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 There's been all sorts of hullaballoo on this site about Sensible World of Soccer lately. This is all well and good, but if you want to go even further back via the wayback machine, there's one soccer game that ruled the roost. It is International Soccer.
What is it?
It's a soccer game, silly. You (and an optional human player, who you can play against or on the same team with) get your ball and have to…no, no, I'm not going to spend my time here explaining the rules of soccer. Sheesh!
It's more like 5 players a side rather than eleven, and there are no player names, and no special moves (unless you're super skilled and can balance the ball on your head while running forward, but that's about it). Teams included are…red team, blue team, different shade of blue team…all the classic teams are here! You pick one, you kick the ball around, and at the end of the match Princess Peach comes out with a trophy. Or her twin sister. I dunno, it's easy to get confused these days.
How did it do when it came out?
I'm not entirely sure, since this was one of the first (if not the first) launch titles for the Commodore 64 and there weren't many gaming magazines back then. However since it was a launch title and it was bundled with most new C64s, it's safe to say it did pretty damn well. The game was repackaged as Evelyn Hughes International Soccer in 1988, five years after its initial release, and it still found commercial and critical success. Can you imagine if they did something like that these days? What if Nintendo re-releases Metroid Prime again with a new coat of paint today?
Oh, wait, they did. Ha ha.
Why is it worth playing?
Because it really is so ridiculously easy to pick up and play. Your joystick moves your guy, the fire button shoots the ball, and that's it. The AI can be set as easy or hard as you like, and the small number of players on screen means that you don't spend 90% of your playing time trying to figure out which player you're controlling. Oh and there's no team setup nonsense to worry about either.
When did I stop playing it?
I'm not sure I've 'stopped', really, since I keep picking this up now and then for a quick go.
Where can you get it?
Since the cartridge was bundled with every C64 ever, there's bound to be a copy within 20 meters of you. (There's at least three within 20 meters of me, but I'm kind of weird like that)
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