''Sega Worldwide Soccer'' is a series of soccer games by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

. The series was first launched for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

and later moved to the

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

. The games were released between 1995 and 2000.

History

''Sega Worldwide Soccer'', produced by Sega themselves, was a

launch game This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for the

's North American release. It was preceded by ''International Victory Goal'', one of the debut titles of the console. The game featured international teams and league, play-off and tournament modes. Although it used fictional player names (due to the lack of a

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

), the

non-volatile memory Non-volatile memory (NVM) or non-volatile storage is a type of computer memory that can retain stored information even after power is removed. In contrast, volatile memory needs constant power in order to retain data. Non-volatile memory typic ...

of the Saturn allowed editing of names. The team kits were as close to the official 1996 kits as possible. The game was the top-rated football game until ''

International Superstar Soccer 64 ''International Superstar Soccer 64'' (officially abbreviated as ''ISS 64'', originally released in Japan as and then later adapted as ) is a video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka in the ''International Superstar Soccer'' s ...

'' was released one year later. ''Worldwide Soccer'' was later ported to the PC. One year later '' Sega Worldwide Soccer 98'' was released, again for the Saturn. This version featured (still unlicensed) clubs from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, two new stadiums and the same free-flowing gameplay. US international

Cobi Jones Cobi N'Gai Jones (born June 16, 1970) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player and commentator. He is an analyst for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. He can also be seen on Fox Spo ...

appears on the cover of the American version. One final title, ''Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000'', appeared on the

. However, instead of being developed in-house,

Silicon Dreams ''Silicon Dreams'' is a trilogy of interactive fiction games developed by Level 9 Computing during the 1980s. The first game was ''Snowball'', released during 1983, followed a year later by ''Return to Eden'', and then by ''The Worm in Paradise'' ...

(who previously worked with

Eidos Eidos may refer to: * Eidos (philosophy), a Greek term meaning "form" "essence", "type" or "species". See Plato's theory of forms and Aristotle's theory of universals * Eidos plc, a British software company, which created video game publisher Eido ...

on the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

series and also ''

World League Soccer ''World League Soccer'', known as in Japan, is an association football-based Sports game, sports video game developed by Emagic, C-Lab, and released for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES and Sharp X68000 systems in 1991. Gamepla ...

'') was given the rights to produce a game bearing the Worldwide Soccer name. An update titled ''Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000: Euro Edition'' (capitalizing on the popularity of

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

) was released on the

in Europe.

Games

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 ...

'' gave ''Worldwide Soccer'' a positive review, commenting that "Not since

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 ...

amazed 3DO owners has another soccer game looked so good and played so well." They particularly praised the graphics, zooming camera, and the demanding gameplay, though they did criticize the "magnetic" dribbling and passing as being less realistic than the dribbling and passing in 3DO ''FIFA''. Out of 5, they gave it ratings of 5 for graphics, 4 for sound, 4.5 for control, and 4.5 for fun factor.

References

External links

''Sega Worldwide Soccer '98: Club Edition'' at SegaSaturn.co.uk

''SEGA Worldwide Soccer / Victory Goal'' series
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{Sega Association football video games Sega Games franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1995

History

Games

Reception

See also

References

External links