Sensible Soccer (Euro)
Sensible Soccer, often affectionately known as Sensi, is an association football video game series which was highly popular in the early 1990s and which still retains a cult following. Developed by Sensible Software and first released for Amiga and Atari ST computers in 1992 as well as for the PC, it featured a zoomed-out bird's-eye view (most games until then such as Kick Off and Matchday used a closer top-down or side view), editable national, club and custom teams and gameplay utilising a relatively simple and user-friendly control scheme. One of the defining gameplay elements was the aftertouch feature, which enabled effective but unrealistic swerves. The game topped charts such as Amiga Power's "All Time Top 100". The graphic style of the game was used in other Sensible Software games, such as Mega Lo Mania, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Golf.
Sensible Soccer (Euro)
Technical
CPU
- maincpu Z80 (@ 3 Mhz)
Chipset
- SEGA VDP PSG (@ 3 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 240
- Frequency 49.701437 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 2
- Number of buttons 2
- Kind of controler
- joy (8 ways)
- joy (8 ways)
- joy (8 ways)
- joy (8 ways)
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Sensible Soccer (Euro) Screenshots
History
Origins
Sensible World of Soccer, commonly referred to as SWOS, was released in 1994. It became a first in video games when it attempted to encompass the entire professional footballing world into one game. Featuring many divisions in many countries around the globe, it featured a twenty season career mode which allowed players to manage and play as thousands of different clubs from across the globe, many of which were very obscure.
Next generation
On November 1, 2005, it was announced in an interview at gaming website Eurogamer that the series would make a return in the Summer of 2006, with a full 3D title to be released on PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox [1]. Codemasters, the holders of the licence, would release the game across all PAL territories, with the design capabilities overseen by Jon Hare, the original designer of the game. On June 9, 2006, it was released in Europe. No North American release is planned at this time.
Xbox Live Arcade
On September 27, 2006, Codemasters announced a new version of Sensible World of Soccer, developed by Kuju Sheffield, for the Xbox 360 to be released in summer 2007 on Xbox Live Arcade. It features both the classic "retro" visuals of the original SWOS, as well as new improved high definition graphics, and retains the exact gameplay of the 96/97 version of Sensible World of Soccer. Due to problems with the game's network performance, the release was delayed in order for "significant proportions" of the network code to be rewritten. After missing several previous release dates, the game appeared on Xbox Live Arcade on December 19, 2007 but was quickly pulled. A statement from Microsoft confirmed that an incorrect version of the game had been made available, in which online play was not possible. The fixed version of the game was released two days later on December 21. The Windows version is still yet to be given a release date.
Awards
From the time of its release, Mega placed the game at #1 in their Top 50 Mega Drive Games of All Time. The Mega CD version of the game was #2 in their Top 10 Mega CD Games of All Time in the same issue.
On March 12, 2007, The New York Times reported that The Sensible World of Soccer (1994) was named to a list of the ten most important video games of all time by Stanford Professor Henry Lowood and the four members of his committee — the game designers Warren Spector and Steve Meretzky; Matteo Bittanti, an academic researcher; and Christopher Grant, a game journalist. 2 This list was also announced at the 2007 Game Developers Conference.
Sensible World of Soccer 1995/96 received review scores of 96% from both Amiga Power and Amiga Format, the joint highest mark given for any game by either magazine.
Sensible World of Soccer (1994) received recognition as one of the Ten Most Important Video Games of All Time by the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University.
On March 12, 2007, The New York Times reported that The Sensible World of Soccer (1994) was named to a list of the ten most important video games of all time by Stanford Professor Henry Lowood and the four members of his committee — the game designers Warren Spector and Steve Meretzky; Matteo Bittanti, an academic researcher; and Christopher Grant, a game journalist. 2 This list was also announced at the 2007 Game Developers Conference.
Sensible World of Soccer 1995/96 received review scores of 96% from both Amiga Power and Amiga Format, the joint highest mark given for any game by either magazine.
Sensible World of Soccer (1994) received recognition as one of the Ten Most Important Video Games of All Time by the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University.
- The game was almost published by Virgin Games, but they insisted on it being called Virgin Soccer.
Games in the series
| Title | Year of release | Platform(s) | Notes (All versions developed by Sensible Software except as stated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensible Soccer | 1992 | Amiga, Amiga CD32, DOS, Atari ST, SNES, Game Boy, Mega Drive, Atari Jaguar, Mega-CD, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Acorn Archimedes | The "standard name" for games in the series. The console and Acorn versions are based on the Sensible Soccer 92/93 version, but are simply named "Sensible Soccer" (DOS version converted by Wave Software, Game Gear version developed by Eurocom). |
| Sensible Soccer 92/93 | 1992 | Amiga, Atari ST | Slightly improved version of Sensible Soccer, including red and yellow cards |
| Sensible Soccer International Edition | 1993 | Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, Mega Drive, Atari Jaguar | Slightly improved version, including slight gameplay adjustments, World Cup tournament and on-screen referees.Atari Jaguar version by Glenn Williams for Renegade Software |
| Sensible World of Soccer | 1994 | Amiga, DOS | Features a title song "Goal Scoring Superstar Hero" composed by Richard Joseph and Jon Hare. The original Swos contained a few bugs, which led to complaints. A free update disk to rectify these bugs was released in April 1995 (DOS version converted by Wave Software). |
| Sensible World of Soccer 95–96 | 1995 | Amiga, DOS | Improved version of SWOS. Chris Chapman, the lead programmer said that this was the version they originally wanted to create (DOS version converted by Wave Software). |
| Sensible World Of Soccer European Championship Edition | 1995 | Amiga, DOS, | Slightly Improved version of SWOS (DOS version converted by Wave Software). |
| Sensible World Of Soccer 96–97 | 1996 | Amiga, DOS | Team update (DOS version converted by Wave Software). |
| Sensible World Of Soccer 97–98 | 1997 | Amiga | Unofficial update for Sensible World of Soccer 96/97 (Amiga) created by Gideon and Dom Cresswell and various others. |
| Sensible World Of Soccer 97–98 World Cup Edition' | 1998 | Amiga | Another unofficial update for Sensible World of Soccer 96/97 (Amiga) created by Gideon and Dom Cresswell and various others. Released exclusively on the CU Amiga Cover CD in July 1998. It had the 32 updated World Cup teams + World Cup related graphics. |
| Sensible Soccer 98 | 1998 | DOS, Windows | 3D version, much maligned because it bore little relation to the original game. Originally supposed to be called Sensible Soccer 2000, and reviewed by one magazine under that name. |
| Sensible Soccer 98 European Club Edition | 1999 | PlayStation, Windows | Tweaked update version (PlayStation version converted by Krisalis Software). |
| Sensible Soccer Mobile | 2005 | Java | Developed by Tower Studios for Kuju Wireless (now acquired by Finesse Mobile) 1 |
| Sensible Soccer 2006 | 2006 | Windows, PS2, Xbox | First original game released in seven years (developed by Kuju Sheffield with Jon Hare) 1. |
| Sensible Soccer Skillz [2] | 2006 | Java | Developed by Cobra Mobile 1 |
| Sensible World of Soccer | 2007 | Xbox Live Arcade, Windows Vista | A remake of the game 96/97 version for Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Vista(cancelled), developed by Kuju Sheffield. Added features include online multiplayer, a zoom function and leaderboards. |
Coverdisk games
- At Christmas 1993, a free Sensible Software minigame was included on an Amiga Format cover disk. Called Cannon Soccer, it was essentially two bonus levels of Cannon Fodder (one of Sensible Software's other titles) in which the soldiers fought hordes of Sensible Soccer players in a snowy landscape.
- On the Amiga Power Coverdisk 21 one of the demos was Sensible Soccer: England vs Germany, also known as Sensible Soccer Meets Bulldog Blighty. This featured a mode of play that involved replacing players with soldiers from Cannon Fodder, and the ball with a hand grenade. The grenade would randomly begin to flash eventually exploding, killing any nearby players.
- Sensible World of Moon Soccer a free covermount disk included with an issue of Amiga Action magazine in the UK. Play as Moon United, featured low gravity, a cratered pitch and hordes of alien players to trade.
- The developers released a humorous spin-off called unSensible Soccer which consisted of apples vs. oranges instead of men. It was released as a free covermount disk with Amiga Action in March 1993.
