We're massive football fans here at N-Europe, and when we're not screaming at the over-paid superstars at our local grounds, we're screaming at our TVs when playing virtual footy. Thankfully then, our favourite Nintendo platforms have seen many "serious" football titles over the years. Sure, some have been as painful (and plentiful) as England penalty misses, but some have been as sweet as seeing your team lift the cup, win the league or even get a draw at Old Trafford! Join us then as we take a stroll down memory lane and delve into our favourite virtual footballing moments...

Nintendo World Cup
(NES 1990)

Ok it's hardly a "serious" title and by including it some might say we're showing our age here, but so is Sheringham and look at his skill! Proving that we've skirmished with the best of them, we had to include Nintendo World Cup as it is quite literally a riot. With more headbutts than a season playing alongside Vinnie Jones, Nintendo World Cup was immensely fun. Six a side and no fouls or offside rulings meant that the game was a constant end-to-end brawl. If only real World Cup football took this route! Back when two buttons were all you ever needed, we spent so many hours playing this little gem.

Super Soccer
(SNES 1992)

After kicking Koopa shells around Super Mario World grew tiresome, the Super Nintendo (then officially a powerhouse) was home to the next great football game to play. Developed by Human Entertainment and published by Nintendo themselves, Super Soccer played a solid game of attacking footy and was a graphical treat (it was law to use Mode 7 as much as possible in the early SNES days). We could attempt to describe Super Soccer in more detail but we feel the screenshot explains it all... Running into the screen looked amazing back in '92!

FIFA International Soccer
(SNES 1993)

EA, having secured the FIFA rights for (no doubt) a paltry sum of pennies, launched FIFA International just in time for Christmas 1993. Working around their traditional television presentation and a 'revolutionary' isometric viewpoint, FIFA International was a breath of fresh air. Setting the FIFA template by having some of the greatest sweet spots and bugs in any football title (like standing in front of the goalie for easy goals,) FIFA sold by the truck load. Still revered by many today and notable merely for the franchise it spawned - at the time, FIFA International was incredible!

International Superstar Soccer
(SNES 1994)

Back when SEGA were sensible, they paid EA to keep FIFA '95 as an exclusive for the SEGA Mega Drive. This was a massive blow for Nintendo fans, and we were left shaking our fists at the sky, Maradonna style. But news started to trickle in about Konami's ISS. Even though it sounded naff we thought it looked great. It wasn't until we actually got to play the title that we were wholly sold. Konami had done it. ISS played a blinder. It was actually difficult at times, looked great and played a swift passing game. We'd somehow missed the spiritual predecessor (Konami Hyper Soccer on the NES) but this made the surprise even sweeter. We had our very own FIFA beater in the palms of our hands and we never looked back. It speaks volumes about ISS that even now the footballing landscape is divided by the Konami and EA models of play.

FIFA '96
(SNES 1995)

Proving that football fans have incredibly short memories we were yanked back into the FIFA camp by the "new" licensed players and static one-line "official" John Motson commentary FIFA provided. The gameplay had also come on leaps and bounds since FIFA International, and the bugs had been ironed out (even though some sweet spots for guaranteed goals remained). The emotion of taking your team through a season was unparalleled and instantly glued FIFA back into our Super Nintendo. With this and the more arcade-like ISS, we thought life couldn't get any better.

ISS DELUXE & FIFA 97
(SNES 1995/6)

Hinting at things to come, over the next few years we were treated to nothing but minor updates. As Sony's Playstation and the SEGA Saturn rolled into town, EA turned their attentions to the 32-bit platforms.
The SNES (and Mega Drive) were still getting FIFA games in 1998 (and the Mega Drive eventually got its own ISS in 1995) but by then there was only one place to get your footy fix � on a brand new console.
Handy then that the N64 was starting to finally become something other than project un-reality.

The 16-bit systems were starting to look frail against the newer 32-bit platforms

FIFA 64
(N64 1997)

Released shortly after the Nintendo 64 launched in Blighty, FIFA 64 was plainly rushed. Offering as much control as a boat on concrete and as much gameplay as a deck of cards with 52 of them missing, FIFA 64 was a horrid game. We really tried to love it but having seen what the 32-bit platforms were getting, we were mortified. Everything was broken and it looked like it was smeared in Vaseline. We quickly erased it from our minds and went back to Super Mario 64 in anticipation for something actually good.

ISS 64/98
(N64 1997/8)

Sensing that EA had scored an own goal, ISS came to the N64 and did it in style. Featuring some of the best graphics and animation ever seen in a sports title, Konami really went the extra mile. The game even featured play-by-play commentary with immortal lines such as "GOAL, GOAL, GOAL, GOAL, GOAL, GOAL, GOAL!!" and "Fresh blood is coming on". Yes, ISS was the greatest footballing game we had ever had the pleasure of playing, and when ISS '98 came to town we were bowled over again. This was slick, passing football. It was 100 miles per hour and it was perfect. Analogue control was the future and a single button for a through ball was to set a template for years to come.

When we got to '97/'98 we knew that this was the reason we had played Nintendo World Cup. The reason we loved ISS Deluxe and 16-bit FIFA. And (as with those titles), the soul of football had been captured, written into code and delivered once again. Yet just like in 1995 we thought it couldn't get better...

Or could it? Join us in the concluding part of our footballing retrospective later this week, where we'll be tackling the last years of the N64, through to the current motion-controlled days of the Wii...

- Written by Mark Lee