Classic Football Matches Reimagined in Video Games

The world’s favourite game บาคาร่า เกมเดิมพันสุดเร้าใจ was once a clunky, sleazy mess of a title that featured a crassly-reproduced photograph of Kevin Toms on the cover and dreadful, team-licensed commentary from the likes of Chumbawamba. Thankfully, Tecmo reworked the formula with 1989’s Tecmo Bowl, a massive dual-screen arcade machine that pitted two teams against each other with a full roster of genuine NFL players thanks to a license from the NFL Players Association.

From Concept to Console: Navigating the Journey of Creating a Blockbuster Football Video Game

This was the first Football game to introduce 3D players on console, although they were still 2D sprites compared to the slick polygonal models of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer in their heyday in the ’00s. But Actua’s USP was its uncanny resemblance to real-life footballers, with motion-captures from Sheffield Wednesday stars Chris Woods, Andy Sinton and Graham Hyde adding a level of clogger realism that no other game at the time could match.

For a certain generation of football fans, this 16-bit classic was the be all and end all of footy games. Its top-down graphics are dull by today’s standards, but its players darted about the pitch with a frantic intensity that was both unsettling and exciting to watch. Once mastered, the ability to waltz through five tackles and score screamers from 40 yards made this a game that could make other football games seem slow and stodgy by comparison. For a time it was the football management game to beat, and even now its ‘Playing Out Highlights’ sequence of black-and-white highlights (complete with Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer playing over the closing credits) will bring back fond memories for anyone who played it.

…

The post Classic Football Matches Reimagined in Video Games first appeared on Anna Kors.