''World Cup USA '94'' is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Tiertex Design Studios Tiertex Design Studios Limited was a British software development company and former video game developer based in Macclesfield, England; it was founded in 1986, focusing on porting games to home computers and handheld platforms. As a video game ...

and published by

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...

. It was released for

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Sega CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicatio ...

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

, and

Game Gear The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990, in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily competed with Nintendo's Game Boy, ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. The game gives official groups, teams and the fidelity schedule of the championship. The PC and Sega CD versions have

digitized DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...

stadium photos. The Genesis version carried the

PolyGram Video PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

logo across the stadium advertisement boards in the game. The Genesis version was also the first console game to support a 16:9 widescreen mode. This was the last official

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

franchise game before

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

acquired the rights in 1996 for the ''

FIFA Soccer ''FIFA'', also known as ''FIFA Football'' and to be rebranded as ''EA Sports FC'' from 2023, is a series of association football video games developed and released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. As of 2011, the ''FIFA'' fr ...

'' series and the first official FIFA World Cup franchise game to feature non-qualified teams.

Gameplay

The game is viewed from a bird's eye-view perspective. Game time may be customised from as short as a minute per half to the full regular 45 minutes. A

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

is determined by the 'home' team and play will commence. Depending on the options set before the match, the gamer may opt to have less dribble control (resulting in the game ball sliding in the direction of the player movement); manual goalkeeper control which puts the player in control of all goalkeeper saves and kicks; ball-trapping, of which the player will not be able to shield the ball and allows opponents to snatch it away without necessitating a tackle; and no pass-back rule which was implemented during World Cup '94 where a keeper may not pick up the ball whenever an outfield player passes it back to him. If the gamer opts for manual goalkeeper control, the player would have to make a save by guessing where the opponent will place the ball and jumping into the general direction with any of the console buttons and the directional keys if applicable. Similarly, outfield players have the option to either pass the ball, kick it (when attempting to score a goal) or attempt a lob. Freekicks may also be executed using any of the above. However, a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

is done in a different game screen similar to that of

World Cup 98 (video game) ''World Cup 98'' is the first official FIFA World Cup game developed by EA Sports after obtaining the rights from FIFA in 1997. Unlike the previous World Cup games, which were in 2D and showed a bird's-eye view, ''World Cup 98'' used a 3D engin ...

and where a hovering indicator swings from side to side to indicate the direction of the shot. Basic tactics (or preset tactics) can also be customised prior to the game and may be changed in-game. Team rosters, while not based on real-life players, have variable attributes amongst its players and divided into three major skills which are speed, dribble control and shooting accuracy. Goalkeepers do not have a separate skill evaluation method and can be picked from normal players.

Playable teams

There are 24 teams qualified for the World Cup as well as 8 teams not qualified in the game.

Qualified teams

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Non-qualified teams

* * * * * * * *

Reception

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' praised the SNES version's controls, sound effects, and "amazing range of options", though they criticized the graphics. Reviewing the Genesis version for ''

Mean Machines Sega ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Origins In the late 1980s ''Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generation of 8-bit computers li ...

'', Steve Merrett felt that the game is "completely outplayed by the likes of '' Sensi'' and ''

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

''", while Angus Swan criticized the game's presentation for "inuscule sprites, minimal animation and zeroid atmosphere."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup Usa '94 Video Game World Cup USA and#39;94 1994 video games Amiga games Association football video games DOS games FIFA World Cup video games Game Boy games Game Gear games Master System games Multiplayer and single-player video games Sega CD games Sega Genesis games Sports video games set in the United States Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Tiertex Design Studios games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in 1994