Pre-FIFA Soccer

Champions World Class Soccer came out, ostensibly, in 1994, the year of the U.S World Cup, the year when soccer finally gained some popularity in the United States. The Super Nintendo was already enjoying popularity so I suppose that a soccer video game was inevitable. This game fills that inevitability with all the technology available at the times (very little) and all the buzzwords they could fill into a title (many as it turns out).

The game itself is uneventful: it features a total of 32 teams ranging from the very good (Brazil) to the very bad (Bolivia) to Wales. I cant find a pattern in these teams, at first I thought these were the participants in the '94 WC but thats not the case. They're also not the best teams in the world, as noted above, so the criteria for selection seems nonsensical.

While on the subject of teams I should note that all available countries are still around today, I was looking forward to a Yugoslav or Soviet team but no dice. The teams on the cover are there either randomly or as selected by where the developers wanted to sell more copies. Shilling to Mexican audiences was not desirable yet.

The gameplay is that which you would expect for a 1994 soccer game. That is to say slow, choppy and random, maybe its because I dont have the manual but I have no idea what the difference is between the buttons: they all seem to be for passing while on offense and for changing between players and tackles while on defense.

Its a shame that graphics weren't advanced enough to permit detailed, accurate depictions of soccer kits because the early 90's were a great time for soccer shirts. Err... on second thought its probably best they weren't able to get the detail. Probably a great idea that detailed players weren't available, nor the MLS inaugural teams. Though now I feel like playing as Colombia and seeing if they bothered with Valderrama's hair.

For what its worth I played as France and was unable to score a goal, I'm not entirely sure if there are celebrations or whatnot. The thing is I've played old soccer games that are mindlessly enjoyable but this one is not one of them, and thats too bad because I vaguely remember playing this when I was a kid and enjoying it.

If I have something positive regarding the game its gotta be that the uniforms are kind of cool. Each team has a basic white and coloured uni, with a few variations in socks, stripes and stuff. Its kind of charming. Sure, nothing compared with the highly detailed unis of todays games but good enough.