Software:Football Champ

From HandWiki
Short description: 1990 video game
Football Champ
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Taito
Publisher(s)Taito
Director(s)Takeshi Kobori
Designer(s)Takeshi Kobori
Programmer(s)Tatsuo Nakamura
Yuji Iwasaki
Shinji Soyano
Artist(s)Takeshi Kobori
Tsutomu Sekimoto
Nobuhiro Hiramatsu
Composer(s)Hisayoshi Ogura
Yasuhisa Watanabe
Platform(s)Arcade, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Super NES, PlayStation 2, MS-DOS, Xbox
Release1990
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Football Champ is an arcade-style football (soccer) video game produced by Team Dogyan developers in Japan, and originally released in the arcades by Taito in 1990. European Football Champ and Hat Trick Hero, released in 1992, are versions of this game with minor variations.[1]

Subsequent arcade releases of this game include Hat Trick Hero '93 (Japan) and Hat Trick Hero '95 (Japan, also released as Taito Power Goal).

Gameplay

In-game screenshot

The player must first choose one of eight national football teams, followed by a star player from a choice of four available for each team. In the game, a win is needed to progress to the next game. A draw will end as a 'game over', with no option for penalties, but a chance to continue by restarting the game in which a win was not achieved. Each opposition team is chosen according to a tier strategy, with the player's team removed:

  • 1. Spain and France.
  • 2. Netherlands and Brazil.
  • 3. England and Italy.
  • 4. Argentina and Germany.

Thus, playing with Germany, the first two games will be Spain and France in some order, the second two games will be Netherlands and Brazil in some order, the third two games will be England and Italy in some order, and the seventh game will be Argentina. The game is completed when all seven other teams have been beaten. The level of difficulty increases the further the game progresses. The game notices when individual team players score a hat trick. Scoring hat tricks has the effect of increasing the difficulty as well.

The game gained some notoriety for giving players the ability to use violence (including punches, flying kicks and shirt pulling). Players could get away with this without giving away a free kick as long as the referee was either far enough away or knocked onto the floor. The referee punishes every foul with a yellow card. Red cards occur at the third, seventh and eleventh fouls, although every so often the game appears to miscount. No fourth red card is given by the referee. Besides the rough play, the game introduced the super shot, which occurs with 30 seconds remaining or less and when the score is tied or the player is losing by 1 goal. The star player chosen kicks a shot that pushes the goalkeeper into the stands.

The original eight national teams in the game are:

  • ArgentinaArgentina
  • BrazilBrazil
  • EnglandEngland
  • FranceFrance
  • GermanyGermany
  • ItalyItaly
  • NetherlandsNetherlands
  • SpainSpain

Some versions of the game use Japan and USA (e.g. Hat Trick Hero) instead of Spain and France (e.g. Euro Football Champ).

Home releases

A version of the game was released on the Super NES and Amiga by Domark.[1] A ZX Spectrum version was planned but never released.[2] The game was released in its original arcade form on the Taito Legends 2 compilation for the Windows PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game was also re-released in 2023 on a handheld manufactured by Taito containing their arcade games.[3]

Reception

The arcade version was ranked highly, with magazine Zero giving it a 4/5.[4] The Amiga version was given a 64% by Amiga Power, calling the gameplay simple and noting the graphics were not as good as the arcade version.[5] The One Amiga gave it a 71% saying that the Amiga version did not match the smoothness and speed of the original arcade version.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Scullion, Chris (2020-10-19) (in en). The SNES Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. White Owl. ISBN 978-1-5267-3784-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=YJwQEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Football+Champ%22+-wikipedia+taito&pg=PT720. 
  2. ↑ "World of Spectrum - Euro Football Champ". https://worldofspectrum.org/software. 
  3. ↑ Gander, Matt (2023-08-30). "Evercade compatible Taito and Capcom arcade handhelds revealed – Games Asylum" (in en-US). https://www.gamesasylum.com/2023/07/12/evercade-compatible-tatio-and-capcom-arcade-handhelds-revealed/. 
  4. ↑ Wilson, David (June 1991). "Euro Football Champ". Zero (20): 24. https://amr.abime.net/issue_388. 
  5. ↑ West, Neil (July 1992). "European Football Champ". Amiga Power (15): 80–81. https://www.amigareviews.leveluphost.com/eurofoot.htm. 
  6. ↑ Broughton, Matt (August 1994). "European Football Champ". The One Amiga (71): 79–80. https://amr.abime.net/issue_354. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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