must follow the movements of your entire team as well as the ball.
Like World Cup 98, Mario Golf asks you to determine a direction, power and intended landing point for the ball. Wind and the shape of the course influence that calculation. You have time to make the choice before swinging. World Cup 98 puts a defender or an advancing goalkeeper in front of you, so waiting can make the chance disappear. Both reward accurate play, but at distinctly different tempos.
