International Superstar Soccer Deluxe

[Melf]

Whenever you talk soccer games on the Genesis, Electronic Arts' FIFA series is always mentioned. Some consider it to be the best representative of the genre on the console, but there are many dissenting opinions, and fans often point to Konami's stellar International Superstar Soccer Deluxe as a contender. Does it live up to the hype? Why not read our full review and see for yourself?

[McTom]

you accidently rated it with an "8" in the review overview...

[108 Stars]

The game was ported to MD by Factor 5 BTW...

[megabomberman]

Very nice review of a very good game, great fun continously rounding the keeper in this one!

[Zebbe]

the weak Genesis sound chip

I don't see it as weak. I do see weak developers, since many didn't take their time to use it properly.

[108 Stars]

I don't see it as weak. I do see weak developers, since many didn't take their time to use it properly.

It definately IS weak. I see it the other way around; there were some good developers who could do good stuff although it was so weak.

BTW when the game was still WIP Factor 5 mentioned they tried to persuade Konami to grant the game a battery; in the end, Konami was to stingy to invest those few cents per cartridge.

[Zebbe]

How about the Entertainment System soundchip or the TurboGrafx-16 soundchip, are they weak?

[108 Stars]

I don´t know about the PC Engines soundchip. But I do know that the Z80 was already terribly aged when the MD was released and that programmers (even ones who did good soundtracks) said it was a pain to get descent quality out of it.

[Zebbe]

That's strange, because the Z80 is the sound processor, not the soundchip of the Mega Drive (which is YM2612). It is widely used even today. The Neo-Geo, which was released two years after the Mega Drive and by far the most powerful 16-bit console, happens to use the same sound processor and soundchip.

Just because something is hard get to quality out of doesn't mean it is weak. Just look at the PlayStation 3 for example...

[108 Stars]

Whether it´s the soundchip or processor, it doesn´t change the fact that the MD had very limited sound-capabilities. I tend to believe what good programmers say.

[Zebbe]

Please give me some examples of those good programmers you are talking about.

[108 Stars]

Factor 5 made an article about the MDs technical capabilities in a German magazine. They are indeed very talented programmers responsible for titles such as this game, Mega Turrican or the unreleased Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures on MD and for numerous SNES-titles as well. They are wll known to be hardware cracks and if even they say it´s hard to get a somewhat descent quality out of the MD I believe them.

You just have to listen to the music and sound effects; even the very best are not amazing quality-wise, they are okay (and I don´t talk about the compositions). The SNES showed what a really good sound-capability can do. You cannot seriously think the MD´s sound capabilities were good but the developers all failed to use them. The MD just did not have more than mediocricy in it´s sound-guts.
It´s just that very talented programmers can make something even out of shit, while others cannot get more than bad quality out of bad hardware. That the Z80 has been used in other consoles as well does not prove anything; they have been used for different purposes, in different times and with different specs.

[Zebbe]

You cannot seriously think the MD´s sound capabilities were good but the developers all failed to use them.

I think they were good and many developers didn't fail to use them.
What exactly decides quality? In my opinion it is what sounds good to my ears. And there are gazillions of Mega Drive soundtracks (and sfx) that sound good to me, composition aside. The Sega-16 review archive can confirm that many times, more times than the limited sound capabilities are mentioned. The Mega Drive has 10 sound channels, the SNES 8 and there is stuff you cannot do with SNES sound but you can with MD sound, and vice versa. The SNK dudes must have seen something in the Z80 and YM2612 if they used it to make a console 2 years after the MD, and at the same time made it into one of the most expensive consoles ever.

[Melf]

you accidently rated it with an "8" in the review overview...

Fixed!

[Barone]

This game is, by far, the best soccer game on the Mega Drive and the best sports game in its library IMO.

I had a very good time with a friend playing this game the other day. He is a very good player and used to play it on the SNES.
He chose Mexico team and I selected Czech Republic's team. Wow, what a great match it was!

He scored the first goal still early in the first half but I managed to equalize it before the break.
Again, he scored his second goal in the beginning of the second half and I equalized the score just a minute before the end.

We went to the V-Goal time and we missed several opportunities to finish the match as winners. All the drama was there (something that the other soccer games of the 16-bit era never delivered so well...): the goalkeepers doing several consecutive blocks, other players blocking the final shot to the goal that was already empty, consecutive corner kicks filled with tension, some penalties ignored by the referee...
A penalty shootout were the definitive solution. I won at the end 'cause he missed two penalties and I missed just one... But we really didn't care that much since we just had loads of fun with this great game. Lots of good childhood memories were brought back...